CHAPTER VII.


A JOURNEY

It sometimes happened that Ki Pak, in performing his official duties,
was obliged to make long journeys to various parts of Korea. One of Yung
Pak's greatest pleasures was to listen to the stories which his father
used to tell him about these journeys.

When Ki Pak made one of these trips through the country he could not
ride on the cars as you do, for there were no railways, with puffing
engines and comfortable coaches; neither could he take a carriage drawn
by swift and strong horses, for they too were unknown by the Koreans.
Even if he had possessed horses and carriage, there were few roads over
which they could have been driven. Most of the highways were simply
rough paths, over which men usually travelled on foot or on the backs of
ponies up and down the hills of the country. It was generally necessary
to cross rivers by fording, though, where the water was too deep for
this, rude and clumsy ferry-boats were provided. Occasionally, over a
narrow stream, a frail footbridge would be built.

You can easily imagine Yung Pak's joy and surprise one day when his
father told him that he proposed to take his little son on his next
journey.