Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/308

 fifty or even two hundred kan. Every dwelling with any pretension to comfort will have a separate part called the sarang. This is the gentleman's reception-room, and is approached from the outside without coming near the women's part of the house. This latter is called the " inner room," and no one of the male sex will enter there without the express invitation of and in company with the master of the house.

The Koreans have a passion for cutting up their compounds with endless walls, making a veritable labyrinth of the place. To our eyes this is a great blemish, for it leaves little opportunity for a pleasing effect on the eye. The very finest Korean house is the most secluded, and you can discover its charms only by close inspection, and by twisting in and out through numberless gates and alleys. You cannot stand off and admire it as you can a European building. On the street side it presents nothing to the eye but a plain row of ordinary Korean kan without anything to show its character whatever. Judging from their houses, the Koreans do not put their best side out. You cross the cesspool to get into the gate; you go through the servants' quarters and stables to get to the apartments of the master of the house. At the very back of all, and most inaccessible, you may find a pretty bank with some flowering shrubs, some quaint water-worn stones, and perhaps a solemn stork or two. In none of the various enclosures will you find a blade of grass growing. Such a thing as a lawn is quite unknown, and if grass tries to sprout it will be immediately scraped away with a hoe. In a very nice house you may find a few potted plants or shrubs in the enclosure before the sarang.

The ideal house site will face the south and will have a steep bank behind it. The south means warmth, light and life. The north means blackness, cold and death. This is an idea that has been borrowed from China, and is not indigenous with the Koreans. The same is true of every grave site and of every prefectural town site as well. Other things being equal, the southern exposure will always commend itself to the Korean.