board a chief (most probably of this district), attended by a numerous retinue. There he met the commodore; and, after partaking of some refreshment, proceeded, although it was now dark, on board the Alceste. He was saluted, on leaving the Lyra, with three guns, which was repeated by the frigate. As he shoved off from the brig, one of his attendants, having in some way or other misbehaved, was by his order extended on the deck of the boat, and received, in a summary way, about a dozen and a half blows with a flat bamboo over the seat of honour; and, as the culprit squalled, a number of his companions standing round him joined in the howl, either in derision, or to drown his noise. This ceremony finished, a flourish of trumpets and other instruments announced his approach to the frigate. He was a man apparently about seventy years of age, of a very venerable and majestic mien; his hair and beard of a hoary whiteness. His dress was a flowing light blue robe, with loose sleeves, and fastened round his middle by a buff-coloured leathern girdle. He had on his head an immense hat, not less than five or six feet round the brim, made of some substance resembling horse-hair varnished over. The cavity to receive the head being fixed under the brim; that which rose above it, as in European hats, was not larger than a common tumbler. He wore a kind of half-boots, very much peaked and turned up at the points; and in his hand he held a short black stick, twisted round with a silken cord, which seemed to be the badge of his office. Divested of his broad-brimmed hat, he would not upon the whole have made a bad representative of old King Lear. Of his attendants some were military, being distinguished by a short sword or rapier, the officers wearing peacocks' feathers in their hats (a distinction which also exists in China for men of military merit) ; and the rest were civilians. He was ushered into the cabin, where, in preference to chairs, he sat down upon one of the sofa-cushions, placed upon deck. It appearing to be etiquette for the head to be covered, the whole party, consisting of Captains Maxwell, Hall, and other officers, conformed to this rule, and, squatting on the cabin-floor, with gold-laced cocked hats on, amid the strange costume of the Coreans, looked like a party of masquers. Much edifying conversation was, no doubt, lost on this occasion; for much was said, on both sides, but unfortunately not one word was understood; the Chinese interpreter we had on board not being able to write his own language; and some of the Coreans could write, although they could not speak, at least that dialect which he comprehended. The old gentleman now dictated something which his secretary wrote, and it was put into the hand of Captain Maxwell. The latter, as the shortest mode of communicating that he could not read this, wrote in his turn a line in English, and delivered it to the chief. This had the desired effect, and they seemed astonished to find, that the written characters in use amongst them, were not the only ones in the world*. * Mr. Barrow, in his work upon China, describes the written characters of that country as symbols of ideas, which are understood by the literati of the adjacent states, |