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274
KOREA

hankering after the lad for some time before he was brought to me, suborned him. He deserted me upon the eve of my second expedition. This trick is seldom perpetrated east of Suez between Europeans with native servants; it is one of the few unwritten laws of the East and observed everywhere. I reported the matter to the American Minister, Dr. Allen, but the missionary kept the boy. Servants, grooms, and a coolie of a sort, are all necessary upon these expeditions; one groom to each horse is a wise allowance. Koreans like to send three horses to two men; however, my division is the better. Europeans require a body-servant, who will look after the personal effects of his master, and wait at table. An interpreter, who can speak Chinese and some European language, either German, French, or English, is invaluable. It is safer in each case to take men who are not converts. A coolie is useful and gives a little variety to the beasts of burden; he carries the camera, water-bottles, and small impedimenta of the hour. A chef is not really necessary—my interpreter voluntarily served as cook. The interpreter in any journey inland should be mounted; it saves considerable friction if the personal servants be allowed to ride on the baggage ponies. Interpreters receive from thirty to forty dollars a month; personal servants from eight to twenty dollars a month; coolies from eight to ten dollars a month. The hire for the horses, with whom the grooms are included, is a dollar a day, half the amount paid down in advance upon the day of starting. All calculations are made in Korean currency. The entire staff, except the horses and grooms, is fed by the traveller. The interpreter takes charge of the accounts. He will, if ordered, take down the Chinese and Korean names of the villages, streams, lakes, valleys, plains, mountains and