496 
PllOCEEDINGS OE SECTION E. 
In March the roads are at about their best, bridges standing and 
everything frozen up. The bridge question is a very serious matter 
in travelling in Corea. In the 6th moon they are pulled up by 
official order, and are only replaced at about the beginning of the 9th 
moon. During this bridgeless interval, travelling is very arduous, not 
to say dangerous. The rainy season, by land-slides and swift torrents, 
mates the roads all but impassable. On a single journey from 
Wonsan (Yuensan) to Soul I counted more than half-a-dozen land- 
slides that would have been sufficient to bury up one’s small caravan. 
The torrents, too, are numberless. Once or twice I was thrown into 
the swift current, and the ponies with their pacts on had very great 
difficulty in fording the streams at all. 
The bridges in Corea are made of uprights placed at intervals 
of eight feet. The smaller ones are covered with pine branches and 
earth, the larger ones with timbers. The famous bridge of Corea is 
that entering Hamheung, the capital of ITam Kyung, from the south. 
It is said to be 5 li long, but timing it I found that I crossed it in 
about four minutes at an ordinary walk. 
To return to my journey, I saw miryuk (stone images) on the 
rocks of P’aclioo, some 60 U from Soul. They face south, and are said 
to have been placed there in the last dynasty in order to protect 
Songto against the increasing influence of Han Yung (Soul). The inn 
quarters along the way proved to be very uncomfortable, the hang being 
heated desperately in spots. The natives whom I had taken with me, 
and who had often to share my room, seemed to enjoy hugely frying 
themselves over these hot fires. I have never yet learned to take 
kindly to Corean floors. The food on this first trip, too, seemed very 
barbarous, but I have since learned to like rice, soy, and kimcWi much. 
These are the three staple articles of food. With the exception 
of dried fish (principally pollack from the far north) scarcely any meat 
is eaten by the common people. In seasons of cattle plague they feast 
on the victims, but otherwise beef is not common. Dog flesh is used, 
especially during the three Pole days of the 6th and 7tli moons. 
Their ordinary rice dishes are only partially boiled, without salt, 
the JcimcWi (radish or cabbage pickle) supplying the seasoning. The 
best Tcmclii is prepared from cabbage placed in layers with fisli, pine 
nuts, chillies, &c., between, and all pickled down and left to stand for a 
time. KimcWi lias a very unpleasant odour to a new-comer, but it is 
one of their best dishes. 
Soy, of course, they prepare from beans. These are boiled and 
pounded up in a wooden mortar, rolled into balls and tied to the ceiling 
of the living room, affording a very disagreeable atmosphere to the 
place. In spring they are put into a jar of water with a little salt, and 
left for a month or so until fermentation begins. The water is then 
drained off, boiled, and the soy is ready for use. 
To return to the journey, Songto proved to be an interesting old 
city. The remains of the ancient palace that fell about 1392 are still 
to be found. Anything like modern life or activity, however, are as 
foreign to the people as to the ruins of the palace. The people were 
hospitable, and treated me to the luxuries of the place, giving me dried . 
persimmons, dates, and pears. As on all subsequent trips, I found the 
natives well disposed, though uncouth in behaviour, as they are in 
the other details of life. 
