Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/326

 ideal in its construction. It is so built that the weight is nicely poised, and is so distributed upon the hips, the back and the shoulders that each part bears its proportionate burden. The result is that a man can carry any load that his legs will enable him to support. This jiggy is a unique national institution ; as much so as the samovar is of Russia, or the bull-fight is of Spain. Compare it with the methods in vogue in other lands. The Chinese balance their burden in two baskets attached to a bamboo stick. This is carried over the shoulder. The stick has to be long enough so that the swinging baskets will not strike his legs as he walks, and the weight is so applied to his body that only a small part of his strength can be brought into play. When his burden cannot be divided, he has to carry a counterbalancing weight in one basket. He requires almost three times as much room in the street as the Korean carrier. The Korean sets his jiggy on the ground, and props it up with his forked stick.

Placing the load on the frame, he ties it there securely with a cord that forms an essential part of the apparatus. Kneeling down, he inserts his arms into the two padded loops and fits them on his shoulders. Then leaning forward, he throws the weight of the load upon his back, and by the aid of the stick rises to a standing posture. He can easily rise with a weight of two hundred and fifty pounds, but if it is three hundred pounds or more, he requires the help of another man to rise. I have seen Korean coolies carry a weight of four hundred pounds in this way a distance of several hundred yards without resting. Of course such a thing would be entirely beyond the power of a Chinese coolie with his bamboo stick. Either the stick or his shoulder must break. The average load that a Korean will carry at the rate of thirty miles a day is about one hundred pounds. The pack-ponies carry about twice as much, and the bullocks from three to four times as much.

Besides these, there are several special methods of transportation confined to particular kinds of burdens. Heavy stones are carried on carts if there is a road, and if it be in a part of the