zard. The native horse is no bigger than a Shetland pony, while the ox is of immense size. GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES. Little is known of the geology of the country. In general it may be stated that overlying the fundamental rocks gneiss, crystalline and other schists, crystalline limestone, quartzite, etc.- are found strata of Cambrian and Carboniferous age, the repositories of the metallic ores of the country. The prevailing rocks are sandstone, slate, limestone, hornstone, and conglomerates, and among the intrusive eruptive rocks, granite, porphyries, gabbro, diorite, diabase, etc., best exemplified in the Phyöng-an provinces. Mesozoic rocks are found in the Province of Hwang-hai, and the Tertiary formations, which are of little extent, but which contain considerable lignitic coal, in the hill country around Ping-yang and in the Ham-gyeng provinces. Basaltic lavas forming table lands occur in several places, but the best example is in the Province of Kang-wön.

Gold has long been obtained from the sands of the northern rivers, but it is only in recent years that the exploitation of the auriferous rocks has begun. Concessions have been obtained by capitalists from the United States, Russia, Germany, and Great Britain, and gold-mining is now carried on in the provinces of Kang-wön, Phyöng-an, and Ham-gyeng. The property of the United States concessionaires at Wön-san covers 800 square miles. Five mines have been opened there, and five mills, with two hundred stamps, are in operation. The placer mining of the Germans was carried on in 1901 by 9 Europeans, 6 Chinese, 7 Japanese, and 275 Koreans. The value of the gold exported in that year was $2,237,689. Copper is abundant, and has long been worked. Of the output in 1900, copper to the value of $50,000 was exported. Galena is also found, and there are iron ores of many kinds, but little has been done in working then. Good anthracite coal has been found, and coal is mined near Ping-yang.

FISHERIES. The seas surrounding the peninsula teem with fish, and support an important industry. The chief fish are the salmon, cod, the delicate, much-esteemed tai, haddock, halibut, whiting, ribbon-fish, herrings, sardines, etc. Sharks abound on the coast, and in the Sea of Japan blackfish and whales are plentiful. Whalefishing is carried on by one Japanese and two Russian companies, with Government charters. Whale-meat is an article of food, and is exposed in the markets for sale.

AGRICULTURE. The soil of Korea is very fertile, especially in the southern and southwestern provinces, and farming is the principal occupation of the people. Rice is the most valuable crop. The yield is usually large. Periods of drought, however, are frequent, and scant rainfall brings famine. The other agricultural products are barley, millet, and oats in the north, and in the south wheat, maize, beans, tobacco, cotton, hemp, and sesame. Rice, beans, and ginseng are the principal exports. Sweet potatoes, the taro, cabbages, turnips, and other vegetables are also grown extensively, and form, with rice and the hardier grains, the chief articles of diet. Milk, butter, and cheese are practically unknown to the natives, and until recent years no attention was given to cattle-raising, though there is much land suitable for pasture. The increased consumption of meat in Japan has stimulated cattle

breeding somewhat, and in 1901 the export of cattle and other live stock nearly doubled.

MANUFACTURES. Korea is not a manufacturing country. It was through Korea that the arts and sciences of China passed on to Japan; but there is little now to show that Japan's skilled artisans, potters, and porcelain artists came from Korea. Paper-making is the chief industry. Then come mat-weaving, the making of copper and brass ware, nacre-inlaid woodwork, and split bamboo screens, and hats for native use, the splits of which are as fine as thread. Some coarse silk is woven for home use, and the weaving of the white cotton fabric which the common people wear is a general home industry. The first modern industrial establishment-a matchfactory-was opened at Seoul in 1901.

COMMUNICATION. Road-making has received no attention in Korea, and travelers are unanimous in denouncing the highways. The Koreans travel chiefly on horseback or in sedan chairs. Commodities are transported by porters, packhorses, and oxen. Wheeled vehicles are unknown except in the open ports. The rivers, however, are much used. (See Topography.) The first railway of the country extends from Chemulpo to Seoul, a distance of 26 miles, and in 1901 carried 354,623 passengers, and 28,975 tons of merchandise. A long line from Fusan in the south to Seoul (287 miles) is now in course of construction, and another is being constructed from Seoul to Wiju, at the mouth of the Yalu (350 miles). At the end of 1901 the telegraph mileage was 2170 miles, and the number of offices 27. A postal system has been organized, and Korea is a member of the Postal Union. In 1900 953,675 postage stamps of the ordinary denominations were issued. Seoul has an electrical railway which extends nine miles into the country.

COMMERCE. Until the opening of the treaty ports Korean trade was almost exclusively with China, and carried on chiefly at the Korean Gate in Manchuria, where the tribute-bearing mission to Peking passed through Fung-hwang Ch'ing. The eight seaports now open are Chemulpo (or Inchön), Fusan, Wönsan (better known by its Japanese name, Gensan), Chinampo, Mokp'o, Kunsan, Masampo, and Song-chin, and there is a Russian trading centre at Kyöng (or Kyeng-) heung in latitude 42° 4' N., and longitude 128° 14' E. The most important of the treaty ports is Chemulpo, situated on the western coast 26 miles by rail from Seoul. It is rapidly increasing in importance, and has steam connection with Japan, Shanghai, and Vladivostock. The inland city of Ping-yang is also considered open. The total value of the trade of the open ports amounted in 1900 to $10,185,824; made up of imports $5,484,770, and exports $4,701,054, not including gold, $1,816,500. In 1901 the total value of the trade was $14,019,581, including the export of gold $2,486,689, and the importation of 10.963,200 pounds of rice (on account of the famine in that year). The chief imports are piece goods (chiefly for Japanese use), kerosene, almost entirely from the United States (12,463,631 gallons), tobacco (chiefly cigarettes), metals, railway plant, etc. chief exports are rice (none in 1901), beans, cowhides, ginseng ($770,869 in 1900), copper, gold, cattle and live stock, sea-slugs, nut-galls, whaleflesh and blubber, dried fish, and tallow.

The

The vessels entering port numbered 4972 (985,309 tons), mostly Japanese. Seven of the eight ports have direct communication with Japan. See heading Topography.

BANKS. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank has an office in Korea, and there are also branches of Japanese banks. Russian financial interests are represented locally by the RussoKorean Bank at Seoul.

GOVERNMENT. Korea is an absolute monarchy. Until January 7, 1895, it paid tribute to China, and its kings always received investiture from the Chinese Emperors. The Government was based on that of China, and consisted of a grand council of three ministers, and six boards, each with its own president and staff of officials, all

or provinces into two-a northern and a southern and from Kyeng-Keni, one of the remaining three, the 'metropolitan province,' with Han-yang, the capital, was separated and erected into a department called Han-yang Pu under a Governor called a P'an-yun. Of the 339 prefectures 7 are placed under Pu-yan or 'city Governors' (pu Chinese fu) and 4 of the treaty ports are under Kamni or 'superintendents of trade,' who rank with consuls. The following table gives the names of the 13 provinces, the names of the capitals, and the result of a census (?) taken in 1900 which will be explained below under Population. The spelling of Korean names is unsettled, and the chief forms are given.

Names of the 13 Provinces

123456789

Koang-chyu..

Tai-ku....
Chin-chyu

South P'yeng (or Phyöng, or P'yung) -an..

Chyen-chyu..

386,132

437,660

590,602

483,816

196,898

5,608,351

Ham-heung. Kyeng-syeng.

Total..

appointed after examination. In 1895 the Government was remodeled, the six boards, the examinations, and the privileges of the aristocracy were abolished, and a Grand Council of State was instituted, consisting of the ten members of the Cabinet and five councilors to discuss resolutions for the King to sign. The ten ministers are: a President or Prime Minister, and secretaries for the Home, Foreign, Treasury, War, Education, Justice, Agriculture, Trade and Industry, the Imperial Household, and Police departments. In 1897 the King declared his country an empire, gave it the name of Dai Han, took the title of Emperor, and inaugurated a new reign-period (called Kwang-mu) with 1897 as the first year.

In 1901 the public revenue amounted to $4,521,569, derived chiefly from land tax, house tax, customs dues, the ginseng monopoly, and miscellaneous sources. More than half was furnished by the land tax ($2,530,904). A debt of $1,375,000 contracted in 1895 was paid off. A mint has been established and silver dollars (wön or yen) are coined (based on a gold unit), besides 20-sen silver pieces, 5-sen nickels, 5'cash' copper pieces, and 1-'cash' pieces of brass. Japanese paper currency amounting to $1,250,000 is in circulation, and as the new coinage in circulation is inadequate, Japanese coins are used. The weights and measures of Korea are the same as those of China. The army consists of 17,000 men (all drilled, clothed, and equipped in foreign style), a bodyguard of 1000 men, and 2000 police. There is no navy.

ADMINISTRATION. In 1896 the country was divided for administrative purposes into 13 provinces and 339 kun or prefectures. This was effected by dividing 5 of the largest of the 8 do

POPULATION. This had been variously estimated at from 8,000,000 to 16,500,000. In 1900 an official census was published showing a total of 5,608,351, as given above. It appears, however, that these figures merely represent the number of adults who are liable for taxes to the Imperial Government. The true number, therefore, remains undetermined, and will never be accurate so long as it is associated with the taxlists. In 1901 the foreign population was 21,783, of whom 16,142 were Japanese, 5000 Chinese, 269 United States citizens, 114 British, 79 French, 42 Germans, and 97 Russians. The chief cities are Seoul, the capital, Ping-yang, and Kai-seng.

The nobility are free from military duty. They wear colored clothing, and hats made of horsehair. The common classes wear either white or uncolored clothing. Men marry under twenty, girls at sixteen. Korean families are large. The women live in seclusion. A Korean can have only one legal wife, but concubinage is permitted.

RELIGION. Buddhism early entered Korea from China, and spread to Japan, where it took firm root. For a thousand years it flourished in Korea, and was a power in the land. It is still found in a degraded form, its monks sunk in ignorance, and its influence on the people small. Until the dawn of the new régime Buddhist monks were forbidden to enter the cities and not a single temple was allowed in the capital. The higher classes content themselves with ancestorworship and the Confucian morality, but the popular religion is Shamanistic, characterized by animal-worship, sorcery, and all manner of superstitious practices. Christianity entered Korea in 1775, through books sent by the Jesuit missionaries at Peking. In 1836 French mission

aries found several thousand converts. Persecution, however, broke out, and in 1866 nine priests were executed at the capital. There are now 30,000 native Roman Catholics and 30 French priests. Protestant missions began in 1884, and there are now 200 teachers and preachers, with 2500 enrolled church members.

EDUCATION. Under the old régime education was in Chinese chiefly, and conducted on Chinese lines. In 1894-95 a new Department of Education was established, and a public school system inaugurated extending through the various grades, from primary to normal, with a university in prospect. Besides there are schools for languages, taught by foreigners, including Japanese, Chinese, Russian, French, English, and German, all under the Education Department. There are also many mission schools-one of them subsidized.

ETHNOLOGY. The position of Korea between China and Japan makes its population of special interest to the ethnologist, and accounts in part for their mixed racial character. Native traditions speak of two primitive races, the Sienpi and the Sanhan, one Mongoloid, the other, perhaps, more Aino-like, who, by the dawn of the Christian Era, had been subjected by and had merged with the so-called Kaori, or Kaoli, the ruling people, from whom the country has been named. Some anthropologists hold that the Koreans were of more positive Asiatic type than the Japanese, but had sprung from the same stock as the ancestors of the latter. Others group Japanese and Koreans together, believing that the Koreans are intermediate between the continental and insular Mongoloid peoples. Still others regard them as a mixed race from Tungus, Indonesian, and Japanese elements. They are somewhat taller and more robust, with much lighter complexion, and far more regular features than the average Mongol. In Korea three marked types may be recognized: Korean-Manchu (nearer the European than is the real Mongolic) in the north and centre, Malayo-Mongolic in the south, and Aino (traces more or less) in the east toward Japan. Some have sought a Caucasian (white) element in the Koreans, but unless the Aino represent a sort of proto-Caucasian stock of great antiquity in Eastern Asia, this theory is very weak in evidence. Physically and otherwise the Koreans seem closely related to the people of the Loochoo Islands. The extent and character of Korean folk-lore and mythology may be seen from Gale's article on "Korean Beliefs," in Folk-lore (London, 1900); Allen, Korean Tales, and Arnous, Korea: Märchen und Legenden (Leipzig, 1893). The extensive ethnological collections from Korea in the United States National Museum at Washington have been described by Dr. Hough in the Report for 1891, while the American Anthropologist (Washington) for the same year contains an article by Rockhill, "Notes on Some of the Laws, Customs, and Superstitions of Korea." The very interesting games of the country have been made the subject of a valuable special monograph by Professor Culin, Korean Games, with Notes on the Corresponding Games of China and Japan (Philadelphia, 1895). Korean civilization undoubtedly owes much to China. Korea, besides possessing indigenous culture-elements, perceptible in myth ology, social phenomena, medicine, folk-literature, art, etc., has preserved a number of proto

Sinitic characters in an older form than is discoverable in either China or Japan. The Chinese elements in Korean life, also, are more Chinese than in China. Both upon China and Japan, in the matter of pottery especially, Korea has exercised considerable influence, and Chinese recognition of the ceramic art of the Koreans finds expression in poetry of the Ming dynasty.

HISTORY. The beginnings of Korean history are associated with Ki-tse (q.v.), who is said to have founded a nation here some time after B.C. 1122. In B.C. 103 the country was annexed to the Chinese Empire. Soon after the Christian Era, it was divided among three petty principalities called the San Han. About 960 one of them, called Kori or Koryŭ, became paramount and maintained its independence during a bril liant period of progress in which the governmental machinery was modeled after that of China. The Six Boards were introduced, and the country was divided into eight do or provinces. This was an age of flourishing art, and Buddhism attained its greatest development and power. In 1392, however, a palace revolution took place, which resulted in the overthrow of Buddhism, the banishing of the priests, and the establishment of the present dynasty. The ancient name of Chosen or Chosön (in Chinese Chao-sien or 'morning freshness') was revived, and Han-yang became the Seoul or 'capital.' In 1592 Hideyoshi (q.v.), the Japanese Regent, sent a large invading army into Korea as a first step to the conquest of China. His armies overran the country as far north as Ping-yang and Wönsan, but on the arrival of Chinese assistance Hideyoshi's troops were gradually driven southward, and in 1597 they were recalled. Japan, however, retained Fusan in the south as a trading station. Hardly had Korea recovered from the effects of this Japanese irruption when, in 1627, the Manchus appeared and placed the country under vassalage, and from that date until 1894 a tribute-bearing mission annually visited Peking. In 1864 the King (posthumously known as Ch'yel-chyong) died childless without having named a successor. The present Emperor, YiHevi, then a child of twelve, was chosen, and his father appointed Tai Wen Kun as Regent. For nine years he ruled with a rod of iron, persecuted the Christians (leading to a French expedition in 1866, which accomplished nothing), and rigorously enforced the policy of exclusiveness, and the doctrine of 'Korea for the Koreans.' In 1871 a United States expedition, sent to inquire into the fate of a shipwrecked crew, was equally fruitless. It fell to the lot of the Japanese to be the first to make a treaty of friendship and intercourse with Korea. The ports of Wönsan and Fusan were opened in 1876 to their trade, and a third, Chemulpo, in 1880. In 1882 Commodore Shufeldt secured a treaty of friendship between the United States and Korea. This was followed in 1883 by treaties with Great Britain and Germany, in 1884 with Italy and Russia, in 1886 with France, in 1892 with Austria, and in 1897 with China.

Meanwhile there was much conflict in Korea between the Conservatives and the 'Civilization Party,' but the latter triumphed. In 1880 a Korean embassy visited Japan, and another visited the United States in 1883 to exchange ratifications of the treaty. From this time forth