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
In the centre of the village stood a building like a temple, surrounded
by a stone wall. It was filled with elegant vases of different shapes
and sizes, closed up and ranged in rows on the floor; the verandah
encircling the building was also covered with vases. According to the
account of the natives, the remains of the dead are deposited in these
jars. Round the building bamboo poles were placed so as to lean against
the thatched roof, having notches cut in them, to which bundles of
flowers were hung, some fresh, others decayed, apparently funereal
offerings; but their exact import Mr. Clifford was not able to learn.
The elegant shape of the vases, and the tasteful way in which they were
arranged, with the flowers hanging all round, gave to this cemetery an
air of cheerfulness, which we are in the habit of thinking unsuitable
to a depository of the dead.
This village, which is at the head of a bay, is sheltered from the north
wind by a row of trees between it and the beach; behind it is sheltered
by a range of hills. A broad road runs between it and the water; trees
are planted among the houses, so as nearly to conceal them. In the
middle of the village near the cemetery, in an open square, there is a
cluster of granaries like the one described above; the walls are made of
wattled rattan, and overhang the lower part.
Mr. Clifford tried in vain to see the Chief of the village; but either
there was no such person, or he was out of the way: the inhabitants
pointed out a man on horseback as a Chief, who passed on to another
village; this was probably the same man who offered his horse to Mr.
Hall, the officer of the boat. Mr. Clifford went to the top of the range
behind the village, and afterwards into the valley on the other side,
which he found highly cultivated.
From the heights we saw that the large space which was at first
considered a lake, communicates with the sea to the north-eastward, as
well as by the narrow passage through which we had come, but there was
not time to allow of its being fully examined. As we returned by the
narrow straits, we called at some of the small villages on the eastern
side. At one of these, the people of the village, headed by a man who
appeared to be superior to the rest, came towards the boat, and stopped
for some minutes at the distance of fifty yards; after which, appearing
to have gained confidence, they came on, with the old man in front,
carrying a green bough in his hand. He would not come close, however,
till invited by Mr. Clifford in Loo-choo to look at the boat; he then
advanced and presented his bough, in return for which we broke a branch
from a tree, and gave it to him with the same formality he had used
towards us. Soon after this exchange was made, they left us, and went to
examine the boat, to fishermen always an object of great interest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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