and can appease them and persuade them to leave those in whom they have taken up their abode for the purpose of afflicting them in body or mind. The religious feeling of the people is so strong that even the highest and best educated classes do not hesitate to call for the mudang when they are in trouble. There is probably no other class of women in the land that make so much money as do the mudangs.
The pansu may come from any class of society, but his profession, like that of the mudang, is considered among the lowest. The pansu is always blind, and is supposed to be able to control the spirits not by persuasion but by power. They tell fortunes, and claim to be able to drive out evil spirits from sick people. The spirits are often soundly thrashed by these men, the evidence of which may be seen in the sticks with which they have been beaten. I have often seen bundles of these sticks, about as large as a broom handle and about two feet long, beaten into splinters at one end, caused by the severe thrashing which the poor, unfortunate spirit had received at the hands of the pansu. Sometimes an unruly spirit is driven into a bottle and corked up with a stopper made from the wood of a peach tree, and then delivered to a mudang to be carried away and buried. As a class the pansu live well and make plenty of money. Many of them are to be seen on the streets of Seoul feeling their way along with a bamboo switch and calling out in a loud voice for customers. Then again they are often seen hurrying along, led by some one who has come
