Besides the Mal-gal tribes there were two others of considerable note, namely the Pal-hă and the Kŭ-ran of which special mention is not here necessary, though their names will appear occasionally in the following pages. They lived somewhere along the northern borders of Korea, within striking distance. The last border tribe that we shall mention is the Yŭ-jin whose history is closely interwoven with that of Ko-gu-ryŭ. They were the direct descendants, or at least close relatives, of the Eum-nu people. They were said to have been the very lowest and weakest of all the wild tribes, in fact a mongrel tribe, made up of the offscourings of all the others. They are briefly described by the statement that if they took up a handful of water it instantly turned black. They were good archers and were skilful at mimicing the deer for the purpose of decoying it. They ate deer flesh raw. A favorite form of amusement was to make tame deer intoxicated with wine and watch their antics. Pigs, cattle and donkeys abounded. They used cattle for burden and the hides served for covering. The houses were roofed with bark. Fine horses were raised by them. It was in this tribe that the great conquerer of China, A-gol-t’a, arose, who paved the way for the founding of the great Kin dynasty a thousand years or more after the beginning of our era.
Southern Korean.... Ki-jun’s arrival.... differences which he found.... three groups.... Ma-han.... position.... peculiarities.... characteristics.... worship.... tatooing.... numbers.... Chin-han.... Chinese immigration.... customs.... Pyön-han.... position.... habits.... the philological argument.... southern origin.... Ki-jun and his descendants.
We must now ask the reader to go with us to the southern portion of the peninsula where we shall find a people differing in many essential respects from the people of the north, and evincing not merely such different but such opposite characteristics from the people of the north that it is difficult to believe that they are of the same origin.
When King Ki-jun, the last of the Ki-ja dynasty proper was driven from P’yŭng-yang by the unscrupulous Wi-man, he embarked, as we have already seen, upon the Ta-dong River accompanied by a small retinue of officials and servants. Faring southward along the coast, always within sight of land and generally between the islands and mainland, he deemed it safe at last to effect a landing. This he did at a place anciently known as Keum-ma-gol or “Place of the Golden Horse,” now Ik-san. It should be noticed that this rendering is simply that of the Chinese characters that were used to represent the word Keum-ma-gol. In all probability it was a mere transliteration of the native name of the place by the use of the Chinese, and the rendering here given was originally unthought of.