Thro is an interesting article in the! current " Korea Review" on the newSeoul-Fusan Railway. It is as follow It was at the beginning of 1905 that] the Seoul-Fusan oilway was opened for general traffic, and we lost no time in running down to Fusan and examining this route. It that never again our way around that south-western point through the fog, or drop anchor for a day ata time among those dreary islands. A few hours' dash across the Straits of all the aoa-travel now necessary and it is more the be crossed in going to Londo:
At first the Seoul-Fusan trains started from Yongtongpo, where a wait of an hour was necessary,.but before long this ud now the train starts Branching off from the Chemulpo line at Yongtongpo, it turns to the southward and sweeps around the tasse of Kwanaksan, giving some magnificent views of that grand cluster of rocky peaks. Suwun, with its thickly-wooded mountain, is reached in about an hour from Yongtongpo. Here the road skirts extensive irrigation reservoir on one side and a fine stone quarry on the other. Throughout this whole section, at least for adistanco of fifty miles from Seoul, the country is finely wooded, exten forests being continually in sight. After that the country becomes less heavily wooded until in the vicinity of Kongju only an occasional clump of trees is seen. In the town of Chuneui two tunnels are passed, osch of them being opproximately one hundred yards long. Nothing too good can be said of the workmanship' on this road; the road-bed is excellent and for a considerable part of the way ballasted with stone. The rails are ~ary heavy, contrasting in this respect very favourably with those of the Siverian ils, in 1903 at least, wore hardly heavier than those of the electric tramway in Seoul. The ties of the Japanese road are very heavy and made wood much resembling the ash, Here again there is @ striking difference between the Japanese and Russian work, for the latter road has, for thousands of miles, ties that are simply round sticks of eight-inch diameter split in two, the rails resting on the rounded side. A very few weeks suffice to sink the rails deeply into the; soft wood.
The trains on the Seoul-Fusan road are not as yet finally arranged and there is no express service. A third-class car and a second-class car were attached toa freight train and at each station there was more or less shifting of cars ai sequent delays. And yet, in spite of this, the average time between Seoul and Fusan was twenty miles an Lour, which exceeds the time of the express on the 'Y Siberian line. Over parts of the Corean line we made a speed of thirty-five miles an hour. This is quite unheard of on any portion of the Siberian line. It was not until we boarded the train from Moscow to Warsaw that we equalled that pace. If mixed train can make this over the Seoul-Fussn road, an express can easily do forty-five miles. The important point is that the road-bed 18 so solid and the masonry work so unexceptionable that the possible speed will depend entirely upon the engines and weight of train. It was the bad condition of the road-bed that retarded speed in Siberis This road.passos Kongju at a distance of some twenty miles and then branches away to the east to climb the two ranges of mountains that lie between the valleys of the Keum and Kaktong Rivers. The work of mounting the first great pass is an arduous one, for the tunnel at point is not completed and the road literally climbs the hill. The grade at one point is the steepest we seen, except on a funicular rail will all disappear as soon as the tunnel is completed. Steep as it is, this pass does not have to be surmounted by a +hbuck or any other such mechanical trick, but we had to have an engine at each end of the train. Through this rough region the masonry work i ceedingly fin money must hi been poured out like water. The road passes through the hills at a high elevation, and the valleys deep beneath, with their clustering villages and checkerboard rice-fields, pass before the eye moving pictures.
Passing down the astern side of thi: rang, we cross a tributary of the Keum River on temporary bridge. prench to this bridge down the side the mountain is one of the most beautiful on the whaleroad. Late in the afternoon the second range is passed. Here also we find an unfinished tunnel, apparently most considerable on ly little of i been entered more than thirty or forty feet. The road passes over the summit, and on the eastern-side requires a single awitebback in order to come down to the 1 of the valley. It is dark by the time we cross the broad Naktong, and eight G'clock sees us draw up at the station of Taiku, The train stops here, and the traveller must seek lodgment in the town until seven o'clock the next morning. There are many Japanese hostelries, and one need not be uncomfortable. One should not fail to stop over a day at this town and certain places of great interest in ite vicinity. Some of th: relies of the ancient Silla dynasty which fell almost exactly 1,000 years ago. There is s curious underground vault, the use of which no one at the present time can It is made of massive stone arches and the whole is covered with a mound of earth, on top of which grows an oak tree two feet in diameter. One should see the curious graves culled Koryuchang, which are remains of the last dynasty and from which large quantities of curious pottery and other utensils are taken. None of these graves are without this pottery. These sepulchres sre so old that hardly a vestige of the skeleton of the dead is found. One should not fail to visit the remains of the stronghold of the old-time Ssu family, a sort of feudal fortress some twenty acres in extent.
Taiku is.the centre of much missionary work, both Roman Catholic and Protestant. The R. C. cathedral is the most conspicuous bull near the town, and under the and devoted efforts of Father Robert a large work is being done. The Presbyterian Mission has a flourishing with half a dozen mi the mouth of the This is the most arduous engineers had to perform. The tunnel is upwards of 4,000 feet long. The approach from neither end is particularly picturesque, but it is a good illustration of the determination which has marked the progress of Japanese enterprise in Corea, Darkness came on soon after and in the moonlight we slipped down the long reaches of the Naktong River unfit ut eight we caught sight of the sparkling lights on the shipping in Fusan harbour and drow up at the terminal station, which stands half head of the bay, and Fusan proper at th foot. Two years have worked wonders in this port. The Reclamati has literally pulled the the water. And to-day we have a broad band stretching down the shore of the bay for a mile or more. In places the sea wall is built up from a pain feet below the surface of the Museum is one of the finest foreign buildings in Corea, and the new three-storey Japanese hotels, built most substantially of brick and, at least on the exterior, in foreign style, attest. the restless energy and enterprise of the Japanese. Coreans swarm in every direc tiou. Hundreds of them have be inquiries ug the me, from all sorts: ire employed on constructive works, and
of peopl ited the same statement, namely that the road is a groat 4 tion that will do incalculable good, OF course there are those who grumble at it. For instance an enormous freight traffic was formerly carried on by fiat-beata on theNaktong River. These boats woretowod by men, and it took a mouth to reach Taiku. ' The railroad has practically killed this traffic, and " large number of thousands of people in cheapening of transit rates and the avoidance of the likin on this river have proved an unmixed blessing. The impetus given to trade of all kinds is rapidly "The beelth and vigour of an individual depend upon the quantity and quality of the blood. When the tissues have been at work, there are thrown into the blood waste produ-ts, and if these be not eliminated, but through any cause detained in the blood, they influence nutrition and function "ud finally produce organic disesse."—"The Huvanitarian." In esses of Scrofule, scurvy, Ecarma B-liege, Skin and Blood D sowses, Pimples ald Sures of all the fects of El-rko's Blood Mixture are marvellous. Thousands of wonderful cures he.e been eflected by it. Clarke's Blord Mixture is sole everywhere at 2s, 9a. per bottle, Beware of worthless imitations and substitutions.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.