the enormous padlocks and bolts having been
thoroughly fastened, Seoul was severed from the outer world till the
following morning. Adjoining the gate stood the gatekeeper's house, and
in front of the door of this, a rack with a few rusty and obsolete spears
standing in a row, was left to take care of the town and its inhabitants,
while the guardians, having finished the work of the day, retreated to
the warm room inside to resume the game or gambling which the setting sun
had interrupted, and which had occupied their day. With the setting of
the sun every noise ceased. Every good citizen retired to his home, and
I, too, therefore, deemed it advisable to follow suit.

There are no hotels in Seoul, with the exception of the very dirty
Corean inns; but I was fortunate enough to meet at Chemulpo a Russian
gentleman who, with his family, lived in Seoul, where he was employed as
architect to His Majesty the King of Corea, and he most politely invited
me to stay at his house for a few days; and it is to his kind
hospitality, therefore, that I owe the fact that my first few nights at
Seoul were spent comfortably and my days were well employed, my
peregrinations round the town being also conducted under his guidance.

CHAPTER IV

The Coreans--Their faces and heads--Bachelors--Married
men--Head-band--Hats--Hat-umbrellas--Clothes--Spectacles.

Being now settled for the time being in Seoul, I must introduce you to
the Corean, not as a nation, you must understand, but as an individual.
It is a prevalent idea that the Coreans are Chinese, and therefore
exactly like them in physique and appearance, and, if not like the
Chinese, that they must be like their neighbours on the other side--the
Japanese. As a matter of fact, they are like neither. Naturally the
continuous incursions of both Chinese and Japanese into this country have
left distinct traces of their passage on the general appearance of the
people; and, of course, the distinction which I shall endeavour to make
is not so marked as that between whites and blacks, for the Coreans,
speaking generally, do bear a certain resemblance to the other peoples of
Mongolian origin. Though belonging to this family, however, they form a
perfectly distinct branch of it. Not only that, but when you notice a
crowd of Coreans you will be amazed to see among them people almost as
white and with features closely approaching the Aryan, these being the
higher classes in the kingdom. The