【관련문서 1】

U.S. Flag Ship Hartford (2nd Rate)
Hong Kong Harbor
February 11, 1867

Hon. Gideon Welles
Secretary of the Navy
Washington D. C.

Sir:
　I have the honor to inform the Department that in connection with the visit of Commander Shufeldt to Corea, for the purpose of enquiring into the outrage upon the people of the General Sherman, I directed him to examine into the advantages and capabilities of Port Hamilton (Nam Hoo) situate among the Islands to the Southward of Corea, and belonging to the King of Corea, as a Rendezvous and Sanatorium for this Squadron, and also as a Harbor of Refuge in times of danger, for American commerce in those seas.
　By the report of Commander Shufeldt, herewith enclosed, marked A, it will be seen that this harbor possess many natural advantages, and it would be very valuable as a base in any operations against the Coreans.
　Its central position with regard to the Northern ports is, as I informed the Department in my Despatch No. 63 of December 14th 1866, one of its most important advantages, being 150 miles from Nagasaki, 240 from Nan Diemans Straights, 180 from the Straights of Simonasaki, 300 from the mouth of the Yang Tze River, 360 from Shanghai, 390 from Ningpo, 315 from the “Shantung” promontory at the entrance to the Gulf of Pechili, 350 from Chifu, and 350 miles from the mouth of the Phien Tang River, the scene of the disaster to the General Sherman.
　I also enclose, marked B, an interesting descriptive sketch of Port Hamilton, made by Mr. Albert S. Bickmore, a naturalist from Boston, who was on board of the Wachusett.
　The possession of so small a place does not indicate the least ambition for territorial aggrandizement.
　Plans of this harbor are among the Chank in the Department.
　The Wachusett is now in the Yang Tze River.

I have the Honor to be, Sir
Very Respectfully
Your Obedient Servant
H.H. Bell
Rear Admiral
Commdg. U.S. Asiatic Squadron

　Nan-hu is the name of a small group of islands in the archipelago that surrounds the southern end of the peninsula of Corea. It is situated in Lat 34°1′23″ N. Long. 127°28′15″ E. it is composed of two long, narrow; and one small, triangular island, which together enclose a basin one mile wide and two long. This basin is accessible for ships only through two channels on its southeastern side. On its northwesterly side it is also open to sea, for ten [cubles’] length, but a shallow bar prevents any but small boats from passing through and at the same time breaks up all swell rolling in from the ocean. On the outside, these islands rise up abruptly from a depth of twenty to thirty fathoms, and from perpendicular rocky precipices for one and two hundred feet above the level of the sea. From the edges of these precipices they continue up at the steep angle of 35° to a sharp ridge that has a more gentle declivity down the inner side or toward the center of the basin. This is more clearly seen in the accompanying vertical section A – B, which passes through the highest hills [on/of] the two principal islands in a due easterly and westerly direction. The point C is according my barometer 803 feet above half tide level.
　In short, the whole is, in my opinion, merely the top of an old extinct volcano, which was nearly submerged by the sea; and the basin where ships at present anchor in ten and twelve fathoms of water, was once an active, burning crater.
　This assumption is strengthened by the structure of Quelpart, which although thirty miles long and eighteen wide, is wholly formed of the cone and flanks of a single volcano, now apparently inactive. On its flanks are [___s] of minor cones, in each of which the eruptive force has found vent for a time, and then becoming clogged up, it has broken out in some other place to form another similar elevation.
　From a single position I counted forty six of these miniature volcanoes. Their sides are as smooth and regular as if graded by art, and on two tops of those near the sea, square bastion-like lookouts inform the people of approaching danger.
　[Montressor] Island, as we saw it in the distance, was exactly the outline of a volcano with a considerable crater, and probably a large part of the whole Corean archipelago will prove of plutonic origin, like many of the neighboring islands of Japan.
　On account of the steepness of the outer flanks of these mountainous islands, only their inner declivities or those that surround the basin [have been] brought under cultivation. The parts that are thus improved, form about two-fifths of the whole area. They are divided into rectangular patches which extend two-thirds the way up the mountain sides, and are already green with wheat that was sowed last autumn. There is but little that can be called terracing – such as seen in China and Japan, and consequently no artificial irrigation; yet the people [ ] but little and appear to rely chiefly on their crops, which they say only “sometimes suffer for want of water.”
　The soil is a fine, dark loam and appears extremely fertile. They raise wheat, Kowliang (a large species of millet common in the north of China), and some cotton.
　They have no cattle, horses, sheep, or goats, yet I am confident the small cattle on the promontory of Shantung would thrive well here; and perhaps, the better breeds that could be imported from California and Australia. Large flocks of sheep and goats would find plenty of the richest pasturage on the declivities that are too steep for cultivation, and good breeds of both of these animals are common in the same latitude in China.
　They keep hens, but no ducks or geese, though they have every facility for raising the latter, but not the inducement of a ready market.
　The only trees I passed on my way to the peak were a few small pines, and the only shrub that grows on the mountain sides is a Camellia bearing a rich, dark crimson flower.
　In general, the climate and vegetation may be considered quite like that of southern Japan and all the many kinds of vegetables and fruit that are raised there, may, no doubt, be as successfully cultivated here.
　Many kinds of fish could probably be taken in the immediate vicinity, but no men were out fishing when we were there, though the next day we passed several boat off Quelpart.
　In the basin and along the outer shores, the sea has a bluish tinge and is remarkably pure and sparkling.
　The islands being separated on the N.W. and S.E., breezes from the sea have free access into [this] basin, and must render the air cool and healthy in summer. This, with its isolated position and its latitude, make it an admissible location for a sanitarium, and I suspect that the southern or inner side of the eastern island would prove the most healthy place, if there is any difference.
　The inhabitants live in four villages, two on the eastern and two on the western island. They informed us they number four hundred families, and reckoning five persons to a family thus gives two thousand as the total population, a rather low estimate.
　Their villages are very compact, and each house is surrounded by a thick, high wall of small stones laid up without clay or cement. A door is made in this wall and a small house built near it, together making a kind of little “compound” as private grounds are called in the east, when [enclosed]. Their houses are all very low, and have walls built of small stones, or a framework of wood with the [interstices] plastered with clay. The roof is a coarse thatching of straw, fastened down by straw ropes which draw each other at right angles. The rooms have wooden floors but are so low one cannot stand up in them.
　Through the open doors and a few small paper windows a scanty light is admitted sufficient however to show a complete want of any kind of furniture.
　In front there is generally a rude piazza where the people seem to pass most of their time when at home.
　They dislike to have foreigners even enter their grounds, and when the magnates of the several villages gave Capt. Shufeldt an audience, we had to sit down on mats of [coil] and straw, while they ranged themselves around us in a semicircle, in true Indian style. During this interview the brought us a fiery fermented liquor, probably made from their millet or wheat. The official who poured it out invariably tasted it before offering it to anyone, to show us, as we thought at first, that it contained no poison, but after he must have satisfied all on that point he was careful not to desist.
　Instead of cakes to eat with this wine, they brought us a kind of dried seaweed, which completed the list of refreshments and show what [____] people esteem special luxuries.
　Their streets are merely narrow paths, very crooked and abominably filthy; [indeed], the whole appearance of their houses and villages bespoke a degree of poverty and wretchedness surpassing anything commonly seen in China.
　They all dress in white. The men wear their hair combed up and twisted into a kind of knot on the top of the head. The women part theirs in the middle and braid it behind. They wear no ornaments and are more filthy and [stupid] than the men.
　All our conversation with them was carried on by writing in Chinese but they speak a different language. They stated they were subjects of Corea and belong to the [Lien] district of Khan-tsin. The official wore the thin black Corean hat with a conical crown and broad, straight brim. One dignitary only had on a straw hat of a hemispherical form, full two feet across.
　In regard to their religion we were only able to learn that they worshiped “idols of clay,” and I suspect that like the Chinese their ideas on this subject are very indefinite. They bury their dead in mounds, frequently high up among the mountains, and like the Chinese seem to prefer the head of a valley, or a place sheltered from “the evil influences” by hills on the right and left that rise somewhat higher than the spot where the body is interred. On the northerly end of the western island there is a considerable cemetery, and near the center a stone slab stands in front of a mound. The upper part of this slab has a slight prolongation to the right, a corresponding one to the left and one upward, so as in some degree to resemble a cross. It is covered with Chinese characters. In front of this slab and at a distance of ten feet on either side there is a small, square rudely carved idol. These may have been intended for images of Buddha, but such a custom I have never seen in the many cemeteries I have visited during my long journeys in China. A little farther in front, and a little farther to the right and left, there rises on either side a small stone column. This is a common custom throughout the Celestial Empire.