898 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



KNE:ADING BRt:AD ON THE; STRK^T I SEOUL, KOREA ( SEE PAGE 9O2) 



former flowing west and the latter east. 

 The dimensions of Korea are about 135 

 "by 600 miles, with an area, including its 

 numerous small islands, of about 100,000 

 square miles — not far from the size of 

 New York and Pennsylvania. The ara- 

 ble land comprises only about one-quar- 

 ter of its surface, a range of exceedingly 

 barren mountains and scantily clad hills 

 extending its entire length. Its popula- 

 tion, estimated from the number of 

 houses on which taxes are paid, is 

 12,000,000, or 159 to each square mile. 

 As a comparison, that of England is 

 500 ; Japan, 284 ; Germany, 250, and the 

 United States 21. The climate is about 

 the same as New York and Pennsyl- 

 vania, excepting a season of six weeks 

 of the wettest kind of rain. 



Raising of rice is the chief occupation 

 of the people, although Korea is said to 

 be the fifth largest cotton - producing 

 country in the world. In customs and 

 looks the people resemble the Japanese in 

 :some ways, and although they have 



many noticeable peculiarities, laziness, as 

 some writers have charged, is not one of 

 them. Many varieties of fruit thrive 

 and the country is rich in coal and nearly 

 all mineral products. 



White clothing is the emblem of 

 mourning in Korea, as it is in Japan 

 and China ; the mourning period is three 

 years. On the occasion of the death of 

 a royal personage the entire population 

 must put on white. This custom is said 

 to be accountable for the people having 

 adopted white clothing for ordinary 

 wear, that they might be ready for the 

 inevitable when it should come, either 

 in their own or in the royal family. 



The distinguishing feature in the cloth- 

 ing of the male Korean mourner is the 

 material, which is unbleached linen or 

 sackcloth bound at the waist with a rope 

 girdle for the loss of a father, or one 

 made of strips of cloth for a mother. In 

 his hands the mourner holds a sackcloth 

 screen about one foot square, with which 

 to hide his face when passing along the 



