Page:History of Corea, ancient and modern; with description of manners and customs, language and geography (1879).djvu/421

 Chapter XIV. GEOGRAPHY. The name Korea or Corea is, as we have seen, derived from the Gaogowli of the beginning of thd Christian era. The first pliable was ultimately dropped, and the kingdom was known as Gaoli even before the 7th century. The descendants of those who survived the wholesale butcheries of the Tang empress Woo, pronounce this name Gori, which name was, a couple of centuries ago, written Corea in the west The Coreans now call themselves Gori people, but give the name Chosen — the ancient Chaosien — to their country. The beautifully clear waters of the wide and deep Yaloo separate Corean from Chinese soil, along its course from its source in Changbaishan to the point where it falls into the Yellow Sea near Takushan. The Toomun, also rising in Changbaishan, separates the northern border of Corea from both Chinese and Russian territory. The Japan Sea divides it from Japan, and the Yellow Sea washes its south and south-west coasts. On both its east and west seaboard coasts, its shores rise in high precipitous mountains, and are flanked by numerous uninhabited and desolate rocky islands On the east of the southern promontoiy, there is the one fort of Foosan, opposite the Ma Island of Japan. It was by this port the Japanese were wont of old to make predatory incursions into the country. It is now one of the few ports opened by Treaty to Japanese trade. From it there is a road leading direct to the capital, through the provinces of Julia and Giungsang, between which provinces the road runs between high, precipitous, and unscalable mountains ;