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 CHAPTER VII.

The Village Inn.

village inn is no small factor in most Korean villages which happen to be situated on one of the public roads. It is also often found in the more secluded country villages. The Koreans as a people do much traveling, both on account of business and for pleasure. The merchants are itinerating merchants, and must have places to stop for the night as they travel from place to place. They follow the round of the markets. By the way, these markets, which have a very close relation to our present subject, since they create one of the leading demands for the inns, are very interesting and deserve some notice here.

In the early days of the kingdom there was no money, and so all trade was carried on by barter. This fact called for and originated the institution that we now call the market. For many, many long centuries the Koreans have had their system of finance, including coin, which is always in demand; yet it has never been able to displace the good old way of swapping produce. Doubtless one reason for this is the fact that this coin has been so unwieldy that it has been almost as much trouble to carry money sufficient to pay for an article as to carry barter of some sort to make the desired exchange. When you remember that it takes from two thousand to two thousand five hundred of these copper coins, each one nearly as heavy as a silver dollar, to equal the value of one American dol- Rh