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18
KOREA

during 1901. It then numbered some four thousand six hundred, of whom a few hundred were soldiers constituting a temporary garrison for the settlement. However, since the modification by the Japanese Government of the emigration laws with reference to China and Korea, under which, in the first weeks of 1902, the necessity for travelling passports was abolished in the case of these two countries, there has been a great increase in the number of Japanese residents at the treaty ports. The settlement at Chemulpo now embraces one thousand two hundred and eighty-two houses, and possesses a population of five thousand nine hundred and seventy-three adults. The census of the Chinese settlement fluctuates with the season; considerable numbers of farmers cross from Shan-tung to Korea during the summer, returning to their native land in winter. In the period of exodus from China, the Chinese population exceeds twelve hundred. The complete strength of the general foreign settlement is eighty-six, of which some twenty-nine are British. The one British firm in Korea is established in Chemulpo.

There are many nationalities in Chemulpo, and the small community, excluding the Japanese and Chinese, is made up as follows: British, twenty-nine and one firm, the remaining twenty-eight being attached to the Vice-Consulate, the Customs, and a missionary society; American, eight and two firms; French, six and one firm; German sixteen and one firm; Italian, seven and one firm; Russian, four and two firms; Greek, two and one firm; Portuguese seven, Hungarian five, and Dutch two, the last three possessing no firms in the port.

If British interests are not materially represented in Chemulpo, other nalionalities are less backward. By means