Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/311

 As to the sanitary arrangements of the Korean house, the less said the better. These people have not learned the first rudiments of hygiene, and so long as there is a ditch that will carry off the water that falls from the sky, all requirements seem to be met. The scavenger comes around at any time of day to take away the night soil, and you are more than likely to pass him and his load as you enter the gentleman's compound. To the Westerner this insensibility of the Korean, and of all the dwellers of the Far East without exception, is entirely unaccountable. You will find the most horribly offensive conditions as readily among the residences of the wealthy and powerful as among the poor. There is this much to be said, however, before leaving this rather unpleasant subject: the open sewerage of Korea, while offensive to the eye, is far less so to the nose than that of China, and even many portions of Japan. There are much fewer epidemics of cholera in Korea than in Japan, while diphtheria, that special disease resulting from imperfect sewerage, is far more common in Tokyo than in Seoul. What I would maintain is that in spite of the offensiveness of the sanitation of Seoul, both to the eye and the nose, there is little evidence to prove that the actual health conditions among the natives are any worse than among the Japanese or Chinese.

The Koreans seem to have but a vague idea of what a street is really for, and of the restrictions which communal ownership should place upon its use. It is only since the coming of foreigners that the streets of Seoul have assumed anything like a semblance of order. Up to that time even the broad street which forms the central artery of the city was so choked up with booths and stalls that two carts could hardly pass each other at certain points. The Korean shopkeeper thinks nothing of extending his establishment out into the street for a distance of two, three or even four feet. At first he does it only as a temporary booth or screen for his goods, but as soon as the public get used to going around the obstruction he will quietly plant permanent posts at the limits of his encroachment, and the thing is done. If