Life in Corea

Abstract

THIS is a valuable and interesting account of a country about which little definite knowledge has hitherto been accessible. There are some aspects of his subject with which Mr. Carles does not profess to deal. Apart from such incidents as happened before his own eyes, he has nothing to tell us about the system of government, or the relations between the king and his nobles, the people and the serfs, in Corea. On the other hand, he gives a full and sometimes a very vivid account of everything he himself had opportunities of directly and carefully studying, and his book is worthy of serious attention, mainly because it consists of the results of his own personal observation. Mr. Carles went to Corea for the first time in 1883, when he not only visited the capital, Soul, but undertook, with some friends, an interesting journey inland. The object of this excursion was the inspection of a silver working, which proved to be very unworthy of its reputation. The scenery, Mr. Carles says, never failed to charm, and the people were invariably civil. At Soul he had some difficulty in obtaining anything really characteristic of native taste and skill. In the curio shops the only distinctly native article seemed to be a kind of iron casket inlaid with silver, the pattern of which was sometimes very delicate. In the spring of 1884, Mr. Carles took up his quarters at Chemulpo as H.M. Vice-Consul in Corea; and one of the best chapters in the book is that in which he sums up his impressions of Chemulpo and the neighbourhood, bringing together various facts of scientific interest, and indicating problems as to tidal and other phenomena about which he is still uncertain. In this chapter Mr. Carles offers a suggestion which is certainly worthy of the attention of men of science. He says:—

Life in Corea.

By W. R. Carles With Illustrations and Map. (London: Macmillan and Co., 1888.)