weaker sex--not an easy task--and what they wear--a much more
difficult task still,--for I have not the good fortune to be conversant
with the intricacies of feminine habiliments, and therefore hope to be
excused if, in dealing with this part of my subject, I do not always use
the proper terms applicable to the different parts that compose it.
Relying, then, upon my readers' indulgence in this respect, I shall
attempt to give an idea of what a Corean female is like. It has always
been a feature in my sceptical nature to think that the more one sees of
women the less one knows them; according to which principle, I should
know Corean women very well, for one sees but little of them. Be that as
it may, however, I shall proceed to give my impressions of them.

As is pretty generally known, the women of Cho-sen, with the exception of
the lower classes, are kept in seclusion. They are seldom allowed to go
out, and when they do they cover their faces with white or green hoods,
very similar in shape to those worn by the women at Malta. They appear,
or pretend to be, shy of men, and foreigners in particular, and generally
hide when one is approaching, especially if in a solitary street. I
remember how astonished I was the first few days I was in Seoul, at the
fact that every woman I came across in the streets was just on the point
of opening a door and entering a house. It seemed so strange to me that
damsel after damsel whom I met should just be reaching home as I was
passing, that I began to think that I was either dreaming, or that every
house belonged to every woman in the town. The idea suddenly dawned upon
me that it was only a trick on their part to evade being seen, and on
further inquiry into the matter from a Corean friend, I discovered that a
woman has a right to open and enter any door of a Corean house when she
sees a foreign man appearing on the horizon, as the reputation of the
masculine "foreign devil" is still far from having reached a high
standard of morality in the minds of the gentler sex of Cho-sen. In the
main street and big thoroughfares, where at all times there are crowds of
people, there is more chance of approaching them without this running
away, for in Corea, as elsewhere, great reliance is placed on the saying
that there is safety in numbers. So it was mainly here that I made my
first studies of the retiring ways and quaint costumes of the Corean
damsel.

[Illustration: A COREAN BEAUTY]

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