thousands had died. More than 20,000 destitute people were discovered in Seoul, out of a population of rather less than 200,000. Reports from the provincial centres disclosed a relapse into a state of absolute savagery in many rural
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THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN, SEOUL
districts. Famine, pestilence, and death stalked abroad in Korea for months, and many, who escaped starvation, lost their lives subsequently in the great wave of disease which swept over the land.
It is impossible to believe that the famine would have assumed its late proportions had the Government of Korea maintained its embargo against the exportation of cereals from the country. There can be no doubt that the withdrawal of this prohibition contributed to the scarceness of the food-stuffs which were procurable by the people, when their straits were most severe. Mortality returns from the
