EXPLORING UNKNOWN CORNERS OF THE "HERMIT KINGDOM" 39 



THE) WALLS AND FLOOR OF THIS TYPICAL NORTHERN KOREA HOUSE ARE MADE OF 

 CLAY; THE THATCH IS OF RICE STRAW 



The average native house is an insect incubator. The only way for a westerner to sleep in 

 comfort under such a roof is to draw about his canvas cot a magic circle of insect powder. 

 By covering his head he avoids intermittent showers of fleas and roaches during the silent 

 watches of the night (see text, page 28). 



built a number of years before by a Ko- 

 rean hunter. Few of the natives of Non- 

 satong had been even as far as this hut 

 and only two beyond it. For many years 

 wandering gangs of Chinese and Korean 

 bandits have ranged along the forest 

 borders, keeping the natives in terror and 

 exacting tribute from every caravan 

 which passed through the territory under 

 their control. If the tribute was not paid 

 destruction was certain. The Japanese 

 have now pretty well cleared the country 

 of these marauders ; but though few re- 

 main the fear of them, inbred in the 

 peace-loving Koreans, will live for years 

 to come. 



Our horsemen were reluctant to ven- 

 ture into the forest, and had they not 

 realized that the commands of the Japa- 



nese gendarmes gave no alternative, they 

 could not have been forced to go at all. 

 Nearly an hour was spent praying at a 

 little shrine on the edge of the woods, 

 and, with gloomy faces, they followed 

 the half-obliterated trail which led to the 

 log cabin. We traveled along the Tumen 

 River, passing through groves of oak, 

 birch, and larch trees into a beautiful 

 park-like valley covered with long, dried 

 grass. It was hard to realize that before 

 us stretched thousands of acres of un- 

 known forests, through which a white 

 man had never passed. 



PLUNGING THROUGH THE PRIMEVAL 

 FOREST 



We found the log cabin to be in good 

 condition, although it had not been occu- 



