Putting aside Buddhism with its gross superstitions, practised chiefly in remote places, and the magisterial homage before the Confucian tablets to the memory of the Great Teacher, the popular cult--I dare not call it a religion--consists of a number of observances dictated by the dread of bodiless beings created by Korean fancy, and representing chiefly the mysterious forces of nature. It may be assumed, taking tradition for a guide, as certain of the litanies used in exorcism and invocation were introduced along with Buddhism from China, that Korean imagination has grafted its own fancies on those which are of foreign origin, and which are of by no means distant kinship to those of the _Shamanism_ of northern Asia. The external evidences of this cult are chiefly heaps of stones on the tops of passes, rude shrines here and there containing tawdry pictures of mythical beings, with the name in Chinese characters below, strings from which depend small bags of rice, worn-out straw shoes, strips of dirty rags, and, though rarely, rusty locks of black hair. Outside of many villages are high posts (not to be confounded with the distance posts) with their tops rudely carved into heads and faces half human, half dæmonic, from which straw ropes, with dependent straw tassels, recalling the Shintoism of Japan, are stretched across the road. There are large or distorted trees also, on which rags, rice-bags, and old shoes are hung, and under which are heaps of stones at which it is usual for travellers to bow and expectorate. On the ridge poles of royal buildings and city gates, there are rows of grotesque bronze or china figures for the purpose of driving away evil dæmons, and at crossroads a log of wood perforated like a mouse-trap, and with one hole bunged up, over which travellers step carefully, may sometimes be seen. In cities the beating of drums accompanied by the clashing of cymbals vies with the laundry sticks in breaking the otherwise profound stillness of night, and in travelling through the country, the _mu-tang_ or sorceress is constantly to be seen going through various musical and dancing performances in the midst of a crowd in front of a house where there is sickness. I have referred to these things in earlier chapters, but the subject is such an important one, and the influence on Korean life of the belief in dæmons is so strong and injurious, that I feel justified in laying before my readers at some length such details of _Dæmonism_ as have hitherto been ascertained. There is an unwillingness to speak to foreigners on this topic, and inquirers may have been purposely misled, but enough has been gained to make it likely that further inquiry will be productive of very valuable results.[52] The superstitions already mentioned, however trivial in themselves, point to that which underlies all religion, the belief in something outside ourselves which is higher or more powerful than ourselves.