below the limit established by custom. A failure to attend to this matter would soon get him into trouble.
Several kinds of sea products are also sent up, such as edible sea-weed, beche-de-mer, dried clams, pearls, cuttle-fish, cod and other denizens of the deep; among industrial products, linen and cotton cloth, fans, screens, mats, tables, cabinets, pipes, paper, human hair, silk, furs, horses, hats, head-bands, pens, ink, candles, grass-cloth, tiger skins, deer horns, mountain ginseng, game, honey, ginger, crockery and porcelain, medicines, embroideries, cranes, musical instruments and coral. These are a few of the varieties.
The most reliable source of income is the Maritime Customs, and it forms the only asset that the government can use as collateral for the purpose of making loans. Up to the early eighties there was no such institution, but in 1882 the government requested that the Chinese Customs send a man to open up a service in Korea. P. G. von Mollendorff, Esq., was sent, and with him a considerable staff of foreigners. The service was established on lines similar to those in China, but after a few years Mr. Von Mollendorff resigned, and the service came more directly under the Chinese control. From the very first it was a decided success, one of the very few that Korea has achieved along financial lines; and under the admirable management of J. McLeavy Brown, C. M. G., it has formed an anchor to windward that has helped the government ride out many a storm, not merely financial but political as well. The subject of imports and exports will be mentioned elsewhere, but under the head of revenue it will suffice to say that, according to the latest reports, the gross value of a year's trade is approximately fifty million yen or twenty-five million dollars, on practically all of which a small import or export duty is imposed.
