e air those sonorous notes by
which, as already stated, all good citizens of the stronger sex are
warned to retire to their respective homes, and which give the signal for
closing the gates of the town.

When you enter the royal precinct, you run a considerable amount of risk
of losing your way. It is quite a labyrinth there. The more walls and
gates you go through, the more you wind your way, now round this
building, then round that, the more obstacles do you seem to see in front
of you. There are sentries at every gate, and at each a password has to
be given. When you approach, the infantry soldiers, quickly jumping out
of the baskets in which they were slumbering, seize hold of their rifles,
and either point their bayonets at you or else place their guns across
the door, until the right password is given, when a comical way of
presenting arms follows, and you are allowed to proceed.

In the back part of the enclosure is a pretty villa in the Russian style.
A few years ago, when European ideas began to bestir the minds of the
King of Cho-sen, he set his heart upon having a house built in the
Western fashion. No other architect being at hand, his Majesty
commissioned a clever young Russian, a Mr. Seradin Sabatin, to build him
a royal palace after the fashion of his country. The young Russian,
though not a professional architect, did his very best to please the
King, and with the money he had at his command, turned out a very solid
and well-built little villa, _a la Russe_, with _caloriferes_ and all
other modern appliances. The house has two storeys, but the number of
rooms is rather limited. The King, however, seemed much pleased with it,
but when it was on the point of completion, at the instigation of some
foreign diplomat, he commissioned a French architect from Japan to
construct another palace on a much larger scale at some distance from the
Russian building. The estimates for this new ground structure were far
too small, and by the time that the foundations were laid down, the cost
already amounted to nearly three times the sum for which the whole
building was to have been erected. The King, disgusted at what he thought
to be foreign trickery, but what was really merciless robbery on the
part of his own officials, decided to discontinue the new palace, which,
in consequence, even now has reached only a height of about three feet
above the level of the ground.

The royal palace may be considered as divided into