The hardships, experienced in travelling through Korea, were exemplified by the difficulties of our progress. They were intensified, however, by our ignorance of the precise trail, which it was necessary to follow across the heights from Tong-ko-kai to the mountain retreat of the pious monks. The inhabitants of the village of To-chi-dol warned our grooms of the difficulty of taking horses across the Tan-bal-yang Pass, the one barrier, which remained unsurmounted, between the outside world and the quiet repose of the first monastery in the Keum-kang-san. Until we enforced our orders with sticks the _mampus_ were inclined to give up the enterprise. Their opposition was momentary; the transition from a somewhat angry mood into their usual condition of unruffled composure and high spirits was instantaneous. With untiring energy and patience they encouraged their diminutive ponies to climb the boulders; to twist and wriggle between the clumps of tangled bushes and masses of rock which beset the path, and to scramble across the steeps. We followed a dried-up water-course at the level of the valley, making the ascent gradually. The climb was severe, and became so steep that the pack-saddles slipped off the backs of the ponies. It occupied our eight animals some four hours, testing the endurance of pony and groom, alike the product of the hills, stout of limb and strong of wind. [Illustration: THE ABBOT OF CHANG-AN-SA] The descent from the spirit shrine, in a gap on the crest of the range, was less toilsome. The grooms plaited ropes of green creepers, plucked from the bush, and strung them round the packs. Walking behind the ponies, they held to these cords, thus supporting the animals and preventing the loads and clumsy saddles from reversing the process of the previous scramble. Nevertheless, our path was littered with fragments of our baggage. The contrivance was successful, however, and in the main the little steeds picked their way with an easy accuracy through the cool green woods. The mountain side was fragrant with innumerable plants, the bush a tangle of magnificent ferns, trees, and shrubs. Oaks, hawthorn, chestnut, birch and pines grew in crowded splendour; the wild rose, the freckled lily, and a purple orchid embroidered the moss. Beyond the hollows of the hilly woodlands, the crumpled backs of the jagged mountains reared themselves skyward, their proud crests lost in the clouds, soaring silently to a height of five thousand feet. Below in the valley, a wall of granite mountains set up an impenetrable barrier before a noisy river, which until the advent of the rainy season becomes the merest trickle of silver in a lone expanse of river-bed.