Page:The passing of Korea.djvu/549

 good site. But if the line of hills is short, or if the continuity of the range is broken at any point by a deep intersecting valley, if the range is mostly shorn of timber, or if it is rugged and abounding in precipices, the site will be of comparatively little value. The perfect site is rare and hard to find. It is called a "mountain line that curves around and sees its greatgrandfather." Each of the points that form the chain is looked upon as the parent of the next lower one, and so, when the line curves so that from the lowest eminence the highest one is visible, it means that the latest descendant can always look upon his ancestor.

Next in importance is "the prospect." To be perfect it must be toward the south, though the east or west are not bad. It must never be toward the north, for it looks away from the sun and its colour is black. The blue dragon and white tiger must also be attended to. These represent the east and west sides of the grave, where the flanking hills must be of equal length or their influence will be evil. The most dangerous thing is a kyubong, or "spying peak." If from the grave site there can be seen the top of a hill peeping over the top of a nearer one, it means that the descendants of the man buried there are fated to become robbers. A genius, or spirit of evil, crouches behind the nearer hill and keeps its baleful eye upon the last resting-place of the dead.

If everything is right and the pay is guaranteed, the geomancer gets out his "wheel picture," lays it on the ground and determines the exact direction in which the grave must face. If there are other graves in sight, it must not point toward any of them. The remoteness or proximity of other graves exercises an important influence. The operator next lays the "golden well." This is a frame composed of two transverse and two lateral rods in the shape of the Chinese character for well. A mark is made all around inside this parallelogram, and the ground is broken for the grave. The depth to which it must be dug, and the position that the chief mourner must occupy at