Page:In Korea with Marquis Ito (1908).djvu/47

 adapted to the varying distances of an approaching foe. In height it ranges from twenty to forty feet; it is banked by an embankment of earth from twelve to fifteen feet thick. Various attempts have been made at patching up this decaying structure, but it can never have had the solidity and impregnability against attack by the methods of mediæval warfare which were given to fortifications of the same era in Japan. Moreover, the Korean defenders of the wall customarily ran away as the foe approached; and this the Japanese seldom or never did. Thus Seoul was easily captured by the warriors of Hideyoshi in 1592, and nearly a half century later by a Manchu invading army. The wall is, of course, useless for purposes of defence against modern warfare; and its continuance in existence, at least in large part, depends upon the length of time during which the sentiment of pride triumphs over more utilitarian considerations.

It is the Gates of Seoul which emphasize the visitors interest in the city wall and which give most of character to its picturesque features. In themselves, they are mere "tunnels pierced in the wall"; but they are rendered architecturally interesting by the widespreading eaves and graceful curvature and, in some cases, striking ornamentation of their roofs. They are, in all, eight in number, one of which is the "concealed." They bear the names of the points of the compass South, Little West, West, Northwest, East, Little East, and East Water; this is not, however, because they face true to these points, but because in the main they form the principal avenues of communication between the inside of the wall and the outlying regions situated in these general directions. Each of the gates has, besides, another name characterized by the customary Korean hyberbole. There are, for example, the "Gate of Exalted Ceremony," the "Gate of Effulgent Righteousness" (or, in two other cases, different kinds of righteousness), the "Gate of Brilliant Splendor," etc. But