that there is safety in numbers. So it was mainly here that I made my
first studies of the retiring ways and quaint costumes of the Corean
damsel.

[Illustration: A COREAN BEAUTY]

Yes, the costume really is quaint, and well it deserves to be described.
They wear huge padded trousers, similar to those of the men, their socks
also being padded with cotton wool. The latter are fastened tightly
round the ankles to the trousers by means of a ribbon. You must not
think, however, that the dame of Cho-sen walks about the streets attired
in this manly garment, for over these trousers she wears a shortish skirt
tied very high over the waist. Both trousers and skirt are generally
white, and of silk or cotton according to the grade, position in life,
and extravagance of those who wear them. A tiny jacket, usually white,
red, or green, completes the wardrobe of most Corean women; one
peculiarity of which is that it is so short that both breasts are left
uncovered, which is a curious and most unpractical fashion, the climate
of Corea, as we have already seen, being exceedingly cold--much colder
than Russia or even Canada. The hair, of which the women have no very
great abundance, is very simply made up, plastered down flat with some
sort of stenching oil, parted in the middle, and tied into a knot at the
back of the head, pretty much in the same way as clergymen's wives
ordinarily wear it. A heavy-looking silver or metal pin, or sometimes
two, may also be found inserted in this knot as an ornament. I have often
seen young girls and old women wear a curious fur cap, especially in
winter, but this cannot be said to be in general use. It is in the shape
of the section of a cone, the upper part of which is covered with silk,
while the lower half is ornamented with fur and two long silk ribbons
which hang at the back and nearly reach the ground when the cap is worn.