This gigantic work was begun under the charge of the late Admiral Popoff, whose name has been given to the iron-turreted war vessels of which he was the inventor, and to a mountain in Central Corea. Possiet is within twenty-five miles of the Corean frontier. It is connected with Nagasaki by electric cable. In the event of a war between China and Russia, or even of Anglo-Russian hostilities, the Czar would most probably make Corea the basis of operations against China; for Corea is to China as Canada is to the United States, or, as the people say, “the lips of China’s teeth.” Russia needs a coast line in the Pacific with seaports that are not frozen up in winter, and her ambition is to be a naval power. While England checks her designs in the Mediterranean, and in Europe, her desire is great and her need is greater to have this defenceless peninsula on her eastern borders. The Coreans know too well that the possession of their country by “Russia the ravenous” is considered a necessity of the absorption policy of Peter the Great’s successors. The Tumen River, which rises at the foot of the Ever-White Mountains and separates Corea from Russia, is about two hundred miles in length. It drains a mountainous and rainy country. Ordinarily it is shallow and quiet; but in spring, or after heavy rains, and swollen by a great number of tributaries, its current becomes very turbulent and powerful. In winter it is frozen over during several months, and hence is easily crossed. Thousands of Coreans fleeing from famine, or from the oppression of government officials, Christians persecuted for their faith, criminals seeking to escape the clutches of the law, emigrants desirous of bettering their condition, have crossed this river and settled in Primorskaïa, until they now number, in all, about eight thousand. The majority of them are peasants from Ham-kiung, and know little of the southern parts of their country. There is, however, an “underground railroad” by which persecuted Christians can fly for refuge to Russian protection. Their houses are built of stout timbers, wattled with cane, plastered with mud, and surrounded with a neat fencing of interlaced boughs. They cover their houses with strips of bamboo, well fastened down by thatching. The chimney is detached from the house, and consists of a hollow tree. Under the warmed floor is the usual system of flues, by which the house is kept comfortable in winter, and every atom of fuel utilized. Their food is millet, corn, venison, and beef. They pare and dry melon-like fruits, cutting them up in strips for winter use. They dress in the national color, white, using quilted cotton clothes. They make good use of bullock-carts, and smoke tobacco habitually. The national product—thick strong paper—is put to a great variety of uses, and a few sheets dressed with oil, serve as windows.