e of the most interesting excursions in the neighbourhood of Seoul, is
that to the Poo-kan fortress. The pleasantest way of making it is to
start from the West Gate of Seoul and proceed thence either on horseback
or on foot, along the Pekin Pass road, past the artificial cut in the
rocks, until a smaller road, a mere path, is reached, which branches off
the main road and leads directly to the West Gate of the Poo-kan
fortress. This path goes over hilly ground, and the approaches to the
West Gate of the fortress are exceedingly picturesque.

The gate itself much resembles any of those of Seoul, only being of
smaller proportions. It is, however, situated in a most lovely spot. As
soon as we have entered, a pretty valley lies disclosed to our eyes, with
rocky mountains surrounding it, the highest peak of which towers up
towards the East. The formation of these hills is most peculiar and even
fantastic. One of them, the most remarkable of all, is in the shape of a
round dome, and consists of a gigantic semi-spherical rock.

Following the path, then, which leads from the West to the South Gate,
and which winds its way up steep hills, one comes at last to the temples.
These are probably, the best-preserved and most interesting in the
neighbourhood of the Corean capital. When I visited them, the monks were
extremely polite and showed me everything that was of any note. The
temples were in a much better state of preservation than is usual in the
land of Cho-sen, and the ornaments, and paintings on the wooden part
under the roof were in bright colours, as if they had been only recently
restored. There are, near these temples, by the way, tablets put up in
memory of different personages. In other respects, they were exactly
similar to those I have already described in a previous chapter.

At last, on the left hand side, I came upon the old palace. As with all
the other palaces, so in this case there are many low buildings for the
inferior officials besides a larger one in the centre, to which the King
can retreat in time of war when the capital is in danger. The ravages of
time, however, have been hard at work, and this place of safety for the
crowned heads of Corea is now nothing but a mass of ruins. The roofs of
the smaller houses have in most cases fallen through, owing to the
decayed condition of the wooden rafters, and the main building itself is
in a dreadful state of dilapidation. The _ensemble_, nevertheless, as one
stan