Page:Every-day life in Korea (1898).djvu/25

 Seoul, Chemulpo, and Fusan, already mentioned, and Gensan on the eastern coast. Two new ports have been opened this autumn — one at Mokpo in the southwest, the other at Chinampo, the seaport of Pyeng-yang.

Korea, for many centuries, consisted of eight provinces, but about a year ago, for administrative purposes, five of the largest were cut in two, making a total of thirteen provinces. The historical eight, with their subdivisions, are located as follows: In the northeast are the provinces of North and South Ham Kyeng; in the northwest are North and South Pyeng An ; below them, in the western central portion, lies Whang Hai, then Kyeng Kui, then North and South Choung Chong; in the eastern middle part is Kang Won; in the southeast lie North and South Kyeng Sang; and in the southwest are North and South Chulla.

The remark upon the country which seems to call forth the greatest surprise at home is, that in the winter time I frequently have seen oxen, each laden with a couple of great bags of rice, walking across the Han River, near Seoul, upon the ice.

Further than this, now and again, when taking a Saturday afternoon half-holiday skating upon the same river, I have seen a hundred men and boys at a time grouped on the ice, half of them standing about with their long-stemmed pipes, the other half seated upon little hand