All the eight circuits into which Chō-sen is divided are maritime provinces, but this is the only one which takes its name from the body of water on which its borders lie, jutting out into the Whang-hai, or Yellow Sea, its extreme point lies nearest to Shantung promontory in China. Its coast line exceeds its land frontiers. In the period anterior to the Christian era, Whang-hai, was occupied by the tribes called the Mahan, and from the second to the sixth century, by the kingdom of Hiaksai. It has been the camping-ground of the armies of many nations. Here, besides the border forays which engaged the troops of the rival kingdoms, the Japanese, Chinese, Mongols, and Manchius, have contended for victory again and again. The ravages of war, added to a somewhat sterile soil, are the causes of Whang-hai being the least populated province of the eight in the peninsula. From very ancient times the Corean peninsula has been renowned for its pearls. These are of superior lustre and great size. Even before the Christian era, when the people lived in caves and mud huts, and before they had horses or cattle, the barbaric inhabitants of this region wore necklaces of pearls, and sewed them on their clothing, row upon row. They amazed the invading hordes of the Han dynasty, with such incongruous mixture of wealth and savagery; as the Indians, careless of the yellow dust, surprised by their indifference to it the gold-greedy warriors of Balboa. Later on, the size and brilliancy of Corean pearls became famous all over China. They were largely exported. The Chinese merchant braved the perils of the sea, and of life among the rude Coreans, to win lustrous gems of great price, which he bartered when at home for sums which made him quickly rich. In the twelfth century the fame of these “Eastern pearls,” as they were then called, and which outrivalled even those from the Tonquin fisheries, became the cause of an attempted conquest of the peninsula, the visions of wealth acting as a lure to the would-be invaders. It may even be that the Corean pearl fisheries were known by fame to the story-tellers of the “Arabian Nights Entertainments.” Much of the mystic philosophy of China concerning pearls is held also by the Coreans. The Corean Elysium is a lake of pearls. In burying the dead, those who can afford it, fill the mouth of the corpse with three pearls, which, if large, will, it is believed, preserve the dead body from decay. This emblem of three flashing pearls, is much in vogue in native art The gems are found on the banks lying off the coast of this province, as well as in the archipelago to the south, and at Quelpart. The industry is, at present, utterly neglected. The pearls are kept, but no use seems to be made of the brilliant nacre of the mussel-shells, which are exported to Japan, to be used in inlaying.