Life In Corea.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 210, 9 July 1887, Page 2

Life In Corea.

Attention- has of lato beon drawn to tho si.range country Coi ea by the proposal to institute as Iho Prime Minister of it an Englishman. Tho customs of the country are decidedly peculiar, and anything but agieeableto Europeans ACoreanoliici.il of high rank will not enter a house by the &arne gateway as a subordinate functionary, and the latter would not dream of passing tluough the portal used by tho trader or merchant. A personage of importance will always have three gates to his dwelling, one, by the largest, he himself uses, one his patents and near friend? may use. and the last ih used for independents. In so simple a matter as sitting down in a room the dit tinetion of rank is maintained to such an extent, that only an equal any sit with his face to the east. A superior it> allowed to look south, but an inferior must turn his nose to the north. A merchant or trader must not wear a dress tnade of the sasie stuff as. the officials u«-e, nor mus>t it be made in the same way. And the poorer people can do nothing: without the consent; of those above shorn. To kill an ox requires the magistrate's permission, and in such a case the head, hide, and feet are the perquisites of the official and his subordinates, the " blue clouds "—as some are designated from the colour of their attire, - and the " crooked-backs," a name given to another kind of functionary, who is always bowing to his superior. Every person in the kingdom is bound to have a "hopai,"or passport) testifying to his identity : of wood branded and marked for the common people, of horn for soldiers, and of bone for literary men and officials. This ticket must bo "shown when demanded," and as tho Government have a duplicate they can always asceitain if the person answers to the official description. Tho.-e who cannot read or write— the greater number of the people, of course— have their labels tied to their clothes, ko that the vast majority of Coreans go about their business ticketed and labelled like a bale of goods. Tho name, residence, occupation, and certified number of group of hou.-es to which the bearer belongs are all wiitten or branded upon the "hopui," The " hai-sok," or police, are heredit.uy, the office, together with the ensigns, implements, and arms proper to it, descending from father to son. The administration of justice in Corea has hitherto been brutal to an incredible degree. One of the punishments suniving is the battering of the knees and shin-bones-even the women sufler thin, but are allowed to cover their limbs with a cloth, which, i being wetted, only adds to the pain en- , durcd. Formerly a thief was trampled to death, and criminals were executed by pouring vinegar down their throats and then i beating them until they bvust.