KOREA, AND HER NEIGHBORS
KOREA
And Her Neighbors
A Narrative of Travel, with
an Account of the Recent
Vicissitudes and Present
Position of the Country
By
Isabella Bird Bishop, F.R.G.S.
Author of “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan,” etc.
With a Preface by
Sir Walter C. Hillier, K.C.M.G.
Late British Consul-General for Korea
With Illustrations from Photographs by the Author,
and Maps, Appendixes and Index
New York Chicago Toronto
Fleming H. Revell Company
M DCCC XCVIII
Copyright 1897
BY
Fleming H. Revell Company
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Preface.
I have been honored by Mrs. Bishop with an invitation to preface herbook on Korea with a few introductory remarks.
Mrs. Bishop is too well-known as a traveler and a writer to requireany introduction to the reading public, but I am glad to be affordedan opportunity of indorsing the conclusions she has arrived at aftera long and intimate study of a people whose isolation during manycenturies renders a description of their character, institutions andpeculiarities, especially interesting at the present stage of theirhistory.
Those who, like myself, have known Korea from its first opening toforeign intercourse will thoroughly appreciate the closeness of Mrs.Bishop’s observation, the accuracy of her facts, and the correctness ofher inferences. The facilities enjoyed by her have been exceptional.She has been honored by the confidence and friendship of the King andthe late Queen in a degree that has never before been accorded to anyforeign traveler, and has had access to valuable sources of informationplaced at her disposal by the foreign community of Seoul, official,missionary, and mercantile; while her presence in the country duringand subsequent to the war between China and Japan, of which Korea was,in the first instance, the stage, has furnished her the opportunity ofrecording with accuracy and impartiality many details of an episode infar Eastern history which have hitherto been clouded by misstatementand exaggeration. The hardships and difficulties encountered by Mrs.Bishop during her journeys into the interior of Korea have been lightlytouched upon by herself; but those who know[Pg 2] how great they were,admire the courage, patience and endurance that enabled her to overcomethem.
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