Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/303

 one and the same plan. The only difference is in degree. The basis of the structure is what is called the kan. This means a space about eight feet square. If you wish to buy a house, the first question will be as to how many kan you require. The price is stated in terms of the kan, and you will buy the building just as you would buy silk by the yard or beef by the pound. Of course the condition of the building will be taken into consideration in estimating the value, but the price of tiled house or thatched house at any time is readily found in the market quotations as so much per kan. Some years ago there was far greater uniformity in price than now, for in the eighties Koreans did not realise that a house on the main street was of any more value than one on a side lane ; nor did the amount of land about the house figure at all in the price. I have more than once bought a small thatched house in the middle of a large field in Seoul, paying only the market price per kan of house. Those days have gone now, and the situation and the area of the land are carefully taken into account. All Korean houses being built on a single pattern, a description of one will suffice for all. After the site has been plotted out with cord and the position of each post decided upon, holes are dug at each of these points to a depth of four or five feet, until something like solid earth has been reached. Then a number of workmen stand around one of these holes, holding in their hands ropes attached to a large stone or, preferably, a heavy lump of iron. As the foreman sings a droning labour song, the men pull simultaneously at the ropes, and the stone or iron is heaved high in the air and falls into the hole, thus tamping down the earth at the point where the foundation stone is to lie. Crushed stone or broken pieces of tile are thrown in and this is all mashed into the earth to make the foundation still stronger. Each hole is treated likewise, and then the chuchutol, or post stones, are placed in position. They may protrude a foot or more from the surface of the ground. Usually they are too small to reach the bottom of the hole, and in that case loose stones are piled in until the proper level is reached.