h hills. In the history of the
relations between Corea and Japan this province plays indeed a very
important part, for being nearer than any other portion of the kingdom to
the Japanese shores--the distance being, I believe, some 130 miles
between the nearest points of the two countries--invasions have been of
frequent occurrence, especially during the period that Kai-seng, then
called Sunto, was the capital. This city, like the present capital,
Seoul, was a fortified and walled town of the first rank and the chief
military centre of the country, besides being a seat of learning and
making some pretence of commercial enterprise. It lay about twenty-five
miles N.E. of Seoul, and at about an equal number of miles from the
actual sea. For several hundreds of years, Sunto had been one of the
principal cities of Corea, when Wang, a warrior of the Fuyu race and an
ardent Buddhist, who had already conquered the southern portion of the
Corean peninsula, made it the capital, which it remained until the year
1392 A.D., when the seat of the Government was removed to Seoul.

To return to Fusan and the Kyung-sang province. It is as well to mention
that the chief product cultivated is cotton. This is, of course, the
principal industry all over Corea, and the area under cultivation is
roughly computed at between eight and nine hundred thousand acres, the
unclean cotton produced per annum being calculated at about 1,200,000,000
lbs. In a recent report, the Commissioner of Customs at Fusan sets down
the yearly consumption of cleaned cotton at about 300,000,000 lbs. The
greater part of the cotton is made up into piece-goods for making
garments and padding the native winter clothes. In the Kiung-sang
province the pieces of cloth manufactured measure sixty feet, while the
width is only fourteen inches, and the weight between three and four
pounds. The fibre of the cotton stuff produced, especially in the
Kiung-sang and Chulla provinces, is highly esteemed by the Coreans, and
they say that it is much more durable and warmth-giving than that
produced either in Japan or China.

Of course the production of cotton could be greatly increased if more
practical systems were used in its cultivation, and if the magistrates
were not so much given to "squeezing" the people. To make money and to
have it extorted the moment you have made it, is not encouraging to the
poor Corean who has worked for it; therefore little exertion is displayed
beyond what