COREA. 
493 
and took his property* The curious thing was that round these stalls 
one always saw crowds of urchins looking with longing eyes on the — 
to them — tempting sweets, unguarded save by Corean custom. 
Another amiable quality of the Corean is his fondness for 
manly sports, the greatest of which is stone-fights. A Corean gentle- 
man thus described the game to me : — “ In the winter the people 
have nothing to do, so the strong and brave men of all the towns of 
Corea come to Soul to play and fight. The strong men of one town 
fight the strong men of another town. I go on the wall of the city to 
look. People must not fight in the city. I keep far away. Then 
they throw stones at each other, aud beat each other with sticks. If 
they kill each other it does not matter.’ 7 
I have not seen a stone-fight, but have seen crowds going to 
see one. The broad main street was a mass of white-garbed Coreans. 
I was new in the country and my daughter was with me, and so I 
turned back. Had I known then how polite a Corean mob is, I would 
have gone on and seen the fun. 
The Corean boys wrestle, box, and fight each other for pure fun ; 
take standing jumps, and swing. Swinging is the delight of the 
Coreans. In spring, just before the farmwork begins, mighty swings 
are put up, paid for by the rates, in the roads by the villages and in 
the streets in the towns, and on these swings boys and youths exercise 
themselves from daylight to dusk. The girls do not swing, but play 
at see-saw. 
Other notable games of the Coreans are flying kites and playing 
quoits. 
Though the Coreans are not Buddhists, and though owing to a 
rebellion by a Buddhist priest many years ago no Buddhist priest is 
allowed in the city of Soul, yet the birthday of Saky-a-mouni Gautama 
is kept as a children’s festival. Early in May the streets ai'e full of 
toys for the little ones, and on the day itself the town is given up to 
children wearing bright new clothes and enjoying themselves. The 
sight in the big main street, with its throngs of happy children in their 
bright clothes, each child with its hands full of toys, accompanied by 
their fathers and grandfathers in snowy clean white raiments, showing 
in keen contrast with the sombre grey tint of the nearest houses, and 
the dark-green of the fantastically shaped mountains in the distance, 
seems a glimpse at fairyland, and would have delighted the heart of 
Ilans Andersen. 
Shortly after the children’s day comes the ladies’ day, when ladies 
are allowed to go freely about the streets and visit their friends. On 
this day men, to a certain extent, stay at home, and no one becomes 
tipsy. As a rule, ladies do not go about in the daytime ; they go 
about and take their exercise at night. At about 8 o’clock in the 
evening the great bell of Soul — it is one of the largest bells in the 
world — is pealed, the city gates are closed, and only men who have 
business remain out of doors. 
The Corean is a great lover of scenery. In the spring it is the 
fashion to have picnic parties to beautiful spots in the neighbourhood 
of Soul, and in every direction one goes from Soul one finds charming 
and beautiful spots, in which are erected pretty little pavilions, in 
which one can sit sheltered from the sun and enjoy beautiful views. 
