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PHYSICAL FEATURES GEOGRAPHIC SYSTEM. 839
brated Japanese dictator and usurper Taikosama, having conceived the project
of conquering China, began with that of Korea, under the pretext of old Japanese
rights over the country of the Kmaso. After wasting the land he compelled the
King to become his tributary, and left a permanent garrison in the peninsula.
A fresh expedition, although interrupted by the death of Taikosama, was equally
successful. Tsu-sima remained in the hands of the Japanese, and from that time
till the middle of the present century Korea continued in a state of vassalage,
sending every year presents and tribute to Nippon. According to the missionaries,
thirty human skins at first formed part of this tribute, but were afterwards replaced
by silver, rice, linen fabrics, and medicinal plants.
Thanks to the aid sent by the Ming dynasty to Korea, in its victorious struggle
with the other petty states of the peninsula, and in its resistance to Japan, its
relations with China continued to be of the most friendly character. Admirers of
Chinese culture, the native rulers felt honoured by the investiture granted them by
the " Son of Heaven." But after the Manchu conquest of the Middle Kingdom,
Korea remaining faithful to the cause of the Mings, the new masters of the empire
invaded the peninsula, and in 1637 dictated a treaty, imposing on the Koreans a
yearly tribute of 100 ounces of gold, 1,000 ounces of silver, and a certain quantity
of furs, roots, textile fabrics, and other natural and industrial products of the land.
But although since that time the native ruler takes the title of " Subject," China
exercises no real sovereign rights in Korea. No Chinese emigrants are allowed to
settle in the peninsula, and even the envoys from Peking are obliged to leave their
suites outside the walls of the capital, where during their stay they remain confined
to the palace, more like honoured captives than the representatives of a master.
Thus, although for over two hundred years a vassal to both of its powerful neigh-
bours, the peninsula has practically retained its autonomy.
A third empire, having become conterminous with Korea, has begun to make
itself felt. Conflicts have already taken place between Russians and Koreans, and
the Government of St. Petersburg has more than once assumed an aggressive
attitude. A well-sheltered harbour on the south coast of the peninsula would
certainly be of the greatest advantage, both commercially and strategically, to
Russia. From such a station she might command at once both the Chinese and
Japanese waters, and thus become supreme in the Eastern seas. But a reasonable
pretext for attacking the feeble kingdom of Korea has not yet been discovered, and
meantime the influence of Japan has recently been most active in the peninsula,
where she has secured certain concessions and commercial privileges still denied to
all other foreign powers except the United St;.tes of North America.
PHYSICAL FEATURES GEOGRAPHIC SYSTEM.
According to Dullet the chief mountain range of Korea branches off from the
Tai-pei-shan at the 1'aiktu-san, whose crest forms the parting-line between the
waters flowing north-east to Tiumen-ola, and south-west to the Yalu-kiang.
South-east of these highlands, which are still held by independent tribes, an