Directory_and_Chronicle_1912 — Page 821

MASAMPO

浦山馬

Masampo was opened to foreign trade on the 1st May, 1899. Its native population is 34,000 and foreign 300. The climate is very mild and the harbour is also good. In summer it serves as a good sea-bathing place: the Japanese Settlement is making nowadays very great progress and the inhabitants amount to about 3.000. Regular lines of small steamers connect the port of Fusan. Its proximity to Fusan and the superior accommodation of the latter port greatly interferes with the com- mercial exparsion of Masampo. The foreign trade in 1908 showed a decline in value to the extent of over half a million yen, or about 45 per cent., when compared with the returns for 1907. Exports in 908 amounted to yen 251,917, and imports to yen 385,046.

MOKPO

浦木 Mok-po

Mokpo, which, like Chiunampo, was opened to foreign trade on the 1st October, 1897, in pursuance of a resolution of the Council of State, is a seaport in the province of Chulla, and has an excellent harbour capable of providing anchorage accommodation for thirty or forty vessels of large tonnage. Chulla is a great rice-growing district, and has the reputation of being the wealthiest province in the country, and Mokpo lies at the mouth of a river which drains nearly the whole province. Mokpo has undergone a great transformation since it was opened. In 1897 it consisted of a few native huts surrounded by paddy fields and mud flats. The foreign settlement, which comprises about 225 acres of ground, was bought up within a couple of years, and the mud flats were rapidly converted into a town, with well laid out streets, occupied by about 1,200 Japanese and a number of substantial Chinese residents. A seawall was built and a bund road, over a mile in length, was made. The climate of Mokpo is healthy and salubrions; the scenery much resembles that of South Japan and is picturesque in the extreme. Good shooting may be hal, pheasants, geese, ducks, deer, wild boar and leopards abounding. Even tigers will be met with by those who care to hunt for them. Instances are not at all rare in which pigs, dogs and even men are carried off by these animals. Many of the natives are experts in training eagles to hunt smaller birds, like pheasants, de.

The anticipations which were entertained of Mokpo at the time of its opening have proved over-sanguine, doubtless because the port of Kunsan was subsequently opened to foreign trade, and has flourished at the expense of Mokpo. But Mokpo would ap ear now to be regaining its old position, for during the last few years there has been great improvement in the trade of the port, which amounts to about a millio aid a half pounds st rling per annum. There are no European firms in the port, all the business being in Japanese hands.