Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/302

 foundations the Koreans seldom reach hard-pan, but having gone through the soft upper sediment they pound the earth down with a heavy stone or iron mallet, and without more ado set the heavy foundation stone which is to support the pillar. The impossibility of securing entire uniformity in the solidity of these separate foundations is revealed in about twenty years, when the roof of the building begins to assume a wavy appearance, and everything loses its horizontal or perpendicular position in favour of a certain bibulous obliquity. The first serious repairs, therefore, which a Korean house has to undergo consist in tearing out the flimsy material which fills the wall spaces between the pillars, relieving each pillar in turn of the vertical pressure of the roof by means of improvised struts, and then shifting the position of the foundation stone so as to allow the pillar to be made perpendicular once more. The Orientals seem never to have acquired the notion of a tie-beam so arranged as to relieve the lateral thrust caused by a roof resting upon rafters. By far the greater part of the weight of the roof rests directly upon the centre of the tie-beam. The result is that this beam has to be of enormous thickness. The only thing that prevents the building from leaning is the mortise of the tie-beam into the top of the supporting pillar. There are no trusses to prevent leaning, and so it takes but a few years for the building to get out of plumb. It is doubtless this which makes Koreans prefer to have their houses all together in a bunch. They resemble a company o.f jolly roisterers trying to get home in the " wee sma' hours " with arms interlocked for mutual support. If you buy a Korean house in a crowded quarter and want to tear it down, you are likely to arouse shrill protests from your neighbours on either side. You will not go far along any street in Seoul or any other Korean town without seeing houses propped up with stout sticks for fear they will fall over into the ditch. On the whole, one has to conclude that the roof is considered the main thing, and the foundation only a side issue. All Korean houses, whether those of the common people or the palaces of kings, are built upon