Page:Korea (1904).djvu/76

  CHAPTER III

Move to the capital — A city of peace — Results of foreign influence — In the beginning — Education — Shops — Costume — Origin — Posts and telegraphs — Methods of cleanliness THE situation in which Seoul lies is enchanting. High hills and mountains rise close to the city, their sides rough, rugged and bleak, save where black patches of bushes and trees struggle for existence. The hollows within this rampart of hills and beyond the walls, are fresh and verdant. Small rice-fields, with clusters of thatched hovels in their midst, stretch between the capital and the port at Chemulpo. The atmosphere is clear; the air is sweet; the city is neat and orderly. It is possible, moreover, to live with great comfort in the three-storied brick structure, which, from a pretty collection of Korean buildings, nestling beneath the city wall, has been converted into the Station Hotel.

There is but one wall round Seoul. It is neither so high nor so massive as the wall of Pekin ; yet the situation of