Again, missionaries with families, as well as single women, should not be allowed to live beyond the areas of these neutral zones. [Illustration: THE STREETS ARE MAGNIFICENT] These restraints upon missionary labours will, of course, be resented. If the total number of lives which have been lost in Korea, China, and Japan, by the interference of Western missionaries, were published, their vast aggregate would reveal to the unthinking masses of the public how urgent is the need for strong action. Such restraint is morally justifiable by the appalling massacres with which the world is now familiar. The blind perseverance of the missionary has frequently brought about the simultaneous baptism and crucifixion of the convert. What more does the fanatical enthusiast wish than that some one should be thus doubly glorified by his means? The increasing death-roll among masters and pupils supplies the only necessary argument for immediate rectification of the entire system of missionary enterprise. CHAPTER XXIII Inland journeying—Ponies, servants, interpreters, food and accommodation—What to take and how to take it—Up the Han River, frolic and leisure Travelling in the inland regions of Korea is not the most comfortable pastime which can be devised, although it has many attractions. The lively bustle of the roads gradually gives place to the passing panorama of the scenery, which presents in constant variation a landscape of much natural beauty, with hills and meadows, bush-clad mountains and rice-fields, rivers, lakes, and raging torrents as prominent features. The shifting camp soon leaves the outposts of civilisation behind. This slow passing into the wilderness gives a subtle charm to the journey. Each turn of the track emphasises the desolation of the ever-changing scene. The wide expanse of plains and valleys makes way for the depths of wild and gloomy forests, where the ragged mountain-paths are slippery and dangerous. The ozone of a new life pervades the air. There is no doubt that such moments seem, for the time, the most perfect existence imaginable. Freedom is untrammelled by a care; the world for the day is comprised within a space as great as can be seen. Upon the morrow, its limitation is only a little more remote. The birds of the air, the beasts of the field, the game in the bushes, supply the provender of the camp. Villages provide rice, vegetables and eggs, the hillside springs give water, the rivers permit bathing. The air is pure, and the whole aspect of life is beautiful and joyous.