and when we persevered, they took us rudely by the arms
and pushed us off. Being very desirous to conciliate them,
we shewed no impatience at this treatment; but our forbearance
had no effect; and after a number of vain attempts
to make ourselves understood, we went away not
much pleased at their behaviour. A Chinese*, who accompanied
us, was of no use, for he could not read what the
Coreans wrote for him, though in the Chinese character;
and of their spoken language he did not understand a word.
On leaving these unsociable villagers, we went to the top
of the highest peak on the island, the ascent being easy by
a winding foot-path. Prom this elevation we saw a number
of islands to the eastward, and the main land a t a great
distance beyond them. The top of the hill being covered
with soft grass and sweet-smelling shrubs, and the air,
which had been of a suffocating heat below, being here
cool and refreshing, we were tempted to sit down to our
pic-nic dinner. We returned by the other side of the hill;
bu t there being no path, and the surface rocky and steep,
and covered with a thick brush-wood, we were not a little
scratched and bruised before we reached a road which runs
along the north face of the hill about midway. By following
this, we came to a spot from whence we were en-
* A servant of the embassy, left behind by accident at the Pei-ho river.
abled to look down upon the village, without being ourselves
perceived by the natives. The women, who had deserted the
village on our landing, had now returned ; most of them were
beating rice: in wooden mortars, and they had all children
tied on their backs. On a sudden they quitted their work
and ran off to their huts, like rabbits in a warren; and m
a few minutes we saw one of the ship's boats row round the
point of land adjacent to the . village, which explained the
cause , of their alarm. After remaining for some time in
expectation of seeing the women again, we came down to
the village, which the natives now permitted us to pass
through. On this occasion one of the gentlemen of our party
saw, for an instant, a woman at no great distance, whose feet
he declared were of the natural size, and not cramped as
in China. The village consists of forty houses rudely constructed
of reeds plaistered with mud, the roofs are of all
shapes, and badly thatched with reeds and straw, tied down
by straw ropes. These huts are not disposed in streets, b u t
are scattered about without order, and without any neatness,
or cleanliness, and the spaces between them are occupied by
piles of dirt and pools of muddy water. The valley in which
this comfortless village is situated is, however, pretty enough,
though not wooded; the hills forming it are of an irregular,
shape, and covered at top with grass and sweet-scented
flowers; the lower parts are cultivated with millet, buck-.