Page:Village life in Korea (1911).djvu/158

134 our country for feeding stock, and when the rice grows low in the bag the farmer and his family mix beans with the rice, though they do not like it that way. In mountain districts, where rice is scarce, the people live largely on millet and potatoes.

I must not close this chapter without telling you about the jiggy, which is to be found on every farmer's back a good part of the time. It is a sort of human pack saddle, made by taking two pieces of a small pine with limbs at the same angle and framing them together by means of two or three cross pieces, and then a little straw rope and matting complete the work. The straw ropes or bands are tied to the jiggy so that they fit over the shoulders of the person carrying it. Thus the jiggy is supported from the shoulders, and rests on the back from the shoulders to the loins. It is wonderful what loads these men can carry. No one comes to Korea with a trunk too heavy to be carried on a jiggy. It is said that a man has been known to carry a load, of five hundred pounds the distance of a mile without stopping to rest. Every farmer has his jiggy, not only for himself, but one for each of the boys around the place. In this way much of the farm produce is carried from the field to the house, and from the house to the market. When the farmer goes to market with a load of wood or produce on his cow, he also takes a load on his jiggy. This is a much better device for carrying loads than the long pole which is used for the same purpose in China and Japan. I think the jiggy originated in Korea, and has never been adopted to any extent by any other people; and