degraded and degrading occupation. Some of them are secured by purchase and many more by chicanery. They are secured at too early an age to make it possible for them to give intelligent assent to their shameful fate. They are never veiled, and they go about as freely as men. In the Korean view they are unsexed and are social outcasts, but in reality, like the hctairai of ancient Greece, they enjoy far more social life than reputable women. The dancing-girl is not necessarily a woman of bad character. Many are the stories told of their kindness, charity and patriotism. And yet, if the estimate of their own countrymen counts for anything, such goodness is about as frequent as the Greek kalends. In early days there were no dancing-girls, but boys performed the dances. In course of time, however, a weakening of the moral fibre of the nation, due to increase of luxury, let in this unspeakable evil. The dancing-girl is a pratege of the government; in fact, the whole clan is supported out of government funds, and they are supposed to perform only at government functions. They do not by any means constitute that branch of society which in Western countries goes under the euphemistic name of demi monde, but they correspond very closely to our ballet-dancers. As with the hetairai of Greece, so with the Korean dancing-girl, her greater freedom gives her opportunity and leisure to acquire a culture that makes her intellectually far more companionable than her more secluded but more respectable sisters. This is, of course, a great injustice. Though there is nominally a wide difference between the dancinggirl and the ordinary courtesan, it is generally understood that enrolment in the ranks of this profession means a life of shame. Such women frequently close their professional careers by becoming the concubines of wealthy gentlemen.
The female jugglers, acrobats, contortionists and story-tellers are sufficiently described by their names. None of them are respectable people. The mudang, or sorceress, is much in evidence in Korea. She is the lowest of the low; for, in addition to an entire lack of morals, she is supposed to have commerce
