Virginia and North Carolina, except that it is not so changeable in winter and has a rainy season. Winter usually settles down by the middle of December, and from that time till the middle of February the rivers will be frozen up so that all boat traffic is completely stopped. It is a common thing to see ice twelve inches thick on the Han River. The mercury often falls to zero, and in extreme weather to twelve or fourteen below, Fahrenheit. The springs and autumns are long and delightfully pleasant, the temperature gradually rising or falling as the season demands, with any number of bright, clear days, and only enough cloud and rain to give life and beauty to the scene.
The summer! What shall I say of it? To the newcomer it is fraught with a thousand fears and dangers, most of which really exist only in the fruitful imaginations of people who have not spent many summers in Korea. The mercury rarely rises to ninety degrees in the shade; it is more usually ten degrees below this figure. Owing to the fact that there is a regular rainy season, the atmosphere is damp, and is therefore a little more trying than the same temperature is in the same latitude in the United States.
The rainy season comes on about the middle of July, and usually continues till the last of August, during which time one must necessarily put up with many inconveniences that are unknown in countries where the rainy season does not prevail. Every day may not bring its downpour, but it often does literally pour for several days in succession. Think of the hardest summer shower that you have ever seen, and
