Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/329

 country where carts are used; but for short distances this is usually accomplished by means of a long, heavy pole or beam resting on the shoulders of many men. This piece of wood is fifteen feet long, six inches in thickness at the middle, and three at the ends. The stone is attached to it by heavy ropes, and four, six or eight men put their shoulders to the carrying beam at each end. They stand so close together that their bodies actually touch each other, and it would be impossible to walk if they did not keep exact step, like a line of prisoners at Sing-sing. The knack of doing this is acquired, and there is a distinct class of workmen who receive special wages for it.

One of the most conspicuous occupations of Korea is that of water-carrier. In the rural districts the women of the house generally carry the water from the spring or well to the house in jars on their heads, but in the large towns this work is done by a special class of men. Seoul is supplied with water only by the miserable neighbourhood wells, about which the less said the better. The people do not hesitate to wash their soiled clothes immediately beside the well, where the filth is readily washed back into it, and vegetables or other things are generally cleaned beside the well-curb. These wells are often very far from sanitary, and it is to them that we must trace the terrible results of occasional cholera epidemics and other infectious diseases. To supply a large city with water from this source is a work of no small magnitude, and the water-carrier is a recognised institution, which boasts of a powerful guild. The work is genuine and hard, and the pay is correspondingly high. This high pay puts a premium upon the work. The applicant for a position as a water-carrier in any thickly populated portion of Seoul will have to pay from forty to one hundred dollars for the position. Each house to which water is carried pays a monthly fee for the service. The water is carried in two wooden buckets the size and shape of an inverted firkin, suspended from a yoke which rests upon the small of the back and is held in place by straps over the shoulders. The buckets are fastened to the yoke