letters, but we are not skilled in archery.” Food was brought in and placed before the king, the same in quality and amount as that placed before the emperor. Each drank three cups of wine and then the food was carried away. This was simply a formality, intended to put the king at his ease. A servant then brought in the emperor’s dogs and with his own hand he cut meat and threw it into the air for the animals to catch. Descending from the platform the king had the pleasure of meeting the Crown Princess. Their brief conversation was interrupted by General Yonggolda who came up with a magnificent horse sumptuously caparisoned, and with a splendid sable robe. These he announced were a gift from the emperor, but at the same time he asked why the king had not brought the royal insignia that had been given by the Chinese emperor, that it might be destroyed. The answer was that it had been lost at the time of the making of the former treaty with the Manchus, but that it would be hunted up and handed over to the Manchu general. General Yonggolda also presented each of the ministers about the king with a sable robe. At five o‘clock in the afternoon, as night was coming on, the emperor gave word that the king might proceed to Seoul. It will be remembered that the Crown Prince and Princess, together with Prince Pong-im, were to be taken away to Manchuria as hostages. Before starting for Seoul the king bade them adieu and then with a heavy heart turned toward his capital. The retinue that followed the king was so numerous that when they came to the ferry at Song-p‘a and found there were too few boats to convey them all, there was a disgraceful scramble for first place, and the king was hustled and dragged about in a most unbecoming manner. Finally the crossing was effected and as the cavalcade proceeded toward Seoul they saw the Manchu camps along the way crowded with Korean women, some of whom were wailing as if their hearts would break, while others were making merry over the prospect of being carried away to the north. The Manchu soldiery had been ordered out of Seoul to make room for the king and so the royal party found the way blocked by an immense crowd of Manchu soldiers loaded down with booty and leading hundreds of captives. As the king passed by, these miserable beings cried out to him to save them, but their captors urged them on with word and lash. The crowd was so dense, and the out-going stream of men pressed so closely against those entering, that many in the king’s retinue were taken for captives and were seized and carried away. Even some men of noble blood were thus, in the darkness and confusion, spirited away and never heard of again.