Korea (Hamilton)/Chapter 18

Nature has been active in these regions. There is much limestone and slate formation, some basaltic upheavals, lava boulders, and chain upon chain of granite peaks. To the west of Tong-ko-kai there is the crater of an extinct volcano, but the lava strata in the vicinity of the concession are almost completely eroded. The basin of the concession is well watered, cultivated, and populous in places. It is surrounded by ranges three, four and five thousand feet in height. Korea is very mountainous in the north and hilly in the south. The watershed between the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea extends north and south, nearly parallel to the east coast. In a sense this line of mountain ranges is the backbone of the peninsula; the eastern side of the main watershed is narrow and abrupt, while the western is more extended and contains low plains, favourable to agriculture. The general altitude of the peaks varies between five and six thousand feet. A few isolated points in the extreme north are believed to be higher.

The principal mining districts are situated along the courses of the main and the minor watersheds. The famous mining districts of Kang-kyöi, Kap-san, and Teh-chang-chin, at ​present in the occupation of native workmen, occur upon the plateau formed by the junction of the range, which constitutes the northern frontier of the province of Pyöng-an, with the main watershed of the country. The British mines at Eun-san are situated in country pierced by the north-western antilles of the main watershed. The position of the German mines bears a similar relation to the great natural division of the country, upon its eastern side. Many useful minerals are distributed over Korea—gold, silver, lead, copper, iron, coal—but that which yields the richest harvest is gold. The value of the gold exported from Korea during 1901 increased from £363,305 in 1900 to £509,738. A further increase marks 1902, the value of the gold exported being £516,961. These figures give only the value declared at the Customs. Large amounts are annually smuggled out of the country.

The presence of gold has been known from the earliest times. Knochenhauer, a German geologist, has declared it to exist in every river in the kingdom. Hitherto, alluvial gold has been the principal yield to native workers. The miners followed the object of their search up the mountain side until they struck veins and lodes, whence much of the alluvial gold was derived. The chief auriferous districts are in the northern half of the country; in which sphere lie the American mine at Un-san, the British mine at Eun-san, and the German mine at Tong-ko-kai.

The original source of Korean gold may be found in the quartz veins, which, in the case of the American mines, is alleged to give exceptionally rich returns. The alluvial deposits, brought down from the veins in the mountain-ridges, have been freely worked by Koreans; and when more scientifically treated the yield is satisfactory. The ​schotter sediments, in the case of the Tong-ko-kai mines, attained a maximum of seventy-five feet in depth, a thickness of sedimentary matter some fifty feet in excess of the usual formation. The concession was granted in 1898. Under it powers were given to a German company to select a place twenty miles long and thirteen miles wide, within two years from the date of signing the contract, for the purpose of working all minerals during a space of twenty-five years, with an annual payment to the Korean Government of twenty-five per cent. on the net profits. The revenues received from these contracts belong to the Imperial Household, passing directly into the private purse of the Sovereign. In the case of the English syndicate, the percentage was compounded for a sum of £20,000 and an annual payment of a further £2000.

The site, which the Germans selected for their concession, was, at the moment when they assumed control over the areas, the centre of extensive alluvial workings. The native miners strongly objected to the innovation, and prepared to resist the rights of the German company by force. In the end, however, their hostility was overcome by granting them twelve months' additional occupation of their works, and, when Herr Bauer assumed charge as administrative engineer, opposition was already at an end. The district is covered with the remains of old workings in the schotter of the river-bed; they are also to be found in a few places in the quartz upon the mountain side. In the absence of the requisite machinery, work upon the concession was necessarily disorganised. Eventually the concession was abandoned, close investigation failing to disclose its possession of any very remunerative qualities. At the time of its ​withdrawal, the company employed nine Europeans, thirteen Japanese and Chinese, and some three hundred Koreans.

Korean mining is very elementary. The usual methods are "placer" and "crushing" and a process of treatment by fire. A vertical shaft is sunk, with narrow steps cut into its sides, to the level of the reef; the bottom of the shaft is then packed with wood, which is ignited and kept burning for several days. The heated rock becomes very friable and yields readily to the crude implements of the miners. There is great competition to secure the bottom pitch in these shafts; the more intrepid rarely delay their descent until the working has cooled. The quartz is sometimes rubbed to powder and the gold washed out, or it is crushed between huge boulders, washed, re-crushed and panned again. The gold is then picked out. Until lately there were no places where the gold was tested by other than the most antiquated methods.

Such sanguine hopes have been raised as to the results of the mining in Korea, that it would be as well if the public accepted all statements in regard to these investments with great caution. The results of the development of the various mining concessions, now in progress, will be awaited with much interest, and will, it is to be hoped, form a reliable test of the mining possibilities of the country. The returns from the American mines encourage the belief that these possibilities have not been over-estimated; but it has yet to be proved that mining operations can be profitably carried on with Western methods and appliances. The deposits in which gold is found in Korea are irregular, and by no means continuous. To a Korean miner this is of small importance. His outfit costs at the most a few shillings, and his belongings are easily transported to any ​distance as circumstances demand. A different order of things is essential to a successful installation of Western machinery, and the public require some proof that there is, within workable distance, a sufficient quantity of ore to yield a fair profit on their investments. This has yet to be proved in the case of the British mine; in respect of the German concession, the business resulted in a fiasco. That these mining enterprises should be successful is desirable in the interests of both natives and foreigners. They afford steady employment at a fair wage to thousands of Koreans, at least, part of whose earnings is expended in the purchase of foreign goods. It is perhaps, however, not altogether unfortunate that the Korean Government is averse, at present, to grant further concessions.

During our halt at Tong-ko-kai, one day was spent in climbing the mighty peaks to lofty spots where, at a height of some thousands of feet, native prospectors were driving into the granite facing of the mountain in an effort to strike the main reef. Another day was passed in a hunt across the crests of the ranges after bear and deer. At daybreak, a little after 4 a.m. upon the morning of this excursion, Herr Bauer escorted us to a prospector's hut in the damp recesses of a distant valley, where our beaters, gun-carriers, and hunter-guides had been ordered to rendezvous for a bear hunt. Alas! the Korean cannot bestir himself! His late rising on this occasion delayed our departure from the hut two hours. The sun had risen when the expedition moved off, a motley retinue of professional hunters and beaters accompanying us to the gorge, wherein lay the bear. Hunters and beaters attached themselves to each of us, and we proceeded across the mountain, pursuing a narrow and broken track, which cleft the bare summit of the highest ridges ​We climbed and scrambled up and down and in and out of many sheltered and well-timbered gorges, until the hunters warned us that we were approaching our stations.

The beaters disappeared, making a détour of some li, to beat up the many crooked twists and turns which the drive took. Hours passed while we, hot, hungry, and athirst, lay hidden in the rank bush awaiting a sight of the quarry. For the first hour no sound broke the serenity of the valley; presently, however, the cries of the beaters came to us, wafted from below or floating lazily from the surrounding heights. At first only a distant moaning, like the sobbing of a storm among the trees of a forest, broke upon our ears. The strange sounds created much restlessness among the wild wood-pigeons, the cooing doves, and the cheery, chattering magpies. Red-breasted storks rose with disdainful elegance from the shallows of the trickling stream and soared towards other pools. The mists of night rolled away from the valley; the dew disappeared from the matted undergrowth; the sun mounted; the day grew warmer. The blood coursed through our veins as we peered hither and thither, scanning the opposite face of the valley with the keenest vigilance. The beaters were ascending. The harsh cries of their raucous voices broke upon the air. The air vibrated with eerie noises; a spasmodic howling arose from the depths of the valley, where an isolated beater lashed himself into a fever of vociferous discord. Hoarse shouts boomed above us, and echoed against the crags of the gorge. On either side of us, the valley resounded to the labours of the beaters, who, gaining the extreme crests, had now descended, driving everything before them. They approached rapidly, joined by the native hunters, who had now taken up positions upon the ​rocks which overlooked the place where we were hiding. Our own moment had arrived. Each man fingered his rifle, peering forward as the concluding effort of the beaters burst forth in a hurricane of clamour. We looked and waited, until the conclusion was forced upon us that the bear had already long since broken through the lines of his pursuers.

Hunting in general is considered a servile occupation by the Koreans, and the pursuit of the deer, the bear, and the tiger is not a favourite sport among the young bloods of the kingdom. Nobles, except those who belong to a few impoverished families in the extreme northern provinces, and who are reduced to the pastime to supplement their resources, never indulge in it. It is, nevertheless, free to all. There are no game laws, no proscription of arms, and few preserves. There is no interdicted season in any part of the country. The one creature which it is forbidden to destroy is the falcon, whose life is protected by most stringent enactments. The hunting-grounds are almost solely confined to the mountainous districts, and the hunters are a class apart throughout the country. They shift their grounds rapidly and constantly in search of game, living at the expense of any village where they may temporarily lodge in return for the protection from wild animals which their prowess assures to the local population. Their chief weapon is the flint-lock, imported from Japan. The barrel is inlaid with silver, and bound with thin silver bands or strips of tin. This weapon is loaded with iron bullets, similar in size to those contained in a seven-pound shrapnel shell. The charge is ignited from a coil of plaited straw-cord, which is kept alight during the progress of the hunt. The stock is short and light. When the gun is fired, the ​butt of this curious and antique weapon rests against the cheek-bone. The faces of many of the hunters, who accompanied us, were scarred below the right eye.

Their dress is characteristic, and they are further distinguished by their boldness, fearlessness, and independent bearing. They adopt, as a uniform, a blue canvas shirt, to which is added a blue or green cotton turban, which is coiled twice through the hair, the torn, frayed end hanging over the forehead. Coloured beads are entwined in this head-dress, and a necklace of similar beads encircles the throat. Chains of seed-beans hang across the breast, to which are fastened the many ingenious contrivances of their calling. The hunters imitate the sounds of various birds and animals very cleverly, particularly those of a pheasant calling to his hen and a doe crying to her calves. The pheasant-call is made from a disc of iron about the size of a sixpenny piece. It resembles the stone of an apricot and is pierced. The decoy used for deer is made from a split bamboo stalk.

Bird-hunters never shoot their quarry upon the wing. They disguise themselves in skins or feathers, bringing down their game from some well-concealed coign of vantage. Deer are hunted during June and July. The hunters form into small parties, and beat up the mountains for several days until their prey is within gunshot. The horns are sold to the native physicians, or exported to China and Japan. When in pursuit of the bear, hunters are more than usually careful to delay firing until the effect of their shot is certain. Good prices are fetched by the various parts of a bear. In addition to the proceeds from the pelt, the flesh, fat, sinews and gall of a bear, supposed to possess certain medicinal properties, sell for their weight ​in silver. The one royal quadruped associated with Korea, as the white elephant is with Siam, the dromedary with Egypt, the bison with the United States, is the tiger. Unlike the Indian species, that delights in the tropical

jungles, this animal is found in Korea in the snow and forests of the north, and as far as the fiftieth parallel. In the mind of the Korean, the tiger is the symbol of fierceness, an emblem of martial pomp and glory. The tiger hunters affect to despise their noble game, and upon occasions they even attack them single-handed with a lance or short sword, assisted by trained dogs. Tigers are sometimes caught in pits, covered with earth and bushes, and filled with slakes. In this condition it is easy to kill them. The hunters eat the meat, selling the skin and bones.

Tiger hunters are exceptionally courageous. Their services are requisitioned by their Government upon ​occasion in the defence of the Empire. Armed with matchlock, spear and sword, they defeated the French, under Admiral Roze, in 1866, and heroically resisted the advance of the Americans in 1871. In 1901 they were assembled to protect the northern frontier from the incursions of Manchurian bandits.