the south, and founded a small kingdom west of the river Yalu, electing
as their king a man called Ko-Korai, after whom, in all probability, the
new nation took its name. Then as their numbers increased, and their
adventurous spirit grew, they began to extend their territory, north,
south, and west, and in this latter direction easily succeeded in
conquering the small kingdom of Wuju and extending their frontier as far
south as the river Tatung, which lies approximately on parallel 38° 30".

During the time of the "Three Realms" in China, between the years 220 and
277 A.D., the Ko-Korai people, profiting by the weakness of their
neighbours, and therefore not much troubled with guerrillas on the
northern frontier, continued to migrate south, conquering new ground, and
so being enabled finally to establish their capital at Ping-yan on the
Tatong River. After a comparatively peaceful time with their northern
neighbours for over 300 years, however, towards the end of the sixth
century, China began a most micidial war against the king of Ko-Korai, or
Korai, as it was then called, the "Ko" having been dropped. It seems
that even in those remote days the Chinese had no luck in the land of
Cho-sen, and though army after army, and hundreds of thousands of men
were sent against them, the brave Korai people held their own, and far
from being defeated and conquered, actually drove the enemy out of the
country, killing thousands mercilessly in their retreat, and becoming
masters of the Corean Peninsula as far south as the River Han.

To the south of Korai were the states of Shinra and Hiaksai, and between
these and Korai, there was for a couple of centuries almost perpetual
war, the only intervals being when the latter kingdom was suffering at
the hands of the formidable Chinese invaders. But as I merely give this
rough and very imperfect sketch of Corean history, to explain how the
word Korai originated and was then applied to the whole of the peninsula,