22nd Jan, Turns is nearly always something very good to read in the Corean Repository, and the December issue is enlivened by an article by the Rev. Jas. S. Gale on "The Corean Coolie," which recalls in style and interest the same writer's article some months ago on "'Ihe Corean Pony." 'I'he opening article of the present issue is a continuation of Dr. Landis's summary of "'The Nu-medical. Categories of Corea." Among these are the "Six Shops," and this list shows how limited the wants of the Coreans are, They are the Silk shop, the Paper shop, the Muslin shop, the Grass-cloth shop, the Hempen shop, and the Odds and Ends shop. "'I'hese," Dr. Landis tells us, "are sometimes known as the Six Guilds." They possess the monopoly of trade in the above-mentioned goods and for this privilege they are called upon to contribute towards the expenses of a Royal Wedding, Funeral, etc, Anyone in the capital who deals in the above-mentioned articles without first obtaining the permission of the guild in question is liable to have his goods confiscated." The "Seven Books" are the Chinese Classics. The "Eight Celebrated Sights" of Oul San show that the Coreans are not behind their neighbours in Japan in the appreciation of the beauties of nature. They are the river emptying into the sea, the mountain peaks rising up into the sky, the evaporating of salt on the plains, the clouds enclosing the mountain-peaks, the fishermen's lights on an autumn evening, the peaks of the fairies projecting into the sky, the pinnacles of Cheung Syeng, and the sailing boats of Nai Huang. lo read this category brings before one's mental eye a hundred views la Japan.
The second article, by the Rev. W. D. Reynolds, gives an account of the organisation, mode of procedure, and present status of the work of Bible translation in Corea. So laborious and full of checks and delays is the system adopted by the Board of Translation, that it is not to be wondered at that they have hardly got beyond the Gospel of St. Matthew, other translations that have been issued in compliance with urgent demands being the work of individuals, and in no sense stamped with the Board's imprimatur, When the Board, if it adheres to its present system, will conclude its labours, it is impossible to foresee. " While the grass is growing, the steed starves."
Mr. Gale's monograph on the Corean coolie is so good that we have transferred it bodily to our columns, The article is followed by "Reports of the Annual Meeting of the Presbyterian Mission North," which clearly show the activity and zeal of the missionaries named in them. We note that in Seoul, "medical work has been carried on at four dispensaries at which the total of 9,000 cases have been treated, about
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.