nothing beautiful to be seen in Seoul. If, however, you are on the
look-out for quaintness and originality, no town will interest you more.
Let us go for a walk round the town, and if your nose happens to be of a
sensitive nature, do not forget to take a bottle of the strongest salts
with you. We might start on our peregrinations from the West Gate, as we
are already familiar with this point. We are on the principal
thoroughfare of Seoul, which we can easily perceive by the amount of
traffic on it as compared with the other narrower and deserted streets.
The mud-houses on each side, as we descend towards the old royal palace,
are miserable and dirty, the front rooms being used as shops, where
eatables, such as rice, dried fruit, &c, are sold. A small projecting
thatched roof has been put up, sustained by posts, at nearly each of
these, to protect its goods from sun and snow. Before going two hundred
yards we come to a little stone bridge, about five feet wide, and with no
parapet, over a sewer, in front of which is an open space like a small
square. But look! Do you see that man squatting down there on a mat? Is
he not picturesque with his long white flowing robe, his large pointed
straw hat and his black face? As he lies there with outstretched hands,
dried by the sun and snow, calling out for the mercy of the passers-by,
he might almost be mistaken for an Arab. His face is as black as it could
be, and he is blind. He is one of the personalities of Seoul, and rain or
shine you always see him squatting on his little mat at the same spot in
the same attitude.

[Illustration: THE BLIND BEGGAR: SEOUL]

It is only seldom that beggars are to be seen in Cho-sen, for they are
not allowed to prowl about except on certain special occasions, and
festivities, when the streets are simply crammed with them. It is then
that the most ghastly diseases, misfortunes, accidents, and deformities