THE PASSING OF KOREA 1 



HOMER B. HULBERT, for 

 many years resident of Korea 

 and editor of the Korean Re- 

 view, is the author of a new book, enti- 

 tled "The Passing of Korea," published 

 this month by Messrs Doubleday, Page 

 & Co., of New York. It is undoubtedly 

 the most reliable and interesting volume 

 on this people that has been issued in 

 man\- years. Mr Hulbert sympathizes 

 very deeply with the Koreans in their 

 loss of independence, and feels that they 

 have been harshly treated by the Japan- 

 ese. Unquestionably it is a sad fact 

 when a nation forfeits its independence, 

 but this must occasionally happen in the 

 progress of the world. While many 

 will differ from Mr Hulbert in his judg- 

 ment as to the justice of the Japanese 

 advance through Korea, every one must 

 admire the sympathetic and eloquent 

 manner in which he outlines the history 

 and describes the manners, customs, and 

 personality of the country, and will profit 

 by as well as greatly enjoy the reading 

 of the book. Through the courtesv of 

 the publishers, the National Geo- 

 graphic Magazine is enabled to repub- 

 lish several of the striking and typical 

 illustrations from the volume, and to 

 give the following extracts : 



There is a peculiar pathos in the ex- 

 tinction of a nation. Especiallv is this 

 true when the nation is one whose his- 

 tory stretches back into the dim centuries 

 until it becomes lost in a labyrinth of 

 myth and legend — a nation which has 

 played an important part in the moulding 

 of other nations and which is filled with 

 monuments of oast achievements. Kija, 

 the founder of Korean civilization, flour- 

 ished before the reign of David in Jeru- 

 salem. In the fifth century after Christ, 

 Korea enjoyed a high degree of civiliza- 

 tion and was the repository from which 

 the half-savage tribes of Japan drew 

 their first impetus toward culture. 



The American public has been persist- 

 ently told that the Korean people are a 

 degenerate and contemptible nation, in- 

 capable of better things, intellectually in- 

 ferior, and better off under Japanese rule 

 than independent. The following pages 

 may in some measure answer these 

 charges, which have been put forth for a 

 specific purpose — a purpose that came to 

 full fruition on the night of November 

 17, 1905, when, at the point of the sword, 

 Korea was forced to acquiesce "volun- 

 tarily" in the virtual destruction of her 

 independence once for all. 



Topographically Korea lies with her 

 face toward China and her back toward 

 Japan. This has had much to do in de- 

 termining the history of the country. 

 Through all the centuries she has set her 

 face toward the west, and never once, 

 though under the lash of foreign invasion 

 and threatened extinction, has she ever 

 swerved from her allegiance to her Chi- 

 nese ideal. Lacordaire said of Ireland 

 that she has remained "free by the soul." 

 So it may be said of Korea, that, al- 

 though forced into Japan's arms, she has 

 remained "Chinese by the soul." 



The scenery of Korea as witnessed 

 from the deck of a steamer is very unin- 

 viting, and it is this which has sent so 

 many travelers home to assert that this 

 country is a barren, treeless waste. 

 There is no doubt that the scarcity of 

 timber along most of the beaten high- 

 ways of Korea is a certain blemish, 

 though there are trees in moderate num- 

 ber everywhere ; but this very absence of 

 extensive forests gives to the scenery a 

 grandeur and repose which is not to be 

 found in Japanese scenery. The lofty 

 crags that lift their heads three thousand 

 feet into the air and almost overhang the 

 city of Seoul are Alpine in their 

 grandeur. 



The vegetable life of Korea is like 

 that of other parts of the temperate zone, 



'"The Passing of Korea." P>y Homer B. Hulbert. Profusely illustrated from photo- 

 graphs. Pp. 475. 7V2 by wyi inches. New York: Douhleday, Page & Co. 1906. $418, 

 postpaid. 



