Page:Korea (1904).djvu/94

42 the world a composite nation, distinct in types, habits, and speech, amalgamated only by a rare train of circumstances over which they could have had no control. It is by the facial resemblances that the origin of the Koreans may be traced to a Caucasian race. The speech of the country, while closely akin to Chinese, reproduces sounds and many verbal denominations which are found in the languages of India. Korea has submitted to the influence of Chinese arts and literature for centuries, but there is little actual agreement between the legends of the two countries. The folk-lore of China is in radical disagreement with the vague and shadowy traditions of the people of Korea. There is a vast blank in the early history of Korea, at a period when China is represented by many unimpaired records. Research can make no advance in face of it; surmise and logical reflections from extraneous comparisons alone can supply the requisite data. Posterity is thus presented with an unrecorded chapter of the world's history, which at the best can be only faintly sketched.

MEANS OF LOCOMOTION