The boat landed us at the foot of the celebrated “Peony Hill,” part way up which is situated the decayed pavilion in which royalty used to be fed and given to drink on the occasion of excursions from the city to this sightly place. From this point the views bring the past history and the present prospects of Pyeng-yang together in an interesting way. For, looking to the right, one sees an ancient pagoda and the remains of a Buddhist temple. Looking forward and downward, the eye is well pleased by taking in at once the pleasant prospect of water and rock and fields which the ascent has given only bit by bit, as it were. Looking upward one sees the difficult heights which the Japanese troops stormed so unexpectedly but successfully in the invasion of more than three centuries ago; and also in the war with China, when they turned the guns of the Chinese forces from their own fortifications upon themselves and slaughtered the unfortunate until the streets of the city were choked with corpses. But to the left, and lying just below, is the green island on which the pumping-works to supply the foul city with cleansing streams are soon to be erected. Beyond the island across the river are the pastures, where the breeding of improved horses is to be carried on by a partnership of both governments; and still further beyond are the coal fields which the Residency-General is trying to preserve for the Crown against the efforts of both native and foreign promoters, to exploit them to their own rather than to the nation’s advantage. But the story of these and similar efforts will be told in other places of our narrative; and for the moment we will forget the interests of history and of present adventures, and will just thoughtlessly submit ourselves to the pleasure of being rowed down the beautiful river to the dirty and seditious city. For it is a story of a nearly successful attempt at a seditious outbreak which would have had a most unfortunate and surely unsuccessful ending, that must now engage the attention. This story also, illustrates the Korean character, the Korean situation, and the relations of the two peoples, in no doubtful way.