ardens are few in number in the Land of Cho-sen.
Kitchen gardens naturally are frequently found, even near the houses of
the poorer people.

One peculiarity, which characterises the majority of Corean houses of the
better sort is that they are entered by the windows; these being provided
with sliding latticed frames covered with tissue paper, and running on
grooves to the sides, like the _Shojis_ of Japan. The tissue paper is
often dipped in oil previous to being used on the sliding doors and
windows, as it is then supposed to keep out the cold better than when
left in its natural state. As the doors and windows of Cho-sen, however,
very seldom have the quality of fitting tight, a Corean house is
therefore quite a _rendezvous_ for draughts and currents of air.

In summer time the windows and doors are kept open, or even removed
altogether during the day-time, and then, in order to preserve that
privacy of which every Corean is so proud, recourse is had to a capital
dodge. At the end of the projecting roof, and immediately in front of the
window or entrance, at the distance of a couple of feet, is hung a shade
in the shape of a fine mat, made of numberless long strings of split
bamboo, tied together in a parallel position by several silk strings
which vary in number with the size of the mat. The use of these
curtain-like barriers has several advantages. They protect the house from
those troublesome visitors the flies; they let in the air, though not the
sun, and, while the people who are in the house can plainly see through
them what goes on in the street, no one on the outside can distinguish
either those inside, or what is doing in the house. Good mats are very
expensive, and difficult to obtain; therefore, it is only the better
classes that can use them. Poorer folk are satisfied with very rough mats
of rushes. It is also the custom for good citizens of the provinces to
send the king at the New Year presents of a certain number of these mats,
which, like the Indian shawls of Her Britannic Majesty, are given out
again by him to the royal princes and highest officials. I was fortunate
enough to be presented with two of these blinds by a high official, who
was closely related to the king. They are a marvel of patient and careful
work, as accurately and delicately done as if some machine had been
employed. They are nearly six feet high, by five wide, and are yellow in
colour with black, red, and green stripes painted at t