To Sir Douglas Straight, editor of the _Pall Mall Gazette_, whose paper it was my delight to represent throughout my long residence in the Far East; to Mr. Nicol Dunn, editor of the _Morning Post_; to Mr. S. J. Pryor, of the _Daily Express_, I have to record my acknowledgment of the courteous permission of these distinguished people to reproduce such portions of my work as have appeared in the columns of their respective organs from time to time. And last of all to my readers I offer this book in the hope that an immediate apology for its production may be permitted to atone for its numerous shortcomings. _December 25, 1903._ CHAPTER I Off the coast—Lack of survey intelligence—Island _flora_—Forgotten voyagers—Superstitions and beliefs—Outline of history [Illustration: DEVIL POST OUTSIDE SEOUL] Despite the survey work which has been accomplished in the past by the Japanese upon the coasts of Korea, little knowledge of the numerous islands and archipelagoes, shoals and reefs which make its shores the terror of all mariners, exists at present. Until the voyage of the _Alceste_ and _Lyra_ in 1816, the locality of these detached groups of rocky islets was not marked on any of the Japanese or Chinese maps of the period. In the map of the Empire prepared by the Jesuits at Pekin in the seventeenth century, the space now occupied by the Korean Archipelago was covered with the drawing of an elephant—the conventional sign of ignorance with the cartographers of that time. In the older native maps, the mainland embraced groups of islands, the most imperfect knowledge of the physical configuration of their own shores prevailing among the Koreans. In quite recent days, however, the Korean Government has recognised this fact, and in the early months of 1903 the Japanese Government was requested to draw up a complete survey of the Hermit Kingdom. This work is now in process of execution, the plan of the coastline already having been completed. The coast of Korea is remarkable for the number of spacious harbours which distinguish it. Upon the West and South, indications of the volcanic period, through which the country has in part passed, are shown by the frequency with which these island groups occur. From a single peak upon one of the small islands off the south-west coast, as many as one hundred and thirty-five islets may be counted, stretching to the North and to the South, the resort of the sea-fowl; desolate and almost uninhabited. Many of the more important islands have been cultivated, and give refuge and a lonely home to small communities of fishing-folk.