}
that the deficit is largely due to the action of his countrymen in ousting the islanders from their fisheries. The chief products of Quelpart are, as he observes, ponies, oxen, hides, edible seaweed, awabé, and medicines, particularly a drug called the "Nu Pak." There is no export except to the Corean mainland, the greater part of the hides going to the shoemakers of Seoul. The natives in winter wear, he notes, not only skin coats and hats, but boots and even stockings of skins. Quelpart also produces oranges, and these and its diminutive ponies form its "local tribute" to the King. It is said that the arrival of the first consignment of the golden fruit at Seoul, five centuries ago, created such a stir, that the magnates decided to celebrate the occasion in an eminently characteristic way, and hold a quagga ("Koa-kê "), or examination. Ever since that day a quagga has taken place at Seoul on the day of the 11th moon, upon which the tribute oranges reach the city.
Where export trade is so slack, imports are necessarily few. A native broker consulted by the pressmen stated that of the consignment of kerosene he had imported from Fusan be had in three years sold but a hundred tins or so, despite the fact that there are two or three merchants of standing at the city. The population of Chei-ju is set down at 2,000 families; that of the whole island at some 7,000 or 8,000, but these are only approximations.
We left Chel-ju at noon, and steered due north for the Ping-yang inlet and Chennampo. We arrived off the Sir James Hall group at nightfall of the 23rd, and lay to for a short time, making the mouth of the Ta-dong about 7:30 A.M. on the 24th. At Oripo, which we passed at some distance, were lying one Japanese steamer and the Japanese commissariat steam-launch I had noticed on my previous visit.
We dropped anchor at Chennampo at 10 o'clock, where we found a transport, the " Hinodé," engaged in taking on board the rails which had formed the tramway between that port and Ping- yang. I learnt that the rails, which are of the ordinary portable pattern, were to be shipped to Formosa, and I observed, when I came to land, that they had been taken up as far south as the barracks in the village. The rest of the line from the wooden jetty to the barracks and the creek-head was still in position, and I hope will, with the embankment on which it resis, be permitted to remain for the common benefit of the coming community.
I happened to mention in the bearing of the ship's local agent that I proposed to go ashore. On this he observed that he feared I should be stopped. I naturally asked, by whom? He replied, by the Japanese sentry at the jetty. I might, however, ask for a permit from the Commandant, Major Kaizu. I could not well do that, I answered, as I did not recognize Major Kaizu's right to interfere with my movements on Corean territory. It would be as well, indeed, if the agent were to see that I was not stopped.
In the afternoon I went on shore, but was in no way interfered with; though, as some justification of the agent's anxiety, there stood at the jetty-head a sentry box and sentry, with a notice, dated the 20th July last, "Henceforward, landing is prohibited without the permission of the Garrison Commandant." I called on Major Kaizu, of whose courtesy and geniality I had heard much from Mr. Osborne, but to my regret found him too ill to receive me.
All the commissariat stores I had on my earlier visit observed on the reclaimed ground by the jetty had disappeared, and I learnt that the " Ilyenik" was to take away some 12,000 bags of rice and over 1,000 boxes of shrimps, which had been disposed of by auction to private Japanese. The store stacks in the village were also greatly diminished, and the very shops (walls, roofs, and all) of most of the local Japanese traders had disappeared. I was told that all their fellows of Ping-yang had come away, fearing trouble after the withdrawal of the garrison, and that those at Oripo and Chennam would "shortly follow.
I took the opportunity to make a more extended observation of the surrounding country than had been possible at my earlier visit. The creek, I noticed, was largely availed of despite its narrowness, and the fact that it runs dry at low water.
A sloping stone roadway had been constructed at its head, to which the rails of the tramway still lead, On the hill to the north-east the wooden penthouse between the two old trees and the careful terracing were, the natives told me, the work of the Japanese, who had dubbed the place "Kyoku Oka" (Sunrise Mount), and had so ticketed it by means of a great wooden slab. To the north of this hill, running up towards the west, is a valley filled with paddy-fields. Along the dyke that divides these from the mudflats runs the yard-wide high road to Ping-yang, occupied until now by the tramway. Beside the road stand eight well-carved stone pillars commemorating the virtues of departed Prefects and Governors, with the usual four-syllabled couplet, into which the Corean condenses his opinion of his
9
officials, good or bad. Behind and beyond the valley lie a succession of hills and dales, the former covered with what is so seldom seen here, veritable copse and spinney,
The harvest this year promises to be a fine one, whether of rice or of dryfield cereals. The country, at any rate, in August, is undeniably lovely, and the abundance of trees gives it a more home-like appearance. I returned towards the ship by way of the hill at whose foot stands the jetty. This hill, as I have ventured to suggest in my earlier Report, should be included in the future general foreign Settlement, and it would be advisable, I would submit, to come to some understanding as to the protection, as far as possible, of the trees that form its chief beauty. The extreme southern portion of the ridge, as marked off by a path leading to a Japanese sanatorium on its western slope, might be in the first instance quarried for filling in material, and, finally, made over to the Customs. The first portion of the foreshore to be filled in will no doubt be that lying between the tramway embankment, the main creek, and a minor creek running at right angles into the latter some 300 yards above the jetty. Ultimately, the whole foreshore west of the main creek will be reclaimed.
Cargo stowing continued throughout the 24th and 25th, and I had a good opportunity of observing the tides. We lay about 150 yards abreast of the jetty, with two anchors down, and banging to our sides were at one time as many as seven lighters. The ebb was very strong, some 5 knots or more at its worst, and one of our anchors "came home." Both, however, held, and we shipped our cargo. Flood tide was quite another matter. For the whole six hours it seemed slack water, the flood rising from the bottom. During flood, indeed, the anchorage abreast of the jetty is an excellent one; for the ebb an equally good anchorage could be found on the other, the southern, side of the river.
We left Chennampo at 6 A.M. on the 26th, stopping off Oripo to receive and deliver mails. We were boarded there by a Japanese pratique boat, with a medical military officer in command. He did not, however, that I heard of, claim or exercise any authority in respect to us, though there is no doubt that the Japanese commanderies on the Tatong, as at Wênsan and to some extent Fusan, have undertaken the enforcement of Quarantine Regulations. There was no time in any case for me to have visited Oripo, which, as seen from the ship, presented much the same appearance as in June, except that the little harbour was now almost empty. We know, from advertisements in the local papers, that the stores here are being sold off, and it is probable that the extensive wooden sheds will shortly also disappear.
The "Hyenik" arrived at Chemulpo on the morning of the 27th.
I have, &c.
W. H. WILKINSON.
0
(Signed)
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