Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/325

 we read that the horses were so small that men could ride under the branches of the fruit trees without striking their heads against them. From time immemorial the island of Quelpart has been the famous breeding-place of the hardy pony, and the Mongols established themselves there very strongly in order to breed horses for use in their wars. But for all this the Koreans seem to have developed no love for the horse such as redeems the character of the Bedouin. The Koreans never mutilate their animals, and the result is that, though the bulls are almost as quiet and docile as the oxen of the West, the little stallions are inveterate fighters. Even when tied head to tail in a long line they are almost sure to get tangled up in a squealing melee unless their drivers are at hand. I shall not soon forget the occasion on which the beast I was riding succeeded in getting both his forelegs over the neck of my wife's mount and proceeded to chew its ears off. It was a novel and exciting tête-à-tête.

But besides the bullock and the horse there is another "beast of burden" in Korea that outranks them both, and that is man. One could not safely quote figures here, but my impression is that more dead weight is carried on men's backs than on those of bullocks and horses combined. As a rule, it is only the large through traffic that is carried on animals' backs, and even this is often seen on men's backs. The dried fish from the northeast all come around by boat or across by pack-horse. Brushwood, grass and fagots are brought into the large centres on bullocks, horses and men's backs. Americans who are expert in throwing the "diamond hitch " have confessed that the Koreans can beat them at the game. Who can wonder, since the Koreans have been learning for the last four thousand years a - pretty thorough apprenticeship ! Not only are these people experts in adapting a load to an animal's back, but they have solved the problem of how to distribute the weight of a load on a man's back so that he can carry the maximum weight with the minimum of fatigue. It is safe to say that the Korean jiggy, or carrying-frame, is almost