l out at sea again.

[Illustration: THE FIRE-SIGNAL STATION AND JOSS-HOUSE]

The great drawback to fire-signalling is, that messages can only be
clearly conveyed at night. In the day-time, when necessary,
smoke-signals are transmitted, though never with the same safety as are
the fire-signals. By burning large torches of wet straw, masses of white
smoke are produced, upon which the alarm is raised that the country is
in danger. The code of smoke signalling, however, is almost limited to
that one signal; for, on a windy or rainy day, it would be quite
impossible to distinguish whether there were one or more torches
smoking, unless, of course, they could be set very far apart, which
cannot be done on Nanzam. Prior to sending a message, a bell is rung in
the royal palace to attract the attention of the Mountain Watchmen. The
whole code, for they have a really systematic way of using their
pyrographs, is worked with five burning fires only, and more than that
number of lights are never shown, though, of course, many times there
are less. The five-lights-together signal, I believe, indicates that the
country is in imminent danger; there are other signals to meet the cases
of rebellions, recalling of magistrates from distant provinces, orders
to them to extort money from their subjects, the despatch or recall of
troops, &c. &c.

A few yards from the signal station, though still on Mount Nanzam, there
is a picturesque red joss-house with a shrine in close proximity to it.
The story goes--and the women of Cho-sen find it convenient to believe
it--that a visit to this particular joss-house has the wonderful effect
of making sterile women prolific. A few strings of _cash_ and a night's
rest at the temple--preceded, if I remember rightly, by
prayers--constitute sufficient service to satisfy the family duties, and
I was certainly told that in many cases the oracle worked so well that in
due time the _chin-chins_ got rewarded with the birth of babies. I may
mention incidentally that the caretaker of the joss-house was a strong,
healthy, powerful man.

As we are now on a splendid point of vantage for a bird's-eye view of the
town we may as well take a glance over it.

Very prominent before us, after the large enclosure of the royal Palace,
are the foreign buildings, such as the Japanese Legation on a smaller
hill at the foot of Nanzam, and overlooking the large Japanese
settlement; the abode of the Chinese Minister resident, w