Account of a voyage of discovery to the west coast of Corea, and the great Loo-Choo IslandHall, Basil
History
Account of a voyage of discovery to the west coast of Corea, and the great Loo-Choo Island
Hall, Basil
Korea -- Description and travel; Ryukyu Islands -- Description and travel
On coming to our boats, we found them surrounded by a party of the
natives, smaller in stature than our friends at Napakiang, and shewing
less curiosity: probably their surprise at our sudden appearance had not
subsided sufficiently to allow of their indulging curiosity in detail. A
large party of them watched attentively while a musket was loaded, and
when pointed over their heads in the air, they seemed aware that
something was going to happen, but from their not shrinking or removing
out of the way, it seemed they knew not what. When it was fired, the
whole party fell as if they had been shot, but rose instantly again, and
looking to the right and left of each other, indulged in a timorous
laugh. A cartridge was given to one man, with which he was nearly
blowing himself up by placing it on his lighted pipe. The officer of the
boat informed us that a gentleman had come to him and offered his horse
to ride; he had dismounted for that purpose, but the horse was
frightened, and would not suffer the officer to get upon him. We saw
this person riding along when we were at the top of the hill; he called
out to us repeatedly, probably to offer his horse, but we thought he
wished to dissuade us from walking over the hill, and accordingly took
no notice of him.
In the meantime Mr. Clifford, who had been unwell, and felt unequal to
the labour of climbing the hill, proceeded in one of the boats towards a
large village on the eastern side of the lake. He was met by a number of
the inhabitants, whose dress and appearance were inferior to what we had
been accustomed to see at Napakiang; on his asking them in Loo-choo for
some water, they gave it cheerfully; but they shewed little curiosity,
and the party which followed wherever he went, seemed to have no other
object than to prevent disturbance. They made no objection to his going
into the village, where he saw in one inclosure a complete farm-yard.
The principal house was closed, but to the offices there was free
access. In the stable were two handsome bay ponies; there was also a
well stocked pig-sty, and a poultry-house. In another quarter stood a
mill for husking corn, consisting of a grooved solid cylinder of wood,
fitting neatly into a hollow cylinder, the sides of which were also
grooved; near this lay a hand flour-mill and several baskets of cotton.
In another part of the court was a granary erected on posts about six
feet above the ground, having billets of fire-wood piled below it. At
another place, under a tree in the village, he saw a blacksmith's anvil
fixed in a block; the forge was of masonry, having an air hole, but the
bellows was wanting.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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