Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/299

 COREA IK SEVENTEEKTH ^ENTURY. 275 sleeves were enormously wide, as they are stilL Marriages were then, as in Britain now, consummated by the young people themselves, who were free to see and to choose for themselves. In this they have changed to the Chinese style (see Customs, below). Burials took place only three years after death. Their o£Gicials and lower ranks of soldiers and lictors were extremely polite. All public officers were paid in land, as in ancient China. In punishing offenders, they never beat a man to death (comp. customs). Their clothing was made of flax, and they still use a coarse linen; and their houses were built of straw (comp. customs). The following narrative of the conquest of Corea by the Manchus is translated chiefly from the "Holy wars,*' which introduces Corea in the following manner : — " Corea, from north to south, is two thousand li. It is divided into eight provinces, containing forty-one circuits, in which are thirty-three foo, thirty-eight chow, and seventy hien cities, i.e. in all a hundred and forty-one walled cities. It is bounded on the north ))y Liao, and on the east, west, and south by the sea. The whole of its sea coast is locked in by very high mountain ranges and islands cut off the main land, there being only Fooshan, opposite to Madao (island), into which vessels can sail, and which was anciently the resort of Japanese pirates. " Going to the capital from Fooshan, it is necessary to pass through the two provinces of Chiienlo and Chingshan * between which provinces is a very high range of mountains, precipitous in the extreme, and easily defended. Liw Ting kept Chiienlo for two years with only five thousand men, in the time of Wanli, and cut out all to the east of him. "The capital is in the heart of the eight provinces, its north protected by Tsoongshan, and its south by Tsangchiao mountains. " Joongchow has on its right and left Jinling and Haling, with a winding path where only one man can walk. Here at the south side the Japanese held the path against the Chinese with a few men ; while at the north end, a few Chinese blocked the way
 * JvUa and Oiungthang.