officials and magistrates to enliven their dinner-parties with chanting
and music. They are generally drawn from the very poorest classes, and
good looks and a certain amount of wit and musical talent is what must be
acquired to be a successful singer. They improvise or sing old national
songs, which never fail to please the self-satisfied and well-fed
official, and if well paid, they will even condescend to pour wine into
their employer's cups and pass sweets to the guests. If beautiful and
accomplished, the "Corean artistes" make a very good living out of their
profession, large sums of money being paid for their services. But if at
all favoured by Nature, they generally end by becoming the unofficial
wives of some rich minister or official. These women chalk their faces
and paint their lips; they wear dresses made of the most expensive silks,
and, like people generally who have sprung from nothing and find
themselves lodged among higher folks than themselves, they give
themselves airs, and cultivate a sickening conceit. Among the Coreans,
however, they command and receive much admiration, and many an intrigue
and scandal has been carried out, sometimes at the cost of many heads,
through the mercenary turn of mind of these feminine musicians.

This music is to the average European ear more than diabolical, this
being to a large extent due to the differences in the tones, semi-tones,
and intervals of the scale, but personally, having got accustomed to
their tunes, I rather like its weirdness and originality. When once it is
understood it can be appreciated; but I must admit that the first time
one hears a Corean concert, an inclination arises to murder the musicians
and destroy their instruments. Of the latter they have many kinds,
including string and brass, and drums, and cymbals, and other sorts of
percussion instruments. The flutes probably are the weirdest of all their
wind category, but the tone is pleasant and the airs played on them
fascinating, although somewhat monotonous in the end, repetitions being