Abstract
COREA has at last followed the example of China and Japan, and cautiously opened a door or two to the outside “barbarian.” From time immemorial Corea has been hemmed in by exclusive-ness, and shares with Tibet the honour of being among the least-known countries in the world. Now, however, that both England and the United States have persuaded the Coreans to throw open four of their ports to commerce, we hope that our ignorance of an interesting land will soon be dispelled. Corea is almost half the size of France, and its population is variously estimated at from nine to fifteen millions. M. Elisée Réclus, in his “Geographie Universelle,” compares the peninsula to Italy. Like Italy, it has a mountain chain running down the centre of the country, and giving off lateral valleys; as in the Apennines, the gentlest slopes and most fertile valleys are in the west, while the east is more precipitous and barren. As with Italy, Corea has in the north-west an Alpine mass, which guards her from intrusion there, though the mass does not really cover all the boundary. Of the geology we know but little, though many valuable minerals, including coal, are supposed to abound, and the country as a whole is capable of great development with proper guidance and suitable machinery. We trust before the inevitable Europeanising process is complete, that accurate information on the habits and customs, language, and ethnology of the Coreans will be obtained.
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Geographical Notes . Nature 26, 281–282 (1882). https://doi.org/10.1038/026281b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/026281b0