Chap. IIL the Kingdom of C ORE A. 1005 
them Parts in Plenty j they make vaft Quantities of 
Cloth, but none of the Memoirs that I have feen make 
any Mention of Cotton. They are very neat in their 
Drels, and the better Sort alfcd; Magnificence, yet they 
are far from being vain, and can be hardly faid to have 
any Fafhions amongft them. Their Cities are wal- 
Pd and fortified, but neither fo llrongly nor fo neat- 
ly as in China \ their Houfes are commonly no more 
than one Story, with a Kind of Cock-loft over them, 
in which their Merchants keep their Goods 5 and 
in private Families they ferve for their Fruit. In their 
Villages they build with Earth, but in all their great 
Towns and Cities with Brick ; but they thatch every 
where either with Straw or Reeds, which is the only 
Kind of Covering they have. The People are courteous, 
modeft, and well behaved, yet their Morals are not 
quite fo regular as in Times paft, when Robbery, Mur- 
der, and Adultery, were Crimes unknown amongft 
them. They have common Women amongft them as 
in China^ and none of their young Men are aftiamed 
of converfing with, or being feen in their Company. 
They allow their Wives much greater Liberties than in 
China \ and for this Reafon the Chinefe efteem them 
Barbarians^ though in all other Refpedls they fpeak of 
them not fairly only, but with Reverence. 
In point of Learning they fall little, if at all, fliort 
of the Chinefe •, and here, as well as in China, none 
but Scholars are preferred to Employment^. They 
beftow Degrees once in three Tears, and all who are 
Candidates for them undergo a very rigorous Exami- 
nation ; fo that it is very difficult to obtain any Promo- 
tion but by Merit. With Refped to Religion, People 
of Diftiniftion are generally bred up in the Sentiments 
of Confucius, and are a Sort of moral Deifts, who make 
an uncorrupted Probity their Point of Honour. The 
common People are Idolaters of the Indian Sed, and 
have amongft them a vaft Number of Boyizes ; they 
have alfo Monafteries of both Sexes, where People lead 
fingle Lives, but are reftrained only by their own 
Choice, for they may marry if they think fit, and 
fometimes they do. 
As to their Eftates, the King has the foie Property 
in the Land, which is granted out to every Man in 
Proportion to his Family, but perfonal Eftates defeend 
from Father to Son. The Mandaryns have alfo Lands 
affigned them for the Support of their Dignity, which 
they let out in Fai;ms, but receive their Rent in Kind 
and not in Money. The Monarchs of Corea are ab- 
slblute, except the Homage they pay to the Emperor of 
China, from whom they receive the Inveftiture of their 
Dominions by their Ambafladors ; and though the Heir 
apparent enter immediately on the Adminiftration from 
the Deceafe of his Predeceftor, yet neither he nor his 
Con fort affume Regal Titles till they have the Empe- 
ror*s Confent, which is always given ; and as the whole 
Ceremony upon this Occafion is very exacftly regulated, 
as well as the Tribute paid, which amounts to eight hun- 
dred Taels ; fo thera never happens any Difputes. 
Each Province maintains a certain Number of Horfe 
and Foot, except that in which the Capital City ftands, 
and which is exempted on the Score of maintaining 
the Court The Troops of each Province ferve annu- 
ally about the King’s Perfon, fo that he fees the whole 
Force of Corea once in feven Years ; but proportionable 
Detachments are fent from every Province to guard that 
whofe Forces are about the King. They are remarkably 
mild in their Puniffiments for common Crimes ; they 
are bamboo’d or baftinado’d, but with more Modefty 
and lefs Severity than in China. Adultery, Murder, and 
Treafon, are punifhed by Beheading j and for other 
Offences capital in their Nature, the Criminals are ba- 
nifhed into the adjacent Iflands. 
Poetry and Mufick are their principal Amufements, 
more efpecially publick Speftacles, fuch as Comedies, 
Tragedies, and Operas, in the Performance of which 
they fpare no Expence. It has been furmifed that they 
were very ignorant, becaufe they fetched their Kalen- 
dars annually from but in Reality this is a Point 
of Submiflion to the Chinefe Court, which is alfo paid 
by. the Inhabitants of every Province of that Empire 
from political ConfideratidnSj and they go in the tenth 
Month of every Tear to receive their Kalendars for the 
next. The People of Corea are the moft dutiful in the 
World to their Parenp ; it is faid that Difobedience is 
capital by the Laws, but that there has been no Inftance 
of any Puniffiment of that Sort, the very Law prevent- 
ing any fuch Offence, They mourn fOr their Fathers 
and Mothers three Years, during all which Time the 
Corpfe is kept embalmed in their Houfe ; at the End 
of that Space the Body is interr’d, and the Wearing 
Apparel, Horfes^ Dogs, and whatever elfe belonged 
to the Perfon of the Deceafed are diftributed among 
the Relations at the Funeral. The Mourning for a 
Brother lafts in the fame Manner for three Months. 
The common People are plainly clad, and fo are their 
Soldiers, who carry a Pole-axe, a Firelock, and have a 
Sabre at their Sides ; they live, generally fpeaking, fo- 
berly, though they have great Plenty of every thing, 
and make very good Ale, or if you pleafe to call it 
Wine of Rice, from whence alfo they diftill Arrackj 
which is preferable to that of the Eaji Indies, being a 
clearer and ftronger, as well as a better flavoured Spirit. 
Tea is much drank in the Northen Provinces, but 
lefs ufed in the South, where their Rivers are bright and 
clear, fo that they have every where good Water, which 
is wanting in China, and of which there is alfo a Scar- 
city in Japan. 
6. We have obferved, that the Subjeiftiort of the Co- 
reans to the Chinefe, is very far from being burthenfome 
to them, but this muft be Underftood of their Condi- 
tion in their own Country ; for in Reference to the De- 
puties that are fent once a Year into China, and who are 
generally accompanied by about threefcoreMerchants,they 
are certainly treated with as much Severity and Indignity 
as People well can be. The Months in which they tra- 
vel arc March and Augujl *, in the former they fome- 
times crofs the Gulph of Corea upon the Ice with their 
Carriages ; but in Augufl they come in pretty large Vef- 
fels, and having debarked their Cargoes, convey them 
by Land to Pekin. The Commodities they bring are 
principally thefe that follow : 
A coarfe Kind of Paper made of raw Silk, very 
thick, fmooth, even, and ftrong, which is made Ufe of 
in China inftead of Glafs to cover their Windows. A 
very fine, thin, white, and fmooth Paper for Writing. 
A third Sort of Paper thick like the firft, and fmooth 
and fine like the laft, with large Figures emboiled in 
Gold and Silver, made ufe of for Hangings. It may 
not be amifs to obferve here, that eight hundred Years 
ago the Chinefe had that black fliining Stick Ink, which 
they now make themfclves, from the Coreans, and they 
acknowledge that they were three hundred Years before 
they arrived at the Art of making it in the fame Per- 
fection. Umbrelloes of all Sorts, very ftrong and very 
neat. Fine Matts, beautifully wrought and of many 
Colours. Tobacco of a fmall Cut for fmoaking ; this 
they had from the Japnefe, to whom it was brought by 
the Portuguefe\ it is oi the Brazil K\nd, and the Chinefe 
efteem it much more than their own. Striped Cottons of 
feveral Kinds, Furrs of various Sorts, dried Fiffi, which 
are taken out of large Shells in the Sea of Japan. 
They bring with them likewife vaft Quantities of 
Silver and Gold, Part in Ingots, and Part in Spanijh 
Piftoles. They are clofe fliut up, as in a Prifon, all 
the while they remain at Pekin ; and the Mandaryn who 
has the Guard of them, fells the Liberty of trading with 
the Coreans to the Merchants who give moft 5 and yec 
thefe have not the Liberty of conferring with them buc 
in the Prefence of a Soldier and two Interpreters. When- 
ever they ftir abroad they have a Guard about them with 
Whips in their Hands, who laffi any that come near, or 
offer to fpeak to them. 
The Goods they purchafe are fine Silks in prodigious 
Quantities, but raw ; a Kind of Damask, which they 
take off alfo in great Quantities •, a Sort of very thin, 
Silk for Linings, which the Chinpfe call Fanfa ; Tea and 
China-ware, white Copper Vcffels of all Sorts, vaft 
Quantities of Cotton, Part of which they manufadlur^ 
in fuch a Manner, that they bring it back and fell ic 
in China at a high Price. 
Th$ 
