Isabella Bird Travels to Korea in the 1890s

Isabella Bird was an Englishwoman, born in 1831, who travelled to remote regions and wrote about her travels.  Many years ago, I read her book A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, about her trip to Colorado in 1873. I had no idea she had written other books, but in fact she made many other journeys, to places including Australia, Malaysia, Tibet, and Persia, and wrote about them almost up to the time of her death in 1904.  So I was happy to find that she had traveled in Korea, making four trips in 1893 to 1897.  (She had been married in 1881 and widowed in 1886, so this book was published under her married name of Bishop.)

Her book Korea and Her Neighbors describes many of aspects of life in Korea, Manchuria, and Russia.  She never hesitated to say exactly what she thought, whether complimentary or insulting, and she was sure that British “civilisation” was a tool that would benefit the rest of the world. But neither society’s view of “a woman’s place” nor a painful spine disorder could keep her from traveling extensively, by mule, pony, or small boat. She didn’t quail from travel hardships or horrors, reporting all she saw, whether it was crossing steep mountain passes in a snowstorm, or traversing a battlefield with bodies still piled up.

In Korea, she did not form a good opinion of the common people, but she thought that because they were so abused by corrupt government officials at all levels, they had no reason to try to do more than survive.  Any effort they made to get ahead or save money was swiftly “squeezed” out of them by officials.  So if you do read her book, be prepared for some very negative judgments.

(The book is available on HathiTrust, in two volumes.  I will reference the page numbers in her printed book, and from the HathiTrust PDF.)

Isabella first spent some time in Seoul, but then she hired a sampan, and spent five weeks exploring the Han River.

The only coin accepted was the cash, of which at that time 3,200 nominally went to the dollar.  The coin is strung on hundreds on straw strings, and the counting of it, the carrying of it, and the being without it are all a nuisance. It takes six men or one pony to carry 100 yen in cash, £ 10!

Consequently, the boat which I engaged for the earlier part of the journey was ballasted with cash, and I took a bag of silver yen, and trusted to my usual good fortune, which in this case did not altogether fail. In addition to this uncouth and heavy burden, I took a saddle, a trestle-bed with bedding and mosquito net, muslin curtains, a folding-chair, two changes of clothing, Korean string shoes, and a “regulation” waterproof cloak. Besides, I took green tea, curry powder, and 20 lbs. of flour.  I discarded all superfluities; such as flasks, collapsing cups, hand-mirrors, teapots, sandwich tins, lamps, and tinned soups, meats, bouillon, and fruits. The kitchen equipment consisted of a Japanese brazier for charcoal, a shallow Japanese pan and frying-pan, and a small kettle, with charcoal tongs, the whole costing under two dollars! The “table equipment” was limited: a small mug, two plates and a soup plate, all in enamelled iron, and a knife, fork, and spoon, which folded up, a knife, fork, and spoon of common make being reserved for the “kitchen.” Tables, trays, tablecloths, and sheets were from thenceforth unknown luxuries. I mention my outfit, because I know it to be a sufficient one, and that every pound of superfluous weight adds to the difficulty of getting transport in Korea and in many other countries. Besides, I was encumbered for the first time with a tripod camera weighing 16 lbs., and a hand camera weighing 4 lbs., with the apparatus belonging to them, and had to reduce other things accordingly.

On the whole, it is best to trust to the food of the country. Korea produces eggs, and in some regions chickens. The chestnuts; are good, and though the flour, which can be got in a few places, is gritty, and the rice is a bad colour, both are eatable, and the foreigner, always an object of suspicion, is less so when he buys and eats native viands, and does not carry about with him a number of (to Koreans) outlandish-looking utensils and commodities. (Volume 1, pp. 70, 71/112,113)

A view of the Diamond Mountains from part of her trip.

And she didn’t just sight-see and take a few notes.  She collected plant specimens, took photographs and scientific observations:

..climbing to ridges bordering the Han to get a view of fertile and populous valleys, conversing with and interrogating the people through [a translator], taking geographical notes, temperatures, altitudes, barometric; readings, and measurements of the river (nearly all unfortunately lost in a rapid on the downward journey), collecting and drying plants, photographing, and developing negatives under difficulties, all the blankets and waterproofs in the boat being requisitioned for the creation of a “dark room”- were occupations which made up busy and interesting days…. (Volume 1, p. 91/135)

Some of the people who traveled with her to guide and translate.

Experience has taught me that an oiled sheet is a better protection against vermin than a pony-load of insect powder. I made much use of the tripod of my camera. It served as a candle-stand, a barometer-suspender, and an arrangement on which to hang my clothes at night out of harm’s way. (Volume 2, p.90/118)

This trip up the river was just a small part of her overall journey.  Here are some of her observations of society, and especially of anything textile-related.

Status of Women

In Song-do, as in the villages, a straw fringe is frequently to be seen stretched across a door, either plain or with bits of charcoal knotted into it. The former denotes the birth of a girl, the latter that of a boy. A girl is not specially welcome, nor is the occasion one of festivity, but neither is it, as in some countries, regarded as a calamity, although, if it be a firstborn, the friends of the father are apt to write letters of condolence to him, with the consoling suggestion that “the next will be a boy.”… (Volume 2, p. 99/128)

Korean women are very rigidly secluded, perhaps more absolutely so than the women of any other nation. In the capital; a very curious arrangement prevailed. About eight o’clock the great bell tolled a signal for men to retire into their houses, and for women to come out and amuse them- selves, and visit their friends. The rule; which clears the streets of men occasionally lapses, and then some incident occurs which causes it to be rigorously re-enforced. So it was at the time of my arrival, and the pitch dark streets presented the singular spectacle of being tenanted solely by bodies of women with servants carrying lanterns. From its operation were exempted blind men, officials, foreigners’ servants, and persons carrying prescriptions to the druggists’. These were often forged for the purpose of escape from durance vile, and a few people got long staffs and impersonated blind men. At twelve the bell again boomed, women retired, and men were at liberty to go abroad. A lady of high position told me that she had never seen the streets of Seoul by daylight…. (Volume 1, p. 45/85)

The Market

At the weekly market; the usual melancholy dulness of a Korean village is exchanged for bustle, colour, and crowds of men. From an early hour in the morning the paths leading to the officially-appointed centre are thronged with peasants bringing in their wares for sale or barter… while the main road has its complement of merchants, ie. pedlars, mostly fine, strong, well-dressed men, either carrying their heavy packs themselves or employing porters or bulls for the purpose. These men travel on regular circuits; to the village centres, and are industrious and respectable. A few put up stalls, specially those who sell silks, gauzes, cords for girdles, dress shoes, amber, buttons, silks in skeins, small mirrors, tobacco-pouches, dress combs of tortoise-shell for men’s top-knots, tape girdles for trousers, boxes with mirror tops, and the like…

On such tables are … piece goods, shirtings of Japanese and English make, Victoria lawns, hempen cloth, Turkey-red cottons, Korean flimsy silks, dyes, chiefly aniline, which are sold in great quantities, together with saffron, indigo, and Chinese Prussian blue.

Paper, the best of the Korean manufactures, in its finer qualities produced in Chul-la Do, is honoured by stalls. Every kind is purchasable; in these markets, from the beautiful, translucent, buff, oiled paper, nearly equal to vellum in appearance and tenacity, used for the floors of middle- and upper-class houses, and the stout paper for covering walls, to the thin, strong film for writing on, and a beautiful fabric, a sort of frothy gauze, for wrapping up delicate fabrics, as well as the coarse fibrous material, used for covering heavy packages, and intermediate grades, applied to every imaginable purpose, such as the making of string, almost all manufactured from the paper mulberry.

Hemp Processing

At the bottom of a stone-paved pit large stones are placed, which are heated from a rough oven at the side. The hemp; is pressed down in bundles upon these, and stakes are driven in among them. Piles of coarse Korean grass are placed over the hemp, and earth over all, well beaten down. The stakes are then pulled up and water is poured into the holes left by them. This, falling on the heated stones, produces a dense steam, and in twenty-four hours the hemp fibre is so completely disintegrated as to be easily separated… The hamlets are small, and grow much hemp, and each has its hemp-pit. They also grow Urtica nivea, from the bleached fibre of which their grass cloth summer clothes are made.

Laundry

Every brook-side has its laundresses squatting on flat stones, dipping the soiled clothes in the water, laying them on flat stones in tightly-rolled bundles and beating them with flat paddles, a previous process consisting of steeping them in a ley made of wood ashes. Bleached under the brilliant sun and very slightly glazed with rice starch, after being beaten for a length of time with short quick taps on a wooden roller with club-shaped “laundry sticks,” common white cotton looks like dull white satin, and has a dazzling whiteness which always reminds me of St. Mark’s words concerning the raiment at the Transfiguration, “so as no fuller on earth can white them”…. This wearing of white clothes, and especially of white wadded clothes in winter, entails very severe and incessant labour on the women. The coats have to be unpicked and put together again each time that they are washed, and though some of the long seams are often joined with paste, there is still much sewing to be done. (Volume 2, p. 149/181)

Illustration of Korean laundresses from the 1890s.

Bird also wrote a lengthy analysis on what British manufacturers must do to compete in Korean markets. She felt that British products were being outsold by Japanese ones, because the Japanese took the time to study what their customers wanted, and adapted their products to Korean needs. I thought this view of global trade was interesting.

…the potential commerce of a country with not less than 12,000,000 of people, all cotton-clad, ought not to be overlooked. The amount of foreign trade which exists is the growth of thirteen years only, but when we remember that Korea is a purely agricultural country of a very primitive and backward type, that many of her finest valleys are practically isolated by mountain ranges, traversed by nearly impassable roads, that the tyranny of custom is strong, that the Korean farmer is only just learning that a profitable and almost unlimited demand exists for his rice and beans across the sea, that the serious cost of his cotton clothing can be kept down by importing foreign yarn or piece goods, and that his comfort can be increased by the introduction of articles of foreign manufacture… its possibilities are worth considering.

The Japanese success, putting the advantages of proximity aside, is, I believe, mainly due to the accuracy of the information obtained by their keen-witted agents, who have visited all the towns and villages in Korea, and to the carefulness with which their manufacturers are studying the tastes and requirements of the Korean market. Their goods reach the shore in manageable bales;, which do not require to be adapted after arrival to the minute Korean pony, and their price, width, length, and texture commend them to the Korean consumer. The Japanese understand that cotton 18 inches wide is the only cotton from which Korean garments can be fashioned without very considerable waste, and they supply the market with it; and on the report of the agents of the importing firms, the weavers of Osaka and other manufacturing towns with adroitness and rapidity closely adapted the texture, width, and length of their cottons to those of the hand-loom cotton goods made in South Korea, which are deservedly popular for their durability, and have succeeded not only in producing an imitation of Korean cotton cloth, which stands the pounding and beating of Korean washing, but one which actually deceives the Korean weavers themselves as to its origin, and which has won great popularity with the Korean If Korea is to be a British market in the future, the lost ground must be recovered by working on Japanese lines, which are the lines of commercial common sense. (Volume 2, p. 216/250)

In my next post, we will follow Isabella to a royal procession, and some visits with the King and Queen of Korea.