WH SMITH k SONS LIBRARY (86 Stiund. London w.c. a.d at thcu- BOOKSTALLS &. BOOKSHOPS I hrouehout th«r Gauntry TERMS Class A from £ I - I - 0- per annum. Class B from £010- 6 per annum. Full Particulars on Application LIBERIA \Vom:m LIBERIA By SIR HARRY JOHNSTON G.C.M.G., K.C.B., D.Sc. Gold Medallist Royal Geographical, Royal Scottish Geographical, and Zoological Societies Author of " The Uganda Protectorate," " History of the Colonisation of Africa," etc. WITH AN APPENDIX ON THE FLORA OF LIBERIA By DR. OTTO STAFF, F.L.S. Principal Assistant, Kew Herbarium 28 Coloured Illustrations by Sir Harry Johnston 24 Botanical Drawings by Miss Matilda Smith 402 Black and White Illustrations from the Author's Drawing* and from Photographs by the Author and others 22 Maps by Mr. J. W. Addison, Capt. H. D. Pearson, R.E., Lieut. E. W. Cox, R.E., and the Author "A more enviable renown England never won— no, not when from the reluctant hand" of the throne she wrung the Charter of her liberties, not when beneath the raging waves she sank the Spanish Armada, not even when her power struck down Napoleon — than when the perishing African cried to her and she listened and saved." R. R. GuRLEY(one of the founders of Liberia), Philadelphia, U.S.A., 1839. IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. II London: HUTCHINSON & CO. Paternoster Row £ j 1906 CONTENTS OF VOL. II CHAP. pAGE. XXII. FLORA OF LIBERIA 521 APPENDIX IV. List of the known plants of Liberia, by Dr. OTTO STAFF 570- XXIII. FAUNA : MAMMALS . . 670 APPENDIX V. List of known Mammalia .... 754. XXIV. FAUNA : BIRDS 758- APPENDIX VI. List of the known Birds of Liberia, by Mr. CHARLES CHUBB . . . .787- XXV. FAUNA : REPTILES, AMPHIBIANS, AND FISH . . . 807- APPENDIX VII. A list of known Reptiles, Amphibia, and Fish . . . . ' . . . 832- XXVI. FAUNA : INVERTEBRATES 839. APPENDIX VIII. Lists of Invertebrate Animals . . 860- XXVII. ANTHROPOLOGY : HISTORICAL . . 884. XXVIII. ANTHROPOLOGY : PHYSICAL . . . , . . . 930 XXIX. ANTHROPOLOGY : SOCIAL. . . . 1029- XXX. FOLKLORE . . 1085.. XXXI. LANGUAGES .1091 APPENDIX IX. The Vai Syllabarium or Alphabet . .1116- XXXII. VOCABULARIES . 1136' INDEX . • . .1161 COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOL. II FROM THE AUTHOR'S PAINTINGS NO. TITLE. 13. A Mandingo woman ........ Frontispiece to Vol. II 14. The Bay-thighed Diana monkey (Cercopithecus ignitd) . . . To face p. 680 15. The Golden cat (Felis celidogaster) ....... ,, 702 1 6. The ?3-gmy Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus liberiensis) . . . ,, Jl6 17. The Water chevrotain (Dorcatherium aqitaticuin) .... ,, 726 18. The Bongo tragelaph (Boocercus euryceros) ...... ,, 73° 19. The White-shouldered or Jentink's duiker, known to the Liberians as " Four-eyes." Peculiar to Liberia „ 738 20. The Zebra antelope (Cephalophus dot-id). Peculiar to Liberia . . „ 74^ 21. Maxwell's duiker (Cephalophus maxwellii} : the "Filantomba" of Sierra Leone ............ ,, 750 22. The Great kingfisher (Ceryle maxima] ,, 778 23. The White-crested hornbill, or" Monkey bird" (Ortholophus leucolophus) „ 780 24. Male and female Black hornbill (Ceratogymna atrata) ... ,, 784 25. The Broad-mouthed Roller (Eurystomus afer), "Day-bat" of the Liberians ........... „ 786 26. The Black-beaked Kingfisher (Alcedo guenthen} . .... ,, 796 27. The Red-and-blue Lizard (Agama colonorum) ,,814 28. A Basa man CKru race) „ 942 Vll BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOL. II NO. TITLE. 209. The "scrub'' (once-cultivated land on which forest is springing up again) . . . 210. The base of a forest tree, to show buttressed trunk ........ an. The base of a cotton tree. . . 212. Coula edulis ....... 213. Leaves and flowers of Berlinia acuminata . 214. Flower of Berlinia acuminata . ... 215. Barteria nigritiana ...... 2 1 6. Female papaw tree ...... 217. White - sepalled Mussaendas growing in Liberian bush ...... 2 1 8. Mnssa>nda isertiana ..... 219. Strophanthus grains ..... 220. An Aristolochia flower unopened . . . 221. A rubber-producing fig tree (probably PICKS vogelii) . ..... 222. Listrostachys caudata, an epiphytic orchis of Western Africa ...... 223. An Angrcecum orchis of West Africa ? \A. eich- Icriannni] ....... 224. A species of Costus, a zingiberaceous plant . 225. Flower-stalk of Renealmia, a zingiberaceous plant ..... 226. A species of Sarcophrynium, a handsome- foliaged plant in the Liberian undergrowth 227. The water-loving Crinum lily (C. natans) . 228. A very tall Dracaena or dragon tree . . 229. A Calamus palm ...... 230. Raphia vinifera palm ..... 23.. Oil palms (£«,) 232. The Borassus palm ...... Photograph by the Author . Photograph by Mr. Crommelin !>y Mr. Cent H.\ Drawing by Miss Matilda Smith Drawing by the Author . . Photograph by Mr. T.H.Myring Photograph by the Author . Drawing by the Author. . Drawing by Miss Matilda Smith Drawing by the Author . . Photograph by the Author . Draivtng by the Author . : Photograph by the Author . Photograph by the Due dc Monty by LieU,,Colonel Photograph by the Autho PAGE 525 526 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 537 539 541 543 545 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 555 Black and White Illustrations in Vol. II ^ NO. TITLE. SOURCK. 233. Coconut palms ...... Photograpli by Mr. Cronunclin 556 234. Mango and bread-fruit tree .... Photograph by Mr. T.H.Myrnig 557 235. Young leavis o\ Anelnnnancs arum . . Drawing by the Author . . 558 236. Later leaf of Anclioinancs arum ... „ ,, ,, 559 237. Spathe and spadix of Aiichoiiianes diibins . ,, ,, ,, 560 Seeds of dnchotnanes dnbiiis .... ,, ,, ,, 561 239. Cvrtosperina sciicgalensc ..... ,, ,, ,, $62 240. A climbing Cukasia arum (C. scaiidens) . ,, ,, ,, 563 241. A white-spathed dtlcasia .... ,, ,, ,, 564 242. Nfphlliylis ccnstricta ,, ,, ,, 565 243. Rhektophylltnn mi labile ,, ,, ,, 566 244. The' " dear, familiar bracken " . . . Photograph h\ the Author . 567 245. Leaf of Cyrtosperma arum .... Draining by the Author 569 246. Atro.viina liberica Drawing by Miss Matilda Sinilii 579 247. Goniphia siibeordata ..... Drawing by /he Author . . 585 248. Urobotrvd angiistifolia ..... Dr awing by Miss Matilda Smith 589 249. Attdrosiphonia adenostegia .... ,, ,, ,, 607 250. Landolphia owarieusis ..... ,, „ ,, 617 251. Clitandra nitida ...... ,, ,, M 619 252. Clitandra nieinbranacca ..... ,, ,, ,, 621 253. Carpodinns ooearpa ...... ,, ,, ,, 623 254. Ramvoljia liberiensis ..... ,, ,, ,, 625 255. Callichilia steiiosepala ..... ,, „ ,, 627 256. Conopharyngia longfflora .... ,, ,, M 629 257. Conopharyngia crassa ..... ,, M M 631 258. Voacanga candiflora ..... ,, „ ,, 633 259. Pleioceras wliytei ...... ,, M M 635 260. Funtumia africana ...... ,, ,, ,, 637 261. Fiintiiniia clastica ...... ,, ,, M 639 262. Alajla pareijlora ...... ,, „ ,, 641 263. Afrodaphnc candata ..... ,, M )p 647 264. Fie us i'tige/ii ....... ,, n ,, 651 265. Ficnsjoiinslonii ,. „ M 653 266. Landolphia o^'ariensis growing round a fig tree Photograph lent by Mr. (Juinton 669 267. Black and while fishing vulture (Gypohiera.v) . Drawing by the Author . . 671 268. Brush-tailed porcupine (Athernra} . . . Photograph by Mr. IV. P. Dando 697 269. IJrush-tailed porcupine „ „ M 698 2/O. Tli<- Atiiran ( J round-rat or octodont (7 lirv- >«»nys ) . . Photograph by Mr. Hattersley . 699 27'- H«-ad of (.round-rat Crhrynnmys), to show (Photograph by Mr. Ilenrv\ and rather depressed nostrils . . \ Irving ~ j 7°° 272. 'I'll. Serval cat (West African SJH einu n from ( I'liofogrnph bv Mr. Cecil 11. \ Liberian frontier) '( l-'irnun / /O1 273. Skins of Felis ecli'do^ista from Central Liberia Photograph bv the Author . 703 X Black and White Illusl SOURCE. (Photograph by Mr. Henry\ 274. The Two-spotted paradoxure (Nandtntd) .! j^ine f 7°5 ~ , . (Photograph by Mr. Cecil ff.~\ „ f 275. The Two-spotted paradoxure or Palm civet . -J pirmin f 7°6 276. Skull of Liberian hippopotamus (Hippopotamus liberiensis) ....... Photograph by the Author . 713 277. Lower jaw of Pygmy hippopotamus, showing occasional three incisor teeth . . . Drawing by the Author . . 715 278. The Red River hog (Potamochcerus porous) . |* "j™*JJ"*/" by M*' Hemy} 717 279. Skullof male Water chevrotain (Dorcatheriuwi), from a specimen in the British Museum ; to show long, cuived, and flattened upper canines ....... Drawing by the Author . .721 280. Foreleg of Water chevrotain . . . . {***/£%£?* ^ M''' **«"*} 722 281. Hindleg of Water chevrotain .... ,, „ „ 723 282. The Water chevrotain (from a female specimen from Central Liberia, presented by Author to Zoological Gardens) .... ,, ,, „ 725 283. Head of West African buffalo (Senegalese type): Bubalus planiceros .... PhotographbyMr.W.P.Dando 731 284. Senegalese buffalo (Bubalus planiceros), from specimen in London Zoological Gardens . ,, ,, ,, 732 285. Horns of Red-haired buffalo (Bubalus nanus ?) from West Africa (Ivory Coast or Gold Coast. Copied from the illustration to H. S. Pel's note on Bos brachyceros, pub- lished about 1850) 733 286. Same buffalo skull as No. 285 in profile ........ 735 287. Skin of Harnessed antelope from Central (Photograph by Mr. Henry} Liberia \ Irving f 288. The Harnessed antelope Photograph by Mr-W. P. Dando 740 289. The Large Yellow-backed duiker (Cephalophus [ „. . , „, „ 1 7 • 7, • x r • ii i • • Photograph by Mr. Henry I *... sylvtcultnx), from a specimen recently living J ™"J6"*l 741 in the Zoological Gardens . . . { u j rxz 11 u i f Photograph by Mr. Henry} 290. Head of Yellow-backed duiker . . .^ Jrvfti? f 291. Horns of West African hartebeest (Bubalis (Photograph by Mr. Henry\ major) from Noithern Liberia . . . \ Irving J 292. The White or Hairy-bellied manis (Manis tricuspis) ....... ,, M M 749 293. Gigantic Manis (Manis gigantea), from the specimen in the British Museum . . „ „ ,, 751 294. A Manis from the Sierra Leone borderland of (Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.\ j A Manis from the Sierra Leone borderland of (Photograph by Liberia (? Manis gigantea, immature ?) .\ Firmin •* 295. The Long-tailed manis (Manis loHgicaudata^. ™^ ** Mr' t 753 296. The African Ja^ana, or leaf- walker (Phyllopezus africanus) ....... Drawing by the Author . . 761 XI Black and White Illustrations in Vol. II NO. TITLE. 297. The Yellow - wattled spur - winged plover (.\ipliidopterus «//>/'<>•/»•) . . . . 298. Ardea alba (the Great egret) .... 299. The Slaty-blue heron ( Lepterodins gularis) 300. The Green heron (Butorides atricapilla} . 301. The Black hornbill (Ccratogyinna atrata) : female ........ 302. The Elate hornbill (Ceratogvniua data}'. young male ...... 303. Head of male Elate hornbill .... 304. Palm tree hung with Weaver-birds' nests 305. The Black and white crow (Corvus scapulattis) 306. Examples of the principal poisonous Snakes of Liberia ....... 307. A Skink (Lygosowta feruandi) 308. The Common crocodile (Crocodilus uiloticus) . 309. Head of Slender-snouted crocodile (C. cata- phractus) ....... 310. Short-headed crocodile (Osteola'inus tctraspis~) 311. The Green turtle (Chelone niydas) . 312. The Electric cat-fish (Maloptcrurus) 313. The Electric cat-fish 314. The Bommi-fish (Periophthalnius) . 315. The biggest scorpion in the world (6| inches) — Pandinus impcrator . . . . . 316. A Mandingo from the Upper St. Paul's River . 317. An Americo-Libcrian .... SOURCE. PAGE Drawing by the AntJior . . 763 769 770 771 Photograph by Mr. IJ'.P. Daudo 781 Drawing by the Author . Photograph by the Author Drawing by the Aulhor . Drawing by Mr. James Green Drawing by the Autlior, \ Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.\ ( Firiuin ) {Photograph by Mr. P. II'. \ ( Fannborough J Drawing by the Author . Photograph by Mr. T. H. My ring Drawing by the Author . 318. A Kpwesi man from Central Liberia 319. A typical Kruboy from Nana Km . 320. A good-looking type of Yai woman from Vanswa, near Monrovia .... 321. A Mandingo from Northern Liberia. 322. Horns and heads of domestic oxen of African and European types ..... 323. A Mandingo cow ...... 324. The straight-backed Mandingo ox . 325. Mandingo cattle (Sierra Leone) 326. Mandingo cow (Liberia t . 327. Mandingo heifer 328. Mandingo cattle (Liberia) . . . . 329. Mandingo bull (Siena Leone) 33°- Mandingo bull ...... 331- Mandingo cow (from Central Liberia) 332. A Liberian troat (female) .... xii Photograph by the Author | Photograph lent bv Liberian \ ^ Government I Photograph by the Author Photograph by Mr. Croinnielin Photograph bv tin: Author Drawing by the Autlior . Photograph by the Author Drawing by the Autlior . Photograph by the Author 782 783 784 785 809 8I5 8l7 818 819 821 824 825 827 845 885 888 889 891 893 897 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 911 912 9'3 Black and White Illustrations in Vol. II NO. 333- 334- 335- 33*- 337- 338. 339- 342 343- 344- 345- 346. 347- 348. 349- 350. 351- 352- 353- 354- 355- 356. 357- 358. 359- 360. 361- 362. 363- 364- 365- 366. TITLE. SOURCE. Dwarf male goat (Liberia) .... Photograph by the Author The Maned sheep of Liberia (and of West $ Drawing by the Author (from\ Africa generally) \ Author s photograph} f Ewe of maned sheep (Liberia) . . . Photograph by the Author Ram of maned sheep (Liberia) ... ,, ,. ,, Ewes of maned sheep browsing in the streets of Monrovia ...... ,. ,, ,, Grebo chiefs from the Maryland coast . ,, ,, ,, " Papa, Maman, et Bebe " — a Grebo man, wife, and child (Cape Palmas) ... „ ,, (Photograph by the late Mr.\ A Kruman from Sas Town . . . • \ Sam Hall / A Mandingo from the Kwana country, Northern Liberia ..... Pliotograph by the Author Krumen (to show their short, sturdy legs) . ,, ,. A native of the coast (Berebi) to the east of Draiving by the Author . J Photograph by the Liberian\ \ Government / . Photograph by the Author (Photograph by Sir Simeon\ \ Stuart ) $ Photograph by the late Mr.\ \ Sam Hall } A pug-nosed type of Kruman .... Photograph by the Author A Kruman with beard ........... A woman of the Susu tribe (Eastern Sierra the Cavalla River " Kru women are hideous, short, and squat Gora women ...... A Kpwesi man from the Dukwia country A prognathous type of Kruman Leone), Mandingo stock, showing natural J growth of head hair ..... ( Mandingo wearing amulet ... A Vai youth and maiden ... Vai servants Gora men on banks of St. Paul's River . A De man A Kruman from Setra Kru ... AKrun-anfromSino A Kruman from the Dewa River . . by Mr. Cecil Photograph by the Author Photograph by Mr. T.H.My Photograph by the Author "" '"" *''} Photograph by the Author . A man of the Gbalin tribe Western Liberia) .. (cannibals of A chief of the Grebo country, Maryland. . An unmarried Kru maiden .... A Buzi chief visiting Monrovia . . . A Kruman and his wives (Cape Palmas) . Mandingos from Northern Liberia ... A Mandingo with skull cap .... Kru women in gala attire, with enormous finger-rings, rams' horns, and bead necklaces xiii {P^fograph by the Liberian\ \_ Government j „ ,. ,, Photograph by the Anther . PAGE 914 9'5 917 919 921 923 924 925 927 933 934 935 936 937 939 940 94' 943 945 946 947 949 950 95i 953 y->' 958 959 961 963 965 966 Black and AYhite Illustrations in Vol. II NO. TITLE. KCE. I'ACK 367. A Km woman with '' shield " finger-rings and liair ornaments ...... Plioto^ntf^Ii hv flic Author . 967 368. K,,,™,,,, . . .ft^" <»<•>•"»•"«»] 968 369. Gora women ....... Photograph hv the Author . 969 3/0. A Basa woman of the civilised type (becom - ingly and appropriately clothed) . . ,, ,, ,, 971 371. A Vai chief (Sinks) and his wives . . . Photograph by Mr. Cromtnelin 973 372. A Vai woman (Western Liberia) . . . Pliotogrn/>li hv the Author . 974 373. A Vai woman with silver head ornaments . ,, „ ,, 975 374. Vai women ....... Photugntpli hv Mr. ('nniiiiiclin 977 375. Ram's horn set in silver, a common ornament worn under the arm by Mende and Vai women, etc. ...... Dmiviug hv the Antlior . . 978 376. A Gbandi woman from Western Liberia, showing style of hairdressing . . . Photograph by Mr. H.Reynolds 979 377. Pattern inscribed on back of Vai woman . Dnr^'ii:^ hv the Author . . 980 378. Pattern inscribed on back of Vai woman . ,, ,, ,, 980 379. Cicatrisation on back of Kpwcsi man . . ,, ., .. 980 380. Tattooing on chest of a Gibi Negro . . ,, ,, ,, 981 381. Marks on Kruman's face, forehead, and temples ,, „ ,, <)Sj 382. Two De men : the one on right hand shows missing incisor tooth in upper jaw . . ,, ,, ., 983 , , • 383. Preparing a nee plantation ... (Photu"rahh hv Mr. ('nil II ~\ [ Firmin j 3-S.j. Women cutting rice with small knives . . ,, ,, ,, 987 385. Outskirts of Gora village, showing small clay receptacles for grain (possibly fetish huts) Photograph by Mr.T.H.Myring 989 . | rhot<>'" j go6 390. Nyenewndokc, a village on the Liberian bank of the Cavalla River, Ketiebo country . ., .. ,, 997 39,. -auborSt^ge^Hou^maVaivnUg.. ..... '- J 999 392. A native kitchen in a Gora village ... ,, ,, n lOOI 393. A village in the Sabo or Sapo country, Easteni /P/ro/c^ra/>A hv the Lil>crinn\ Liberia ....... \ Government /' IOO3 394. A woman making clay pots . J r/'^'l^'/l ''V *'" C'ri/ "' } 1005 (Photograph hv Mr. David\ 395- Pottery from Western Liberia . . 'J V^ce, from spedmens^ I /// Ro\nl .^roltislt Mtt.VHin, j ' \ Edinburgh } 396. Worr.cn pounding food in wcoden mortars . {^^cf^?^ ^ '^" ^!'"co" j 1009 xiv Black and White Illustrations in Vol. II NO. TITLE. SOURCE. PAGE 397. Native harp, sword, and scabbard, and Man- dingo wooden plates from North-western Liberia Photograph by the Author . 1011 (Photograph by Mr. Cecil H. \ 398. Woman carding cotton | Fi°mil\ j 1012 399. Woman making cotton thread ... ,, ,, ,, 1013 400. Cotton-weaving in Western Liberia . . ,, ,, ,, 1014 401. A Mende loom on western frontier of Liberia. ,, „ „ 1015 402. Large piece of cotton-stuff woven and dyed in Western Liberia ; also drum from Western Liberia Photograph by the Author . 1017 403. A girl from the Central St. Paul's River, with f Photograph by Mr. Harold \ „ hand fishing net I. Reynolds * / 404. A Gora man firing gun from armpit . . Photograph by Mr. H. Reynolds 1019 405. A West African forge Drawing by the Author . . 1020 406. A Mandingo with sword . .... Photograph by the Author . IO2I 407. A Gbandi horn-blower blowing ivory trumpet (Photograph by Mr. Cecil H. \ (at Gene, Mano River, Western Liberia) . \ Firmin f " 408. Native methods of carrying loads throughout Western and Central Liberia ... ,, ,, ,, 1025 409. A Mandingo horse . . . . . . Photograph by the Author . 1027 410. The " Bere Nyana" or men's devil of Western f Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.\ Liberia (the " Bundu " of Sierra Leone) . \^ Firmin J 3 411. A devil-mask of Western Liberia . . . Photograph by the Author . 1033 412. A devil-mask of Eastern Liberia ... „ „ ,, IO35 413. " Sande " or " Boni " girls (of the Initiation (Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.} School), Western Liberia . . . . \ Firmin J IO3' 414. The entrance into a Vai town of the " Femba '' or women's devil ..... Photograph by Mr.T.H.Myring 1039 415. The women's devil parading a Vai town . ,, ,, ,, 1041 416. The " Femba " parading the town ... ,, ,, „ IO43 417. The " Femba " begins to run ...... ,, ,, ,, I°45 418. The " Femba " in pursuit .... ,, ,, ,, I(H7 419. Dance following on the " Femba's " retreat . ,, ,, ,, JO49 420. Dance of the " Femba " „ „ „ 1051 421. Dance of the "Femba": women shaking rattles ....... ,, ,, ,, IO53 422. Dance of the " Femba " ..... ,, ,, ,, IO55 423. Kruboys practising a marriage dance . . ,,. ,, ,, 1OS7 424. Europeans and natives on the banks of the St. Paul's River ,, ,, M 1081 425. The Royal antelope (Neotragus pygnians) . {Aft£r j ^olf^ ^ ^ ^^1 Io85 426. German " factory " at Harper, Cape Palmas, where some of the author's vocabularies were written down Photograph by the Author .1160 XV MAPS IN TEXT IN VOL. II •!ch-map showing limits of Forest Region, West j" Drawn by .1 /;-../. \\',Addi-\ Africa. . • . . . . . . . .( son and the Author J 17. Sketch-map of West Africa, to show area of Mandingo peoples, languages, and influence .... ,, ,, ,, 929 18. Sketch-map to show distribution of principal language- families of West Africa ,. ,, ,, 1093 CHAPTER XXII THE LIBER f AN FLORA AS will be evident from a comparison of the list of plants drawn up in an appendix at the end of this chapter contributed by Dr. Otto Stapf, the flora of Liberia, like its fauna, whilst typically West African, has certain individual peculiarities, is associated nearest with the vegetable products of Sierra Leone, and belongs to the botanical sub-region which might be styled u Upper Guinea." This means a narrow belt of densely forested country along the West African coast beginning to the south of the River Gambia, and extending perhaps as far east as the country of Dahome. This forest belt is of varying width, as may be seen by the appended sketch-map. It is usually associated with a rainfall of not less than ninety inches per annum, usually more. To the north- wards, the West African forest belt (affected by the recent extension of human action in agriculture) changes with more or less abruptness into the park-like region of luxuriant grass, herbs, and rich forest in the river valleys, together with occasional shady trees out in the open. This park-like country in West Africa is not of much greater average width than the forest belt. It is soon affected north of the eleventh degree of N. Latitude by the rapidly decreasing rainfall, which to the north of this eleventh parallel drops generally from sixty inches to an average thirty-five and less. These conditions create a country much healthier for human beings and much more VOL. u 521 i Liberia *- richly endowed with a large mammalian fauna ; but regions oi it lying away from great and small rivers are rather sparsely endowed with vegetation. For although the rainfall in this steppe country may be greater than, or as great as, that of England, the descent of the rain is limited to a few consecutive months in the year, and during the remaining months a blazing sun parches the vegetation. Somewhere to the east of the Volta River, the flora of Upper Guinea merges into that of Lower Guinea, which (I think it will be found) extends considerably north of the Congo region, to the mouths of the Niger and the country of Lagos. The birds and perhaps other groups of animals follow much the same divisions, though here and there in individual cases there is an overlapping. In the flora, at any rate, a good many species or sub-species that are common to Dahome, Lagos, the Niger Delta, the Cameroons, the Congo, and Angola do not extend westwards into the Gold Coast Colony, still less into Liberia. At the same time there are some exceptions to this rule, such as Funtumia elastica, the rubber tree of Lagos. The range of this species appears to extend from Uganda, in East Central Africa, to the eastern half of Liberia. Beyond this — namely, the hinterland of Sino County — it has not as yet been traced to the westward, and certain other trees and birds have the same western limit — that is to say, they just reach the eastern half of Liberia, and do not penetrate westwards into Sierra Leone. East of the Niger Delta the forest region of West Africa extends in a much broader belt two-thirds of the distance across the continent, to the shores of Lake Victoria, Tanganyika, and the northern part of the Zambezi- Nyasa basin. In all probability the peculiar West African flora of to-day, like the West African fauna, was once that of all Africa south of the Sahara Desert, of Southern Arabia, possibly 522 Liberia v of India and Malaysia. The affinities of the West African flora with that of the Malay Archipelago and Peninsula, Burma and Southern India (and perhaps Brazil), are nearly as marked as the resemblance between the West African fauna and that of Eastern Tropical Asia, and even of South America. This relationship has led to much confusion in botanical nomenclature. Various rubber trees and vines of Tropical Africa were, until recently, grouped under the same genera as A$ocynace The Liberian Flora blown down by the wind when man has exposed them. They herd together closely (as it were) in the dense forests for protection against the wind and their insecure hold of the shallow soil — shallow but amazingly rich. Amongst the noticeable features in Liberian flora (I write D 209. THE "SCRUB" (ONCE-CULTIVATED LAND ON WHICH FOREST is SPRINGING UP AGAIN) from the point ot view of the ordinary observer) are the following trees and plants : In the coast regions of Liberia is found the " water tree" (Tetracera potatoria). This is a low tree or bushy shrub, sometimes with a climbing habit, which is celebrated for a very abundant sap that tastes like pure water. The stems are cut and slashed by the natives, and the water pours down and Liberia <•- will soon fill a cup. It is usually tasteless, and said to be quite wholesome. Among the Anonaceous order, which is so common in Tropical forests, and which produces several fruits that are quite palatable (such as the Sour sop), there are trees of 2IO. THK BASE OK A KOKKST TKKK, To SHOW UTTTK I-.SSKI > TKl'NK utility or interest. The Guinea pepper (Xylopla tethhpicd} is a tree sometimes of considerable height, growing in fairly dry places, and yielding aromatic fruits, which, when dried and powdered, form a sort of pepper, much appreciated in Liberia, but too aromatic for the European taste. This tree yields a useful wood for masts, oars or paddles. Another spice (and the Liberian forest is rich in spice-producing substances) is 526 . COTTON TREE Liberia *- Monodora mytistica, the seed-vessels of which are known as " African nutmegs." They are large in size, from four to six inches across. The flowers of this African nutmeg are also very large and noticeable — white inside, pale green outside, spotted with red-purple. All the stagnant fresh water of Liberia abounds in " water- lilies," apparently all, or nearly all, belonging to the widespread species Nymph| H.OWKK.s OF l:l Kl IMA AC.KMINATA the tree is covered with these scarlet-purple flowers that have fallen from their slender stalks. The Kola nut tree is indigenous, to Liberia, but rarely 53Q -•> The Liberian Flora met with (except when planted) on the coast. Drawings made for this book by Miss M. Smith show the character of the flowers, leaves, and seed-vessels (vide pp. 411 and 413). Amongst the Olacin The Liberian Flora which bears bunches of pinkish flowers that are succeeded by fruits of a dirty yellow colour, the size of a large egg. These 2l6. FEMALE FAPAW TREE are very mealy, and vapidly sweet, but they are much appreciated by the natives. There are numerous shrubs and trees of the genus Com- bretum, with long sprays of crimson or deep red flowers — very handsome, and often making quite a gorgeous spectacle by the side of the path in the dense forest. 533 Liberia *- Common flowers in the scrub, especially in marshy districts, are the various forms of Distorts, some of which have large, geranium-like flowers of bright purple, with yellow stamens. 217. \\ UN K-SKI'Al.I.I.I) MU.ss.KNDAS (iKOWINC; IN Amongst the plants of the Passion-flower order may be indicated the Smeathmanma^ very common in the coast region of Liberia, with big, white camellia-like flowers growing 534 2l8. MUSS^ENDA ISIiRTIANA Liberia *- close to the stalk. 1 did not succeed in developing photographs taken of these very handsome shrubs, so I give on p. 532 as some indication of what they are like, a drawing done by me from an allied species, Rarteria nigritiana. I believe that this shrub extends in its range to the eastern part of Liberia, but the drawing which is here given was made by me from examples of Barteria picked at Lagos. I think, however, it will be found to grow in the vicinity of Cape Palmas. A very common object in the bush round the Liberian towns at the present day is the papaw tree (Carica\ which although a native of America has now become well established in Liberia, as it has throughout Tropical Africa. It yields an excellent fruit, which can be eaten cooked as a vegetable, or ripe as a very good imitation of a hothouse melon. The sap or juice of the papaw is a digestive, and the leaves are used to wrap up meat in order to make it tender. The male and female flowers are white, and deliciously scented. The male flower is smaller than the female and on longer stalks. This species is "dioecious " — that is to say, each individual plant is either male or female — single-sexed. I have noticed, however, not only in Central Africa but also in Liberia, that the male flowers of this plant develop the extraordinary habit of producing fruits (apparently seedless). These grow as a long, pendulous drupe, quite different in shape from the melon-like fruit of the female, which of course is full of seeds. The Madder family (Rubiacehylla. It is probably found in Eastern Liberia as well as on the Gold Coast. 53* The Liberian Flora Amongst other prominent members of the Rubiaceous family in Liberia is the " wild peach" of the coast regions (Sanocephalus esculentus}. This has large white fragrant flowers, and deep red fruit about the size of a peach and not unlike it in appearance. The fruits are too aromatic for the taste of a European, but are much appreciated by the natives. Some plants of this order yield the natives yellow dyes ; others, like Ixora, exhibit splendid bunches of rose-coloured flowers. Others again, like the celebrated Coffea or coffee tree, produce berries which are edible for their pleasant sweet pulp, or the seeds of which furnish the material for a stimulating beverage. In addition to the well-known Coffea liberica — the Liberian coffee (which is a taller tree than the common coffee, with larger black berries) — there are two other kinds of wild coffee (red berried), both of which apparently might furnish coffee beans for commerce. Under the order Apocynacene in the Appendix (p. 616 et seq.} will be found set forth all the known sources of rubber in Liberia. Of 539 220. AN AKISTOLOCHIA FLOWER UNOPENED Pale yellow- green, with dark crimson veins (§ nat. size). Also base of corolla to show sexual parts. Liberia *- these, mention has already been made of the celebrated Funtumia elastica, the rubber tree of Lagos. This is one of the tallest trees of the African forest. Mr. Sim, who dis- covered it growing in the magnificent Nidi forest (Sino County, near the Satro Mountains), said that it seemed to tower to an altitude of at least two hundred feet. The brilliant sulphur-yellow flowers of Allamanaa grow in every Liberian garden on the coast, but this splendid shrub is really a native of America. An important plant of the same order (Apocynace^e) is Strophanthus gratus^ a climbing shrub with magnificent tubular flowers, white or blush-colour, with a purple tinge in the interior of the corolla. This Strophanthus produces smooth seeds which are of considerable value, as they yield the celebrated medicine much employed in treating diseases of the heart. The potency of these Strophanlhus seeds has long been known to natives of Africa, who have used them for concocting various poisons. A handsome example of the Bignoniacetf is Newbouldia l The Liberian Flora in small cascades of white and green from the branches of trees as they cross the path in the dense forest. There are, no doubt, not a few species of Angrxcum 223. AN ANGR^CUM ORCHIS OF WEST AFRICA [? A. EICHLERIANUMJ Flowers below and at the right £ nat. size ; bunch of flowers and leaves in background \ nat. size (that widespread epiphytic African genus) in Liberia, but hitherto no specimens of Angr The Liberian Flora or reported any wild indigenous species of Musa, such as are so abundant in Eastern and Central Africa, especially in the mountainous regions. 224. A SPECIES OF COSTUS, A ZINGIBERACEOUS PLANT Crinum lilies are frequently seen in all moist or marshy dis- tricts. The one illustrated on p. 550 — Crinum natans — practically grows in the water, with the long attenuated leaves submerged, 547 Liberia and the stalks with the flowers rising rather high above the stream. It is a very beautiful object. The petals are pure white or blush-pink, being more inclined to pinkness at the back than in the front. The true Lily order is represented by Dracaena trees or shrubs, with very glossy dark green leaves and white aloe-like flowers which turn into bright red berries. One of these dracaenas — species not identified — grows into a very lofty tree, as may be seen by the illustration on p. 551, where a Kruboy at the base gives some idea of the height of the tree. These dracasnas are pro- minent objects not only in the forest but in the vicinity of settlements. The natives like to make hedges and stockades of them. Liberia is somewhat well supplied with representatives of the Palm order. There is a species of wild date, Phtfnix reclinata, which scarcely grows higher than a mere bush. The 548 225. FJ.OVVER-STAI.K < >]• KENEALMIA, A /IN<;i- HKKA< KOTS PLANT 226 A SPECIES OF SARCOPHRYNIUM, A HANDSOME FOLIAGE PLANT IN THE LIBERIAN UNDERGROWTH Liberia <*- 227. TIIK \YATKK-Lo\liV; < KIM M I II.V (C, NATANs) climbing Calamus, with some of its fronds developed specially as hooked, whip-like stems, climbs to the tops of the highest trees, and is a very prominent object in the Siberian forests. 55° 228. A VERY TALL DRAC^NA OR DRAGON TREE IN THE LIBERIAN FOREST Liberia *- This Calamus (or one very like it) has been described and illustrated by the present author in his record of a journey up the River Congo. The one species of Raphia as yet discovered in Liberia — R. vinifera — is the "bamboo palm" so commonly met with throughout West Africa. It is not such a stately 229. A CALAMUS PALM object, nor do its fronds rise to such a height as the raphias of Eastern and Central Africa ; still, it is a beautiful member of the palm family, its fronds appearing like huge ostrich plumes. It is perhaps the most useful tree in Liberia. From its sap the native makes a pleasant fermented drink. The 552 -* The Liberian Flora filaments of its leaves are used for a variety of purposes — for thatch, for plaiting into mats, baskets, etc., etc. The fibrous stem of the fronds fulfils innumerable purposes in local manu- factures, and the complete stems are used in building houses. The fibre of the stems and trunk becomes the well-known piassava of commerce, used for making brooms, brushes, etc. The Oil palm has been alluded to in several other chapters of this work, and needs no further description ; the same 230. RAPHIA VIN1FERA PALM may be said of the Eorassus or Fan Palm. The Coconut is now met with all along the Liberian coast, and even some distance into the interior up the rivers. It is of course no true native, but has come at some time or other from the Pacific Ocean, possibly by way of America. The Pandanus or screw pine is a familiar object in all the tidal marshes along the coast, mixed with the mangrove. It is possible that a species of pandanus also grows on higher ground and in the interior away from the sea, just in the same way that a form of pandanus grows along the banks of rivers 553 Liberia *- in the Congo Basin in the very heart of Central Africa. The bread fruit (Artocarptts), which is one of the commonest trees now seen on the Liberian coast, was introduced by the first American colonists. It is of course a native of the Pacific. The Liberian forests and their outskirts contain many striking forms of the Arum order. One of the commonest is the ordinary West African Anchomanes. This may be noticed 231. OIL 1'ALMs (l-.LAIs) first of all in the fully developed type of leaf, which rises on a slender prickly stem to a height of two or three feet. Instead of presenting an undivided outline of the usual arrow- head character, the leaf is split up into numerous unequal-sized leaflets, giving any one, not a botanist, the impression that it is a cluster of independent leaves growing from a number of separate stalks. At first sight no one would take this to be an aroid. The long stalk of this curiously divided leaf rises 554 232. THE BORASSUS PALM Liberia *- from a tuberous growth just apparent above the soil. Close by, but appearing independently (from the underground rhizome), is the inflorescence. This consists of a purple spa'the with a pale cream-coloured interior and a long cream-coloured spadix, dotted here and there with minute blackish flowerets. To this succeeds in time, by ripening, a very conspicuous cluster of white seeds with black or reddish tips. The first, second and third leaves of this arum, however, are very 233. COCONUT PALMS different in shape and appearance from the later forms, and the drawings given on pp. 558-9 show the transition in outline between the simple sagittate or arrow-shaped leaf and the com- plicated, much-divided cluster of leaflets represented by the final leaves of the plant. This aroid exhales a rank, sickening smell. Another prominent aroid in Liberian landscapes is the Cyrtosperma. This has very handsome leaves of considerable size, and tall flower-spathes which are purplish, with yellow- green streaks. The Cyrtosperma is one of the commonest plants 556 -*> The Liberian Flora in the coast region of Liberia, along the banks of streams or in ditches by the wayside. In the forest one comes across many examples of the Arum order, some of them epiphytic. There are no doubt several species of Culcasia, one of which is a climbing form with simple leaves and a 234. MANGO (ON LEFT) AND BREAD-FRUIT TREE (RIGHT) IN A LIBERIAN PLANTATION very poorly developed dark-coloured spathe to the flower- spadix (C. scandens). Another kind, though of a climbing habit, generally grows along the banks of streams, clambering over the wet rocks. This form has a very pretty white spathe (almost like white velvet) and a pale yellow spadix. It resembles slightly the cultivated arum of the greenhouses, which is really a South African form. The drawings on^pp. 563-4 of these two species 557 Liberia <+- of Culcasia were executed by me in the West African coast belt to the east of Liberia, but seem to me to represent pretty accurately two kinds of Culcasia found in Liberia, which are not yet represented by dried specimens.1 The same may be said about the pretty aroid Nephthytis constricta, which closely resembles the Nephthytis afzelii already recorded from Liberia. 235. YOUNG LEAVES OF ANCHOMANES ARUM It is probable that Nephthytis comtricta extends its range west- wards to Eastern Liberia, though it has not yet been recorded from there. TV. afzelii is very similar in appearance. This plant, together with the CyrtOSperma, might well be introduced 1 Of these, Culcasia scdiit/r/is has been sent home from Sierra Leone. It is therefore no doubt identical with the Liberian type of climbing Culcasia. 558 ^ The Liberian Hora into horticulture, on account of the handsome or strangely shaped eaves. Rhektophyllum mirabile — or at any rate a species of Rhektophyllum — is frequently met with in the dense forest of Liberia as an epiphyte on trees, up which it grows to a con- 236. LATER LEAF OF ANCHOMANES ARUM siderable height. The leaves are very large, sometimes nearly three feet long, and are remarkable for open slits which gradually appear between the veins. The flower-spathes are a pale yellow-green, or greenish white, with a blackish spadix that 559 Liberia <*- is but little exposed. Festoons of this aroid up and down the trunks of great forest trees form a handsome spectacle. 237. .SI'.VHIK AM) M'ADIX (FLOWER) OK ANMloMANKs IK nil s The country is very rich in Rushes (Cyperacea\ though the handsomest rush of Africa — the Papyrus — is apparently 560 The Liberian Flora missing. So far as I am informed, the papyrus is absent from the forest belt along the West African littoral — at least, I have never seen it there, and am not aware that specimens of it have been collected in that region. It appears on the River Congo, but not I think farther to the west than Stanley Pool. Further research into the purely West African flora may show that though scarce it is still a native of the West African coast. But at any rate so far it is absent from Liberia. Amongst Grasses should be men- tioned specially the Bamboo. This magnificent grass is met with in huge clusters or groves at various places in the coast region of Liberia, a few miles back from the sea. Unfor- tunately, the photographs which I took of these bamboos developed in too unsatisfactory a way for exact iden- tification, and only serve to establish the existence of this giant grass. Buttikofer refers to the bamboo also in his work, and ascribes its intro- duction to the American colonists (from the West Indies). It is practically certain that the Scotch missionaries who founded the two Presbyterian Missions at Old Calabar (in the Niger Delta) brought a bamboo from the VOL. ii 561 4 238. SEEDS OF ANCHOMANES DUBIUS Liberia <+* West Indies and established it in that corner of West Africa, where it has ever since thriven. At the same time there is no record of the Liberians having introduced the bamboo or 239. CYKTOSPEKMA sKXECAI.K.VsK of having taken any particular interest in it. The question is one which requires investigation, as it is quite possible that the Liberian bamboo may be an indigenous form (Oxytenan- thera\ only remarkable for the fact that it grows so near to sea level. 562 240. A CLIMBING CULCASIA ARUM (C. SCANDENs) Liberia *- Several bamboos are indigenous to Tropical Africa, especially in its east and central parts, but away from the more temperate regions of Natal and South Africa they are only found on high mountains, or at any rate not much lower than altitudes of 241. A WIIITK-SPATHKIili II.' VSIA 3,000 feet. Under the Equator (for example, .in the Uganda Protectorate) bamboos do not make their appearance until about 7,500 feet above sea level. In British Central Africa, much farther south, the bamboo level begins at 3,000 feet (or even a little lower) and extends to 7,000 feet in different species. "* The Liberian Flora I am informed by persons who have travelled far into the interior of Liberia to the bases of relatively high mountains that bamboos make their appearance on these mountains at a considerable height above sea level. These would certainly be indigenous ; but it is a question at present undecided as 242. NEPHTHYTIS CONSTRICTA to whether the species growing on the Liberian coast is not an introduced form planted by man. In any case, its cultivation and extension deserve the attention of the Liberians because of the many uses to which it can be put. The grasses of Liberia include many widespread African forms, and also numerous cultivated Gramine The Liberian Flora *Popowia whytei, Stapf: a tree (?) with more or less elliptic thinly coriaceous almost glabrous leaves, 3^ — 6 in. by 2 — 2j in., fascicled finely tomcntosc flowers, thick petals, the outer 3 scarcely £ in. long, the inner half as long; Sino Basin, \Vhyte\ *Xylopia humilis, Eugl. and Diels : an almost glabrous shrub or a small tree with a broad top and pendulous branches, very coriaceous, abruptly acuminate oblong leaves, 5 — 6 in. by I j — 2\ in., and stalked cylindric smooth fruit-carpels, 3 — 4 in. by J in., with up- wards of 6 seeds (flowers still unknown) ; in humid situations in the primary forest of the littoral, Fishtown, Dinklage, 2006 ! X. aethiopica, A. Rich. : a tree, 30—60 ft. high, similar to the preceding but with almost sessile fruit-carpels, l£ — 2\ in. by £— £ in., the flowers solitary or fascicled, usually axillary, up to if in. long, cylindric, silky, the 6 linear petals conniving at the base ; in dry localities in the savannah of the littoral, Dinklage, 1760, 1898 ! — The aromatic fruits are used as a tonic or in place of pepper, hence the name African, Guinea or Negro " Pepper." The elastic wood is used for oars and masts of small boats. *X. dinklagei, Engl. and Diels : an almost glabrous shrub with thin leaves 2 — 3 in. by £ — 1£ in., solitary silky lanceolate flowers J— £ in. long, and fruit- carpels 2 in. by almost J in. ; in the bush of the littoral, Grand Basa, Dinklage, 1760, 1898 ! X. oxypetala, Oliv. : a shrub or moderate-sized tree similar to X. dinklagei, but with larger leaves, longer (white, sweet-scented) flowers, to over ij in. long, and smaller fruit-carpels; in the bush of the littoral, Fishtown, Dinklage, 1858 ! *Artabotrys oliganthus, Engl. and Diels : a glabrous shrub climbing by means of the frequently recurved hook-shaped peduncles, with greenish solitary flowers, } in. long, the 6 lanceolate petals more or less spreading ; in very humid situations in the primary forest of the littoral, Fishtown, Dinklage, 2083 ! Anona muricata, L. : a small almost glabrous tree with fleshy yellow flowers ; a native of the West Indies, frequently cultivated in West Africa on account of its delicious fruits, the " Sour Sop" of English colonists, Vogely 37! Dinklage, 1883. A. palustris, L.\ a small tree similar to the preceding but with much smaller flowers and smooth bright yellow fruits ; a native of South America, where it is a common coast plant, and known as " Alligator Apple " ; in swamps near Grand Basa, 575 Liberia *- Vogel, 36 !; at Cape Palmas, Vogcl, 37 ! — The soft wood is used in Jamaica in the place of cork. Monodora myristica, Don. : a shrub or small tree with showy flowers, 2 — 6 in. across, pale green, purple spotted with a white centre (the petals in 2 series of 3, the outer ovate-lanceolate, crisped, the inner smaller ovate to cordate, short-clawed) and hard globose many-seeded fruits, 4 — 6 in. across ; in primary forest near the cataracts of the St. John's River, Dinklage, 1615!; Kakatown, Whyte \ — The aromatic seed, " Calabash Nutmegs," are much esteemed as a condiment in some parts of West Africa. M. tenuifolia, Benth. : a small deciduous tree with flowers similar to those of the preceding species, but with narrower petals of which the inner 3 are gradually narrowed into a long claw ; common in the primary forest near Grand Basa, Dinklage, 1614! MENISPERMACE^: *Kolobopetalum ovatum, Stapf\ a dioecious glabrous climbing shrub with thin ovate entire leaves, 4 in. by 2f in., and long spreading panicles of very minute flowers, T\ in. long, of 6 sepals and 6 petals, the male with a column of stamens ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ *Glossopholis dinklagei, Stapf (syn. Tiliacora dinklagei, Engl.): a low glabrous shrub of the forests of the littoral with coriaceous oblong acuminate leaves, 5 — 6 in. by if — 2\ in., and panicles (2j in. long) of small white fragrant flowers of 6 sepals and 6 petals, the inner 3 sepals longest (J in.) ; Grand Basa, Dinklage, 1646, 2123; Monrovia, Whyte\ Triclisia patens, Oliv. : a climbing shrub with finely downy twigs, thinly coriaceous almost glabrous ellipsoid leaves, 4 — 5 in. by 2 — 3 in., many-flowered downy panicles from the old shoots and small flowers of 6 minute sepals and 3 petals, J in. long with spreading tips ; Kakatown, Whyte \ These three Menispermaceae are dioecious, and only the male plants are known. Nymphaea lotus, L. : the well-known Egyptian Lotus ; in stagnant water, Kakatown, Wliyte \ A very pretty little water-lily, probably a variety of N. lotus, 576 -+> The Lihcrian Floni with thin leaves and small flowers having deep blue-violet sepals and white petals ; was collected in the Sino Basin by Whyte. CRUCIFER^: Brassica campestris, L. : a near ally of the Cabbage, cultivated or an escape from cultivation, Kakatown, \\'hytc\ — Several varieties are in cultivation in temperate countries either for the production of oil from seeds (colza) or as vegetables (e.g. the Swedish turnips). CAPPARIDACE^E Cleorae ciliata, Scfiinn. and TJionn. : a sparsely hairy weed with mostly 3-foliate leaves, white or purplish tetramerous flowers and linear pods, I — 2\ in. long; Monrovia, Whyte\\ Grand Basa, Vogel, 34 ! ; Sino Basin, Whyte ! Ritchiea fragrans, R. Br. : a usually climbing glabrous shrub with 3-foliolate firm leaves and long-pedicelled large greenish white flowers in short corymbs, the petals very variable in width and number, usually very narrow, up to over 2 in. long ; Monrovia, Whyte\ Euadenia eminens, Hook. f. : a glabrous shrub with 3-foliolate mem- branous leaves and yellowish flowers in corymbs (8 — 10 in. in diameter), with 4 petals, of which 2 are lanceolate, long-clawed, up to 4 in. long, the other 2 small or absent ; Kakatown and Sino Basin, Whyte ! VIOLACE^E *Alsodeia prasina, Stapf \ a glabrous shrub with pale green serrate oblong to lanceolate thinly coriaceous leaves, up to 8 in. by 3 in., and panicles (to 3j in. long) of small flowers (J in. long) with prominently striate sepals ; near Monrovia, W/iyte ! *A. liberica, Stapf (syn. Rinorea liberica, Engl.} : a low shrub with lanceolate very shortly petioled leaves and short terminal panicles of small yellowish brown flowers -J in. long ; in primary forest along the banks of the Cestos River near the sea, Dinklage^ 1931 !; near Grand Basa, Dinklage, 1944!; Sino Basin, Wkyte\ *A. johnstonii, Stapf \ a glabrous shrub with bright green serrulate more or less lanceolate thinly coriaceous leaves, up to 7 in. by 2 — 2\ in., and dense terminal panicles (i — 3 in. long) of VOL. ii 577 5 Liberia <*- small flowers ((\ — J in. long) with dark white-edged glabrous sepals ; near Monrovia and in the Sino Basin, Whyte ! *A. whytei, Stapf: a shrub with thin pale green serrulate more or less lanceolate leaves, 2—4 in. by i^ — 2 in., and pubescent panicles (ii- in. long) of small flowers (J- in. long) with pubescent sepals ; near Monrovia, Whyte \ Sauvagesia erecta, L. : a small herb with lanceolate serrulate promi- nently nerved leaves, long fringed stipules and small nodding white flowers on fine, often long pedicels ; near Monrovia and Kakatown, Whyte\ BIXACE^E Bixa orellana, L. : a South American tree with long petiolcd ovate often large leaves, terminal panicles of large rose-coloured flowers and prickly capsules ; cultivated near Grand Basa, VogeL — An orange-yellow dye, known as "Orleans Annatto" or " Rocou," is produced from the pulpy red arils surrounding the seeds. Oncoba br achy anther a, Oliv. : a spinous shrub or tree with the young shoots and membranous ovate or elliptic leaves more or less hairy, with handsome white flowers, about 2 in. across, terminal or on short lateral shools, and hard smooth globose fruits, 1 1 — 2 in. across ; Sino Basin, Whyte\ *0. brevipes, Stapf: a glabrous tree (?) with elliptic- or obovatc- oblong pale green leaves, up to 7 in. by 3^ in., and large white flowers, over 4 in. across, with 10 — 12 petals ; near Monrovia and in the Sino Basin, Whyte \ POLYGALACE^; Carpolobia parvifolia, Staff (syii. C. alba, var. parvi flora, Oliv.} : a small tree with glossy ovate to ovate-oblong leaves, i — 2 in. by to J in., and frequently solitary white and purple irregular flowers up to § in. long, and edible 3-lobed yellow berries; Kakatown, Whyte\ *Atroxima liberica, Stapf (Plate 246) : a glabrous shrub or tree with thinly coriaceous oblong reticulate leaves, 4 — 6 in. by 2 in., axillary racemes of small flowers, \ in. long, and dry almost globose fruits with a crustaceous pericarp and 3 — 2 finely hairy seeds ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ 578 ATKOXIMA LIliERICA 1. Flowering branch (nat sixe). 2. Flower (enlarged). 3. Corolla and staminal tube laid open (enlarged). 4. Interior petal (enlarged). 5. Anther (enlarged). 0. Pistil (enlarged). 7. Section of ovary (enlarged). 8. Fruit of A. »tacrostackya (nat. size). Liberia <•- HYPERICINE^: Haronga madagascariensis, Chois. : a shrub or tree with opposite more or less tomentose or glabrous leaves, 3 — 6 in. by ij — 3 in., large corymbs of small fragrant white flowers dotted with black glands and small globose 2 — 4-seeded drupes ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 23 ! ; Kakatown and Sino Basin, Whyte\ CARYOPHYLLACE. K Polycarpsea platyphylla, Pax. : a glabrous perennial with crowded whorls of lanceolate leaves, J in. long, and compact heads of small silvery white shining flowers ; Monrovia, Krause ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 69 ! GUTTIFER.*: Garcinia epunctata, Stapf: a shrub or tree with thinly coriaceous oblong opposite leaves, up to 5 in. by 2 in. with long, fine, transparent lines (under the lens) and solitary or paired tetramerous flowers, the sepals pale green, the petals bright yellow ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ MALVACEAE Sida linifolia, Cav. : an annual weed with linear to lanceolate leaves, 2—6 in. by -J-— -£ in. and mostly terminal hairy dense corymbs of white or crimson flowers, almost J in. across ; Cape Palmas, Schoenlein. S. carpinifolia, L. : a perennial erect weed with linear-lanceolate leaves and axillary clusters of yellow flowers almost £ in. across ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ S. cordifolia, L. : a perennial weed with broad ovate or roundish tomentose leaves and dense clusters of yellow flowers, over {, in. across ; Monrovia, Whyte t S. rhombifolia, L. : a much-branched very variable perennial weed with ovate to lanceolate leaves, whitish beneath, and solitary or clustered yellow flowers, over J in. across ; Kakatown, Wliytc \ —This yields a strong fibre similar to jute. Urena labata, L. \ a stiff coarse hairy herb with very variable entire or 3 — 5-lobed leaves, whitish tomentose beneath, solitary or paired, shortly pedicelled pink flowers, 4 in. (or more) across, 580 ^ The Liberian Flora and globose carpels covered with hooked spines; Kakatown, \\Thyte\ — The fibre of this plant is used by the natives for ropes and twine. Hibiscus physaloides, (ruill. and Perr. : a tall hispid perennial with long- stalked 5-angled or 5-lobed leaves, cordate at the base, and. like all the following species of Plibiscus, yellow flowers with a purple centre, not unlike those of a hollyhock, each flower with an epicalyx (involucre) of 10 filiform segments ; Kakatown, Whyte\ H. surratensis, L. : a trailing or leaning prickly weed with long-stalked deeply 3 — 5-lobed leaves, and an epicalyx of 10 — 12 spathulate segments with leafy appendages ; Kakatown, Wkyte \ H. rostellatus, Gnill. and Perr. : a suffrutescent very hispid prickly herb, up to 10 ft. high, with long-stalked acutely 5-lobed leaves and an epicalyx of 10 linear segments with 3-partite appendages ; Sino Basin, Whyte\ *H. whytei, Stapf: a tall herb very sparingly covered with small stellate hairs, with deltoid or ovate leaves on moderately long stalks and short-pedicelled flowers in a terminal raceme, each with an epicalyx of 10 linear segments ; Kakatown, Whyte \ H. guineensis, G. Don : a very tall herb, with a coarse stellate tomentum, at length more or less rubbing off, broad ovate or rounded 3 — 5-lobed leaves on long stalks, epicalyx of 5 linear segments, and fruits somewhat longer than the calyx ; about 70 miles up the St. Paul's River, on native farms, Reynolds \ H. esculentus, L. : a tall hirsute herb with long-stalked 5-lobed leaves, a caducous calyx, a caducous epicalyx of 10 — 12 linear segments and acute grooved capsules, up to 6 in. long, on short stout stalks ; near Monrovia, Whyte \ — The young fruits of this plant, known in West Africa as " Gombo " or " Okro," are eaten as a vegetable. It also yields an inferior fibre. H. abelmoschus, L. : very similar to the preceding species, but with shorter never grooved capsules, i| — 2 in. long, borne on long rather slender stalks ; cultivated around huts near Grand Basa, according to Vogel. — The seeds emit a musk-like odour when heated, and are made into scent powders. The plant yields a strong fibre. Gossypium peruvianum, Car. (sens, lat.) : the " Kidney Cotton " ; Kakatown, Whyte \ — There are no fruits with the sample Liberia <+- collected by VVhyte, but the leaves and flowers agree so well with a typical specimen of " Kidney Cotton " ((^. pcntviauinn in the broad sense) that there is little doubt of its belonging to this species. Vogcl states that he observed G. barbadcnsc, I,., the "Sea-Island Cotton" near Cape Palmas ; there is, however, n-.» specimen of it at Kew. The African cottons are still imperfectly known, and it appears desirable to collect samples of all the varieties, particularly those grown by the natives. It will, however, be necessary to gather, as far as possible, specimens in the flowering as well as in the fruiting state, and with the flowers and fruits still attached to the leaf-bearing branches. o Bombax buonopozense, Bcanv. : a large, deciduous tree with tuberculate bark and scattered stout conical prickles, digitate leaves, 5 — 7 leaflets, solitary scarlet flowers with velvety firm petals, almost 2 in. by J in., and 5 bundles of very numerous stamens ; near Grand Basa, Vogel\ STERCULIACE/E Cola acuminata, Beanv. (Plates 153, 154) : the well-known true "Cola" tree of West Africa ; near Monrovia, Wliyte \ — This species, which occurs from Sierra Leone to the Niger, although in many parts rare, was named Cola vcra by the late Dr. K. Schumann of Berlin, he being under the mistaken imprcsssion that Bcaiivais had another species in view when he described and figured his C. acuminata. C. digitata, Mast. : a small tree with a flat top, digitate leaves of 7 — 9 entire or pinnatcly lobed leaflets, 3 to over 12 in. long, and stalked follicles, 2 — 3 in. long, scarlet inside, whilst the 4 — 6 seeds arc of a shining black ; near Monrovia, \\'hytc\ Melochia corchorifolia, L. : a sparingly hairy erect herb with ovate to lanceolate serrate leaves and dense terminal (or also axillary) clusters of white yellow or pale rose flowers, £ in. across ; ("ape Palmas, !>#*•/, 30, 57 ! M. melissifolia, /Av/ ///., vnr. mollis, A'. Sclitmi. : a villous herb with sessile axillary clusters of small white or yellow flowers, other- wise similar to the preceding species ; near Kakatown, Wliytc\ Theobroma cacao, L.\ the well-known "Cacao" tree, cultivated at Cape Palmas, according to Vogcl, and near Monrovia (Johnston). 582 The Liberian Flora TILIACE*; Grewia malacocarpa, Mast.: a shrub with drooping branches, oblong leaves, whitish tomentose beneath, terminal and lateral loose panicles of greenish white flowers, i in. across, and i -seeded velvety drupes, up to I in. long ; Kakatown and Sino Basin, Whyte\ Honckenya ficifolia, \Villd.: a stcllate-tomentose erect often very tall herb with entire or variously lobcd leaves, showy purple or white flowers, up to 3 in. across, and densely prickly capsules ; Grand Basii, /*<>*,'<'/, 57 ! 91 ! ; Sino Basin and Kakatown, \Vhytc ! H. parva, K. Sell. : a hirsute perennial ascending from a prostrate base, with irregularly lobcd leaves and small white flowers, scarcely I in. across : Monrovia, Krause. Triumfetta cordifolia, Guill. and Ptrr. : a glabrous or hairy weed with long-stalked ovate cordate or more or less 3-lobed leaves, panicled ultimately loose cymes of yellow flowers, £ in- across, and globose capsules, covered with hooked spines, including the spines J in. or more across ; Monrovia, WJiyte \ T. rhomboidea, Jacq. : a weed similar to the preceding, but with much contracted axillary clusters of flowers and smaller fruits, J in. across; Grand Basa, Ansell\\ Monrovia, Whyte\ — It yields a fibre of inferior quality. Corchorus olitorius, L. : an almost glabrous herb, with small axillary yellow flowers, usually in pairs or threes, and long-beaked capsules, over 2 in. by 1 in., with the valves transversely septate on the inner side; Kakatown, Wliyte\ — The leaves are eaten as a vegetable. Glyphsea grewioides, Hook, f: a slender shrub with a drooping habit, membranous leaves, 4 — 8 in. by \\ — 4 in., and scanty sub- terminal cymes of yellow flowers, i — 1£ in. across, and oblong acute deeply grooved indchisccnt fruits, ij — 2| in. by \ in. ; Kakatown, / / 'hyte \ LINAGES Phyllocosmus africanus, Klolzsch : a shrub or small tree with thinly coriaceous shining lanceolate-oblong leaves, 2\ — 3^ in. by i — 1£ in., and numerous slender racemes (2— 2j in. long) of 583 Liberia <+- small white flowers, J in. long, with persistent petals and i — 2-seeded capsules J in. long ; Cape Palmas, Sc/wcti/chi ; Grand Basa, Dinklage, 2034 ! MALPHIGIACEJ: Heteropterys africana, A. fuss. : a glabrous shrub, sometimes climbing, with very coriaceous leaves, 4 — 8 in. by 2 — 4 in., rusty tomentose racemes of yellow flowers (^ — £ in. across, and with a whorl of large glands on the calyx) and red-winged fruits ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 35!; Monrovia and Sino Basin, WJiytc\ Flabellaria paniculata, Cav. : a climbing shrub with thin opposite leaves, beautifully silvery silky underneath, panicles of white or pinkish flowers, J in. across, and fruits with a circular 2-lobed thin wing, I — 1£ in. across ; Sino Basin, Whyte\ RUTACE^E Zanthoxylum guineense, Stapf (sp. nov.) : a prickly shrub, prickles straight, \ in. long : leaves pinnate, 5 — 7-foliolate, with a narrowly winged rachis (including the petiole 2— 2j in. long) and elliptic to obovate leaflets, I — i J in. by -?> — \ in., the upper- most often with a cuneate base, the nerves finely downy in the young leaf ; flowers 5-merous, hermaphrodite, whitish downy, in terminal panicles (i — 3 in. long) and subterminal small corymbs on slender peduncles, under J in. long, calyx lobes triangular, very small, petals J in. long; Cape Palmas, Anscll\ —Also in Sierra Leone, Scott Elliot, 4887 ! 5310! Citrus aurantium, /,. : the common Orange, cultivated at Cape Palmas, / rogelt 28 ! Vogel also states that " Lemons " and " Limes " are cultivated in Liberia. OCHNACK.K Ochna multiflora, DC. : a small glabrous shrub with coriaceous leaves, 4 — 5 in. by ij — 2 in., nodding racemes of long-stalked bright yellow flowers; J in. across, numerous stamens, and fruits con- sisting of several small black drupes on a red disc, surrounded by the persistent red calyx ; Monrovia and Sino Basin, \\'liytc\ ; along watercourses near Grand Basa, Dinklagi\ 1647 ! 584 The Liberian Flora *Gomphia amplectens, Staff-, like all the following species of a shrub with yellow or red flowers and fruits like those of Ochua, but with only 10 stamens ; leaves lanceolate with an auricled base, hiding the short petiole, up to I ft. by 3 in. ; Kakatown, Whyte\ 247. GOMPHIA SUBCORDATA G. congesta, Oliv. : leaves lanceolate, acutely serrulate, 5 — 7 in. by 2— 2\ in., panicles very dense, 2 — 3 in. long ; Kakatown, Whyte\ —Identical with the Sierra Leone specimen referred to this species by Oliver. Mann's specimen from Ambas Bay, enume- rated by this author under the same name, is distinct. *G. subcordata, Stapf (plate 247) : similar to G. congesta, but the leaves slightly cordate at the base, and the racemes up to 6 in. 585 Liberia v long, slender and looser, mature sepals to almost J in. long ; Kakatown, Whyte \ *G. schoenleiniana, KlotzscJi : very similar to the preceding species but with paniclcd racemes and smaller flowers, the mature sepals scarcely J in. long ; Cape Palmas, Schooilciu ! ; Kaka- town, \Vhytc\\ Fishtown, in shady primary forest, Dlnkla^c, 1849! G. reticulata, Beauv. : leaves lanceolate, acute at both ends, raceme very slender, usually paniclecl, the panicle ?, — i ft. long; Mon- rovia and Kakatown, Whyte\ G. flava, Schum. and T/ionn. : leaves lanceolate, densely serrulate, panicles 3 — -4 in. long and drupes of somewhat oblong shape, J in. long ; Kakatown, Wkyte \ G. vogelii, Hook. f. : leaves lanceolate to oblong, entire or slightly wavy, flowers in panicled fascicles, the panicles 3 — 4 in. long and wide ; Fishtown, in the bush of the littoral, Dinklagc, 1638 ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 53 !; Sino Basin, Whyte ! CHAILLETIACE^: *Chailletia whytei, Staff: (syn. Dichapetalum liberiaj, Kiigl. and Din/cl.] : a shrub with elliptic lanceolate finely acuminate leaves, yellowish tomentose beneath and long-peduncled dense clusters of small white flowers with narrow cleft petals, J in. long ; in primary forest in the littoral, Fishtown, Dinklagc, 1832 ! ; Kaka- town, Whyte\ OLACINE^S Heisteria parvifolia, Smith : a glabrous shrub with coriaceous leaves, small white axillary flowers and white berries, surrounded by the much-enlarged deeply 5-partite crimson calyx (J — :,! in. long); Monrovia and Kakatown, Whytc\\ Grand Basa, / V&v/, 86 ! ; Dtnklaget 1670! ; Cape Palmas, Scliooilchi. Ptychopetalum anceps, Oliv. : a small glabrous tree with 2-edged slender twigs, lanceolate coriaceous leaves, very short scant}' axillary racemes of small flowers, £ in. long (waxy outside, hairy inside), and dry ellipsoid drupes; Monrovia, \Vhytc\\ Grand Basa, Vogcl, 12 ! 586 <+> The Lihcrian Mora Coula edulis, /tail/. (Plate 212) : a sparingly pubescent tree with coriaceous elliptic acuminate leaves, short axillary rusty pube- scent racemes of small dowers without a distinct calyx and with 4 — 5 coriaceous petals, J in. long, and 12 — 20 stamens, and I -seeded almost globose drupes about l£ in. in diameter ; common, according to Mr. Brahain, in Liberia ; //. II. Johnston (fruits !) — The oily seeds arc pleasant to eat. They are known in the Gaboon as " Nkula," hence the generic name Coula, and have nothing to do with the Cola nuts. *01ax major, Stapf: a glabrous shrub with yellowish green twigs and leaves, short sessile racemes or clusters of waxy white flowers, almost $ in. long ; Monrovia, Whyte \ Urobotrya angustifolia, Stapf ( Plate 248) : a slender shrub with lanceo- late leaves, long pendulous racemes of small greenish flowers with long exserted stamens, and, according to Dryander, baccate fruits; near Monrovia and Kakatown, Whyte\\ by native tracks, about 70 miles up the St. Paul's River, Reynolds \ *U. latifolia, Stapf \ very similar to the preceding species but with broad elliptic leaves and stouter racemes ; Monrovia, Whyte \ *U. trinervia, Stapf (nov. sp.) : a shrub ; leaves oblong or elliptic, subacute at the base, long acuminate, 6 — 7 in. by 2} in , papery, quite glabrous, with 5 — 6 side nerves of the first order, the lowest 2 almost from the base, very oblique and carried almost to or beyond the middle, where they join the next side nerve, which, like the following, spreads almost at right angles from the midrib ; flowers as in U. angustifolia ; Kakatown, Whyte !— The great resemblance of the inflorescences of these three species of Urobotrya and the diversity of the shape and nervation of leaves is remarkable, and they should be compared in the field. *Desmostachys vogelii, Stapf (syn. Sarcostigma vogelii, Miers) : a glabrous shrub with lanceolate to oblong papery leaves, 5 — 10 in. by ij — 4 in., and long and slender pendulous spikes of spread- ing tubular whitish (?) flowers, J in. long, and red drupes ; Kakatown, Whyte\\ Cape Palmas, Vogel, 25! 27! 68! Apodytes beninensis, Hook. f. : a small glabrous tree or shrub with coriaceous leaves, axillary fascicles of 3 — 10 white flowers, £ in. long, on fine pedicels of the same length, and with somewhat 587 Liberia *- compressed crustaceous fruits, orbicular in outline, J in. across ; Cape 1'almas, /*<#<*/, 46! — The seeds are eaten by the Lagos An allied species (A. diiuidiata, E. Mey.) yields a hard timber of very equal grain and fine dark grey colour. Leptaulos daphnoides, BcntJi. : a glabrous shrub with light green twigs and leaves, the latter thinly coriaceous, dense axillary iile clusters of fragrant white tubular flowers, J in. long, and ovoid nuts, ] in. long; Kakatown and Sino Basin, Whyte\ 'lodes liberica, Staff (syu. 1. reticulata, Stapf, not of King): a Blender climbing shrub with downy twigs, long extra axillary tendrils, ovate to oblong finely reticulated papery leaves and small panicled tetramerous flowers, TV in. long ; Kakatown and Sino Hasin, ll'/iytc ! CELASTRACK i: Hippocratea indica, \Villti. : a glabrous climbing shrub with coriaceous elliptic leaves, axillary panicles of small flowers and oblong fruits u in. by £ in.) which break up into two woody navicular valves and contain about 2 large winged seeds ; Monrovia, Wkyte\ H. macrophylla, Vahl. : a climbing shrub with very broad leaves, 5 — 9 in. l>y 2j- 4! in., large extremely lax divaricate panicles and petals, -\ — almost \ in. long; Monrovia, WJiyte\ Salacia senegalensis, DC. : a small glabrous tree or shrub with warty twigs, coriaceous oblong more or less opposite leaves, axillary icks of finely stalked white flowers, , in. long, and applc- shaped fruits over I in. in diameter ; Monrovia, ]VJiyte\ — Known in Sierra Leone as "Beacon Bush/' Salacia sp. : a shrub similar to the preceding with small yellowish en petals and red anthers, and with the seeds embedded in pulp; common near Grand Basa, Vogel>66\ 90! — This named .V. frinonics, DC., in the Flora of Tropical Africa, but it is certainly distinct from that species. The material at hand is not sufficient to describe the species. S. debilis, \\'alp.: a tall glabrous shrub with slender smooth twigs •i"'; M branches, oblong coriaceous leaves and fascicles of liked to over i in.) small white flowers, the fascicle ratl i short branchlets ; Monrovia, \Vhyte \ 588 248. UROBOTRYA ANGUSTIFOLIA 1. Flowering branch (nat. size). 2. Bud (enlarged). 3. Flower (enlarged). 4. Petal with stamen (enlarged). 5. Longitudinal section of pistil and disc (enlarged). rki *- S. nitida, N. E. Kwivn (syn. Gymncma nitidum, Betif/t.} : similar to the preceding, but the flowers smaller, in axillary and extra axillary short fascicles, and shortly pedicel-led ; Cape Palmas, RHAMNACE^E Gouania longipetale, Hcmsl. : a climber with slender spiral tendrils, i ism-; from the uppermost leaf axils, slender spikelike rusty tonu-ntose racemes of small white flowers and 3-winged capsules, | in. by £ in.; Kakatown, Whytc\ AMPELIDACE^E 'Ampelocissus gracilipes, Stapf: a vine with all the young parts rod with a thin cinnamon-coloured tomentum, long tendrils, cordate leaves, 6 in. by 5 in., and dense leaf-opposed panicles of minute flowers on slender pedicels; Sino Basin, \\'/iytc\ Cissus arguta, /look. f. : a large glabrous (excepting the inflorescence) vine with cordate-ovate membranous leaves, numerous tendrils, and rusty pubescent often much compound or panicled cymes of minute tctramerous flowers; Liberia, Christy \ C. producta, , //•;. : a large glabrous vine with succulent stems, ovate blong membranous leaves, tendrils, and leaf-opposed short- stalked cymes of small green flowers and red berries, up to i in. in (lianu-UT ; Sino Basin, Whyte\ Leea guineensis, A///. : a shrub without tendrils, with pinnate or bipinnatc leaves up to ij and even 2 ft. long, and large corymbs range-coloured or red and yellow flowers, and 5 — 6-grooved depressed brrries, ] -J, in. across; Kakatown, Wliytc\\ Cape 1 'a 1m as, \'ogcl\ SAPINDACJ Allophylus africanus, AW/X-. (syn. Schmidelia africana, DC.) : a • ibrous or more or less hairy shrub (sometimes a tree with 3-foliolate leaves, panicled almost in-like downy rahort d«-n>c axillary and terminal panicles and firmer rusty ny pod* ; in the bush of the littoral, Grand Basa, /)//Mr^r, D. ecastaphyllum, 1 iiiih. : a prostrate shrub with ascending stems (up • ft. hiL;h_. usually simple leaves, i! 6 in. by I — 4 in., dense t axillary panicles of white papilionaceous flowers, J in. long, and flat indchisccnt pods of the size of a halfpenny ; very imon in the bush of the savannahs of the littoral, Grand Dhtklrt^c, 19X6! ; and in a peculiar form (var. liala, Stapf , distinguished by very large oblong leaves or terminal leaflets, in the Sino basin, //7/r/v! 1 would refer here to D. melanoxylon, GnilL and /\T>: (Plate II much-branched glabrous tree with a trunk up to <+> The Liberian Flora jA ft. in diameter, .stunt woody spines, 9 — 13-foliolate leaves, firm leaflets, i — I in. by i— J in., rather copious dense panicles (i — 3 in. long) of white papilionaceous flowers, J in. long, and I— 4-secded glabrous thin pods, I — 2\ in. by \ in. — This is widely spread throughout Africa, anil also occurs very probably in Liberia. It possesses a very hard jet-black or brownish black heart- wood which is u-ed like ebony and is known as " African Black- wood " or " Senegal Ebony." Drepanocarpus lunatus, C '. /•'. Mey. : a glabrous straggling shrub or small tree with numerous recurved spines, pinnate 5— 7-foliolate coriaceous leaves, panicles of white papilionaceous flowers, £ in. long, and sickle-shaped I -seeded coriaceous pods, i£ by f in.; common near water, Monrovia, Whyte ! ; Grand Basa, / 'ogcl, 99! Pterocarpus esculentus, Sclinui. : a shrub or tree with glabrous leaves, 4 — 8 in. long, of 5 — 7 alternating elliptic or oblong leaflets, short dense axillary velvety racemes of yellowish papilionaceous flowers, under ii in. long and winged roundish pods, ii in. in diameter, and very rough in the thickened centre ; Kakatovvn, \\'liytc \ — The seeds are eaten, but produce, it is said, intoxication. Ostryocarpus riparius, Hook. f. (syn. Millettia micrantha, I/arms.) : a glabrous rambling or climbing shrub, sometimes of considerable size with long-stalked pinnate 5-foliolate leaves, elliptic coriaceous leaflets, 4 — 6 in. by ii — 3 in., ample panicles of dense short (J — I in. long) racemes of yellowish papilionaceous flowers, £ in. long, and flat indehiscent pods, 2 in. by I — 2 in. ; common near water, in the littoral, Fishtovvn, Dinklage, 1725!; Sino Basin, \Vliyte \ *0. major, Stapf: similar to the preceding but with 7-foliolate leaves, longer panicle branches and slightly larger flowers ; Monrovia, //'//>'/,'! Lonchocarpus sericeus, //. />. K. : an ornamental shrub or tree with downy twigs, 7 — I i-foliolate coriaceous leaves, dense racemes or panicles of fragrant lilac or purple papilionaceous flowers with a silky standard, | — f in. long, and flat woody pods, 3 — 4 in. by f in. ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 67 ! ; Cape Palmas, Vogel, 2 1 ! — The wood is very hard and heavy. L. barter!, BetitJi. : a lofty woody twiner with glabrous pinnate leaves, J — I ft. long, usually 5 — 7 oblong to elliptic long acuminate leaflets, long slender interrupted spikelike racemes 597 Liberia * of purplish papilionaceous flowers, \ in. long, and flat velvety 5 ; Kakatuwn, \Vhytc ! Baphia polygalacea, leaker : a climbing or erect shrub with simple thin coriaceous leaves, 3 — 5 in. by ii — 2^ in., on slender petioles (i — i i, in. long1), copious slender racemes or panicles (i — 4 in. loni; ) of white papilionaceous flowers, over £ in. long, with a silky calyx, splitting into two halves, and flat coriaceous pods, 4 in. by \ in. ; Monrovia, Whytc ! ; Grand Rasa, Vogel, 46! *B. spathacea, Hook. f. (syn. B. dinklagei, Harms.) : similar to the preceding, but with short petioles (J— J in.) and larger yellowish white flowers, and a rusty velvety calyx splitting to the base on >idc only ; Basa Cove, Ansell\ ; Fishtown, in bush, Dinklage 1664! Two species of Baphia, (/>. nitida, Afz., and B. pubescens, \ look, f.), both natives of the coast region of Upper Guinea and therefore likely to occur also in Liberia, produce a valuable dye- wood, known as " Cam Wood," which yields a brilliant deep red colour. Sophora tomentosa, L. : a common shore plant, more or less silvery silky, with 7 — i 5-foliolate leaves, loose racemes of bright yellow papilionaceous flowers and long (5 — 6 in.) pods, which are very much constricted between the seed-bearing portions ; Cape 1'almns, / 'c><;v/, i ! — The sap is used as a fish poison in East A frica. *0nnosia monophylla, Harms, (syn. Crudia (?) monophylla, Harms.) ; a small tree or shrub with simple leaves, axillary racemes (about 4 in. ) of whitish (?) papilionaceous flowers and pointed oblong 'led pods, 3 in. by 2 in. ; along watercourses, Fish- town, /)ink/nxt\ \<>\ } ! Caesalpinia bonducella, AVu/;. : a common rambling more or less downy • prickly shrub with bipinnatc leaves, I — 1| ft. long, and many-flowered long racemes of orange or brownish yello\v ular flowers, jj--;J in. across, and prickly I— 2-secdecl ape 1 'aim as, / ',><;>•/, 9 ! C. pulcherrima, .S,v. : a small glabrous tree, unarmed or almost so, with bipinnatc leaves and large racemes of brilliant scarlet fl"'.' ;itly cultivated in the tropics, probably of inj Cape 1'almas, Scliocnlciu. Duparquetia orchidacea, AW/, (syn. Oligostcmon pictus, Be nth.) : a ' 598 -* The Liberian Flora tall shrub with 7— y-folinlate coriaceous leave- and long stiff racemes of showy rose-coloured flowers with 4 sepals (•} in. long). 3 larger (the largest over I in. Ion- and j smaller petals and slender narrowly 4-winged pods; Kakatown and Sino Basin, WHyU\ Cassia occidentalis, A. : an annual or biennial bushy herb with k of 8 — IO leaflets, short racemes or fascicles of slightly irregular yellow flowers, I in. or more across, and flat linear pods, 4 — 5 in. by \ in., with stout sutures ; Monrovia and Grand Basa, Vogcl ; Kakatown, \\'hytc\ — The seeds are occasionally used as a substitute for coffee. C. tora, L. : an annual herb with leaves of 4 — 6 membranous obtuse leaflets, solitary or paired yellow flowers, about I in. across, and slender curved linear more or less quadrangular pods, 4 — 8 in. by J — ^ in.; Kakatown, \\'liytc\; abundant near habitations, Cape Palmas, Vogd\ C. podocarpa, Guill. and Perr. : a shrub or small tree with leaves of 8 — 10 membranous obtuse leaflets, and peduncled dense racemes of yellow flowers, about I in. across, and broad linear flat almost papery pods, 4 — 5 in. by J — J in. ; very common on native farms, about 70 miles up the St. Paul's River, Reynolds ! C. mimusoides, L. : an annual or perennial herb with leaves J — 4 in. long, and of 10 — 80 close pairs of straight or falcate narrow leaflets, ^ — J in. long, solitary or fascicled (2 — 3) flowers, \ in. across, and flat linear pods, i — 2 in. by £ — \ in. ; a common weed ; Kakatown, \Vhyte\\ Cape Palmas, Ansell\ *Dialium dinklagei, Harms. : a moderate-sized tree with an umbrella- like top with 21 — 23-foliolate leaves, 6 — 8 in. long, coriaceous leaflets, i — \\ in. long, and terminal large panicles of numerous small brownish apetalous flowers ; along the streams in the littoral, Fishtown, Dink/age, 1709! *Polystemonanthus dinklagei, Harms. : a tree with pinnate 10—14- foliolate leaves, more or less silky below, shining above and up to ij ft. long, stout panicled racemes of very sweet-scented white flowers, almost 2 in. across, with 4 silky brown sepals and 5 clawed petals and very numerous stamens, the buds enclosed in large thick subpcrsistent bracteoles ; banks of the St. John's River near Grand Basa, Dinkltige, 1700! *Jffacrolobium obliquum, Stapf: a shrub with pinnate 14-foliolate 599 Liberia * oblique lanceolate leaflets up to 6 in. by 2\ in., and sparingly branched rusty hairy panicles of involucrate flowers with a large 2-lobed standard, whilst the other petals resemble the small linear sepals, the involucre formed of 2 bracteoles, \ in. long; Sino Basin, WJiytc\ M. palisoti, Kcnth. : similar to the preceding species, but with 4—8- foliolate leaves, silver)- silk}' beneath, and smaller flowers, the bracts of the involucre V — J in. long; Kakatown, Whyte\ *Loesenera kalantha, Harms : a tall shrub with coriaceous glabrous 6— 8-loliolate leaves, terminal racemes of pinkish flowers with pals and 3 larger \ in. long) and 2 very small petals, and bniwn woody pods up to 6 in. by 3 in. ; in moist bush, Grand Basa, ninklase, 1805 ! Berlinia acuminata, Hook. f. : a tree with large 6 — 12-foliolate coria- ceous leaves, terminal racemes or corymbs of white flowers with the dorsal petal long-clawed, and much larger (ij — 3 in.) than the others, the buds enclosed in a pair of large bracteoles, and with flat 'pods, J — i ft. by 2 in.; Monrovia, Whyte\\ Grand Basi, , \nscll \ *Didclotia engleri, Dinkl. and Harms. : a shrub or small tree with 10 — i4-foliolate coriaceous leaves, 3 in. long, and narrow droop- ing panicles (up to 10. in. long) of small crimson apetalous flowers ; in humid woods of the littoral, Fishtown, Dinklage, 2033 ' *Copaifera dinklagei, Harms. : a glabrous shrub with simple long- acuminate leaves and panicled spikes of small whitish apetalous flowers with 4 sepals and 8 stamens; banks of the Biso River near Grand Basa, Dink/age, 1695 ! — A species allied to C. tiinklagci furnislu -s the Sierra Leone "copal," an elastic white ;, much used in the manufacture of varnishes. Cynometra afzelii, rY/V-. : a shrub with slender branches and 2 — 4- foliolate leaves (the lower pair of leaflets being much smaller than the upper, if at all present) and with small racemes of white fl. pportcd by petaloid white bracteoles, £— 1 in. .If)iirovia, \\'liytc\ *Monopetalanthus pteridophyllum, f farms. : a tree with coriaceous ••f 17 — 20 pairs of asymmetric rectangular up to i in. long, and short axillary racemes of white in. long; banks of St. John's River ne I '/>//• /r/ The Liberian Flora Dichrostachys platycarpa, l/VAv. : a small acacia-like tree with straight spines, £ — ij in. long, bipinnatc leaves Ir.iik-is | -J in. long), dense first yellow then purple axillary spikes, i- i .', in. long, and coriaceous curled or wavy pods, J — J in. wide ; Kakatown, Wkyte\ Mimosa pudica, L. ; a weed, the well-known " Sensitive Plant " of Tropical America; Monrovia, \\'liytc\ *M. dinklagei, Harms. : a shrub or small tree with an umbrella-like top, bearing bipinnate leaves (with 25 — 35 pairs of pinna,', each pinna with JO 30 pairs of oblique linear leaflets, y1., — J in. long), and small solitary or paired axillary heads of white flowers ; in dry woods of the littoral, Grand Basa, Dinklage, 1827 ! Albizzia fastigiata, OH?'. : a shrub or tree with a loose top and pendulous branches, bipinnate leaves of 4 — 7 pinnae, each pinna of 8—15 pairs of oblique leaflets, J — J in. long, and numerous solitary fascicled corymbose heads of fragrant white flowers; Monrovia and Sino Basin, Whyte\ ROSACES Chrysobalanus icaco, L. : a tall shrub, a native of America, with coriaceous very blunt elliptic leaves, small tomentose panicles or cymes of pink flowers and greenish purple plumlike edible fruits, known in its native country as "Icaco" or "Cocoa Plums " ; common by the sea and on the edges of swamps, Grand Basa, Vogel, 108!; Cape Palmas, Vogcl. C. ellipticus, Sol. : a shrub or small tree very like the preceding, but with less blunt often shortly acuminate leaves and white flowers in panicles, which are often deformed and witch-broomlikc ; Grand Basa, Anselll ; Vogel, 91 ! ; Sino Basin, M'liytc ! Parinarium macrophyllum, Lab. : a tomentose shrub or tree with ovate or elliptic leaves, 4 — 8 in. by 2\ — 4 in., and long simple or panicled spikelike racemes of pinkish flowers, and somewhat farinaceous yellowish fruits of the size of a goose-egg ; Monrovia, Whyte \ — The fruits are eaten and known as " Gingerbread Plums." *Acioa dinklagei, Engl. : a tall shrub with drooping branches, coriaceous oblong leaves, and whitish tomentose racemes or panicles of very fragrant flowers, § in. across, with the filaments, 60 1 Liberia <*- which arc 2 in. long, united for two-thirds into a tube, slit on one side ; in the bush of the littoral, Grand Basa, Dijikla^c *A. tenuiflora, Dinkl. and EngL : a tall shrub or slender tree similar to the preceding, but with almost glabrous racemes or panicles of smaller reddish brown (when dry) flowers, r- in. across, and filaments i in. long ; in the bush of the littoral, Fishtown, /V;/XYv/;v. 1675, 1772, 2 1 01 ! *A. whytei, Sfti/>f\ a shrub also similar to A. diuklagei, but with almost glabrous racemes of greenish white flowers, ;] in. across, and filaments \\ in. long; Monrovia and Kakatown, Whyte\ CRASSULACI; i: Bryophyllum calycinum, Salisb. : a succulent herb with a shrubby b.iM', crcnatc leaves, frequently producing young plants from the notches, and green and reddish purple pendulous flowers ; Monrovia, Whytc \ RHIZOPHORACE^: Rhizophora racemosa, (/. 1\ Mcy. : a shrub or small tree with opposite broad lanceolate very coriaceous leaves, dichotomous axillary corymbs of greenish yellow tetramerous flowers with very coriaceous sepals, and ovoid fruits germinating on the tree; it forms the bulk of the Mangrove woods on the banks of the rivers near Grand Basa, Vogel, 113!; Monrovia and Sino Basin, \Vliytc \ — The bark of the Mangroves is used in tanning. "Cassipourea csesia, Xtnpf\ a shrub with very slender branches, remarkably glaucous opposite leaves and little clusters of small flowers having densely woolly petals ; Kakatown, Whyte\ C. parvifolia, .SA//>/~ (syn, Dactylopetalum parvifolium, Scott Elliot} : abrous shrub with small solitary inconspicuous hairy flowers the small petals being in the upper part fringed with filiform in the axils of the opposite coriaceous leaves ; Monrovia, \\'liytc\ COMBRETACE^E Conocarpus erectus, /my/. : a small shrub with lanceolate coriaceous !y angular branches, ami small apctalous flowers bose heads; (iraiul Basa, VogcL The same 602 -* The Liberian Flora species occurs in America, where it is a common constituent of the Mangrove woods in an arborescent form which possesses a hard, dense, and very durable wood. It is there known as " Button Mangrove." Laguncularia racemosa, Gaertn. : a gregariously growing shrub or small tree of the Mangrove woods with fleshy coriaceous opposite elliptic leaves, and ultimately very loose spikes of small in- conspicuous flowers and ribbed i -seeded fruits, j in. long; (iraml Hasa, \'ogel> I IO ! *Combretum calobotrys, Engl. and Diets. : a climbing shrub with more or less opposite glabrous coriaceous leaves and long racemes of deep red flowers with a campanulate receptacle (calyx), 1 in. long; in bush on latcrite, Fishtown, Dinklage, I575J 1862!; Kakatown, Wkyte\ C. fuscum, Planch. : a tall shrub with opposite glabrous coriaceous leaves, drying almost black, and rusty tomentose dense usually panicled spikes of small flowers (receptacle J in. long) and 4-winged fruits ; in the bush of the littoral, Fishtown, Dinklage, 1673 ! ; Ansell\ C. grandiflorum, G. Don. : a climbing shrub with opposite almost glabrous firmly membranous leaves, dense one-sided spikes of handsome flowers with a funnel-shaped receptacle, } — I in. long, and crimson petals and 4-winged fruits ; Monrovia, Vogel\ ; Kakatown, Wtiyte \ ; in the bush of the littoral near Grand Basa, Dink Inge, 1756! ; Cape Pa 1m as, Schoenlein\ C. comosum, Don. : a climbing shrub with thinly coriaceous almost glabrous leaves, usually in whorls of 3, large panicles of crimson flowers with funnel-shaped receptacles, J in long, and 4-winged fruits ; Kakatown, Whyte \ MYRTACE^E Eugenia calycina, Benth. : a shrub with opposite coriaceous leaves and paired or solitary long-pedicelled rather large myrtle-like flowers, i in. across ; Monrovia, Whyte ! ; Grand Basa, Vogelt 85 ! ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ E. callophylloides, DC. : a shrub with downy young twigs, dull green very coriaceous leaves and dense axillary clusters of subsessile small white flowers ; Monrovia, Whyte \ 603 na * *E. whytei, \//v/v/^' : very similar to the preceding species, but the your, g twigs glabrous and the leaves less coriaceous; Monrovia and Sino Basin, \\'hytc ! *E. memecyloides, />Y///7/. : a shrub similar to the preceding species but with simple rod-like stems rising to 4 ft. from the ground ; uul Basa, / 'ogcl, 9 Syzygium rowlandi, Spragnc. (nov. spec.) : a shrub or tree (?) with square slightly winged branchlets ; leaves oblong or obovate acuminate, 3 — 6 in. by ij — 2\ in., dark and shining above, paler and dullish below ; flowers white (?) in a terminal corymb (4 — 5 in. across) of umbel-like cymes of 5 — 9 flowers each ; tube of the receptacle about \ in. long ; calyx lobes unequal, rounded, in. long, ,\, — k in- broad ; petals falling off together in a cap when the flower opens ; Kakatown, WJiyte ! — Vogel's specimen from Grand Basa, mentioned in Flora Nigritiana as Xy'-yginin oicarioisis, Benth., also seems to belong rather to this species than to Syzygiuin oivariensc, Benth. (= Eugenia oi^uricnsis, Bcauv.). A', nwlaudii also occurs in Lagos. Psidium guajava, L. : a shrub or small tree with large fragrant white flowers and pear-shaped or plum-shaped yellowish, greenish or purplish berries, cultivated near Monrovia according to Vogel. — Commonly cultivated on account of the edible fruit, the well- known " Guava " of America, and not rarely naturalised in Africa. Napoleona vogelii, Hook, and Planch : a small glabrous shrubby tree with alternate coriaceous leaves and subsessile flowers having an almost rotate cienate corolla (yellow with a red ring at the ba^e) with a yellow to white corona, consisting of very numerous lineai- segments, and with fruits like a pomegranate ; Cape Talmas, / ",>•;,•/, 45 ! MKLASTOMACK.K Osbeckia tubulosa, .S'///. : a weak annual with 4-angled stems, bristly «'il"' small ultimately distant pink flowers in slender -I spikes, the calyx produced into a long tube covered with stalked stellate bristles; Kakatown, \Vliytc\ *0. liberica, S/,i/ nder coarsely hairy herb with lanceolate y panicles of rose-coloured flowers over jj in. nrovia, Kakatown, and Sino Basin, \\'liytc\ 604 <+> The Liberian Flora Tristemma hirtum, I 'cut. : a hirsute herb or undcrshrub with involu- cratc sessile terminal heads of pink flowers, f in. across, the calyx tube having 3 narrow membranous bristle-fringed super- posed rings ; Kakatown, Wliyte \ *Dissotis paucistellata, Stapf\ a hirsute herb with 5-nerved ovate leaves and involucratc heads of rather large rose-coloured flowers almost 2 in. across ; Monrovia, Kakatown, and Sino Basin, D. rotundifolis, Tn'ana : a slender hairy decumbent herb with membranous leaves, £ — J in. by £ — f in., and shortly peduncled beautiful pink flowers, 2 in. across, at the ends of the branches ; Kakatown, Whytel D. cornifolia, Hook. / : a herb with almost glabrous stems, 5-nerved leaves with closely adpressed hairs and bracteate heads of rose-coloured flowers ; common on marshy ground, Monrovia, Nanmann ; Kakatown, Whyte \ ; Grand Basa, Vogelt 80 ! D. multiflora, Triana : a herb of the aspect of an Osbeckia with a shrubby base, with membranous pale green softly hairy 5-nerved leaves and often large panicles of pale purple flowers with hirsute ovoid receptacles (calyces, at length J in. long) ; common on marshy ground, Monrovia, Nanmann. Memecylon spathandra, Bl. : a shrub up to 12 ft. high having dull coriaceous 3-nerved glabrous leaves, 4 to over 6 in. by 2^—4 in., with panicles or corymbs of small azure-blue flowers and globose berries over J in. in diameter ; in the bush of the littoral, Grand Basa, Dinklage, 1689!; Vogelt 148!; Monrovia and Kakatown, Wliyte \ *M. simii, Stapf \ a shrub with coriaceous leaves up to 5j in. by 2j in., without any distinct side-nerves, and bearing loose axillary clusters of small blue (?) flowers ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ ONAGRACE^E Jussisea villosa, Lam., var. linearis, Oliv. : a herb, hairy in the upper part, with linear leaves, yellow flowers, and slender capsules up to i£ in. by TV in., crowned by the persistent sepals, J in. long ; common in stagnant and running water, Grand Basa, Vogely 5 ! 605 Liberia *- SAMYDACE^E Homalium molle, Sttitf: a shrub with softly downy leaves and more or less drooping panicles of very numerous flowers, the small persistent petals of which form, in the mature state, wings (TV in. long; to the fruits; Sino Basin, Whyte\ PASSIFLORACEJE Passiflora foetida, L. : a herbaceous climber with 3-lobed leaves and white flowers, supported by a much-divided (" mossy ") in- yolucre ; a native of America; Sino Basin, and Kakatown, \Vliy tc\ *Androsiphonia adenostegia, StapJ (Plate 249): a glabrous shrub with chartaccous leaves, rigid terminal panicles of greyish green flowers supported by almost coriaceous bracts, having a large gland (black when dry) on each side of the base ; Monrovia and Kakatown, Whyte\ Smeathmannia laevigata, K. Br. : an erect almost glabrous shrub with gloss}- serrate or slightly wavy leaves and white flowers, over i in. across, mostly on the underside of the spreading branches, and with red crustaceous ovoid or globose fruits, I in. long ; Monrovia, ll'/iytc ! S. pubescens, A'. />/-. : similar to the preceding species, but much more hairy and with larger flowers (2 in. across) and fruits, not exceeding the calyx ; Kakatown, Wliyte \ ; Grand Basa, /, 5«S!; Cape Palmas, Schoenlein\ Barteria nigritiana. I look. /. : a very ornamental shrub or small tree with large coriaceous leaves, 6 — 10 in. by 2 — 3 in., and sessile clusters of white sweet-scented Camellia-like flowers, to over 3 in. across, on the underside of the spreading branches ; //. //. Johnston (from a drawing). *Soyauxia grandifolia, (,'i/^- and Stapf: a shrub with coriaceous linear-oblong leaves, almost I ft by i£ — 3 in., and very dense Ion- velvety spikes of small flowers with very numerous ; (.rand Basa, /)ink/agct 2051!; Sino Basin, Whyte\ *Modecca tenuispira, StnpJ • a dio-cious glabrous climber with long fine tendrils, oblong thin leaves and green tubular flowers Jin. no Basin, \Vhytc \ 606 249. ANDROSIPHONIA ADENOSTEGIA 1. Flowering branch (nat. size). 2. Floral leaf (enlarged). 3. Section of flower (enlarged). 4. Part of corona (enlarged). 5. Staminal tube laid open (enlarged). 6. Section of ovary (enlarged). Liberia * M. lobata, Jiicq. : a tall woody climber with tubercled stems, long tendrils, very polymorphous leaves and green tubular or almost bell-shaped sweet-scented flowers; Monrovia, \Vhylc\\ Grand , / 'r'.jy/, 115! CARICACE^: Carica papaya, L.\ the well-known "Papaw" Tree, a native of America, cultivated near Grand Basa, according to Vogel. CUCURBITACE^E LufFa cylindrica, Rocin. : an almost cosmopolitan trailing or climbing lurb with scabrid 5 — 7-angled or lobed leaves, bright yellow flowers, \\ 3 in. wide, and cylindric gourd-like fruits; Sino n.isin, \\'hytc\ — The young fruits are cooked and eaten, whilst the vascular network of the mature fruit serves as a sponge or scrubbing-brush and the seeds yield oil. Momordica charantia, L. : a prostrate or climbing herb with deeply 5 — /-lobed leaves, yellow flowers and bright yellow ovoid- spindle-shaped fruits with tubercled ridges; Cape Palmas, Sclioculcin ! — Cultivated for the fruits, the " Banyan Gourds "of I1',, ist Africa, which are cooked and eaten. BEGONIACE^ "Begonia whytei, Stapf : a hirsute epiphytic herb with peltate oblique membranous leaves and yellow flowers, over § in. across, and 4-win-ed pyramidal capsules; Sino Basin, Wkyte\ *B. simii, Stnpj \ an epiphytic glabrous herb with a succulent purple htcm, oblique leaves and rose-coloured flowers, over '• >" -'ind 3-winged capsules; Sino Basin and Kakatown, UMBELLIFEILE Hydrocotyle bonariensis, l.am. : a creeping herb with peltate leaves Bfl long petioles and racemes of small white whorlcd flowers, the racemes gathered in umbels ; in marshy ground, 74! ; .h/s?//\ ; Cape Palmas, Vogel, 50! 608 -*> The Liberian Flora CAPRIFOLIACE^ Sambucus canadensis, L. • a shrub, very like the common Elder, with large corymbs of white flowers and deep purple or black berries, a native of the Atlantic coast region of North America, known as " American Elder," introduced in Liberia ; Monrovia and Sino Basin, \\'hylc ! RUBIACE^ Sarcocephalus esculentus, Afs. : a tree or climbing shrub with ellip- tic thinly coriaceous leaves, 2 — 8 in. by I — 4 in. (opposite as in all the Rubiacece enumerated here), white fragrant flowers in globose heads, 2 in. across, and deep red fruit-heads of the size of a man's fist ; abundant near Monrovia, according to Vogel. — The fruit is edible and known in Liberia as " Country Fig " or " Country Peach." Uncaria africana, G. Don. : an almost glabrous shrub climbing by means of axillary spincscent hooks with dense globose heads of yellowish outside silky tubular flowers, and long-pedicelled spindle-shaped capsules and winged seeds, fruit-heads 3 in. across ; Kakatown, Wkyte ! Virecta multiflora, Sm. : a spreadingly hairy annual with much-con- tracted leaf-supported corymbs or clusters of slender white funnel-shaped flowers, \ in. long, the branches of the corymb ultimately lengthening with the small subsessile capsules on the inner side ; Kakatown, WJiyte \ V. procumbens, Sui. : similar to the preceding, but more or less pro- cumbent, less conspicuously hairy, with very scanty and per- manently contracted clusters of hairy flowers, ^ in. long ; Kakatown, Whyte \ Otomeria guineensis, Benth.\ a herb, 1—2 feet high, hirsute in the upper part with ovate leaves and tubular white flowers, under \ in. long, in ultimately long loose spikes with one sepal foliaceous and larger than the rest ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 39 ! ; Ansell\ ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ Oldenlandia peltospermum, Hiern : a glabrous climbing shrub with ovate-lanceolate acuminate papery leaves, 2 — 4 in. by I — if in., panicles of distant very slender and loose spikes of pale blue flowers, ^ — J in. long, and globose capsules ; Kakatown, Wkyte \ VOL. n 609 7 Liberia *- 0. heynei, (V/r. : a slender much-branched weed with linear leaves and numerous small white mostly axillary flowers on capillary pcdi [ in. long ; Monrovia, \Vhyte\ 0. lancifolia, Sc/ncciiif. : a glabrous straggling annual with distant pairs of linear to lanceolate leaves, solitary or fascicled small white flowers and fine pedicels, i — I in. long; Kakatown, //'//I'/*'! *0. caespitosa, ///<•/•//. : a small prostrate herb with linear-oblong leaves and minute white axillary flowers on short pedicels, £ — J in. long; Cape Talmas, I'o^r/, 51! Mussaenda conopharyngiifolia, Stapf: a shrub or small tree (?) with large elliptic leaves, over 6 in. by 3^ in , and hirsute corymbs -lender orange-coloured flowers (i in. long), with a few sepals in each corymb much enlarged, leaflike and white; Sino l'.,i-in, \Vliytc. M. macrosepala, SfaJ>f: a rather hairy shrub or small tree (?) with many-nerved leaves, 4 in. by 2 in., densely hirsute cymes of orange-coloured tomentose flowers, over I in. long and the limb i in. across, with all the sepals lanceolate and I in. long ; Kakatown and Sino Basin, Whyte\ Urophyllum hirtellum, Bcnth. : a more or less hairy shrub or small with many-nerved papery leaves, 4—11 in. by j£ — 4 in., axillary corymbs of small greenish flowers and globose berries ; Sino Basin, \\'liytc \ Sabicea discolor, Staff: a climbing shrub with ovate leaves, softly j ish tomentose beneath, on petioles not much over i- in. long, and >hort hirsute panicles of numerous pink tubular flowers, almost \ in. long; Sino Basin, \Vhyte\ *S. loxothyrsus, A'. Scliuin. and DinkL : very similar to the prc- ling but with longer petioles (i — ij in.) and whitish flowers and berries; in bush near Grand Hasfi, Ditikla^c, 1903! *S. lasiocalyx, Staff: a climbing shrub with many-nerved leaves, S in. by jJ, 4 in., and cinnamon-coloured beneath, and long- um led involucratc globose very hirsute flower-heads, at th 2 in. across ; Monrovia, Kakatown, and Sino Basin, Whyte\ Heinsia jasminiflora, DC. : a shrub or small tree with glossy papery Ian to elliptic leaves, slender erect branches and small fra ;..:, flowers, i in. across, pure white and ycllow- 610 Siberian Flora centred, and with dry red (?) berries ; Monrovia, Kakatovvn, and Sinn Basin, \Vhytc\\ C'apc I'almas, Schocnlcin ! Called "Hush Apple " in Sierra 1 .rone. Bertiera glabrata, K. Si-hum. \ a glabrous lar-e-leaved climbing shrub with terminal spike-like pendulous panicles of rctl« tubular (lowers, '\ in. long ; Kakatown and Sino Basin, //"////«• ! B. africana, Rich.: a softly hairy shrub or tree with shortly petioled • A ate-oblong acute membranous leaves, 6 — panicles (6 in. long) of white (?) flowers, £ in. long, and many-seeded berries, !_ in. aer Kakatown, \\'hyte\ *Webera gracilis, Stapf: a shrub with slender branches, thin acu- minate leaves, 2\ — 4 in. by ij — if in., and corymbs of numerous white (?) flowers, almost i in. long ; Kakatown, Sino Basin, Wkytc\ Randia acuminata, I>cnfh. : a glabrous shrub or small tree with slender branches, papery lanceolate or obovate-lanceolote leaves, 4 — 12 in. by 2 — 4 in., and small axillary more or less pendulous panicles of deep pink or crimson flowers, not quite I in. long, and large ovoid channelled berries (up to 4 in. long) ; Kakatown and Sino Ba>in, \Vhytc ! R. maculata, DC. : an elegant little tree with glossy coriaceous leaves and fragrant slender tubular white flowers, over 6 in. long, tube £ in. wide, throat funnel-shaped, to f in. across ; Kakatown, Whyte\ R. malleiflora, Jliern : a shrub or small tree with large very fragrant brownish white flowers (tube velvety, up to 5 in long, and almost i in. wide, throat 2 — 3 in. wide, bell-shaped), the style club- shaped and long exserted ; Kakatown, Whyte \ ; 70 miles up the St. Paul's River, Reynolds \\ Sino Basin, \\'hytc\ Amaralia calycina, K. Schiun. : a climbing shrub with papery lanceo- late to elliptic leaves, and axillary usually paired violet bell- shaped flowers, I \ in. long and with large foliaceous sepals ; Monrovia and Sino Basin, Whyte\ Oxyanthus formosus, Hook. f. : a glabrous weak shrub with oblong papery leaves, 8 — 11 in., by 3 — 4 in., and racemes or panicles of very long and slender white flowers (corolla tube over 6 in. long and £ in. in diameter) ; Cape Palmas, Vogely 27 ! *0. tenuis, Stapf: similar to the preceding species, but with few- 6xi Liberia « flowered cynics and somewhat smaller and still slenderer flowers ; Sinn Basin, \Vliytc \ Tricalysia coriacea, Hicnt : a shrub with coriaceous elliptic or oblong leaves, sessile axillary clusters of white inside woolly flowers, •!g, and i — 3-secdcd berries ; common near Grand Basa, .,•/, [12! T. biafrana, Hiern : a small glabrous tree with ovate-lanceolate to oblong leaves, 4— 6 in. by I ?,— 2 in., and dense subsessile axillary clusters of white flowers, £ in. long, a villous corolla-mouth and i-xscrtcd stamens; Kakatown, Whyte\ Vanguiera euonymoides, Sr/nccinf. ex Hiern (?) : a shrub or small tree with very slender branches, papery leaves, i-i- — 2 in. by f — I in., and small greenish flowers, borne on pedicels \ in. long and having their corolla lobes tightly reflexed ; in bush, Grand Basa, Diuklrtgc, 2035 ! — I give here the Berlin determination, but am rather doubtful as to its correctness. Cuviera acutiflora, DC. : a shrub with stout coriaceous oblong leaves and greenish white flowers scarcely i- in. long in numerous loose panicles, distinguished by the great similarity of the linear- lanceolate sepals and bracts, -J — ^ in. long; Monrovia, }\rhytc\ ; Grand Basa, Vogel> 72 ! 82! Craterispermum laurinum, Be nth. : a glabrous shrub or tree with yellowish green coriaceous leaves and peduncled axillary clusters of funnel-shaped white flowers, £ in long ; Monrovia and Kaka- town, \\'hytc\ — The bark yields a yellow dye. Ixora radiata, 1 Hern : a glabrous large shrub with sessile lanceolate to elliptic coriaceous leaves and handsome bunches of slender ured or white flowers, the tube up to 2|in., the lobes ] in. long; Liberia, Milieu, 196! I. laxiflora, Sin. : a glabrous shrub or small tree with lanceolate or <>bl iceous shortly pctiolcd leaves, lax often nodding nibs of slender fragrant white rose-tipped flowers, over i in. Ion;-, and ml berries; Monrovia, \\'Jiytc\; Grand Basa, \'ogcl, ape 1 'almas, / ;#,»/, 6 ! 61 \\Anscll\\ Schoenlcin ; Sinn •in. \\hytc! •I. congesta, Staff: a glabrous shrub with long acuminate leaves, i ft. by j .\ in., and very dense long-pedunclcd corymbs of rs, in bud ii}) to i in. long; Sino Basin, Whyte\ *I. atratn -.hrub with slender divaricate branches, con- 612 -•> Tin- LiU-riaii HMIM spicuously veined lance- .late leave-, which turn blwMi black in drying, and loose trichot< >m<>us c\ im -s M|" white ? tl- • (corolla tube 3 lines, lobes 4 lines long ; Monrovia, //"//: Coffea liberica. A'//// ex Ilicrn: the "Liberia Coffee," similar to the common Coffee, but taller (to over 2O ft. high) with 1 leaves and !ar-rr black berries . ,f the si/e of a chcfiy J in nous around Monrovia according to Vogel, cultivated at Cape 1 'almas, / ',^v/, 63 ! C. nudiflora, .S'A///': a deciduous shrub with whitish or i;re\Ni branches, axillary solitary or paired white flowers, in the mature bud £ in. long, produced before the leaves, and red bcrrie^ : Monrovia and Sinn Basin, \\'hytc\ C. ligustrifolia, Staff: an evergreen shrub with divaricate rigid branches, lanceolate leaves, 3j — 5 in. by ii — 2 in., and axillary solitary or paired white flowers, in the mature bud I in. long ; Kakatown and Sino Basin, Whyte\ Rutidea parviflora, DC. : a very hairy climber with papery or membranous leaves, clusters of white flowers (J in. long) usually arranged in slender drooping panicles, and yellow berries ; Monrovia, Kakatown, and Sino Basin, Whyte \ ; Cape Palmas, / 'ogel, 26 ! 39 ! R. smithii, Ilicm : a more or less pubescent shrub with obovatc mem- branous leaves, 3 — 4 in. by i£ — 2 in., and pyramidal often dense panicles of whitish flowers with re flexed corolla lobes and ex- serted anthers; Kakatown, \VJiy tc\ Morinda longiflora, G. Don. : a glabrous rambling or scandent shrub with slender branches, coriaceous lanceolate to elliptic acuminate leaves, freely flowering, with heads of fragrant tubular white- flowers, 2 in. long, and deep orange-coloured berry-heads, with the berries connate ; Monrovia, Whyte \ Psychotria calva, Ilicm : a glabrous shrub with pale green papery lanceolate to oblong leaves, panicles or corymbs of small white (lowers, J in. long, and red berries ; Sino Basin, \Vhytc ! P. bidentata, I Hern : a glabrous shrub with thinly coriaceous lan- ceolate to elliptic leaves, drooping panicles, made up of a few dense clusters of more or less sessile white flowers, ] in. long, and with whitish berries ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 40 ! P. vogeliana, Benth. : a shrub with membranous elliptic-lanceolate acute many-nerved leaves, 3—8 in. by ii — 3 in., and peduncled 613 Liberia <•- small clusters of white flowers and whitish berries, the rymbs and all young parts rusty hairy ; Kakatown, Whyte\ Grumilea micrantha, Ilicrn : a glabrous shrub with light green foliage and slender drooping panicles of distinctly pedicelled very small white flowers, ,'. i in. long ; Monrovia and Sino Basin, \\Thytc\ Chasalia laxiflora, /•'<•///// : a glabrous climbing shrub with papery long acuminate leaves and terminal corymbs of waxy tubular orange and crimson flowers, about J in. long; Monrovia, \\'liytc\\ (irand Basa, Anscll\\ Sino Basin, Whyte\ Cephaelis peduncularis, Salisb. : a glabrous shrub or undcrshrub with prostrate stems, papery many-nerved leaves, 3 — 9 in. by iJ, — 3! in., compact involucrate long-peduncled heads of small white (lowers and yellow berries ; Monrovia, Kakatown, and Sino Basin, \\'hyte\; Cape Palmas, Vo^cl, 9! 40! 62! Lasianthus batangensis, var. longipetiolata, K. Schuui. : a shrub with quadrangular branches and axillary solitary small sessile flowers and blue (?) berries; in bush, Fishtown, Diuklage, 1750. Diodia breviseta, Kenfh. : a rambling shrub with quadrangular branches, rough membranous very obliquely nerved leaves and -ile axillary clusters of white flowers (| in. long) and with pals; Monrovia, Whyte\\ Grand Rasa, \Togc!, 84! D. vaginalis, In-ntJi. : a succulent trailing or rambling herb with .vdcd narrow acute leaves and axillary white flowers (.', in. long with 6 sepals and cxscrtcd from the cuff-like fusions of the leaf-bases and stipules; Grand Basa, 1'ogi'/, 68! D. rubricosa, I licru : a trailing herb with rough elliptic fleshy us leaves and axillary white flowers, similar to those of the preceding species, but smaller and with 2 sepals ; Sino Basin, \VIivtc\ Spermacoce globosa, Sc/i/nn. and Thotm, : a glabrous herb or shrublct with lanceolate linear-oblong membranous leaves and solitary superimpi-cd globose- compact heads of minute white flowers; Miion in sandy plain.s, Monrovia and Kakatown, //7/r/V!; '•/, 37!; Sino Basin, //7/vA1! COMPOSIT i Ageratum conyzoides, I.. -. a herbaceous weed with opposite ovate • uid dense terminal corymbs of violet flowcr- 614 <+> Tin- LiU-nan Flora lu-ii Is, \ in. in diameter, with a bristly pappus ; Monrovia and Kakat«.wn. l/7/r/V! Mikania scandens, //*///ng, with white pappus bristles; Kakatown, \\'hytc\ Sclerocarpus africanus, /i/c ilarged). 4. Anther (enlarged). Liberia * \Vhyte collected ;i very similar plant in the sterile state near Sin.., and made sketches of two others which are either identical with or very closely allied to C. incinbraiiacea, at Batombatown. ( )f the latter two he states that the latex is used by the rubber- collectors. C. spec, (i): a glabrous climber allied to Clitandra bartcri, Stapf, with long slender tendrils, leaves more or less oblong, abruptly acuminate, 3 — 4i in. by i-J — 2 in., coriaceous, dark above, yellowish (in the dry state) beneath, with very numerous (8 — 9 to an inch; much-spreading side-nerves and short petioles ; fruits, according to a drawing by Whyte, ovoid-oblong, narrowed at the top, dull yellow with whitish stripes, 3 in. by \\ in. : Sino, \\'liytc, 4 ! — This species is also tapped by the rubber-collectors. C. spec. (2) ; similar to the preceding species but the leaves more rounded at the base, 4 — 6 in. by 2 — 3 in., with more distant side-nerves and, according to a drawing by Sim, globose dark yellow fruits, about 4 in. in diameter, and marked with very irregular winding grooves ; Greenville, Sim, 14 ! *Carpodinus oocarpa, Sfapf (Plate 253) : a climber with flagelliform tendrils; branches softly downy when young; leaves elliptic or oblong, acuminate, minutely cordate at the base, 2-J — 5 in. by i | 2 in., coriaceous, hairy on the midrib below, with 4 — 6 side- ncrvrs connected by bold arches towards the margins and with very short petioles ; flowers in small sessile axillary clusters, slender (corolla tube over J in. long, lobes of the same length) ; fruit, according to a drawing by Whyte, egg-shaped to almost globose, with or without a distinct point, yellow, 2— 2j- in. long ; Muiphytown and Kakatown, Whyte\\ Greenville, Sim, 7! Stated by Whyte to yield good rubber. — It is very similar to ( 'arpodinus dnlcis, Sabinc, the " Sweet Pishamin " of Sierra «e, a species with edible fruits and a sticky latex, which is 1 as bird-lime according to Scott Elliot. C. hirsuta, // a tall, robust climber with scanty tendrils and rather stout densely hirsute branches, the spreading hairs being violet when fresh ; leaves oblong shortly acuminate, subtruncatc or aim- >te at the base, 3 — 4} in. by ii — 2 in., or in barren shoots 7 in. by 3^- in., papery, hirsute on the nerves >W, with 6— X oblique curved side-nerves and petioles not (juite } in. long ; flowers in compact sessile axillary clusters, 620 252. CLITANDKA MKMHKANACEA 1. Flowering branch (nat. size). 2. Branch with tendril (nat. size). 3. Flower, just opening (enlarged). 4. Section of calyx and pistil (enlarged). 5. Section of corolla (enlarged). 0. Anther (enlarged). Liberia *-• densely hairy, small icorolla tube £ in. long, lobes of the same length ; fruit globose, smooth, resembling an orange, 2 — 3.) in. in diameter ; Greenville, Sim, 35! — The yellow pulp of the fruit is edible. Sim's specimen consists of barren branches only, anil the determination is therefore not quite certain. A very .similar if not identical lianc occurs on the Gold Coast and in Lagos. It is the " I bo Tree " of Moloney, a name which -enns to be applied to several rubber vines in Upper Guinea. C. spec, (i) : a climber very similar to C. oocarpa, Stapf, but with more distinctly cordate thinner leaves and oblong-cylindrical fruits, 3 in. long and \\ in. in diameter; Sino Basin, Whyte, 319!; (ireenville, Sim, 27! — In the Flora of Tropical Africa, vol. iv. p. 5<>S, I identified it with C. oocarpa, but I am now rather inclined to consider it as distinct. The material at my disposal is, however, too meagre to give a complete technical description. C. spec. \2] : a glabrous climber with slender very rough (from corky warts , branches ; leaves oblong, acuminate, acute or rarely obtuse at the base, thinly coriaceous, 2\ — 6 in. by \\ — 2j in. long, rather pale given, with 7 — 9 straight slightly oblique side-nerves on each side, which are connected by distinct arches towards the margins, finer veins very obscure, petiole J — J- in. long ; flowers unknown, fruits cylindric, 3 — 4^ by f in., yellow with reddish brown rough irregular warts ; Murphytown and Kaka- town, \Vliytc\\ Sino River, \\-7iyte, f (r\ov . spec.) : a glabrous shrub with slender branches ; leaves elliptic, shortly acuminate, sub-obtuse at the base, 4 — 5 in. by 2 — 2| in., coriaceous, pale green, with 7—8 slender oblique side-nerves and faint loose veins and a petiole \ in. long ; flowers in terminal and axillary subsessile small dense clusters, shortly pedicelled ; sepals coriaceous with membranous tips, coated with resin within, rounded, very small ; corolla over i in. long, tube somewhat longer than the narrow lobes ; anthers just above the middle of the tube ; ovary 2-carpellary glabrous with 4 ovules in two rows in each carpel ; fruit, according to a drawing by Sim, consisting of 2 divaricate oblong yellow follicles produced into long slender beaks, 2\ by f in.; Sino District, Siw, 16!— Sim states that it yields good rubber. It has quite the habitus of a Polyadoa, but differs in the small number of ovules from the other species of that genus. As, moreover, the fruit of Polyadoa is unknown, the generic position of the plant is somewhat doubtful. No species of I'olyadoa and their immediate allies (Pleiocarpa and I hintcria] are known to yield rubber. Rauwolfia cumminsii, Stapf: a glabrous shrub with slender quad- rangular branches, membranous leaves in whorls of 3 — 4, small Powers ("not quite \ in. long) in lax umbel-like glabrous in- florescences, and small red single or paired compressed drupes ; Sino Basin, \\'liytc ! *R. liberiensis, Stapf (Tlatc 254; : a glabrous shrub with terete branches, membranous leaves in whorls of 4, small flowers (about J in. long; in lax umbel-like glabrous inflorescences ; fruit unknown; Sino Basin, \\'hytc\ R. vomitoria, Afe. (syn. 1\. sencgambiaj, DC.): a glabrous shrub or small tree with quadrangular branches, membranous leaves in whorls of 3 — 4, small white flowers (about \ in. long) in umbel-like much-branched finely downy inflorescences and 624 254. RAUWOLFIA LIBERIENSIS I. Flowering branch (nat. size). 2. Flower (enlarged). 3. Calyx and pistil (enlarged). 4. Section of corolla (enlarged). VOL. II 8 Liberia <*- with single or paired small red ellipsoid drupes ; Monrovia and Sino Basin, Whytc\\ Greenville, Sim, 5! — The fruits arc a powerful emetic, according to Afzelius. Sim states that the latex yields good rubber ; there is, however, no corroborating evidence, although the species is widely spread throughout. Tropical Africa. Allamanda cathartica, L. : a spreading shrub with showy yellow funnel-shaped flowers, a native of tropical South America, cultivated and occasionally naturalised in Tropical Africa ; Monrovia, Whytc \ Lochnera rosea, Rcichb. : a small undershrub with solitary or paired axillary pretty pink or white flowers and slender spreading follicles, probably a native of the West Indies, now widely naturalised in the tropics, chiefly near the coasts ; Monrovia, Whyte\ Callichilia subsessilis, Staff (syn. Tabernaemontana subsessilis, Benth} : a climbing or erect shrub or small tree with thin leaves and showy snow-white flowers (tube slender, I in. long, lobes broad, over i in. long), and with paired rostrate baccate follicles, about i in. long ; Kakatown, Whyte ! Two of Whyte's sketches, drawn from plants observed at Batombatown, may possibly have to be referred to this species, but the follicles are less distinctly beaked and up to 2^ in. long ; they are described as bright yellow. Whyte states of those plants that they are tapped by the natives for rubber. *C. stenosepala, Staff (Plate 255) : a shrub similar to the preceding but with longer and narrow sepals, to over J, in. long, and with shorter corolla lobes ; Grant's Farm on the Sino River, Whyte\ Gabunia glandulosa, Staff-, a climbing shrub with slender fistular branches, oblong long-acuminate leaves and dense corymbs of showy fragrant white flowers (tube about 2 in. long, oblique long tapering lobes over I in. long); Monrovia and Sino Basin, Whyte\ Conopharyngia longiflora, Staff (syn. Tabernaemontana longi flora, AV;//// , Plate 256): a tree with more or less oblong leaves (4—10 in. by 2 — 5 in. and small clusters of pcdicelled large fragrant white fleshy flowers (calyx £ — \ in., tube 3 — 3^ in., 626 255. CALLICHILIA STENOSEI'AI.A 1. Flowering branch (nat size). 2. Sepal, inner side (enlarged). 3 and 4. Anthers (enlarged). 5. Ovary (enlarged). Liberia *- lobes 2 — 2\ in. long) and paired baccate follicles of the size of a small orange ; Sino Basin, Sim, 6 ! 8 ! C. crassa, Staff (sy/i. Tabernaemontana crassa, Benth.^ Plate 257) : a small tree or shrub with elliptic or oblong leaves (6 — 9 in. by 3 — 4j in.) and 12 — 15-flowered corymbs of shortly pedicelled white fleshy flowers (calyx up to | in. long, corolla tube about I in. long) and paired baccate follicles of the size of a child's head, " the seeds resting in an almost woody pulp " (Vogel) ; (iraiul Basa, I'ogel, 21!; Dink/age, 1434!; Sino Basin, Whytcy 19! — This was credited with yielding part of the rubber of t'ppcr Guinea, but experiments made with a specimen cultivated in Ceylon, under the name of Taberncemontana crassa were unsuccessful. A few other species of Conop^aryngia have also had the reputation of being rubber-producing ; but our actual knowledge on this point is of the slightest, and rather suggests that the rubber derived from them is either useless or only obtainable in small quantities. *Voacanga caudiflora, Stapf ( Plate 258) : a glabrous shrub with slender branches, papery lanceolate leaves, nodding few-flowered in- florescences, tubular calyces, § in. long, and yellow (?) corollas (tube j in. long, lobes tail-like f in. long) ; Kakatown, Whytc\ V. bracteata, var. lanceolata, Stapf \ a shrub similar to the preceding, but with a shorter calyx (£ in. long); Kakatown, Whyte\ and smaller corollas (tube \ in. long, yellow, lobes broad reflexed, violet-brown, J- in. long) ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ Sim ! *Pleioceras whytei, Stapf (Plate 259) : a glabrous shrub with thin ovate to elliptic leaves and many-flowered panicles of rather small flowers with a fringe of more or less thread-like appendages in the throat; near Sino River, \Vhytc Strophanthus gratus, /Branch. (Plate 219): a climbing glabrous shrub often of very considerable dimensions with coriaceous oblong leaves, 3 — 6 in. by 2 — 3 in., terminal few to 12-flowered cymes of handsome funnel-shaped flowers, white or tinged with pink with narrow purple scales in the throat (tube i J- in. long, lobes f- I in. long) and with divaricate follicles, 8J — 15 in. by i-J — 2 in., containing glabrous spindle-shaped seeds bearing a plumose awn, 2 — 3 in. long at one end, the hairs of the plume being turned away from the seed ; Monrovia, Kratisc ; Kakatown, \\'hytc ! --The seeds are the most important source of strophan- 628 256. CONOPHARYNGIA LONG1FLORA 1 Flowering branch (nat. size). 2. Sepal, inner side (enlarged). 3. Anther (enlarged). 4. Pistil (enlarged). 5. Fruit, from tracing (nat. size). Liberia <«- thine, an alkaloid of great medical value. As they are perfectly glabrous hence known in commerce as " Strophanthiis glabre " ur .V. g/abcr), they cannot well be adulterated or confused with the hairy seeds of other species of Strophanthus. S. sarmentosus, A. P. DC, (syn. S. paroissei, Franck.): a tall climbing glabrous deciduous shrub with papery ovate to oblong leaves and small clusters of white long-tailed flowers with pink marks inside and purple scales in the throat (funnel-shaped corolla tube f — i in. long, tailed lobes 2 — 2j in. long) and with horizontally spreading spindle-shaped follicles, 8—12 in. by almost f in., containing brown silky seeds bearing a plumose awn at one end, the awn 2 — 3 in. long ; Monrovia, WJiyte \ Isonema smeathmannii, Roeiu. and ScJiult. : a more or less hairy climb- ing shrub with narrow stiff rusty tomentose panicles of reddish flowers (corolla tube \ in., lobes £ in. long) and spindle-shaped brown velvety follicles, 5 — 6 in. long; Kakatown, \VJiytc\\ Grant's I '"arm by the Si no River, Wliyte \ Funtumia africana, Stapf (syn. Kickxia africana, BentJi., Plate 260) : a tree from 15 to 80 ft. high with oblong-acuminate leaves usually with some minute down in the nerve-axils on the under- side, with dense axillary clusters of white or yellowish waxy flowers (over | — j in. long in the adult bud, with the lobes \ — \ in. long) and spindle-shaped, acutely acuminate divaricate follicles, 8 — 9 in. long, containing numerous plumose seeds resembling those of a Strophautlms, but with the plume of the awn pointing towards the seeds; Sino Basin, Whyte\ Sim, 4! — The rubber obtained from this tree is sticky like bird-lime, and therefore worthless. F. elastica, Stapf (syn. Kickxia. elastica, Preuss, Plate 261): a tree up to 100 ft. high, similar to the preceding species, but dis- tinguishable by the leaves having on the underside minute pits and no down in the nerve-axils, the smaller flowers (up to \ in. long in the adult bud with the lobes up to \ in. long) and the oblong-clavate very obtuse and woody follicles (6 in. long) ; by the Sino River, about 40 miles inland, Sim !— This is one of the most important rubber trees of Africa, concerning which much information can be found in Schlechter's book JfV.v/- Afrikanischc. Kautschuk-Expedition. The name Kickxia is not applicable to this tree and its African congeners, as it has 630 257. CONOPHARYNGIA CRASSA 1. Top of leaf branch nat. size). 2. Inflorescence (nat. size). 3. Calyx and pistil (enlarged). 4. Anther (enlarged) 5. Fruit, from tracing (nat. size). Liberia *- already long been in use for a perfectly distinct Malayan genus of AfoiYlldira'1. *Alafia whytei, Sfa/>f\ a glabrous climbing shrub with rich almost -ilc corymbs of white (?) flowers (corolla tube over £ in. long, lobes almost orbicular, ] in. across) ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ *A. parciflora, Staff (Plate 262) : a glabrous climbing shrub with few-flowered umbel- or raceme-like cymes of yellow (?) flowers with a red centre (corolla tube over \ in. long, narrow lobes over J in. long) ; Greenville, Stm, 25 ! Baissea odorata, A'. Schum. ex Stapf: a climbing shrub with very loose short terminal and axillary panicles of rather small, funnel-shaped flowers (corolla-tube over J in., linear lobes J in. long), probably white and streaked with purple ; Greenville, Sim, 32 ! ASCLEPIADACE^E Periploca nigrescens, Afz. : a slender twining shrub with axillary panicles of reddish black flowers ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ *Tylophora liberica, N. E. Brown : a twiner with glabrous hollow stems and lateral or sub-axillary panicles of small greenish flowers ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ LOGANIACE^E Usteria guineensis, Willd. : an erect or climbing shrub with corymbose copious panicles of fragrant lavender-blue or white flowers having one of the calyx lobes enlarged, foliaceous, and white ; Monrovia and Kakatown, \VJiyte \ ; Cape Palmas, Schoenlein. ^Strychnos dinklagei, Gilg. : a rambling glabrous shrub with 3-nerved coriaceous leaves and copious terminal long-peduncled dense panicles of very small whitish flowers ; in the bush of the littoral, Grand Basa, Dink-lage, 1690! Gaertnera paniculata, Iktith. : a shrub or small tree with large loose terminal panicles of greenish white flowers and small globose fruits; Grand Basa, Vogel, 20! 71 ! HYDROPHYLLACE.i: Hydrolea guineensis, Choisy : a glabrous herb with lanceolate leaves and small axillary racemes of azure-blue flowers with deeply 5-fid corollas ^ in. long; in swamps near Monrovia, \\'hyte\ 632 258. YOACANGA CAUDIFLORA 1. Flowering branch (nat. size)". 2. Leaf (nat. size). 3. Calyx laid open with pistil (enlarged). 4 and 5. Anthers (enlarged). Liberia <*- BORAGINE/K Ehretia cymosa, Sc/iinn. and Thoun. : a glabrous shrub with ovate leaves, copious terminal panicles of white flowers, T\- in. long, with a very short tube and small 4-stoned drupes ; Cape Pal mas, /'<#<•/, 20! Heliotropium indicum, L. : an annual hairy herb with variable leaves, usually 4 in. by 3 in. and small lilac or white flowers in long dense one-sided involute gradually unrolling spikes ; Monrovia, Whyte\ CONVOLVULACE^: Bonamia cymosa, Hallier f. : a twining shrub with densely hairy branches, oblong leaves, glabrous above and brown tomentose beneath, and very dense one-sided narrow short or long panicles of small white Convolvulus-like flowers, § in. long ; Monrovia and Kakatown, Whyte \ Prevostea heudelotii, Hallier f. : a tall glabrous climber with coriaceous leaves, axillary fascicles of bell-shaped white flowers, } — I in. long, on slender pedicels, and winged fruits, the wings formed by the enlarged 2 outer very thin sepals, one cordate-orbicular, 2 in. in diameter, the other much smaller ; Kakatown, Whytc \ (Juamoclit vulgaris, CJioisy : a twining herb with finely pinnatifid leaves and long tubular crimson flowers, over I in. long ; Monrovia, Wliyte \ Ipomcea involucrata, lhauv. : a twining or trailing herb with cordate leaves and small heads of pink Convolvulus-like flowers almost 2 in. long, supported by a pair of large connate bracts ; Monrovia and Kakatown, WJiyte \ ; Cape Palmas, / rogel, 43 ! I. biloba, Forsk. : a trailing plant with a woody stem of sometimes enormous length, 2-lobed somewhat fleshy leaves and large pink or purple Convolvulus-like flowers ; common on the coast, mainly on sand-dunes from Monrovia to Cape Palmas, l'<>£c/, 2$ ! 44! — This is an excellent sand-binder. I. palmata, Forsk. : a long twiner with palmately divided leaves and violet or purple Convolvulus-like flowers, i in. (or more) long ; Monrovia, \Vliy tc\ I. batatas, / V/-. : the well-known " Sweet Potato " or " Batata," a native of South America, cultivated at Grand Basil and Cape Palmas, according to Vo^cl. 634 259. PLEIOCERAS WHYTEI 1. Flowering branch (na.t. size). 2. Flower (enlarged). 3. Calyx and pistil (enlarged). 4. Corolla segment with appendages (enlarged). 5 and 0. Anthers (enlarged). Liberia SOLANACE^: Solanum anomalum, Schuin. and Thonn. : a coarse tomentose herb with prickly stems and leaves, bluish white nodding flowers and red erect berries ; Kakatown, WJiyte \ ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 83 ! ; Grant's Farm by the Sino River, \Vhytc\\ Cape Palmas, Vogel, 13! S. aculeatissimum, facq. : similar to the preceding but less coarse, glabrous or more or less finely setose, prickly all over, including the flowers, with nodding scarlet berries, i in. across ; Kakatown, WhyU\ Capsicum sp. : " Various sorts of Capsicum " are cultivated at Grand Hasa according to Vogel. They belong evidently to C.frutescenst L., an originally American species, which is cultivated in numerous varieties throughout the tropics. The red or yellow fruits, " Chillies," yield the well-known " Cayenne Pepper." SCROPHULARIACE^ Scoparia dulcis, L. : a much-branched somewhat stiff weed, with lanceolate dentate leaves in whorls of 3 and very small white 4-fid flowers solitary or in pairs and on capillary pedicels ; Kakatown, Whyte \ ; Grand Basa, Vogel> 47 ! Lindernia diffusa, Wettst. : a small creeping marsh herb with opposite roundish leaves and small axillary white 2-lipped flowers ; Kakatown, Whyte ! Alectra communis, HcmsL : a species which has long been confused with A. melampyroideSi Benth., from which it differs in having distinctly stalked spreading leaves and bracts longer than the flowers. A coarse herb parasitic on the roots of other plants. Leaves small, opposite or alternate in the inflorescence ; flowers small in crowded spikes ; corolla not much longer than the calyx, yellow, veined with red or brown, shrivelling and twisting soon after expansion and persistent around the ripe seed-vessel ; Kakatown, Whyte \ BIGNONIACE^: Newbouldia laevis, Scon. : a pinnate-leaved shrub or tree with dense Ix.rt panicles of showy pink flowers resembling a Foxglove, 636 260. FUNTUMIA AFRICANA 1. Flowering branch (nat. size). 2. Section of corolla (enlarged). 3. Pistil (enlarged). 4. Fruit, one follicle cut off (nat. size). 5. Fruit (J nat. size). 6. Seed (nat. size). Liberia *- long slender fruits breaking up into 2 linear valves and hyaline-winged seeds ; Monrovia, \Vhy(c\ PKDALIACK.K Sesasum indicum, L : a sparingly hairy or almost glabrous herb with long-pctioled (4 — 6 in.) leaves (the lower 3-foliolate, the upper entire, deeply toothed, 3—6 in. by I — 2 in.), axillary pale purplish obliquely campanulate flowers, I in. long, and beaked erect capsules, f — I in. by 3 — 4 in., with smooth seeds; Monrovia, Xaumaun ; Kakatown, \Vhytc\ ; Grand Basa, Vogel\ — The " Scsam " plant, of African or Indian origin, cultivated in most warm countries for the oil which is extracted from its seeds. S. radiatum, Schiun. : similar to the preceding, but of unpleasant odour, more or less glandular-pubescent, with simple leaves, up to 2i- in. by ij- in., on pedicels not over I in. long, and with radially wrinkled seeds ; Kakatown, Whyte \ — Said to be used for similar purposes in Africa, but whether it is actually culti- vated is doubtful. ACANTHACE^E Thunbergia alata, Boj. : a twiner with opposite (as in all other Acanthacete) more or less hastate leaves and solitary flowers supported by a pair of bracts (j — I in. long), with the throat usually claret-coloured and the lobes yellow to white ; Kakatown and Sino Basin, \Vhytc\ Elytraria crenata, \\iJiL: a herb, 2—9 in. high, with the leaves crowded in a rosette and slender rigid spikes of pale blue or white 2-lipped flowers, J — -jj in. long ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 93 ! ; Ansell\ Brillantaisia lamium, Rcnth. : a herb with cordate leaves and lax panicles of rather large blue to violet flowers, resembling those of a Sage; Sino Basin, \\'liytc\ ; Cape Palmas, Auscll\ Endosiphon obliquus, C. />. L 'larkc : a herb with harsh oblique leaves one of each pair much reduced) and axillary spikes of purple or blue flowers, having a slender tube, 2 in. long, a funnel- shaped throat and spreading limb ; Monrovia, Wkyte\ Paulowilhelmia polysperma, />cnt/i. : a shrub with long-pctioled ovate leaves and short loose cymes of purple flowers with a very 638 26l. FUNTUMIA ELASTICA 1. Flowering branch (nat. size). 2. Portion of leaf, showing the pits in the nerve axils (enlarged). 3. Flower (enlaigecr). 4. Section of calyx with pistil (enlarged). 5. Anther (enlarged). 6. Fruit, one follicle (nat. size). 7. Fruit ( J nat. size). I Liberia <•- slender corolla tube (ij in. long) and a one-sided 5-fid limb; Kakatown, Whytc\ — This is, according to Dr. Easmon, used on the Gold Coast for poisoning fish. Whitfieldia subviridis, C. B. Clarke \ a tall shrub with elliptic leaves, up to 10 in. by 4 in. and showy panicles of large white flowers (petaloid calyx I — ij in., corolla tube up to 2 in. long, lobes narrow and long) ; Monrovia, Whyte \ W. lateritia, Hook. : a shrub similar to the preceding, but with terminal downy racemes of red flowers, i in. long ; Kakatown, Whytc ! *W. colorata, C. B Clarke (sp. nov.) : a glabrous shrub with terminal dense, short, very handsome brilliantly coloured panicles (bracteoles : in. long, brick red ; corolla I in. long, paler with purple tips) ; Kakatown, Whyte \ *W. latiflos, C. B. Clarke (sp. nov.) : a glabrous shrub with terminal dense spikelike one-sided panicles of red (or purple ?) flowers ; Kakatown, Whytc \ *Lankasteria brevior, C. B. Clarke : a herb with small spikes of pure white flowers (slender tube, § in. long, lobes 5, almost equal, oblique) supported by rigid glossy bracts ; Monrovia and Kakatown, Whyte \ Phaylopsis falcisepala, C. B. Clarke \ a decumbent or sub-erect shrublet with the leaves of each pair more or less unequal and dense cylinclric or ovoid spikes of white or purplish corollas, £ in. long. 2-lipped with 5 almost equal lobes ; Kakatown, Whytc \ Acanthus montanus, T. Anders. : a small shrub with pinnately lobed leaves with spinous teeth, spinous bracts, bracteoles, and calyx segments and dense glabrous spikes of pink I -lipped flowers, almost 2 in. long ; Kakatown, Whytc \ *Sclerochiton vogelii, I<\ And. : a small undcrshrub with entire elliptic leaves and terminal clusters of white flowers with rigid bracts, sepals drawn out into long fine points and over I in. long and dorsally split corollas with the 5 lobes on one side, the whole corolla i£ in. long ; Cape Palmas, Vogel, 54 ! ; Anscll\ Asystasia coromandeliana, Nees. : a herb with ovate entire leaves, 3 in. by i in., and one-sided racemes (often gathered in panicles) of white, creamy or purplish flowers with a tube J- in. long, an inflated throat and a 5-fid hardly 2-lipped limb ; Monrovia, Whytc \\ Kakatown, \\7iytc\\ Grand Basa, ]'<>£<'/, 87 !; Cape Palmas, Vogel, 56 ! 640 262. ALAFIA PARCIFLORA 1. Flowering branch (nat. size). 2. Calyx and pistil (enlarged). 3. Section of corolla (enlarged). 4. Anther (enlarged\ VOL. II 9 Liberia * A. scandens, Hook. : a straggling shrub with leaves up to 7 in. by 3 in. and terminal compound glandular inflorescences of pale mauve or white rather small flowers, with a tube £ in. long and much inflated in the upper part ; Kakatown, \Vhytc ! A. vogeliana, ttcnth. : a straggling undershrub with leaves up to J\ in. by 2.! in., and terminal compound loose inflorescences of pale purple or white flowers with a long (2 in.) slender corolla tube ; Kakatown, Whyte ! Justicia galeopsis, T. A niters, ex C. B. Clarke: a straggling herb with distant leaves, up to 3^ in. by | — I in., and small purple or yellow 2-lipped flowers, over -A- in. in length, solitary or 2 — 3 in the leaf axils ; Monrovia and Kakatown, WJiyte ! J. laxa, T. Anders.-, a herb or undershrub greyish tomentose in the young parts, with leaves 9 in. by 4 in. and large loose spreading panicles of greenish 2-lipped flowers, \ — f in. long ; Monrovia, \Vhytc\\ Kakatown, Wliyte\ J. anselliana, T. Anders. : a nearly glabrous herb with distant narrow leaves and small (] in.) white flowers in 2 — 8-flowered cymes; Cape Palmas, Ansell\ Rhinacanthus communis, Nees. : a rambling herb with loosely ovate to lanceolate leaves and panicled clusters of slender white 2-lippcd flowers, about i in. long, the upper lip linear, the lower broad 3-lobed ; Kakatown, WJiyte\ VERBENACE^E Stachytarpheta indica, Wahl. : a herb, 2 — 3 ft. high, with opposite, elliptic to spatulate crenate glabrous leaves and long, rigid, slender dense spikes of small blue or white flowers, seated in small excavations of the rhachis ; corolla with a slender tube and an oblique 5-lobed limb. — A decoction of the leaves is used by the natives as a purgative or febrifuge ; common in the coast-region, //. //. Johnston \ This is widely spread throughout the tropics of the Old World and is more or less a weed. Lantana camara, I.. : a shrubby weed with globose heads of small flowers, the outer red, the inner yellowish to white, a native of Tropical America, elsewhere naturalised and occasionally a very troublesome weed ; Monrovia, Whyte \ 642 -* TheJLiberjan Flora Premna hispida, />>/////. : a hairy shrub or tree with opposite oblong leaves and short, dense, very hairy corymbs of white flowers with a tube J in. long and a 2-lippcd limb ; Monrovia, Kakatown, and Sino Basin, WIiyte\ Clerodendron splendens, G. Don. : a small tree or shrub (sometimes climbing) with opposite oblong leaves and ample handsome corymbs of red flowers with a tube J — i in. long, and 5 lobes £ — \ in. long, and long exserted stamens ; Monrovia and Kakatown, Whyte \ C. scandens, ttcanv. : a rambling finely downy shrub with opposite cordate-ovate leaves and ample loose panicles of pretty white flowers (i in. long) with a red centre and long exserted stamens, and with deep black-green drupes supported by the ultimately red calyx ; Monrovia, Kakatown, and Sino Basin, Whyte \ ; Cape Palmas, Vogel, 53 ! Vitex grandifolia, Gilrke : a small glabrous tree with digitate leaves, corymbs of yellowish flowers up to J in. long, and fruits re- sembling small plums ; Sino Basin, Wkyte \ — The fruits are eatable and, according to Millen, used for making a kind of rum. Avicennia africana, Beauv.: a tree, 12—40 ft. high, with lanceolate leaves, tomentose beneath, and small white flowers in globose heads, arranged in panicled spikes ; a frequent constituent of the Mangrove woods, Grand Basa, Vogel ; Sino River, Wkyte !— The compact fibrous wood is said to be very useful for shipbuilding. LABIATE Ocimum viride, Willd.: a strong-scented herb, up to 5 ft. high, with (as in all the following Labiatce) opposite elliptic-lanceolate acuminate long petioled leaves and slender often panicled racemes of small white 2-lipped flowers having a calyx with a very broad upper and 4 smaller pungent lateral and lower teeth ; Kakatown, Whyte ! — Known as " Fever Bush " or " Tea Bush " and used in fever to promote perspiration. Solenostemon ocymoides, ScJuun. and Thorn. \ an annual herb with nettle-like leaves and long spike-like racemes of subverticil- late 2-lipped lilac flowers, \ in. long ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 44 ! ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ Hyptis brevipes, Pott. : a coarse straggling more or less glabrous 643 Liberia *> annual with numerous usually short-peduncled axillary globose very compact heads of small whitish flowers, the calyx -J in. long with spinescent teeth; Kakatovvn, Whytc \ H. atrorubens, Poit. : a procumbent or ascending pubescent weed with pcduncled globose heads of small whitish 2-lipped flowers, the calyx J- in. long with bristle-like teeth ; Kakatown, \\'Jiytc\ H. suaveolens, Poit. : a much-branched and strong-scented annual with few-flowered axillary peduncled cymes of small whitish 2-lipped flowers, J in. long, a native of Tropical America, naturalised in many parts of the Old World ; Monrovia, Whyte\ Leonotis pallida, Betith : an annual hairy herb with ovate, crenate leaves and dense globular axillary whorls of pale yellow tomentosc flowers, I in. long, with spinescent bracts and calyx teeth ; Cape Palmas, Vogel, 36 ! L. nepetaefolium, R. Br. : a coarse pubescent weed with 2 — 4 distant very dense globular whorls of scarlet or orange-coloured flowers (of the shape of those of a dead-nettle) and spinescent calyx teeth ; Kakatown, Wliyte \ AMARANTACE^; Celosia laxa, Sebum : a climbing herb with compact compound spikes of greenish white scarious flowers ; Monrovia, Whyte ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 82 ! Amarantus spinosa, L. : a spiny much-branched weed with panicles of long flexuous continuous or interrupted spikes of clustered small green flowers ; Kakatown, Whyte ! Cyathula prostrata, />/. : a weed with stems ascending to i — 3 ft. from a creeping base, opposite leaves and slender spikes of ultimately rcflcxed sessile hook-spined clusters of small greenish flowers ; Kakatown, Whytc ! Alternanthera achyranthoides, J'orsk. ; a decumbent herb with small ilc axillary clusters of minute white scarious flowers ; Cape Pa'mas, Vogel\ POLYGONAC1 I Brunnichia africana, //VAv. : a glabrous shrub, climbing high and far, with bifid terminal tendrils, long very loose racemes of solitary or 644 -+> The Libcrian Flora fascicled small green and red tl. .WITS and ovoid pendulous fruits borne on the lengthened ribbon-like blood-red pedicels, up to 2\ in. by \ in. ; Kakatown, \\'hylc\ ARISTOLOCHIACE I Aristolochia sp. (from drawing by Sir If. II. Johnston and reported by Mr. John Gow). (For Illustration, vide p. 539.) PI PER ACE.*; Heckeria subpeltata, Knntli. : a climber with long-petioled deeply cordate leaves, J ft. by f — I ft, and shortly peduncled umbels of 4 — 7 spikes, 4 in. by £ in. ; Sino Basin, Whvte \ — This is considered by some botanists as identical with the South American Heckeria umbellata, Kunth., which possesses an aromatic root (Radix periparobo or cupeba of commerce) and eatable berries from which an oil similar to anis oil is prepared. MYRISTICACE^E *Pycnanthus dinklagei, Warb. : a dioecious tree, 30 ft. high, with drooping branches, elliptic leaves, short axillary moderately divided rusty downy panicles of very small heads of minute male flowers (female flowers and fruits unknown) ; on laterite in the hinterland of Grand Basa, Dtnklage, 1624! — The seeds of an allied species, P. kombo, Warb. (syn. Myristica kombo, Baill., M. microcephaly Benth.) are said to contain as much as 73 per cent, of fat, and to burn like a candle. They have occasionally been imported into Europe as " African oil seeds." LAURACE^; *Afrodaphne caudata, Stapf (Plate 263): a tree (?) with oblong long- acuminate glabrous coriaceous leaves up to 9 in. long and loose finely downy panicles (to 8 in. long) of inconspicuous turbinate flowers, J in. long ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ *A. euryneura, Stapf \ a tree (?) similar to the preceding species, but with shortly accuminate or aristulate leaves and smaller flowers TV in. long; Sino Basin, Whyte\ 645 Liberia + TIIY.MKL.KACE,*; *0ctolepis decalepis, Gi/g. : a small shrub with usually solitary or paired axillary small white silky flowers and globose berries ; in very shady places in the bush of the littoral, Fishtovvn, D ink/age, 1/41, 1860, 2044! LORANTHACE I Loranthus belvisii, DC. : a shrub, parasitical on trees, with ovate coriaceous leaves and sessile clusters of slender flowers, i in. long, and red with white lines ; common on shrubs and trees near Grand Basa, Dinklage, 1908 ! ; Auscll\ ; Sino Basin, WJiyte\ EUPHORBIACE.K Euphorbia prostrata, Ait. : a small prostrate much-branched annual weed with opposite leaves, J — J in. long and minute solitary or clustered cyathia (" Euphorbia flowers ") ; Grand Basa, Vogel. E. indica, L. : a prostrate or ascending much-branched annual weed with opposite asymmetric leaves, -J- — •§• in. long, terminal and axillary shortly peduncled clusters of very small cyathia and fruits ; Cape Palmas, Ansell\ E. pilulifera, L. : an annual weed very similar to the preceding species but more hairy, with larger leaves and loose inflorescences ; Kakatown, \Vliy tc\ Elaeophorbia drupacea, Staff (syn. Euphorbia drupacca, Sc/ium. and '/'//(um.} : a tree with succulent spinous branches, bearing at their ends tufts of fleshy obovate-cuneate deciduous leaves and umbels of cyathia, and with drupes of the size and shape of an olive ; Grand Basa according to Vogcl.— The new genus El&ophorbia resembles very much certain tree-Euphorbias, but differs from all true Euphorbias in the structure of the fruit, which possesses a fleshy pericarp and a stony endocarp not dehiscing after the manner of Euphorbia capsules and containing I or 2, rarely 3 seeds. All parts of the plant are rich in a very acrid latex, which if brought in contact with the eye is said to cause blindness. 646 263. AFRODAPHNE CAUDA1A 1. Flowering branch (nat. size). 2. Leaf (nat. size). 3. Diagram of flower (enlarged). 4. Perianth laid open (enlarged). 5. Fertile stamen (enlarged). 6. Staminode of the 3rd whorl (enlarged). 7. Staminode of the 4th whorl (enlarged). 8, Ovary (enlarged), Liberia <+- Anthostema senegalense, Jnss. : a tree with coriaceous leaves and dense axillary sessile clusters of small asymmetrical cyathia ; Grand BUSH, Dink/age, 1769! *Cleistanthus liberica, N. E. Brown : a monoecious shrub with coriaceous leaves, ending in a long linear point and incon- spicuous fascicled male flowers in small rusty downy racemes ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ Amanoa bracteosa, Planch. : a monoecious small tree with coriaceous leaves and rigid bracteate dense spikes of clusters of 7 — 9 flowers, of which the central is female, the others male, all with petaloid greenish sepals ; Monrovia, Whyte ! A. strobilacea, Mnll.-Arg. : a tree similar to the preceding, but with the flowers in axillary or terminal sessile heads of the size of a pea or small cherry ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ Phyllanthus floribundus, Miill.-Arg. : a monoecious (like all the following species of that genus) shrub with slender more or less spinous branches, distichous leaves and copious fascicled extremely delicate racemes of minute greenish flowers ; Monrovia, Whyte \ *P. profusus, N. E. Brown : similar to the preceding, but with stouter more rigid racemes of copious fascicles of greyish flowers ; Sino Basin and Kakatown, Whyte \ P. capillaris, Schmn. and Thonn. : a spreading or trailing shrub with very small elliptic leaves and solitary very small flowers, pendulous on long capillary pedicels ; Sino River, Whyte \ P. niruroides, Miill.-Arg.: an undershrub with very small oblong leaves and very shortly pedicelled minute white flowers, all on one side of the branch ; Monrovia and Sino River, Whyte\ Jatropha curcas, L. : a monoecious shrub or tree with more or less lobed leaves and yellowish green flowers in small axillary inflorescences, and with 3-valved capsules ; a native of Tropical America, cultivated at Cape Palmas, according to Vogel. — The seeds, resembling those of Ricinus, but larger, contain an oil which is a strong purgative and emetic (hence the name of the seed "Physic-nut"); it may be also used for lighting and lubricating purposes. *Croton dispar, N. JL /Jnnsn : a monoecious tree with ovate long pctioled leaves and long terminal slender minutely scaly 648 -* The Liberian Flora racemes of small whitish male flowers with villous petals ; Monrovia, \Vltytc ! Manniophyton africanum, Mull.-. //;•;•. : a dioecious climbing shrub with long pctiolcd cordate or deeply lobed leaves and loni; slender sparingly branched panicles (bearing more or less sessile male flowers in small clusters and scattered female flowers on longer pedicels), and with large deeply 2 — 3 lobed rusty tomentose capsules; Grand Basa, Dinklage, 1758! Crotonogyne caterviflora, N. E. Broivn : a dicecious shrub with papery leaves and compact clusters of minute scaly male flowers on the old branches, or in slender scaly very loose spikes ; Sino River, Whyte ! Manihot utilissima, PoJil. : a monoecious shrub with large fascicled roots, digitate leaves, dark green above, very glaucous beneath, and terminal racemes of dull yellow flowers ; the well-known " Bitter Cassava " or " Manioc," a native of America ; cultivated near Grand Basa, Vogel, 63 ! ; Kakatown, Whyte ! — The roots are in the fresh state poisonous on account of the presence of prussic acid, which has to be removed before they are used for food. M. palmata, Miill.-Arg., var. Aipi, Pohl. : very similar to the preceding species but with non-poisonous roots ; the " Sweet Cassava," a native of America, extensively cultivated throughout the tropics ; Grand Basa, according to Vogel. Erythrococca aculeata, Benth. var. acutissima, N. R. Brown : a dicecious thorny shrub with membranous leaves and small clusters of minute male flowers in short delicate racemes and scattered axillary female flowers, and with bright red small capsules ; Sino River, Whyte \ Hasskarlia didymostemon, ttaill. : a dioecious tree, 40 — 80 ft. high, with bright or yellowish green membranous leaves and slender yellow- ish catkins of small male flowers and scattered axillary female flowers ; Monrovia, Whyte \ Claoxylon barter!, Hook f. ; a dioecious shrub or small tree with thin membranous leaves and slender more or less pendulous racemes or clusters of small male flowers and scattered female flowers and with small didymous capsules ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ Alchornea hirtella, Benth. : a dicecious small shrub with lanceolate to elliptic leaves and numerous very slender flexuous spikes, the 649 Liberia <•- male with the small flowers in pinkish clusters, the female with solitary larger floweis having 2 long filiform styles ; Grand Basa, / rogel} 34 ! A. cordata, AY;////. : a dioecious small tree with long petioled ovate leaves and panicled spikes resembling those of the preceding species; Sino Basin, \Vhyte \ — This is the ''Christmas Bush" of Sierra Leone. URTICACE^E Ficus vogelii, Miq. (Plate 264) : a glabrous tree, 20 to 40 ft. high, with shortly ovoid adpressedly hairy terminal buds, large long petioled elliptic or obovate-oblong leaves (6—12 in. by 4 — 6 in.) with 5 — 6 oblique side nerves on each side and close fine reticula- tion, and with brownish receptacles (<( fruits ") £ to almost \ in. in diameter, and usually paired in the leaf axils or in clusters of 4 — 6 below the leafy ends of the branches ; about 70 miles up the St. Paul's River, Reynolds !; Grand Basa, Vogel\\ Sino Basin, Whyte, 19!; Greenville, Sim, 25!; Cape Palmas, Vogel, 47 ! — According to some authorities Ficus vogelii would yield the best Liberian rubber ; but recent investigations seem to show that the rubber derived from this species is of inferior quality, being not very resilient and rather resinous. (See Warburg, Les Plantes a Caoutchouc, pp. 250-53.) F. sp. : very similar to the preceding species with lanceolate conical quite glabrous buds, f in. long, rather abruptly acuminate or acute-oblong leaves having slightly wavy margins and about 10 — 14 side nerves, of which the lowest are very oblique whilst the others spread much; Greenville, Sim, 13! Kuru Country, Sawya's Town, Whyte, 17! — This yields rubber, according to Sim. *F. whytei, Sfa/>f (sp. nov.) : a glabrous large forest tree with reddish branchlets, almost subulate terminal buds (J in. long), very large ovate or elliptic-oblong shortly acuminate leaves with asymmetri- cally cordate bases ( 1 2 — 1 6 in. by 5 i — 7 in.) with short stout petioles, about 13 rather spreading side nerves and a rather conspicuous reticulation similar to that of F. vogelii) and paired receptacles, Whyte \ — This yields abundant rubber, according to Whytc. F. triangularis, Warb. : a tree, sometimes scandent with triangular- 650 264. FICUS VOGELII 1. Leaf-branch, leaves rather smaller than usual (nat. size). 2. Branch with receptacles (nat. size). 3. Male flower (enlarged). 4. Anther (enlarged). 5. Female flower (enlarged). Liberia *- cuneate leaves (ij — 3 in. long, and broad at the top) and pedicelled solitary or paired receptacles ; about 70 miles up the St. Paul's River, Reynolds \ ; Sino Basin, Whyte, 10! ; Green- ville, Sim, 36 ! ; Grant's Farm, Sim, 36 ! F. guineensis, Staff (syn. Sycomorus guincciisis, J/?Vy., exclud. F. Brassii, R. Br.) : a large tree, glabrous with the exception of the youngest parts and stipules, with slender conical terminal buds (under J in. long), firmly herbaceous elliptic coarsely serrate or crenate leaves (4 — 8 in. by 3 — 5 in.) on petioles I — 3 in. long, and globose shortly stalked receptacles, about f in. in diameter; Sino Basin, Whyte, 7!; Greenville, Sim, 19!; Cape Palmas, Vogel, 48 ! — Sim states that very good rubber is produced from this tree. F. barter!, Sprague : a perfectly glabrous shrub or small tree some- times epiphytic, with linear acutely and long acuminate glossy coriaceous leaves (6 — 10 in. by I — 2 in.) and orange-coloured shortly stalked receptacles (not quite £ in. in diameter) ; about 70 miles up the St. Paul's River, Reynolds \ ; Greenvile, Sim ; 10 ! — Produces good rubber, according to Sim. *F. johnstonii, Stapf (spec. nov. — Plate 265) : a perfectly glabrous tree, allied to F. calyptrata, Schum. and Thonn. with short stout terminal buds, stout branchlets, ovate-elliptic subacuminate, at the base almost truncate loosely and finely reticulated leaves (8 in. by 4 in.) having 11 — 13 side nerves (spreading almost at a right angle) and borne on petioles 2 in. long, and with the young greyish velvety receptacles enclosed in pairs in urn-shaped involucres, not quite -J- in. long ; Liberia, without precise locality (communicated by //. //. Johnston \ )— This is also supposed to yield rubber. Myrianthus serratus, Ilcuth. : a cliYccious tree or shrub, often climbing, with oblong or elliptic very sharply and coarsely serrate leaves, silvery beneath, much-divided peduncled small male panicles, the upper divisions of which arc densely covered with confluent masses of small flowers, small shortly peduncled heads of female flowers and fruits resembling a mulberry; Sino Basin, Whyte\ — The fruits are pleasant to eat. Fleurya aestuans, Gaud . : a herb resembling very much a nettle with large greenish panicles ; Sino Basin, Wliyte \ F. podocarpa, Wedd. : a softly hairy herb with nettle-like leaves and 652 265. FICUS JOHNSTONI1 1. Flowering branch (nat. size). 2. Leaf (nat. size). 3. Common involucre with two young receptacles, a leaf-scar below (enlarged). 4. Receptacle, enclosed in its special involucre (enlarged). 5. The same, cut longitudinally (enlarged). Liberia <•- clusters of small whitish flowers in flexuous continuous or interrupted often long spikes ; Cape Palmas, Ansell\ Urera obovata, RcutJi. : a dioecious climbing shrub with stinging hairs and much-divided rather dense and short panicles of small green flowers and small fruits enclosed in the ultimately fleshy orange-red perianth ; Sino Basin, Whyte \ ARTOCARPACE^: Artocarpus incisa, L, : the "bread-fruit " tree ; introduced by American colonists; (from photographs by Str H, H. Johnston} ; throughout the coast region. ORCHIDACE^: * Megaclinium endotrachys, Krdnzl. : an epiphyte with a much- flattened rachis bearing small greenish yellow flowers ; Grand Basa, Dinklage, 1852 ! Eulophia lurida, Lindl. : an epiphyte up to 2 ft. high with lanceolate leaves, over I ft. by about I in., and large loose panicles of dull purple flowers, J in. long, with a yellow lip ; Kakatown, WhyU\ Lissochilus longifolius, Benth. : a terrestrial orchid with grass- like leaves up to over I ft. long and racemes of distant nodding middle-sized flowers ; in open meadow-like marshes, Grand Basa, Vogel, 8 ! ; Ansell\ ; Grant's Farm on the Sino River Wkyte\ L, roseus, Lindl. : a most magnificent terrestrial orchid, 5 — 7 ft. high, with lanceolate leaves, 2 — 3 ft. by i — 3 in., and long racemes of large flowers (almost I in. long) with chocolate-brown sepals and rose-coloured petals ; Kakatown, //7/r/v! Polystachya praealta, Kriinzl. : an epiphyte with 3 papery leaves (9 in. by i in.) and short nodding panicled racemes of small yellowish flowers ; Grand Basa, Dinklage, 2069! Listrostachys caudata, Rchb. : an epiphyte with thick fleshy leaves, the greenish white flowers with spurs 7 — 8 in. long; Grand Basil Sir II. //. Johnston, from drawing). Angraecum eichlerianum, Krtinzl. : epiphyte with short fleshy leaves, flowers with green petals except lip, which is white ; short hooked nectary ; Eastern Liberia (Sir H. //. Johnston, from drawing). 654 The Lihcrian Flora ZINGIBERACE.E Aframomum melegueta, K. Schum. (syn. Amomum melegueta, Roscoe) : a perennial herb with distinct leaf- and flower-stems, leaf-stems up to 5 ft. high with sessile or subsessile linear-lanceolate caudate-acuminate glabrous blades, 7 — 1 1 in. by j — I in. ; flower- stems 3 — 5 in. long, consisting of a short bracteate peduncle and a single trumpet-shaped flower springing from a spike-like cluster of bracts, white or pinkish with a large broad rounded violet or pink lip ; berry bottle-shaped not grooved, 2 in. long, with very aromatic seeds if in. across. — The seeds of this species are known as "grana paradisi. Bentham (in Flora Nigritiana, p. 534) mentions that Vogel collected " Amomum granum paradisi, L." near Grand Basa ; there is, however, no specimen of Vogel's from this locality at Kew. It is very likely that Bentham, in this place, understood under "Amomum granum paradisi, L." what is now called Aframomum melegueta, although he coupled with it, in the same passage, a specimen collected by Vogel at Abo in Nigeria which is preserved at Kew and is clearly not A. melegueta. *A. sulcatum, K. Schum. (syn. Amomum sulcatum, Oliv. and Hanb. ex Baker) : similar to the preceding species, but with broader leaves, an almost subsessile flower-spike and grooved fruits ; Grand Basa, Benson, 17 !; Cape Palmas, Hoffmann, 14 ! Gibson \ —The pulp of the berries is eaten. Vernacular name " Bla " or « Ble." A. latifolium, K. Sch. (syn. Amomum latifolium, A fa.) : leaf-stems up to 3 ft. high with lanceolate leaves (10 in. by 2| in.), flower-stems with a peduncled spike of 3 — 4 white flowers and berries almost 3 in. long ; Grand Basa, in Hanbury's herbarium. A. longiscapum, K. ScJtum. (syn. Amomum longiscapum, Hook.f.) : leaf- stems not quite I ft. high with lanceolate caudate-acuminate blades with a cordate base, i ft. by 2 — 2j in., flower-stems with long-peduncled (2 ft.) heads of 2 — 4 flowers with a crisp- edged labellum, i£ in. wide ; Cape Palmas, Sckoculcin. *A, rostratum, K. Schum. (syn. Amomum cereum, Baker] : leaf-stem up to 6 ft. high and more, with densely crowded lanceolate 655 Liberia «- leaves, up to almost I ft. by 2 in. ; flower-stems with slender peduncles (16 in. long) and few-flowered spikes, berries bottle- shaped, 2\ in. long, not grooved ; gregarious, forming extensive reeds ; Cape Palmas, Crummel. *Renealmia longifolia, K. ScJium. : a very tall perennial herb, with petioled linear-lanceolate long-acuminate leaves, i — 2 ft. by i.1, jJ, in., and terminal narrow erect or nodding panicles of bracteate flowers (corolla unknown) and small ellipsoid red or ultimately black capsules ; Kakatown, WJiyte ! ; in humid forest by the Cestos River near Grand Basil, Dinklage, 1945 ! *R. maculata, Stapf (sp. nov.) : a perennial herb with distinct leaf- and flower-stems ; leaf-stems, including the blades, about i ft. high, with about 4 elliptic or lanceolate-elliptic shortly acuminate purple-blotched petioled leaves, 7—9 in. by 2 to almost 4 in., flower-stems rather slender, 3 — 5 in. high, representing a shortly peduncled panicle with short few-flowered branches, supported by more or less persistent and adpressed bracts with spreading pedicels, in the mature state | — f in. long, and oblong-ellipsoid capsules, \ — f in. by J in , containing numerous seeds witli yellow arils ; Kakatown, Whyte \ — This is similar to R. africana, Benth., but smaller, with more and permanently adpressed bracts and more oblong fruits. Costus afer, Ker. : a perennial herb with slender stems, 6 — 9 ft. high, lanceolate caudate-acuminate glabrous or (below) more or less adpressly hairy leaves, 4 — 7 in. by f — ij in., and dense terminal bracteate heads of white flowers (with a yellow centre) supported by an involucre of large foliaceous bracts, the flowers paired in the axils of the bracts ; Monrovia and Kakatown, W/iytel] in humid places in primary forest by the River Cestos, Dinklage, 1640. — The juice of the very closely allied C. lueanusianus> }. Braun and K. Schum., is used by the natives of the Cameroons in the preparation of Funtumia rubber. C. littoralis, K. Sc/niiti. : similar to the preceding species, but less tall, with larger leaves and solitary flowers in the axils of the bracts; in bush in the littoral near Fishtown, l)hikliigc.t 1701.— Scarcely distinct from C. afer. 656 <+> The Lihcrian Mora MARANTACE^: Sarcophrynium brachystachyum, A'. Schum. (syn. Phrynium brachy- stachyum, Koern.) : a perennial tall herb with a creeping rhizome producing tufts of basal leaves with oblong to elliptic blades (up to 20 in. by 10 in.) on very long petioles, and flower-stems which imitate a basal leaf with a fascicle of 2 — 3 densely bracteate spike-like racemes springing from its petiole, with white or pale violet flowers, not quite J in. long, and red globose more or less fleshy fruits, about \ in. in diameter ; often gregarious in forests near water, Grand Basa, Vogel, 77 ! ; Cape Palmas, Vogely 29 ! *S. spicatum, K. Schum. : a perennial herb about 4 — 5 ft high, with asymmetrically elliptic leaves, and simple peduncled spikes (i in. ^ong) of white flowers ; in primary forest near the mouth of the River Cestos, Dinklagey 1946. Trachyphrynium violaceum, Ridl. : a shrub with a smooth simple stem up to 10 ft. high and numerous long scandent branches with oblong leaves, rounded or truncate at the base and borne on stout thickened petioles, with simple or forked spike-like com- pound zigzag racemes, the 2-flowered branches of which are encased in deciduous bracts with white and reddish flowers, under i in. long, and trigonous densely muricate fruits, measuring 2 in. across ; Kakatown, Whyte \ (imperfect specimens). *Clinogyne arcta, Stapf (sp. nov.) : a perennial tall herb, similar to C.flexuosci) K. Schum. ; blades ovate-oblong, acuminate, the upper 6 in. by 2 — 2j in., on short thickened petioles, the lower with much longer petioles of which only the upper end is thickened ; racemes slender flexuous, compound, solitary or in panicles of 2 — 4, to more than 6 in. long ; bracts up to 8 or more and over i in. long, persistent and permanently adpresscd branchlets of the raceme 2-flowered and about i^ in. long, flowers purplish, not quite ^ in. long, with villous ovaries ; Sino Basin and Kakatown, WJiyte \ Maranta arundinacea, L. : the well-known " Arrow-root " plant, a native of America, generally cultivated in the tropics on account of its farinaceous tubers ; grown near Monrovia, according to Vogel. VOL. ii 657 Liberia CANNACE^: Canna indica, /.. : a herb with large leaves from a creeping rhizome, panicled very showy crimson or yellow flowers and muricatc capsules, a native of America, frequently cultivated, and naturalised in some places in tropical Africa ; Kakatown, \\'liytc\ MUSACK.K Musa paradisiaca, L. : the " Banana " and " Plantain," cultivated in Liberia, but nothing is known as to the varieties grown there. AMARYLLIDACK K Crinum natans, Baker : a bulbous aquatic herb with submersed long strap-like leaves and umbels of large white or pinkish flowers with a slender tube, \ ft- l°ng» anc^ usually narrow lobes, 3 in. long; in gently running streams, Monrovia, Kakatown, and Sino Basin, \Vliytc ! Haemantlms mannii, Raker : a bulbous herb with a tuft of 5 — 6 elliptic acute short-peduncled leaves and long-pcduncled umbels of bright red flowers, the inflorescences on separate stems and appearing after the withering of the leaves ; Liberia, without precise localities, Carder. H. multiflorus, Martyn : similar to the preceding species, but with usually larger leaves and much more copious flowers, their tubes being twice as long as the lobes ; common in forests about 70 miles up St. Paul's River, Reynolds \ ; Sino Basin, \\'livtc \ *H. longitubus, C. II. Hr rig/if : similar to .//. i/iii/fijlonis, but the (lower-tube as long as the lobes (over I in.) ; Sino Basin, Whyte\ Hymenocallis littoralis, Salisb. : a bulbous herb with long rather thick linear leaves and long-pcduncled heads of large white flowers, having a slender tube, to 6 in. long, narrow segments 4 in. long, and a wide funnel-shaped corona I in. long ; a shore plant, Sino, \\'hytc ! DIOSCOREACE Bioscorea prehensilis, licnt/i : a diu-cious glabrous slender twining shrub with elliptic-rotundate 5-ncrvcd firm opposite leaves and 658 "* The Liberian Flora numerous fascicled spikes of small malr flowers gathered in often large panicles, solitary axillary long slender spikes of female flowers and deeply 3-lobed capsules ; Kakatown, //7/r/V ! LIUACK.-K Dracaena surculosa, Until. : a much-branched shrub or tree with opposite or whorled firm oblong parallel-veined leaves and numerous white more or less umbelled flowers (£ in. long) and red berries ; Monrovia, Kakatown, and Sino River, \\'hytc\ ; Sir H. H. Johnston. *D. prolata, C. II. Wright', a shrub (?) with elliptic coriaceous leaves, 7 in. by 3 in., and short congested panicles of white flowers, over i in. long ; Monrovia and Sino Basin, \\7tytc ! Chlorophytum laxum, R. Br. : a herb with tufted linear membranous leaves and very lax simple or forked racemes of small white or reddish white flowers, £ — i in. long; common near Grand Basa, Vogel, 41 ! Gloriosa virescens, Lindl. : a large rambler or climber with leaves ending in long filiform tendrils and handsome large nodding flowers having the petals rcflexed, first yellow then scarlet ; Grand Basa, Vogel} 22! COMMELINACE^: Palisota thyrsiflora, Kcnth. : a herb, 3 — 15 ft. high, shaggy in its young parts, with more or less lanceolate leaves and long rather narrow panicles of small white or violet flowers and blue berries ; Monrovia and Kakatown, Wliyte ! ; Grand Basa, Vogel, 67 ! ; Sino Basin, Wliyte ! ; Cape Pal mas, Vogel\ Commelina nudiflora, L. : a diffuse often decumbent herb with few- flowered racemes of small brilliantly blue or white flowers ; Sino Basin, Whyte\ C. capitata, Bentli. : a struggling or diffuse herb, I — 3 ft. high, with (apparently) terminal heads of yellow or white flowers, supported by large folded bracts; Kakatown, Whyte\\ Cape Palmas Vogel, 52! Aneilema beninense, Kunth. : a trailing herb with terminal dense panicles of very small blue or white flowers and shining cap- 659 Liberia <•- sulcs ; Kakatoun, \Vliytc\\ Grand Basa, / V <;<-/, 40 !; Sino Basin, ir/rA'!; Cape Palmas, A use/I \ A. ovato-oblongum, Aw/r(. : a trailing herb with very slender loose panicles of very small lilac or white flowers and shining cap- sules ; Cape Talmas, Ansc//\ RAPATACKK *Maschalocephalus dinklagei, /Y4r- and K. Schum. : a perennial herb with basal tufts of long firm ensiform leaves (including the sheaths to 20 in. high by over I in.) with sessile axillary heads of yellowish white tubular very slender flowers (tube \\ in.} lobes | in. long) and small triangled capsules ; in marshy very shady places in primary forest near Fishtown, Dinklage, 2088 ! PALM.I: Phoenix reclinata, Jacq. : stem 3—4 ft. high, leaves 3 — 5 ft. long with 50 or more rigid lanceolate pungent pinnae (i ft. long by i in.) ; female inflorescences peduncled, branched, about 2 ft. long, fruits resembling a small date ; Monrovia and Cape Palrnas, according to Vogel. — Sometimes called "wild date." Calamus barter!, Bell, ex Drude : a tall climber with very slender steins and leaves having lanceolate oblong pinnae (up to 8 in. by | in.), armed with very fine pungent spines on the rachis, the margins and primary nerves ; Kakatown, Whyte !— The rattan palm. Raphia vinifera, ttcnuv. : a palm with a middle-sized stem bearing an elegant tuft of pinnatisect leaves, 6 — 8 ft. long; pinna' spinulous ; fruits oblong-ellipsoid, about 3 in. long, covered with smooth hard scales in 8—9 rows. — The stems of this palm, which is known as " bamboo palm " to British colonists, are used for building, the leaves for thatching, the bast for fibre, and the sap of the trunk for making a sort of wine. This is the "piassava" palm of the Americo-Liberians and produces the fibre known by that name; in the coast region, S/r //. II. Joluistoti \ Borassus flabellifer var. aethiopum, \Vcirb. (syn. B. .T-thiopum, Mart.}\ a palm, 60 — 80 ft. high, with a straight stem thickening more or less from the middle upwards, flabellate leaves, 5 — 12 ft. long and divided almost to the middle into ensiform segments, and 660 -•> The Lil)erian Flora orange-coloured fruits of the size of a child's head and cncl<< 3 seeds; very common in the coast re-inn, S/r II. //. Johnston (from photographs,) — A palm of manifold use, the steins M -rvin^ as timber, the leaves furnishing thatch and fibre for ropes, sieves, and other similar articles, and the sap a kind of sweetish toddy. whilst the outer fibrous part of the fruit is sucked on account of its pleasant taste ; known to the Liberians as the " Fan palm." This palm was, by Martius, separated as a distinct species from the Indian Borassns Jlabcllifer on account of the thickening of the stem below the leaf, a character which is said to be absent in Indian specimens. Elaeis guineensis, Jacq. : the well-known " Oil palm " of \\Vst Africa ; Monrovia and Grand Basa, Vogel ; Cape Palmas, Vogel, 65 ! Cocos nucifera, L. : the well-known coconut palm, the uses of which are innumerable ; everywhere in the coast region, Sir //. //. Johnston (from photographs). PANDANACE^E Pandanus candelabrum, Beauv. : a branched tree supported by aerial roots with the spinous leaves in dense spirals (hence the generic name " Screw-pine ") ; in swamps near Grand Basa and on " dry ground" at Cape Palmas, according to Vogel. Anchomanes dubius, ScJiott : a tuberous-rooted heib with a solitary prickly leaf, 2 — 3^ ft. long, having 3 pinnatisect or dichoto- mously divided divisions and a long-peduncled boat-shaped pale purplish or (within) cream-coloured spathe, 6 — 12 in. long, and a slender spadix (up to 8 in. long) ; Liberia (from cultivated specimens). Rhektophyllum mirabile, Maker: a climbing aroid ; in Liberian forests (from drawing by Sir H. //. Johnston}. Nephthytis afzelii, Schott: a herb with a creeping root-stock and 2 — 3 sagittate long-peduncled leaves (with the basal lobes \ to i ft. long), and broad obtuse green spathcs (2 — 2\ in. long), with a slender cylindric spadix (\ in. by if in.); Monrovia, Nauwann. *Culcasia liberica, N. E. Brown : a climbing herb with lanceolate to elliptic leaves 8 — 9 in. long, and fascicled (7 — 8) more or 66 1 Liberia *- less convolute green spathes, if in. long, with a shortly exserted spadix; Sino Basin, J/7/r/v! Cyrtosperma senegalense, Engl. : a herb with a large tuber, sagittate basal leaves (including the basal lobes to over 2j ft. long), and stout prickly peduncles, overtopping the leaves and bearing lanceolate yellowish green and dark-red-stripcd spathes (i ft. or more long), with a dark violet spadix (2j — 7 in. long) ; Grand Basa, VTogcl, 94 ! XYRIDACE^ Xyris indica, L. (?) : a perennial herb with a basal tuft of narrow strap-shaped spongy I — 2 ft. long leaves and a peduncled head of small yellow flowers with dark red-brown bracts ; in swamps near Monrovia, Naumann. — I suspect this is not X. indica, which is not known from Africa, but more probably the very similar X. dccipiens, N. E. Br. ERIOCAULONACE^: Mesanthemum radicans, Koernicke : a perennial herb with a tuft of linear leaves (3 — 6 in. by J — J in.) and long-peduncled flat compact heads (i in. across) of small white flowers with an involucre of numerous downy obtuse scales ; in marshes, Kaka- town, \VJiy te\ ; Grand Basa, Ansell\ CYPERACE/K Kyllinga erecta, Sc/uim. and Thonn. : .a few inches high, with a creeping rhizome and solitary terminal ovoid spikes, commonly showing a golden tinge and supported by 3 — 4 bracts, I — 3 in. long; Basa Cove, Ansell\ K. peruviana, Lain.: 12—20 in. high, with a densely scaly rhizome and solitary terminal globose spike supported by 3 bracts up to i in. long; Monrovia, Naumann ; Grand Basa, Atiscll\ K. pumila, Mich.: 4—18 in. high, with fibrous roots and terminal heads of 3 — i greenish white spikes with 2 — 4 leaf-like bracts, the lowest 2 — 6 in. long ; Monrovia, Naumann. K. cylindrica, Nees. : 6 — 18 in. high, with a short or no rhizome, leaves often longer than the stem, heads of 3 — i white or brownish spikes (middle spike cylindric) and 3 — 4 leaf-like bracts, the lowest i — 6 in. long; Basa Cove, Ansc//\ 662 -+ 'Ilic Liberian I;l<>r.i Pycreus polystachyus, licit ni'.\ i— 2i ft. high, with fibrous roots and niuiv or less e< impound umbcllcd spikes of IO — 50 per- manently erect brownish spike-lets, jj in. by ,'.. in.; Cape Pal mas, Ansci/\ Cyperus haspan, /..: with stems 4 j«S in. long, distant on ; creeping rhizomes and with usually compound or decompound umbels (sometimes overtopped by bracts) of digitate clu of 2 — 6 compressed spikelets, \ — J in. by .,', — J.I in.; in the town of Monrovia, .\aiiinatni. C. tenax, Boeck.\ with trigonous stems, 4 — 16 in. long, and usually simple umbels of upwards of 7 spikes of 3 — 16 digitate dark chestnut-coloured spikelets, !— ± in. by ^ in. ; the umbels overtopped by leaf-like bracts, Monrovia, Naninniin. C. sphacelatus, R»ttb. : an annual with slender tufted stems, 6 — 24 in. long, and simple or compound umbels of spikes of 5 — 12 speckled spikelets, straw-coloured and J in. long, the umbels often over-topped by the lowest bract ; Grand Hasfi, Ausell\ C. zollingeri, Steud.\ with trigonous slender stems, i — 2 ft. high, and irregular straggling or much-contracted umbels of loose spikes of 3 — 9 yellowish green spikelets, i in. by £ in., the umbels when contracted much overtopped by the leaf-like bracts ; Monrovia, Naiunann. Mariscus umbellatus, \rahl.\ with stems i — 2\ ft. long, thickened at the base and trigonous at the top, and with simple 5 — 12- rayed umbels of solitary cylindric spikes of very numerous straw-coloured spikelets, spreading rectangularly when ripe, the umbels supported by 5 — 10 leaf-like bracts ; Monrovia, Naumann, WJiyte \ ; Kakatown and Sino Basin, Whyte \ M. rufus, //. />. A'. : with robust stems i — 4 ft. long, trigonous at the top, and umbels of numerous cylindric congested spikes of spreading or reflexcd reddish brown spikelets, ! in. by ^ in., the umbels supported by 4 — 7 bracts ; Monrovia, Naumanu. Eleocharis capitata, R. Br. : a leafless annual with tufted stems, 2 to over 12 in. high, with a solitary terminal lanceolate dense dull greenish red spikelet, x — | in. long ; Cape Palmas, / V^v/. *E. naumanniana, Boeck. : a very slender flaccid olive-coloured water- plant, proliferously branched, i i ft. long, with solitary very slender i -flowered spikelets, J in. long; Monrovia, Naumanu. Fimbristylis diphylla, Vahl. : an annual with tufted stems, 7 — 28 in. 663 Liberia long, and compound umbels of usually numerous solitary straw- coloured brown spikelets, J — J in. long, the umbel supported by leaf-like bracts ; about 70 miles up the St. Paul's River, f. ferruginea, /' 60! ; Ansell\\ Sino Basin, Whyte \ S. barter!, Boeck. : a rambling or climbing .perennial, up to 20 ft. long, with rough-edged leaves, 8 in. by J in., remote axillary pyramidal panicles (i — ii in. by i in.) of chestnut-brown spikelets, I in. long, and white or brown to purple shining fruits ; about 70 miles up the St. Paul's River, Reynolds \ ; Grand Basa, Dinklage, 2010! S. vogelii, C. />'. Clarke : with stems 3 — 6 ft. high, unequally 3-winged leaf-sheaths, rough-edged blades, i — 2 ft. by J — 1£ in., axillary panicles 2 — 3 in. long (running into a terminal compound panicle) of pale spikelets J in. long, and shining white or brown fruits; Kakatown, \Vliyte\\ Grand Basa, / '<>&•/, 59 ! ; Sino Basin, Whyte\ GRAMINE^E Zea mays, /,. : the well-known "Maize" or "Indian Corn," a cciv.il of American origin, cultivated in Liberia, according to Vogel. Coix lacryma, L. : a branched soft-leaved grass with ivory-like more or less globose ultimately hard receptacles with an orifice at the top from which the short male spikelets and the stigmas 665 Liberia <+- of the enclosed female spikelets are cxscrtcd ; of Indian origin, cultivated and naturalised all over the tropics ; Kakatown, \Vliy tc\ — This is the grass known as "Job's Tears.'' Saccharum officinarum, L. : the " Sugar-cane," cultivated in Liberia, according to Vogel. Andropogon leptocomus, Triu. ; a perennial much-branched grass, up to 5 ft. high, with loose leafy panicles of very slender spike-like short racemes of lanceolate finely awned spikelets, \ in. long, each raceme supported by a very narrow sheath and borne on a long fine peduncle ; in woods near Monrovia, Naituianu. A. sorghum, Brat.: the "Sorgho," " Durra" or "Black millet," cultivated in numerous varieties all over Africa, and also in other warm countries, the most important cereal of Tropical Africa; Kakatown, \Vliytc\\ Cape Palmas, Vogcl. Paspalum distichum, L. : a short grass with long creeping rhizomes and paired spike-like racemes of oblong acute spikelets ; Monrovia, Xauiuauu. P. conjugation, tterg. : a slender grass with 2 or more very slender dense spike-like racemes of spikelets, T\- in. long, quite flat on one side and more or less fringed along the edge with white loosely adprcsscd hairs ; Kakatown, WJiyte ! Isachne buettneri, Hack. : a graceful grass with a loose very finely divided panicle of subglobosc spikelets, not much over J, in. long, each containing 2 fruits in the mature state; Cape Palmas, Amell\ Digitaria horizontalis, Willd. : a rather weak annual with numerous very slender spike-like racemes of lanceolate spikelets, ,'., in. long ; common on cultivated ground near Grand Basa, / V'.v*'/, 27 ! Panicum muticum, /<~orsk.\ a stout grass, up to over 6 ft. high, with leaves 6— IO in. by .', H in., and erect panicles of spike-like rather distant dense racemes of ovoid acute green or purplish spikelets, J in. long; (irand Basil, i'otf'/, 32! — This is known in some parts of the tropic's as " \Yaler-grass " and is con- sidered excellent fodder. P. lineatum, Triu. : with a very loose and scanty panicle of ellipsoid rather obtuse spikelets ; £ long; Kakatown, \\'hylc\ P. laetura, Knntli: a branched grass with a much-divided loose panicle (about 4 in. long and wide when quite open; of greenish 666 ^ The Lil)cri;m Mora spike-lets, ,'rt in. lojio ;; about 70 milr.s up the St. Paul's Ki\ Fauna : Mammals in the country ami patience in investigation will soon reward the traveller with a glimpse of some of the most interesting examples of the African fauna. In its fauna and flora Liberia, though it is not strikingly delimited by a geographical boundary from the rest of West Africa, nevertheless possesses a somewhat peculiar character, because in many respects it is the culmination of the \Ycst African region. It is here that the West African forest reaches its most extended development. Yet it is cut off by hundreds of miles from the next great forest region to the east, the country between Old Calabar, the Cameroons, and the Upper Congo. It is therefore the refuge (perhaps) of a few strange lingering forms that have died out in the deforested regions of the Gold Coast and Dahome, or it has developed in course of time a few species peculiar to its own forests. Naturally enough, the Liberian district of the West African sub-region is not strictly confined within the political boundaries of the Liberian Republic. Liberia in the zoographical sense includes a portion of the eastern hinterland of Sierra Leone, and crosses the Cavalla River into the territory of the French Ivory Coast. In this direction it would seem to be cut off from the Ashanti forests by the intervening grassy plateaux behind the Ivnrv Coast, as well as by the forest destruction which has taken place to a greater extent amongst the agricultural peoples of the Ivory and Gold Coasts. Liberian forests on the west and north-west are separated from the forest region of Portuguese and French Guinea by the highlands of Futa Jalon. The mammalian fauna of Liberia may perhaps, without offence, be called " Miocene" in the sense that it has many points of resemblance with the fauna of France and Southern Germany during the Miocene period. Of course there are no Miocene formations in Liberia, a country with a petrology VOL. n 673 1 1 Liberia *- mainly archasan and primary. But to these forests have come for refuge the beasts, birds, and reptiles developed in Europe and Asia during the Miocene — middle— period of the Tertiary Epoch. If North Africa is ''Prehistoric " and "Pleistocene" in its existing mammals, Tropical Africa is mainly " Pliocene " ; and Liberia and similar parts of West Africa are " Miocene." The Chimpanzee has long been noted as a Liberian mammal. It seems to have been commonest on the coast in the territories between Sherbro and Cape Mount. It is found at the present day wherever there is primeval forest in Liberia, and speci- mens are frequently sent to the coast from the Cavalla River. According to the stories of the natives (which are well summarised and confirmed by the researches of Buttikofer and his companions), although the Chimpanzee, possibly of two varieties or sub-species, is found throughout Liberia (except actually in the long-cultivated settlements near the coast), it has no fixed residence, but seems to be constantly in movement from place to place in search of food. The natives state that the females do not give birth to their young in the trees, nor do they build shelters there, as has been related of them in other parts of Africa. But in Liberia the migratory life of the chimpanzee would appear to be led commonly on the ground, amongst the dense cover afforded by the herbaceous plants and bushes. These apes apparently only take to the trees when molested by man or when they ascend them for the purpose of plucking fruits or nuts. The young chimpanzees are not infrequently caught by the natives and brought to the coast for sale, where they find eager purchasers. According to Buttikofer, whose statements are always carefully made, the natives reported that although adult chimpanzees are untamable, young ones might be actually domesticated, and would show the tenderest affection for those 674 -+> Paima : Mainni;iU who looked after them. They informed him that these young chimpanzees could be trained to bring firewood, scare birds from the rice-fields, and even to act as nurses to little children ! I saw in 1904 a young female chimpan/ee from the Cavalla Uiver in the possession of the German Consul at Cape Pal mas. It would have been difficult to meet with a more human creature not actually of the genus Homo. This chimpanzee lived in her owner's house as a child might have done, with a negro nurse to look after her. She was generally allowed complete liberty, and did not abuse this freedom by breaking or spoiling anything within her reach, and, strange to say, was wonderfully clean in her habits, a virtue too often wanting in chimpanzees. u Puppe " would come when her name was called, and fling herself into her master's arms. Puppe's sympathy with strangers was discriminating. If she liked the person introduced, she would climb on to his knee and tender charming caresses, pushing out the long lips in a pout to be kissed. Of course these animals when taken to Europe nearly always die in a year or two, usually of diseases resulting from cold or damp. Mr. G. A. Boulenger, who has made a con- siderable study of the life habits of the chimpanzee in Europe, is of opinion that those who die in menageries perish as much as anything from sheer mental unhappiness as from any other cause. He would have them treated like human beings, clothed (to counteract the chills of our climate), and not kept in confine- ment. From one cause and another, however, it seems very little use to make humanising experiments with these interesting creatures (on the whole the nearest living relations of man) in our climate ; but Liberia would appear to be an excellent locale in which to make a strenuous endeavour to tame and educate the chimpanzee. Here it would be at home in its own climate. If it be really true, as Liberians told Biittikofer, that these creatures 675 Liberia *- when caught young can be trained to such services as bringing firewood, scaring birds, and above all, minding children, who shall say what further developments might not come in the course of centuries ? The chimpanzees of Liberia, judging from such skulls as 1 have seen brought from the far interior, and from information collected by Buttikofer and others, do not attain a very large size ; they are not yet known to become such big animals as Simla vellerosus. An old male measured by Buttikofer was about 3 feet 3 inches from the brow-ridges, over the head and along the back to the end of the rump. The Hon. Walter Rothschild in his paper on Anthropoid Apes,1 following Professor Matschie, distinguishes the Liberian chimpanzees as belonging mainly to the species Simla pygm\x>n.rus leucoprymtiHs. I append tor the information of those who may be studying loyally the zoology of Liberia the definitions of Simla pygmtus fuse us and Simiti pygm Fauna : Mammals Of monkeys of the large genus Cercopithccus ' there are at least five kinds. Two of these belong to the white-nosed group, which in varying forms is distributed from Senegambia right across to Uganda, and from these regions of forested Africa southwards to the Zambe/.i basin. The white-nosed monkeys of Liberia would appear to be peculiar sp^ Cercopithecus Stampftii and C. buettikoferi. The last-named differs most markedly from the common West African Cercopithecus petaurista, in that it has a long white mark over the ridge of the eyebrows, stretching from the bridge of the nose right across the face to below the ear. In C. stampflii the place of this white line is taken by an indistinct patch of hair. There is also no black band, as in C. petaurista^ stretching over the top of the skull. According to Biittikofer, Stampfli's Cercopithecus is the largest species of the white -nosed group. Its tail is exceedingly long, over a yard in length, and the body a little less. The colouring of this monkey he gives as being mottled yellow- green and black from the back down to the middle of the tail. The top of the head, neck, arms, and outer side of hands and the last half of the tail are black. The chin, breast, inside of the arms, and upper half of the stomach are white. The white patch on the nose also extends farther up towards the brows. The Green monkey (Cercopithecus callitrichus) is fairly common in the western parts of Liberia, near the Sierra Leone frontier. It is a pretty little animal, allied to the white-nosed type, but without that distinguishing feature. The Green monkey has yellowish white whiskers, throat and stomach, and a very narrow whitish line along the brows which joins the 1 For which a comprehensive English name is much required. The French call this type of monkey guenon and the Germans mcerkcUze, 679 Liberia <•- light-coloured whiskers and is carried round the head to the hack of the ear. The bare skin of the face is blackish, and the crown of the head, the outer side of the hands, and the upper part of the tail are black. The rest of the upper parts are a greenish tint caused by the parti-coloured black and yellow hairs. The under-side and extremity of the tail are bright yellow, and there is often a grey patch at the end of the back by the root of the tail. This green monkey is really only a brighter-coloured variety of the grivet monkey which is found in North-Eastern Africa, and probably stretches right across the continent to Senegal, grading by degrees into the West African type, the Green monkey. The presence of the Green monkey, therefore, in North-western Liberia would seem to be an incursion of a Senegambian type into this more purely forest region. i Campbell's monkey (Cercopithecus campbelli) is a fairly common species throughout West Africa, from Senegambia to the Gaboon, including the island of Fernando Po. It belongs to that section of the Cercopithecine genus which may be described as the "Diana monkeys," though it is of a much less developed type and is without the white streak on the haunches characteristic of the Diana and Mona monkeys. The general colour of the upper parts is blackish green, fading here and there into a yellowish grey. There is a white brow-ridge which passes without any break or interruption into the whitish whiskers and short beard. The chest, under-side of the limbs, and stomach are yellowish white. The true Diana monkey is probably not found in Liberia, where this genus develops a special type — the Bay-thighed monkey (Cercopithecus diana ignita\ of which I give an illustra- tion. The bay-thighed Diana is coloured much like the typical form, but is easily distinguished from it inasmuch as the 680 The Hn\ tlii-lK-d I)i;m;i Monkey iCY;\ •»/»// IU-CHS •. i^nitu i -•> Fauna : Mammals white on the outer edge and inside of the thighs becomes a bright chestnut-red, almost flame-colour.1 The bay-thighed monkey is one of the most charming pets imaginable. Usually of a gentle and caressing disposition, it utters melodious chirruppy cries of pleasure when approached by friends. It quite revels in its own beauty of form and colour, and naively solicits admiration, showing itself off in the prettiest postures. For coloration it is perhaps the most beautiful of all mammals and comes nearest to the bright colours of birds in its tints of flame and lemon. To enhance this gorgeousness, the skin of the male genitals is pale azure-blue. The Liberians call the Diana monkey "Dandy Jack," a not inappropriate nick- name on account of the pleasure this creature takes in its own appearance and its fastidious cleanliness. The Colobus monkeys form a very distinct group by themselves, limited in their range to Tropical Africa between Abyssinia on the north and the Zambezi on the south. This genus has no cheek pouches (unlike the baboons, mangabeys, and Cercopitheci) and their stomachs are sacculated — that is to say, divided into a number of pouches like the closely allied genus of Semnopithecus in Tropical Asia. The Colobi are even more markedly leaf-eaters than is the case with their Asiatic 1 For the information of those readers who may wish to distinguish the true Diana from this sub-species, it might be stated that its coloration is as follows : The very long beard, the whiskers and long hair on the chest and inner side of the fore-limbs and hind-limbs, together with the outer edge of the thighs, are pure white, very beautifully tinged here and there with lemon-colour. Along the brow-ridge is a crescent-shaped fringe of white hairs, which gives rise to the name because of its supposed resemblance to the crescent of the Hunting Goddess. Across the haunches is a distinct though narrow streak of white sometimes tinged with yellow. The top of the head and a line from the temples to the ears are black. The bare skin of the face is bluish black. The upper part of the body and the back are black, which is grizzled or speckled with white, giving the animal a greyish mantle. The tail is jet black. The rump under the tail is chestnut-brown, and the sides of the animal above the white streaks on the haunches are also bright chestnut. Liberia + relations, and one reason why they thrive so badly in con- finement (away from Africa) is that their leaf dietary has been overlooked or has proved difficult of supply ; so that most Colohus monkeys reaching England alive die in a short time from diseases of the digestive organs due to unsuitable food. Their distribution across the continent of Africa has been horizontal rather than longitudinal. A peculiar species of reddish brown colobus is found in the island of Zanzibar. Another reddish coloured monkey of this genus is met with on the LJpper Tana River, and reappears again in Western nda, and no doubt in the Congo Forest. In Liberia, as in other parts of West Africa, there is a red colobus, Colobus ferntgineus, the range of which stretches as far westwards as the Gambia Colony. Very probably the original colours of this genus were chestnut-brown and grey, but it is best known by its most recent developments, which are black, with more or less distinct patches of grey or white. The most splendid development of the Colobus genus is probably to be found in Southern Abyssinia (C. guereza\ in which the long tail is heavily plumed with very long white hairs while the sides of the body develop a long and thick silky white mane. On Kilimanjaro Mountain this form of Colnbus has evolved a peculiar variety in which the tail is more or less thickly plumed with white from its base to its extremity. In 1 ,iberia this black-and-white type of Colobus is apparently represented (according to Biittikofer) by C. polycomus, which is much more commonly met with in Sierra Leone. In this monkey the forehead, sides of the face, throat and short beard are dazzling white. So also is the long mane on either side of the body. The long tail is white throughout its whole length, and has a small white tuft at the end. The rest of 682 ^ Fauna : Mammals the hair is glossy black. So far, this Colobus polycomus has only been noted in the western regions of Liberia. A much commoner species throughout the country is the Ursine Colobus (C. ur sinus}. In this form the long tail is white, with a small plume, and the mane on each side of the body is not very long and is of a greyish colour. There is grey also on the chest, in the long hairy whiskers, on the top of the head, and on the outer side of the thighs. Colobus cristatus is perhaps the commonest of the thumbless monkeys of Liberia. It is usually known as the Mangrove monkey, because troops of it frequent the mangrove thickets. Biittikofer describes it in his work on Liberia as Colobus verus or versus. Verus was an alternative name given by Van Beneden O J in 1838, but the correct designation is Colobus cristatus. Its coloration is as follows : The head, neck, back, and base of the tail are an olive-brown colour, the hairs being finely ringed with black. This part of the fur sometimes assumes quite a greenish tinge. The nape of the neck is dark brown, and the fur under the tail round the black callosities of bare skin is also rich dark umber. The long tail is grey, becoming almost black at the tip. In the Red Colobus (C. ferrugineus) the back of the animal down to about half-way on each side, and the top of the head, are a bluish black or very dark grey. The whiskers, throat, stomach, flanks, and the arms and legs are a rich chestnut brown. The greater part of the tail is also this chestnut-brown, but there is a patch of black on either side of the root of the tail. The ears and the bare skin of the face are lead-grey, as in most of the Colobi ; but the nose and lips are pale pinkish white. Although the generic name Fauna : Mammals like pupils, are pale yellow. A marked peculiarity of the hands is the reduction of the first or index finger to a mere rudiment. The potto has another remarkable peculiarity, perhaps unique in existing mammals : the spinous processes of the vertebrae of the neck are, in the case of four or five of these vertebras, much elongated, and their points project beyond the muscular integument and almost beyond the skin, the tips being merely covered with a thin cuticle, so that they form a series of knobs along the back of the neck. As in all the lemurs, the second toe of the foot is somewhat shorter than the other toes, and is furnished with a sharp claw. All the other toes, including the opposable big toe, are armed with flat nails. This peculiarity is very characteristic of all the known lemuroids, and sharply distinguishes them from the true apes, with the exception of the marmoset family.1 The Potto lives of course mainly on insects. It sleeps throughout the day, and is active at night-time, uttering some of those loud and unearthly cries characteristic of the Liberian forest during the dark hours. These cries are easily associated in the native's mind with malevolent spirits. The Americo- Liberians call this animal the £c Softly," from its stealthy movements. The indigenous Negroes regard it with awe, and weave curious stories and superstitions round it, declaring that its hands and feet possess extraordinary grasping power, and that these little animals are able to catch and hold large monkeys. The Galagos are a very interesting group of African lemurs, with representatives also in the island of Madagascar. Whilst the two pottos of West Africa2 are closely related to the lorises of South-eastern Asia, the galagos have no known 1 In which practically all the fingers and toes are armed with claws instead of nails. - It might be mentioned that the range of the common Potto extends right across Africa from Sierra Leone to Uganda. 685 Liberia * .itic connections, and probably descend from the more" generalised European lemurs of the Eocene period. The galaijos as a sub-family have a remarkable feature in their skeleton which reappears in that aberrant long-limbed Asiatic lemur, the tarsier : this is the elongation of the heel and ankle bones. The calcaneum (the principal bone of the heel) and the navicular bone of the ankle are produced into the form of rods growing side by side. The meaning of this peculiar development of the bone at the heel-end of the foot may bear some relation to the extra- ordinary jumping powers of the galagos. In other works which I have written on Africa I have referred to this agility on their part, on which sufficient emphasis has never been laid by other writers describing the life habits of the African galagos. The species which is found in Liberia and other parts of West Africa (Galago demidoffi) is especially remarkable for this power of leaping relatively great distances into the air, upwards, horizontally, and downwards. I have had one of these galagos, tame, sitting on my hand and perhaps drinking milk out of a spoon. Suddenly it observed a buzzing bluebottle-fly on a window-pane three or four yards distant. Like a flash, the little animal has left my hand, has appeared on the window, caught the bluebottle, and leapt back again, if not on to my hand, at any rate on to the adjoining table or chair. The leaps of the galago remind one irresistibly of the beginnings of flight in such animals as the bat. The Bats, though originating from primitive Insectivora, were not distantly related to the primal types of the Anthropoidea, of which the nearest representatives at the present day are the Lemurs. The be- ginnings of the Bats developed enormous hands, with long, skinny fingers, like those of that aberrant lemur, the " Aye-aye," and no doubt leapt after their [insect prey with outstretched 686 <+> Fauna : Mammals fingers as do the modern galagos. In time these leaps would be sustained by the beating of the air with the webbed fingers, while the loose skin of the body acted as a parachute, and so by degrees the wings and flight of the modern bats were evolved. The teeth of the Galagos resemble those of the true Lemurs in number and form, but the lower incisors are perhaps not quite so procumbent (horizontal in setting), at any rate in three of the species of which Galago demidoffi is one. This last is the only galago which has, as yet, been recorded from Liberia. A peculiarity of the Lemurs, distinguishing them sharply from the true monkeys and the remote ancestors of man, is the incisiform character of the lower canine teeth, which indeed by Gray and earlier biologists were regarded as true incisors. The tooth in the lower jaw which appears to be the canine and corresponds with the upper canines, is really the first premolar, and is an upright sharp tusk in shape ; but in Galago demidoffi these dental peculiarities are not quite so strongly marked as in most other lemurs. The procumbent lower canine is a little more separated from the two incisors, and not quite so horizontal, and the first lower premolar does not move so far forward or assume so markedly the look of a lower canine tooth. An archaic feature in the Galagos shared by Galago demidoffi is the presence of four mammas, one on each breast, and the other pair between the thighs. This feature only occurs elsewhere amongst the lemurs in the true lemurine genus Hapalemur. In the Madagascar Aye-aye there are only two teats, and these are placed on the abdomen. In all proba- bility the parent anthropoid forms, from which originated the Lemurs, Monkeys, and Man, retained two pairs of teats from out of the three or four pairs of the more generalised mammalia. 687 Liberia * Occasionally in the human species there is a reversion to this condition ; for women are known to develop rudimentary, non- functional mamma- on the abdomen, similar to the third pair of non-functional teats on the udder of oxen. The Galagos also utter loud cries at night, and are chiefly nocturnal in their habits, being sleepy and unwilling to move in bright daylight, at any rate until they become thoroughly tamed. They will often move about a house during the day- time because they are sheltered from bright sunlight, which they dislike. I have not observed in the Liberian type of Galago that tendency to make use of the hands as weapons of offence which is so marked in some of the larger forms of galago in East and South Africa. These will stand erect on their hind legs and box like a man. In fact, they defend themselves with their hands quite as much as with their teeth against aggression on the part of a dog or cat, delivering blows with the knuckles as well as "pulls" and snatchings. Like some other lemurs, the galagos resort a good deal to bipedal progression, running, walking, and jumping on their hind-legs in a nearly upright position, and reserving the hands for offence and defence. With a quick, darting motion of the hand whilst progressing on their hind-feet they will seize insects. The human principle of locomotion on the hind-limbs began far back amongst the lemuroids, many of the monkeys and apes having reverted to a quadrupedal movement. Bats are very abundant in Liberia. The I;ruit-eating forms (McgachitopterJ) are represented by Hypsignathus and four Epomophori, by two or three species of Roussettus? and by at least one brush-tongued bat—Megalog/ossus. 1 Tin- older name, Rou$settust has recently been revived (unhappily, because of the law of priority) in lien of Xiinthiirftyiti. Bfittikofer's, or rather Jentink's «?*, given to one doubtful Liberian specimen from which Haws on the index ientally absent, is not now admitted without further evidence. 688 -* Fauna : Mammals The Epomophori are peculiar to Africa, which they range from Egypt to the Gambia and Natal. In these bats the head is unusually large and long ; but it is so monstrous and hideous in the biggest of the sub-family — -the hammer-headed bat, Hypsignathus — as to provoke the appropriate specific term of monstrosus. This animal is the creation of a nightmare imagination. It might be recommended to the designers of an instructive pantomime or Wagnerian opera.1 All the Epomophori are remarkable for their much-developed fleshy, pendulous lips, usually supposed to be evolved for the special purpose of absorbing the juice of succulent fruits. The type of head is somewhat different from that which characterises the fox-bats of Asia (Pteropus) or those of the genus Roussettus which are also found in Liberia. Another feature in the structure of the Epomophori is the short tail (except in Hypsignathus). In many of the Fruit-eating bats an external tail is practically absent or reduced to a mere rudiment ; whereas in the Insect-eating bats the tail plays an important part in the structure of the flying apparatus. A remarkable feature in the Epomophori is the air-sac under the skin in the males, on each side of the neck. These air-sacs communicate with the pharynx and can be distended at the will of the animal. They are probably most inflated during the breeding season, when the male bats are very noisy.2 The bones at the base of the tongue (hyoid) and the form of the larynx (voice organ) are quite peculiar in their construction, and are no doubt correlated with the air-sacs in the male Epomophori. In addition to their air-sacs, both sexes (but especially the 1 It is called in Vai "Tuna" : Insect-eating bats are distinguished as " DereY' 2 These bats in Liberia (as also the allied species at Zanzibar) make a loud noise like the quacking ducks or the croaking frogs, in the daytime as well as at night. VOL. II 689 12 Liberia * males) have glands at the junction of the neck and shoulder from the mouths of which project long, coarse yellow hairs, which grow down so as to form tufts or epaulets on the bat's shoulders. Two or three species of the genus Roussettus (Xantharpyia) are recorded from Liberia — R. collaris, R. stramineus, and perhaps R. biictlikofcrl} The bats of this genus, as already stated, have a short tail like some of the Epomophores, the tip of which is free from the wing membrane. The muzzle is rather long and slender. The males have a gland on each shoulder like that of the Epomophores, and from the aperture of this gland radiate long hairs, which in R. stramineus form almost a half-collar round the neck. The colour of R. stramineus is pale brown, becoming yellowish on the loins, while the head is dark umber. The half-collar of coarse hairs round the throat of the male is a reddish yellow. There is a specialised sub-family of frugivorous bats — the Carponycteriin*) which among other features is characterised by a very long tongue, armed at the lower end with recurved papilla- like those on the tongue of a lion. These " brush- tongued bats," as the}' are sometimes called, also have very narrow molar teeth, scarcely rising above the level of the gums. The number of the teeth in their West African representatives (at least in Megaloglossus] is thirty-four — an unusually large number for a fruit-eating bat (only equalled in Pteropus*} ; but the teeth are small and tending towards disappearance owing to the increasing use of the tongue, which nourishes the bat by rasping the thin skin of certain fruits and coating itself thickly with 1 Roussettus 1'it/liin's is the ( 'ynnnyc.tcris ton/iinln of Riittikofrr ; the third species •A'»//.v./////v lmttikoffri—\x the very doubtful Leiponyx buettikoferi Qi fentink. - /'1,-m/iits likewise, has thirty-four teeth. As a rule the teeth in the hh-nf>t,-r Fauna : Mammals viscous juice. The Carponycterim^e are small bats, one of them being quite the smallest of the Megachiroptera. The muzzle is slender, long, and pointed. They are represented in Liberia and adjacent parts of West Africa by one species (the rest of the distribution being confined to the far east of Asia and the Malay Archipelago) : this is usually called Megaloglossus woermannii? Its small teeth are thirty-four in number ; there is no external tail, and the first finger (index) is armed with a claw. The colour of this brush-tongued bat is dark brown. Besides Megaloglossus there ought to exist a form of Scotonycteris in the Liberian forests, but no specimen of this yellowish brown brush-tongued bat, with a white spot on the nose, has yet been recorded from this country. The Insect-eating Bats of Liberia include eight recorded species, but are probably represented by many more of migratory habits not yet sent home by collectors. Of the Rhinolophine family of leaf-nosed bats, to which our greater and lesser horseshoe bats of England belong, there is Hipposiderus fuliginosus. This has large broad ears and small antitragus (or imitation earlet), a fleshy nose-leaf or complicated shield of naked skin rising above the nostrils. The nose-leaf is of very moderate dimensions compared to those of other horseshoe bats, especially the extraordinary Trianops of Eastern Africa. In H. fuliginosus (as in other species of the same genus) there is a kind of pouch or sac on the forehead behind the nose-leaf (scarcely developed in the female), the sides of which can be extended and everted by the bat when it is excited. The sides of this pouch are slimy or waxy with an odorous secretion. Of the bats of the Nycterid family there are two Liberian examples — Nycteris hispida and N. grandis. They are without a nose-leaf, but the centre of the forehead is deeply hollowed and 1 This genus is sometimes styled Trygenycteris. 691 Liberia *- expanded. A deep, sharp-edged groove extends from the nostrils through the middle of the forehead to the band of skin which connects the bases of the very large ears. The sides of this frontal depression are fringed by small nodules of naked skin. The lower jaw projects beyond the upper, so that this bat is u under-hung." Unlike the other leaf-nosed bats of the pre- ceding family, there is a distinct tragus or earlet to the ears. Fespertilio (Vesper ugo) stampflii and V. nan us are allied in structure and appearance to the English Serotine bat. They are of course small bats, with flat broad heads. The ears are not particularly large, and the tragus is small and curved inwards. The nostrils are set somewhat wide apart and are slightly projecting, and the middle of the lower lip has a naked space which is slightly excrescent. These bats also possess a post- calcaral lobule of the wing membrane, just below the heel-spur. Pipistrellus is represented by P. minutus and P. tenuipinnis. These bats are very like our common English pipistrelle, the smallest and commonest bat in England. It is probable that the relatively large bat of the genus Scotophilus (S. gigas} of Equatorial Africa, the forearm of which measures nearly three and a half inches, is also found in Liberia ; but it has not yet been sent home, nor has the remarkable white-winged bat (S. albofuscus) of the Gambia, though it is also probably an inhabitant of Liberia. The last of the Liberian bats to be recorded is the brightly coloured Kerivoula africana, which is not much larger than the English noctule. Its large ears very nearly touch over the middle of the forehead. The tragus is long and erect, the eyes are very small and placed low down near the base of the ears. There is considerable breadth between the nostrils, but the nose mplc and only marked by a slight groove. The colours of this bat are orange-brown and brownish black. 692 -* Fauna : Mammals The Insectivora are represented in Liberia by four species of Shrew, three belonging to the genus Crocidura. The two species of Crocidura are apparently peculiar to Liberia ; at any rate, they have not as yet been recorded in any other part of West Africa. They were discovered by Dr. Biittikofer, after whom and his companion Stampfli they have been named. The Crocidura are smallish, shrew-like animals, larger than the true shrews, the size of house mice or small rats. They have a more or less strong smell of musk, which betrays their recent presence by lingering on the objects they have touched. Their teeth are completely white, and not tipped with orange or brown as in the true shrews. The tail is armed by a fringe of stiff hairs. It is probable that there are one or more representatives of the genus Sylvisorex in Liberia, as in other parts of West Africa, but they have not yet been discovered. One shrew of this genus is the smallest or very nearly the smallest mammal in the world, and the specimen which the present writer collected — Sylvisorex johnstoni — was picked up by him in mistake for a beetle, its tail being curled under the body. There is also in all probability a species of hedgehog, Erinaceus diadematus^ with long spines on the forehead, or E. albiventris, with a white- haired stomach and only four toes on the foot. The Rodents are well represented. First may be mentioned representatives of that remarkable family of the Squirrel section, the Anomalurid Fauna : Mammals They live chiefly on fruit, nuts, leaf-buds, and the soft, juicy inner bark immediately next to the woody fibre of branches. The true Squirrels (Sciurus) are represented by at least six species, the largest of which is Stanger's squirrel. This is a creature nearly the size of a rabbit, with coarse rough hair. According to Buttikofer, it lives much on the tops of the oil palms, feeding on the orange-coloured nuts, which have their outer rind full of rich oil. He considers that the vivid orange colour on the breast and belly of this large squirrel partly arises from the staining of their skins by the brightly coloured fat that exudes from the rind of the nuts ; but in this he is mistaken, as allied species found in British Central Africa, where they do not specially live on the oil palms, exhibit the same bright coloration. The flesh of these squirrels is much appre- ciated by natives and Americo-Liberians, partly because of their rich fattening diet. The common Ground squirrel, Xerus erythropus, is one of the few creatures that are really common and frequently seen in Liberia. Although always on the alert, it has little fear of man, and like most of the true squirrels is active in the day- time. The hair of these ground squirrels in almost all the four species is coarse or even spiny. The general colour is reddish yellow. There are only two mammae. The most striking feature, however, is the almost complete absence of ear conches. The ears look as though they had been cropped. Xerus is one of what may be called the " Miocene " genera of Liberia, as a fossil example of that period has been discovered in France (according to Lydekker). But the genus Xerus, though nowadays restricted to Afric.i, is found pretty well all over that continent from Algeria to the Cape. The dormice are represented by several species of Graphiurus (sometimes erected into the separate genera of 695 Liberia * Eliom\f and Clirciglis}. The two dormice Graphiurus (Eliomys) crassicaudatus and C. (£.) nagtglasii are distinguished from .Murus hueti by having bushy tails ; whereas in the more distinctive driiphiurus type the tail is not very long, is rather rat-like, and tufted or pencilled at the end. Hiittikofer records nine species of true mice from Liberia, including the hateful brown rat of world-wide distribution (which, however, is only met with on the coast, where of course it has landed from ships), the common black rat, which here, as throughout Tropical Africa, has become the house rat of the native huts, and the Alexandrine rat of Egypt — little else than a variety of the black rat, but differently coloured, with a white belly and reddish grey fur above. A mouse (Mus musculoides} very like (but smaller than) the common house-mouse of Europe and Asia is present in Liberia. Here, however, it leads a life more resembling in habits that of the harvest mouse. The pretty Barbary mouse, white below and striped horizontally with blackish brown on yellow-brown above, is also a native of this country. A little larger than the true rats is the Pouched Rat, CricetomysgambianuS) which is distinguishable from them at once by its outward appearance. It has a yellowish brown colour, with white under-parts and a white tail, which is hairy and not scaly like a rat's tail. This creature is called " bush rat " by the Americo-Liberians. According to Biittikofer, it lives in deserted ant-hills, and as elsewhere in Africa, is very fond of burrowing under native paths or smooth places devoid of •ration. The natives are clever at following up these burrows and catching the bush rat, which they eat. Its habit of sitting upright on the long feet with the tail as part of the tripod is kangaroo-like, as is also its method of progression, which is generally by leaps from the strong hind-limbs. 696 -•> Fauna : Mammals Of the true porcupines there are two kinds, the common species (Hystrix cristata), which inhabits Southern Europe, North-east and West Africa ; and the Brush-tailed Porcupine, Atherura africana. The last-named is easily distinguished from the first, because it is a smaller animal, the spines are less markedly developed, and the tail is much longer and tipped with a bundle of flattened quills. Atherura is one of the 268. BRUSH-TAILKD PORCUPINE (ATHERURA) numerous genera of mammals and birds which are common to West Africa and South-eastern Asia, though absent in the modern period from the intervening regions of East Africa and India. Another family of porcupine-like rodents exhibits a different relationship in African geographical distribution. This is the group of Octodonts, which is at the present day represented by numerous genera and species in South America and the West Indies, and by two genera in Africa — Pteromys and Thrynomys. 697 Liberia * There are not a few features in the West African fauna which suggest a land connection with Brazil across the Atlantic in the late Secondary and early Tertiary times, but it is not altogether necessary to invoke this change in the bed of the Atlantic to account for the presence of two octodonts in Tropical Africa, since besides the North African Ctenodactylus^ which belongs to an allied family, there are the fossil remains of an octodont in Sicily. This might lead us up through Europe to 269. r.KIMI-'l AILI.D 1'OKCUJ'INK that less ancient connection with North America which united the OKI and the New Worlds. On the other hand, a good many further problems in zoographical distribution postulate this Kocenc connection between West Africa and Brazil, and if in early Tertiary times two or more genera of octodont rodents entered West Africa, they might well have pushed their way northwards as far as Southern Kuropc. The only octodont found in West (as well as Kast) Africa 'he well-known ground pig or ground rat (T'hrynomys 698 Fauna : Mammals swinderenianus}.1 This is a creature nearly as large as a rabbit, and resembling the rabbit also in its delicious flesh.2 It makes a hare-like " form " in long grass or herbage. The fur is coarse and bristly and of a grizzled black and yellow colour. The clumsy thick head has rather small eyes, but very striking incisor teeth, strong, broad, and of a bright orange- colour. The large nostrils are almost depressed into a cavity of bare pink skin. The Carnivora of Liberia, so far as they have yet been noted, consist of the Leopard, Serval, Golden Cat, Civet, a Genet and a Paradoxure, three kinds of Ichneumon and two Otters. It is possible that in addition the lion and the spotted and striped hyaenas may be found in the extreme northern parts of the country, on the Mandingo Plateau. Several Mandingos from the far in- terior whom I questioned persisted in stating that the lion was known in their country. They recognised pictures of it and described it accurately ; but their knowledge of this animal might very well apply to regions of the Mandingo country farther north, beyond the political limits of Liberia. The lion, however, has its place in the folklore of all Western Liberia down to the sea-coast. This may be because all these peoples came 1 Known as " koanya '' by the Vai. 2 Why not try to acclimatise and breed the Thrynomys in Europe, say in France and other Mediterranean countries, for the European food market ? It is a hardy animal and would be a treat to any gourmet. 699 270. THE AFRICAN GROUND- RAT OR OCTODONT (THRYNOMYS) Liberia <*- from the north at one time or another, from beyond the forest at any rate. The Leopard is universally found throughout the country, though not quite so abundant at the present day in the vicinity of Monrovia as it was ten or fifteen years ago. I have seen one.or two exceedingly large skins of this animal at Monrovia in the possession of Dr. Ernest Lyon, American Minister, one 271. III.Ai: fD-RAT ( nikVNOMV.s), TO SHOW HAKE AM) RATHER DKI'KKSSKD NOSTRILS skin being almost equivalent to that of a small lioness in size, though shorter in the legs. This skin was very boldly marked with large black rosettes, and like all forest-dwelling leopards in Equatorial Africa, more resembled the Indian variety than the smaller-spotted leopard of the African open country. The leopard is much dreaded everywhere for its ferocity and cunning, and it enters considerably into the folklore of the people. 700 <+> Fauna : Mammals A remarkable feature in African folklore, by the bye, is the relative scarcity of stories about the lion. The leopard and hysena figure in most of them ; so do the hare, elephant, chimpanzee (where it exists), monkey and baboon. The rarity of or the inconspicuous part played by the lion in these stories is remarkable, since one would have thought it would have made as great an impression on the primitive 272. THE SERVAL CAT (WEST AFRICAN SPECIMEN FROM LIBERIAN BORDER) Negro mind as on that of the prehistoric and even historic natives of Europe. Is it possible that the lion in Africa south of the Sahara, like the tiger in India, may be a recent arrival^? This seems difficult to believe. The Serval cat is fairly common in Liberia ; elsewhere in Africa it is more associated with an open country than with dense forest. A scarcer but more interesting species 701 Liberia <•- is the Ti«rer Cut of the I ,iberians — the Golden Cat of our museums (l\'lis celitlogaster'). This animal is not peculiar to Liberia, but its distribution, so far - as we know, is absolutely confined to the forest region of West Africa. Its ratine on the west begins at the Gambia. There is no reason why, like so many other forest forms, it should not extend eastwards to the north-eastern limits of the Congo Basin. But hitherto it has not been recorded from farther east than Dahome. A remarkable and hitherto unexplained feature of this type of forest cat is the existence apparently side by side of two well-marked varieties. One form of Felis celidogaster is almost coppery red in the general coloration on the upper parts, the spots being small and faint, and fusing so much into the reddish grey colour of the intervening fur that in some lights the whole upper surface of the body appears to be copper-colour. Nearer to the whitish flanks, on the cheeks and breast, these spots, however, become black, and occasionally lengthen out into short stripes. Between the white parts and the deep reddish brown of the upper there is not infrequently a beautiful pale gold tinge in the fur. The other variety is somewhat larger in size, with a proportionately bigger head, rather shorter, smoother hair, with larger and very distinct dark brown spots on a lighter grey ground. This greyer type has also these patches of pale golden-yellow between the under and upper parts ot the body and on the lower cheeks. 1 he grey type in the males sometimes grows to almost the si/e ot a caracal, but the copper-coloured variety is scarcely larger than a big domestic cat. Both of these types occur side by side in Liberia. Until I was able to prove this by the collection of skins "t both types from the same locality (of which a photographic 702 The Golden Cat (Fclis celidogastcr) -+> Fauna : Mammals illustration is here given) I thought that the copper-coloured variety was characteristic of the western, and the larger grey form of the eastern, part of Liberia. Apparently German collectors have shown the presence of both these types in Togoland, to the east of the Gold Coast. This cat is of an extremely savage and untamable disposition, though it is some- times seen in menageries and will live in captivity. It is 1 2 273. SKINS OF FELIS CELIDOGASTER FROM CENTRAL LIBERIA 1. Smaller, copper-coloured type. 2. Large grey and dark-spotted type. said by the Liberians to be most bloodthirsty, and to do as much damage amongst fowls and the smaller domestic animals as the leopard ; in fact, it is often called " the leopard's brother." The big Civet " cat " is very common throughout Liberia, and in former centuries provided by its musk gland an important article in Liberian commerce. The Pardine Genet is still more frequently met with, and equally abundant is the two-spotted Paradoxure or Palm civet, Nandinia binotata. This 703 Liberia <+- last is a very tamable creature if caught young. The Liberians call it the u bush cat" (they actually misname the civet a raccoon " !). It is a pretty little animal, of grey, with dark bnnvn spots. This creature, together with the genet, is such a splendid mouser and ratter that it is surprising it has not been more effectively domesticated by the Liberians, who prefer to import domestic cats from England, though in some of the villages the aborigines keep these paradoxures or genets. The two-spotted palm civet is chiefly nocturnal in its habits, but when kept in captivity it is not reluctant to move about in the daytime.1 There are two species of Ichneumon or mongoose, I/erpestes -pluto and H. gracilis. There is one species of Smooth-nosed mongoose, the Kusimanse (Crossarchus obscurus}. This creature is very much given to burrowing and using its long and flexible nose like a snout to root out insects from all sorts of crevices. It is a dull yellow-brown in colour, with a not very long tail, which is most heavily bushed near the base, and not at the tip. This Kusimanse, which is very common in Liberia, and often kept as a tame animal by the Americo-Liberians, has become largely an insect-eater in its diet, and is consequently most useful in ridding the houses of insect pests, especially cockroaches. It is extremely rapid in its movements, and most inquisitive, becoming rather a pest at last by the interest which it takes in one's movements. It keeps up a rather fidgety, querulous, purring noise. Still, it is an animal of which the domestication should be encouraged by bounties in West Africa on account of the vigorous war it carries on against the vile insects, scorpions, spiders, mice, and small snakes. I have stated that I lyivnas may stray within the limits 1 Like the civet, it lives partly on vegetable food, fruits, and nuts. 704 -•> Fauna : Mammals of Northern Liberia. This probability has also been mentioned, quite independent of my own researches, by French explorers. The Mandingos who gave me information about the creatures of the country beyond the forest were positive in asserting the existence there of the spotted hyaena, and some of them in their stories discriminated between a spotted and a striped hyaena, so that both forms may be found co-existing on the Mandingo Plateau, as they are known to do in a band of Africa stretching right across the continent from the basin of 274. THE T\V the Gambia to Kilimanjaro.1 The Mandingos call the hyaena djawa and djani (or dlawa^ diant]. It is possible that the first term is applied to the spotted and the second to the striped form. But in addition to their stones of these two types of known hyaenas, they persist in describing a third kind, said to be much 1 An example of the striped sub-genus of hyaenas — H. brunnea — also reappears in South Africa, co-existing there likewise with the spotted form. VOL. II 705 13 Liberia * larger than cither of the other two, which they know by the name of u Siruku," and describe emphatically as a avery bad animal." They say that this Siruku is extremely ferocious and dangerous to life. It is a striped beast, and, curiously enough, 275. TIIK TUO-.M'OM I.I) J'.\KAIX>\I KK, ok 1'ALM CIVET when 1 was endeavouring to ascertain if the zebra existed on the Mandingo Plateau and showed them pictures of zebras they called them at first u siruku," and said, "That is the bad animal in our country that kills so many human beings." When I explained that the zebra was merely a striped horse, 706 "** Fauna : Mammals they thought in that case that it certainly could not be the siruku, and one man told me the latter was more like "a great dog." They were positive that the siruku had nothing to do with the leopard, which animal they call " soli." Some months after these conversations were noted down, I was reading the work De la Cote d'lvoire au Soudan, by Captain d'Ollone. (Captain d'Ollone, together with M. Hostains, con- ducted a remarkable journey of exploration through Eastern and Northern Liberia in 1898-1900.) In this book, on p. 293, may be found the following statements : " II me faut mentionner . . . 1'existence de deux sortes d'hyenes [he is writing of the Mandingo country, on or within the boundaries of Liberia] beaucoup plus grandes, plus fortes et plus hardie, que celles d'Algerie ou d'Orient. Mais Tune surtout, que les indigenes appellent ' sowara ' (cheval-panthere) * serait formid- able et inspire un tres grande terreur. Un sowara avait tue un sergent francos dans une case peu avant notre passage. Cette hyene serait, parait-il, tachetee." Captain d'Ollone distinguishes this hyaena as spotted, whereas my Mandingo friends said it was striped. I have noticed that in a variety of the spotted hyaena on the north- eastern borders of the Congo Forest the markings are black, and very distinct, and the spots run here and there into short horizontal stripes. Can it be possible that the regions of the Mandingo Plateau preserve a fifth species of African hyaena, possibly something like the Cave hyasna of Inter-Glacial Europe ? Although no specimen of Jackal has yet been sent home from Liberia or recorded by collectors, the natives constantly refer to a species of wild dog, possibly the side-striped jackal of West Africa. This creature is called in the Vai language " korigbere." 1 The " sowara " might, of course, be a large cheetah (Cyncclunis). 707 Liberia <•- The Clawless Otter (Lutra or Aonyx capensis} is found in Liberia as well as in most of the rivers of South and West Africa. It is a much larger animal than the European otter, or than the spotted-necked otter, which is the other kind found in Liberia. This type of otter (the sub-genus also exists throughout Tropical Asia) is noteworthy from the almost complete absence of claws on its feet. There is scarcely a trace of the claws on the fingers of the fore-feet ; but on the toes of the hind-feet there are rudiments of claws on the middle toes, and small pits or depressions on the outer toes. These pits may also be distinguished on the ringers of the fore-feet. The colour of the shining fur is uniform brown. Lutra maculicollis (the spotted-necked otter), which ranges in its distribution nearly all over Tropical Africa, is about the size of the European otter. Its throat is whitish yellow, the upper parts of the body being a dark glossy brown. The edges of this white patch are very jagged, so as to give it the appearance of detached white spots on the neck, whence its name. These yellowish white spots and patches occur on the chest and belly as well. The hoofed mammals of Liberia include several peculiar or interesting types. There is perhaps only one species of Tree 1 lyrax (Procavia dorsalis}.1 Some ten members out of fifteen of this genus2 are really tree-dwelling mammals, about the size ot a rabbit. I<\>r a long time the best-known species were 1 Hiittikoler distinguishes two species, Procavia dorsalis and P. stamp/Hi \ the last-named form was apparently described from a single specimen collected In Stampfli. Huttikofer's companion. Its specific distinction from P. dorsalis has not yet been admitted. - //JVVM- was in general use- as tin; Latin name of this genus, but has been lately in favour of Procai'ia. An attempt has been made to provide name lor these animals by adopting the Cape Dutch term, "dassy" h really means //n,/^,-/) ; but it seems to the present writer more convenient :;iliar name " hyrax " as the vernacular title. Many zoologists retain 708 -+> Fauna : Mammals those of Southern and Eastern Africa, Syria and Arabia, which had taken, like the baboon, to living amongst rocks instead of trees ; but even the rock-dwelling hyraxes are able to climb, being able, like their arboreal congeners, to ascend almost per- pendicular surfaces by the sucker-like action of the naked foot- pads on the under-side of the paws. Procavia dorsalis is perhaps the largest of the hyraxes, the size of a big domestic rabbit. It is covered with long hair, grey towards the tip, so that the animal has a somewhat grizzled appearance. Along the lower part of the back, just over the spine, is a long patch of white hair, such as is met with in most of the tree hyraxes. This white mark, which covers a gland in the skin, is particularly noteworthy in Procavia dorsalis^ the common tree hyrax of West Africa. When the animal is excited it makes all its hair stand out rather like a porcupine's quills, and the white hairs above this gland then part somewhat from side to side, showing a patch of bluish naked skin. The uses of this gland, so strangely placed, do not seem yet to be known. Procavia stampflii, if it be a valid species or sub- species, is distinguished from P. dorsalis by being of smaller size. These tree hyraxes differ from the steppe and rock- haunting members of the genus in the number of their vertebrae and in the pattern of the molar teeth. The almost rudimentary tail which remains concealed within the body has, however, four more vertebrae, ten in all, in the tree hyraxes. The animals of this group are really much modified descendants of an extremely primitive and ancient type of two genera in this family, Procavia and Dendrohyra.v, the last-named for the tree-dwelling members of the group; but there is scarcely a sufficient generic distinction between them. 709 Liberia <*• ungulate.1 The toes in the hind-feet are restricted to three in number, but the hands are really five-toed, though the first toe (our thumb) is reduced to a mere rudiment concealed beneath the skin. As regards the teeth, the adult hyraxes are much more specialised than their young, for the milk teeth in these animals show a dentition of three pairs of incisors above, t\vo pairs below, and a pair of canines in both jaws. The old animal has one pair of incisors and a pair of canines in the upper jaw, and two pairs of incisors and no canines in the lower jaw, the grinding teeth in both jaws consisting of the common mammalian formula of four pairs of premolars and three pairs of molars. The canine tooth in the upper jaw usually drops out when the second set of teeth makes its appear- ance. Consequently, the usual dentition of these animals in the adult form and to ordinary observers consists of a very rodent-like pair of gnawing teeth above and two pairs of gnawing teeth below, with a considerable interval in the front of each jaw between these small tusks (as they ultimately become). This space is less marked in the young animal, as it is filled up, in the upper jaw, by a minute middle pair of incisors, which afterwards drop out. The upper incisors project considerably from the animal's cloven lips, and the natives of Liberia assert (as do other Africans) that these tree hyraxes help themselves in their climbing by driving their tusks into the bark. They can of- course inflict very serious bites with these sharp incisors. The molar teeth alone would serve to class the hyrax amongst the great group of ungulates ; but these little creatures are in another sense hoofed animals, in that (with one ex- 1 Dr. Clialmcrs MitrliHI in the Tninwlinns of tin- Zoological Society for |"ii the Intestinal Trart ol Mammals), demonstrates the "primitive mammalian " pattern of the intestines in the I lyraconica. They have, for example, d pair of en-en (blind guts). 710 -* Fauna : Mammals ception) the toes are armed with broad hoof-like nails, little hoofs in fact. The exception is a very remarkable one. The innermost or second toe (the hallux or big toe is wanting) is armed not with a hoof but with a long curved claw, thus recalling one of the features of the lemurs. There may be more in this than a mere accidental resemblance. The lemurs seem to be connected by fossil forms with the basal stock from which originated the ungulates, and there is much else about the hyraxes which suggests their descent from a very primitive and generalised type of mammal, that in relationships was not far removed from the parent forms of the Anthropoidea. The tree hyraxes are nocturnal in habits in Liberia as in other parts of forested Africa. They eat leaves chiefly, and dwell in holes in the trees, which they enlarge and excavate with their gnawing teeth. As on Kilimanjaro and Ruwenzori, so in Liberia, they terrify the natives by their weird night-cries, which ring through the forest. The Elephant is still abundantly met with in Liberia at a distance of forty or fifty miles from the coast, and thence inland till the Mandingo Plateau is reached. In fact, the dense forest is full of elephants, to a degree which sometimes makes travelling dangerous, for the Liberian elephant seems unusually prone to attack mankind without provocation. The elephants do enor- mous damage to native plantations, but if they are undisturbed in these ravages do not seem to interfere with the native houses. Either they are not so abundant, however, as one or two centuries ago, or the natives are more cowardly about attacking them, for the output of ivory from Liberia has dwindled to a very small quantity ; whereas when the land was first visited by Europeans elephants' tusks were brought for sale in large quantities. Captain Scarvell Cape, who explored the western parts of Liberia in 1903, considered that elephants were still very 711 Liberia <•- abundant near the Mano River, where the natives are bold hunters and collect much ivory. So far as my information goes, the largest tusk that has been seen and weighed in the country of late years did not scale more than 75 Ib.,1 and it is generally reported that the elephants in Liberia, as in other parts of forested West Africa, do not grow to the same size and weight as the enormous developments of Eastern Equatorial Africa, wherein 250 Ib. for a single tusk is about the record. There is a persistent story told by several recent travellers in Liberia and the neighbouring Ivory Coast that the country produces a pygmy breed of elephant, as it does a pygmy hippopotamus — that is to say, a variety of elephant which does not grow to a large size. I can only repeat this story, which may have some truth in it ; but it is quite possible that the idea has arisen from seeing young elephants with their milk teeth, and taking them for adults. Another feature of interest which should be inquired into is the shape and relative size of the ear. We have not yet arrived at a correct classification of the African elephant, any more than we have completely classified the African anthropoid apes. Professor Matschie, the Hon. Walter Rothschild, and other authorities have asserted of late that the African elephant is divisible into four or five local varieties or sub-species, and that the elephant of forested West Africa differs from those of the open country and of East Africa by having a proportionately smaller ear, which instead of ending below in a long pointed lobe is rounded and curtailed in the lower part. I hope these lines may meet the eyes of any Europeans or Liberians who may chance to kill an elephant and who will take the trouble to photograph or measure the shape and si/e of the ear. The Mandingos of the northern parts of Liberia assert that 1 I think 80 Ib. is tin- recorded limit. 712 .+> Fauna: Mammals a Rhinoceros exists in their country. They recognised at once pictures of the common two-horned rhinoceros, and named it ukowuru." This is a very interesting question to be examined into in the future. It seems strange that the rhinoceros should be absent from the open country of West Africa at the back of the forest, since it is found so abundantly in the Eastern Sudan, in Eastern, South-western1 and South Central Africa. But although its existence is constantly asserted or reported by 276. SKULL OF LIBERIAN HIPPOPOTAMUS (HIPPOPOTAMUS LIBl.KIKNSIs) Arabs, Hausas, or Mandingos in the regions of West Central Africa between Lake Chad and the Upper Niger, no vestige of a rhinoceros has ever been sent to Europe or America from those regions. Until therefore some direct evidence of its existence can be laid before us we must consider the question u not proven." 1 The author saw a rhinoceros killed in the southern part of Angola (Lower Kunene River) when with Axel Eriksson in 1882 (Lord Mayo's expedition). The rhinoceros ranges north from the Zambezi into the southern part of the Congo Basin. 713 Liberia <+- The same doubt exists about any species of horse being indigenous in the western third of Africa. So far, no form of zebra or wild ass has ever been collected for science west of Lake Chad. When the present writer visited the Tunisian Sahara, much-travelled Berbers or Tawareq assured him that far to the south, in the western Sahara Desert, there were wild asses, similar, in the description they gave, to the wild ass of Nubia ; and seeing the identical conditions of the country west of Lake Chad with the country east of it, it is difficult to understand why the ass should have stopped short in its westward range. Still farther south, in the better watered lands, it is equally difficult to understand why there should be no zebras in the Niger Basin and at the head-waters of the Senegal, the Gambia, and the Sierra Leone rivers ; but so far, although many familiar Kast African mammals have been obtained on the Upper Gambia (such as the giraffe, which is also reported to exist on the Mandingo Plateau) no trace of either zebra or rhinoceros has yet been obtained. One of the peculiar forms of Liberia is the Pygmy I [ippopotamus. This relatively rare creature probably exists also in the rivers of the Ivory Coast and of Eastern Sierra Leone, though it has never yet been recorded from either country. The big hippopotamus seems to be completely absent from this part of forested West Africa. I cannot say whether it has ever been found on the rivers of the Gold Coast, but it is certainly present east of Dahome in all the important streams, and is of course abundant in parts of the Niger, Cameroons and Congo, whilst it was once very common in the Senegal, the Gambia, and in the rivers to the west of Sierra Leone, as well as being abundant in the Upper Niger and in all the Niger affluents. But although in some works of natural history it has been asserted that the big hippopotamus was found on -* Fauna : Mammals the Cavalla River, this is strenuously denied by all the European explorers and educated Liberians who have visited the Cavalla. All persons, native and foreign, whom I have questioned on the subject in Liberia declare that the only type of hippopotamus known within the limits of that country is the pygmy form (Hippopotamus liberiensis}. The dwarf hippopotamus of West Africa is in some respects slightly more specialised than its big relation. I am not aware that it is specially related to the pygmy hippopotamus of Malta and Sicily, now extinct. It is usually found with only one pair of incisor teeth in the lower jaw (having, like the common hippopotamus, two pairs of incisors in the upper jaw). But this is not a constant feature, as the number of incisors in the lower jaw may some- times be three. I give an illustration of this from a skull in the British Museum. The pygmy hippopotamus is also thought to walk more on 277. LOWKR JAW OF PIGMY H1PPO- the two middle toes of each foot POTAMUS than on the whole four, the side Showing °ccasional three incisor teeth toes being slightly raised from the ground. It has a larger brain case and a shorter muzzle (proportionately) than the big form. It has the same tendency to bristles on the broad upper lip, though perhaps these are not quite so markedly developed as in the big hippopotamus. There are a few bristly hairs at the end of the tail. The coloration of the naked skin of the body differs from that of the big hippopotamus in being more of a bluish or greenish grey, without so much tendency to purple or to pink or pinkish grey or pinkish brown on the lower parts and under the great folds of skin. The colour of the living Liberian 715 Liberia *- hippopotamus is not such a deep bluish black as in the only three or tour stuffed specimens in museums (so at least I am told by those who have seen it alive or freshly killed).1 It is a bluish grey above, warming here and there into a purplish tint, and on the belly changing into yellowish grey. The Liberian hippopotamus, especially where it is much disturbed by man, is very nocturnal in its habits, concealing itself in the daytime in the water or in the dense vegetation - surrounding the streams, and coming out at night to feed. It has been asserted by Biittikofer and others that it frequents the water less than the big hippopotamus, and is more of a forest-haunting animal ; but this description is not borne out by the natives or by other European observers, who all assert that it frequents the streams nearly if not quite as much as its big brother.3 It does, however, undoubtedly make con- siderable journeys into the forest at night, and I should think went farther away from the water than the big hippopotamus, being of course more agile in its movements. It is perhaps only one-third the size of a full-grown specimen of the common hippopotamus. The only recorded species of swine indigenous to Liberia is the handsome Red river hog. Dapper in his accounts of the drain Coast and the vicinity of Cape Mount states that there are two kinds of wild pig in the country, the first being the Red river hog and the second a much larger species, tall and black of hair, with sharp tusks and of a very fierce 1 Mr. Govv, however, writes : " The skin is about half an inch thick : very smooth ;ind f//^v/A//V-roloured." This refers to specimens he saw in 1904 in the Uukwia River. I'ygmy hippopotamus pushes its way through the dense herbage of reeds, ^r.i-s, mar.-mtaceous plants, giant arums, and bushes of diverse kinds so as to form long tunnels (rather than paths) through the vegetation in which it often remain 1 during tin- daytime. 'iuents the water very much." — G»>w. 7'" The Pygmy Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus lihcrtciisis) •+> Fauna : Mammals disposition, much dreaded by the natives. Curiously enough, Mr. Maitland Pye-Smith, who resided for some months in the eastern part of Liberia on behalf of the Monrovian Rubber Company, wrote to me that in the Kelipo country the natives asserted the existence in the surrounding forest of a large black pig, which they described as being five or six feet long. Mr. Pye-Smith was struck with the resemblance that their 278. THE RED RIVER HOG (POTAMOCHCERUS PORCUS) stories offered to the description which had just reached him through The Field newspaper of the forest pig of Eastern Equatorial Africa — Hylochcerus meinert-zhageni. This animal, which is perhaps the biggest of existing pigs,1 was described recently by Mr. Oldfield Thomas as being of a type offering relationships both to the river hogs of Africa (Potamochotrus) 1 Unless Mr. Walter Rothschild's " Colossochoerus " of the Congo Forest exists and is the size he estimates— that of a rhinoceros. 717 Liberia <+- and the wart hogs (Phacochnrus\ and perhaps to certain extinct types of Southern Europe. The examples he described reached him from the forests round Mount Kenia ; but prior to the arrival of these specimens from the Kenia district in Kastcrn Africa, examples of this forest pig had already been discovered in the north-eastern part of the Congo Forest.1 I .emends of the existence of this giant pig had earlier still been transmitted by the late Sir Henry Stanley and myself from the same regions. G. L. Bates, the well-known collector, who has made such a remarkable study of the fauna of the Cameroons region, first sent back similar stories of a giant black pig found in that part of the African forest region, and then actually discovered and transmitted its skull ; 2 so that it is quite conceivable that a species of Hylochcerus may still be found lingering in the interior forests of Liberia, having been killed out by man in the intervening country. The Red river hog is found abundantly throughout Liberia, and its geographical range probably stretches from the vicinity of the Gambia on the west to the borders of the Uganda Protectorate on the east, and from the west coast of Tanganyika to Angola and the Lower Congo. It is the only handsome member of the pig family, the head not being quite so disproportionately large, and the body being well covered with thick, short, glossy hair (except on the back, where the hair lengthens into a mane), while the ends of the ears are tufted with long white plumes. The colour of this animal is a bright orange-red, with black and white marks on the face, white tufts at the end of the ears, and a long white mane along the back. The young 1 To he seen in the Congo Museum at Tervueren, Brussels. 2 The ( ameroons type of Forest pig has been named by Mr. Oldfield Thomas Hylochoerus rimator. This is a more specialised form than the East African type. 718 -* Fauna : Mammals of this pig are very brightly marked with long parallel stripes of yellowish white on a blackish or umber ground. These horizontal white lines on the upper surface of the body from the nape of the neck to the tail are succeeded on the flanks by short vertical stripes, with perhaps one or more horizontal stripes along the sides of the belly. In fact, the young of this Potamochcerus seem to exhibit more clearly than the young of any other known pig the white stripes of the primitive ungulates. These, we know, may also be seen in the young of the tapir. It is probable that the original markings in the Horse family were white or light-coloured on a dark ground. The fragment of hide that was found in a Patagonian cave belonging to an extinct genus of horses (Hippidium) was said to have been foxy red, marked with faint white spots. In most of the existing species of horse the white stripes and spots1 have grown and extended until the original patches of dark hair between them (which also in most cases have darkened from a bay-brown to umber or black) appear to be stripes, instead of actually the last vestiges of the original dark colour of the intervals between the white markings. When in this way the lighter markings have so grown and extended that they have cleared away nearly all the dark colour, they have darkened at the same time from white to mouse-colour or russet- brown. These primitive ungulate spots and stripes of white are retained by most of the chevrotains (Tragulid*\ and by a large number of ruminants (Pecora). The young of the wild boar of Europe and Asia, of some of the Asiatic pigs of the genus S#J, and of all the pigs of 1 It is possible that the North European breed of dappled horses so frequently seen in London streets — dappled in white and dark grey — may be descended from a wild form which was largely spotted with white on a dark grey ground. The dapplings or faint light spots may be distinguished through the chestnut brown of most domestic horses on the hindquarters. 719 Liberia <*- the genus Potamochcerus are marked with light-coloured spots and stripes during immaturity ; but this spotted condition has passed away from the young wart hogs, from the babirusa, and, it is generally asserted, from the young of the domestic pig. It is, however, interesting to observe that the domestic pigs of Liberia frequently produce young that are marked in the orthodox way with horizontal and vertical whitish stripes. Lither this is due to some degree of hybridising with the red river hog, or these domestic pigs of Liberia are descended from a more primitive stock nearer to the original wild boar, and have retained or regained this archaic feature of the spotted young. The Red river hog in Liberia, as in so many other parts ot forested Africa, is readily tamed when caught young. It is, in fact, the only indigenous African animal that the Negro has made even a slight attempt to domesticate. The Red river hog exists (we were told by Schweinfurth) in a semi-domesticated state amongst the Mangbettu of the Nile-Congo watershed, and it is occasionally tamed in parts of the Lower Niger and West Africa. Although mostly reared in captivity, and very willing to mingle with herds of domestic swine, no Negro race has yet succeeded in getting this pig established as a domestic animal. The single examples that are caught and tamed trom time to time do not seem to be encouraged to breed with their own species ; all they do is to inter-breed with the domestic pig (if any are present), and thus to some extent influence that race. The flesh of the Red river hog is excellent eating, equally appreciated by black men and white. It is, as I have said, a really handsome animal, and the Liberians would do well to make a determined effort whilst it is still common in 720 "* Fauna : Mammals their country to domesticate it for good and all. It is very cleanly in its habits, and dislikes dirt or dirty surroundings, and seems to be naturally very good-tempered. Biittikofer gives a charming description of the affection that grew up between a young chimpanzee and a river hog in the garden of his house in Liberia. The chimpanzee used to ride the river hog astride on its back. It is pleasant to note that the 279. SKl'LL OF MALE WATER CHEVROTAIN (DOBCATHERIUli) From a specimen in British Museum ; to show long, curved, and flattened upper canines pig which figured in this anecdote of Buttikofer's lived long and happily, after it left Liberia, in the Zoological Gardens at Amsterdam. We now come to the consideration of a remarkable beast native to Liberia and a good deal of the coast and forest regions of West Africa, one of those animals which entitle one to refer to Liberia as being still in the Fauna : Mammals reference to the structure of their molar teeth or the specialisa- tion of their stomachs connected with the re-chewing of food. In the Chevrotains, the stomach is less specialised than the digestive apparatus of the Pecora and Camels, having but three (instead of four) separate compartments. Although the mo- lar teeth of the chevrotains are selenodont — that is to say, with a grinding surface crumpled into crescentic folds — the foremost of the premolars (as may be seen from my illustration of the skull) are narrow teeth with quite a sharp cutting-edge, a more primitive feature than can be met with in the Deer, Giraffes, Cattle, and Antelopes. The Chevrotains also offer more generalised charac- teristics in regard to the placenta. But perhaps the most in- teresting feature in these little animals is the structure of the limbs. Any one glancing at the skeleton of a cow or sheep will notice that in the fore and hind limbs the bones between the wrist and heel joints and the knuckles or instep are fused into a single long bone, instead of being as many in number as the functional toes. The ox, for example, is a two-toed animal, walking on what would be equivalent in us to the third and fourth fingers (counting the thumb as the first finger). But the bones that are called the metacarpal and 723 281. HIND-LEG OF WATER CHEVROTAIN Liberia <•- the metatarsal, answering to the hones in our hands and feet, instead of being two in number to match the two functional toes, are fused into a single bone, though there is in the ox the trace of a division up the middle of what is termed the "cannon bone." In many ruminants, however, there is not even the trace of an original division between these two bones, which are completely fused together. The oxen, sheep, antelopes, and especially the deer have vestiges on the sides of their cannon bones of the metatarsals and metacarpals of the side toes — that is to say, the second and fifth toes. Sometimes these vestiges are mere nodules of bone above the little side hoofs ; in other instances they are slender splints, either growing upwards from the side toes to a vanishing-point half-way up the cannon bone, or starting from the wrist and heel joints and only descending half-way down the cannon bone from above. But the interesting feature above all in the West African Dorcatherlum (for it is less markedly developed in the Asiatic members of the family) is that this animal retains complete and distinct all its four metacarpal and metatarsal bones, so that it is actually a four-toed animal like the pig. The bones of the hind-feet, it is true, are ap- proaching a condition of fusion. The two side metatarsals are tucked away at the back of the two middle metatarsals, so that the hind-feet are as slender and compact in outward appearance as those of a deer. The fore-feet are likewise very slender and elegant, but the side metatarsals are more separate and distinct in development. The Water Chevrotain nevertheless appears to walk on the edges or tips of its middle hoofs, and the side toes never touch the ground in normal progression. It is perhaps needless to remark that the Dorcathcr'mm, like the rest of its family, has no horns; but the male develops what are possibly weapons of offence in the upper canine teeth. 724 ^ Fauna : Mammals There is no trace of any upper canine tooth or tusk in any adult sheep, ox, goat, antelope or giraffe ; but these tusks are retained by many of the deer, and in some of them are developed to a much greater extent than in the tragulids. In all this great group of Selenodonts the lower canine tooth is pushed closely up to the lower incisors, and any ordinary observer 282. TIIK \V.\TI.K < HKVROTAIN From a female specimen from Central Liberia, presented by author to Zoological Gardens would mistake it for a fourth incisor. In the Tragulids the lower canine is slenderer, slightly more pointed, and not pressed quite so close up to the third incisor as it is in all the Pecora. In the female Water chevrotain the upper canine is quite a small and useless tooth, a mere vestige, which only projects about an eighth of an inch from the gum ; but in the full-grown 725 Liberia *- male it is a curved tusk of over an inch in length. Its shape may he seen from my drawing of the skull. The size of this animal is perhaps in the full-grown male about three feet long, from the tip of the snout to the end of the rump, the fluffy tail being about another eight inches. Its height at the shoulder is about two feet. It is quite the largest member of the family, the Asiatic representatives dwindling in size from that of a large rabbit to a tiny little creature, smaller than the smallest toy terrier, and consequently quite the most minute hoofed animal in existence. In coloration the Water chevrotain is a rich brown, which is slightly darker in the male than in the female, and this brown coat is marked more or less vividly with horizontal white streaks and spots. There is considerable individual variation in the arrangement of the spots, but the horizontal white streaks are pretty constant. The coloured drawing which I have made of this animal to assist its identification in Liberia is done from skins seen in that country and from the living example in the Zoological Gardens obtained from Central Liberia. The Water chevrotain is still very little known in its habits and geographical distribution by the scientific world. It has been recorded hitherto from the southern portion of the Gambia country, and thence through the coast regions of Guinea past Sierra Leone and Liberia to the Ivory Coast. I believe it has not yet been met with on the Gold Coast or recorded from Lagos and the Niger Delta. The present writer found traces of its existence, however, in the country behind Old Calabar, and Mr. G. L. Bates has reported it to exist in the Cameroons region. It is probably found throughout the northern part of the Congo Basin, for Major Powell Cotton has recently obtained an example from the Ituri District (not far from Uganda). This is possibly a new species. 726 -*> Fauna: Mammals It is sufficiently abundant in Liberia and Sierra Leone to have entered much into the native folklore. The indigenous Negroes of Liberia highly respect its supposed intelligence or cunning. They say that it is an animal which sleeps with its eyes open, and is extremely difficult to surprise. It is largely nocturnal in its habits, taking during the daytime to the water, where it will remain for hours immersed, with only just its nose above the surface. It swims and dives with ease. Its food of course is vegetable (in spite of the native story that it eats fish), and it would appear to subsist mainly on grass, water-weeds, water-lily roots, etc. In the folklore of the Vai and Mende peoples and perhaps elsewhere in Guinea, it sometimes takes the place of the hare,1 " Brer Rabbit " (the hare being equivalent in many ways to our a Reynard the Fox"). Throughout Africa the Hare is the basis of many superstitions, prejudices and beast stories. This feeling about the hare, as we know, extended even to the ancient Jews, who for some reason highly disapproved of it as an article of food. There are apparently no hares in the densely forested regions of Liberia and Sierra Leone, and the place there- fore of this (supposed) astute animal in the beast stories is taken by the Water chevrotain or the Royal antelope. The native name of the Dorcatherium in the Vai language is gberima : in the DO o Kru tongues, tu. The natives declare that the Water chevrotain will some- times walk or climb up a sloping and projecting tree trunk, branch, or snag which overhangs a stream, and lie prone along its surface. Its coat is then so like the dappled appearance of the bark that it is hard to distinguish the Chevrotain from 1 It is not altogether certain that this is so. The little creature known as 11 Cunnie Rabbit " in the Sierra Leone English, or sail in the Vai tongue, is probably the Royal antelope — Neotragus pygnuzus. 727 Liberia <«- its surroundings. The instant it is conscious of observation it dives into the water. The Pecorii are fairly well represented in Liberia, though these forest regions have not the wealth of antelope life which is such a splendid feature of the open country in Tropical Africa. The Tragelaphs are represented by the beautiful Harnessed antelope (Tragelaphus scriptus — see pp. 737 and 740), with its red-gold coat of long silky hair brilliantly striped and spotted with white ; and by the still more magnificent Broad-horned tragelaph or Bon£jo ' — Boocercus eurycerus. There should also be, one would think, the Gigantic eland of West Africa — Taurotragus derbianus— which is found in the interior of the Gambia, French Guinea, Sierra Leone, and at intervals throughout West Africa till the Bahr-al-Ghazal and northern basin of the Congo are reached ; but, so far, no record of this eland's existence in Liberia has been obtained. The Broad-horned tragelaph is perhaps found in the interior of the forested regions of Sierra Leone, but I do not think it has been recorded from any other part of Africa west of Sierra Leone. Its range, with one or two local variations of type, however, is a very wide one, as it extends throughout the coast regions of Western Africa (Sierra Leone and Liberia, the Ivory Coast and the Gold Coast), to the Cameroons, the Gaboon, and the greater part of the Congo Basin, right away to the easternmost frontiers of the Uganda Protectorate. In a remark- able way (akin possibly to the distribution of the forest pig) it reappears after a break in Uganda in the forested regions of the Nandi Plateau, north-east of the Victoria Nyanza. Here a hint of its rediscovery was first obtained by the late Captain B. L. Sclater. Mr. Jackson, a sub-commissioner in those regions, sent home horns of this tragelaph, and so did the present writer in 1901, who obtained them from Andorobo hunters in the Nandi forests. 1 failed by the Germans the Lyre-horned antelope. 728 -•> Fauna : Mammals Hut these horns puzzled such authorities as Dr. Sclater, because though differing from tragelaphs of the Nyala type they were not exactly similar to those of the Hongo of West Africa. The mystery was cleared up by Mr. F. W. Isaac, who in 1901 and 1902 obtained magnificent specimens (now in the British Museum) of male and female Bongos from the forests of the Nandi Plateau. It was then seen that this East African type was very slightly different from the West African in its markings, and that the female bongo had horns, just as the female eland develops these appendages. It is prob- able, though it has not yet been established, that in the West African bongo the females are also horned.1 The horns of the female are shorter and a little straighter and are not so widely separated in the middle as are those of the male. There is very little difference in coloration between the East and the West African forms ; but it would seem as though in the East African type the large white spots on the cheeks were fused into a long white line, whereas in the West African type the spots remain separate. The East African type also may develop slightly larger horns in the male. In the size and shape of its body, and above all in the tail, which is long, cow- like and tufted, this animal resembles the eland more than any other tragelaph. It does not attain to the same beauty of outline and grace as may be witnessed in the kudu, but it is in coloration one of the brightest and handsomest of mammals. The coat is for the most part a splendid red-gold, boldly striped and marked with pure white. There are blackish brown patches on the inside of the ears ; the face, throat and limbs (chiefly on the inner side) have bold white markings, and this white 1 Du Chaillu sent home from the Gaboon in 1858 a specimen which was obviously a female, though the possession of horns compelled Dr. Gray to class it as a male. 729 Liberia * coloration on the limbs is further set off by the black of their outer surface. The thin short mane along the neck and back varies from black to white. The broad, boldly twisted horns are white at the tip. This handsome tragelaph is found throughout the forest region of Liberia, from the Sierra Leone frontier to the Cavalla River. It is usually miscalled the "elk" by the Americo-Liberians ; by the Vai it is known as gen^ and by the Kru peoples as bodebe. I have seen a pair of its horns obtained from a place within twenty-two miles of Monrovia. Bovines are represented in Liberia by perhaps two species or varieties of buffalo — namely, the red buffalo of the Congo (Bubalus nanus} and the Senegalese or Lake Chad type of the smaller African buffalo (Bubalus planiceros). The last-named has blackish brown hair, and horns which are intermediate in type between the much-reduced horns of the Congo buffalo and the long out-spreading horns of the South and East African type. French explorers of Eastern and Northern Liberia assert that the red buffalo with the short horns is found in the forest region, and that where the forest gives way to the open country on the Mandingo Plateau its place is taken by what might be termed the Senegalese type, character- istic of the Gambia, upper and central Niger regions. This last I am able to illustrate by photographs of the living specimen from West Africa in the London Zoological Gardens. The illustration of the horns of the smaller red-haired type is re- produced from an example illustrated by H. S. Pel, the Dutch official and naturalist, who described (about 1850) a skull of this buffalo from the (.old Coast. It exactly resembles specimens which I have myself seen in the possession of Europeans and natives in the Liberian coast-lands. Buttikofer obtained specimens of this red buffalo from the 730 The Bongo Tragelaph (Boocercus curyceros) -*> Fauna : Mammals vicinity of Cape Mount and also from the Dukwia River. That from the Dukwia River could hardly be called a red buffalo. It was an old bull whose hide was almost hairless, such hairs as remained being rather of a greyish brown. On the other hand, the female specimen obtained by Bttttikofer near Cape Mount was of the usual reddish yellow characteristic of this 283. HEAD OF WEST AFRICAN BUFFALO (SENEGALESE TYPE)— BUBALUS PLANICEROS type of buffalo on the Gold Coast and in the Congo Basin (the range of this red form stretches eastwards to the end of the Congo Forest and the westernmost frontiers of Uganda). Buttikofer's specimen from the Dukwia River seems to have been an abnormal individual, which owing to some injury in its youth had its horns growing in a convergent way, so that they were crossed at the tips. It may of course have been an Liberia *- example of the Senegalese type which had wandered southwards into the forest region, or, as is alleged to happen elsewhere in Africa, it may have been an old bull of the red-haired breed which with age assumed a greyish brown colour. The forest-haunting buffalo of Liberia, however, is indis- putably of a yellow colour in its pelage, darkening on the 284. SKXI.I; AI.KM-. miKAi.o (BUBALUS I'l.ANH KKOS) !><•< iincn in Londnn /oolo-ical C.urdens front of the limbs into umber or blackish brown. The colour is perhaps not so much reddish as ochre-yellow. The horns of course are far simpler in shape and development than those of the big black buffalo. The animal is probably a rather primitive and ancient type, less removed from such forms as the anoa. It would be interesting if observations could be made on the exact coloration of the young of this dwarf red 732 -+> Fauna : Mammals buffalo to see if they exhibit any traces of the white cheek- 285. HORNS OF RED-HAIRED BUFFALO (BUBALUS NANUS?) FROM WEST AFRICA — IVORY COAST OR GOLD COAM (Copied from the illustration to H. S. Pel's Note on Bos brachyceros , published about 1850.) spots or throat-band which appear in the anoa, and which are vestiges that some buffaloes still retain of the ancient markings 733 Liberia <•-• with white spots and stripes already referred to in the case of the pigs and tragelaphs. The red buffalo of Liberia is timid and shy unless wounded and standing at bay, when its fierceness and dangerous- ness are fully equal to those of its big relative on the east. The natives dread it less than the elephant but more than the leopard. The Amcrico-Liberians call it " bush cow," but have hitherto made no effort whatever to tame and domesticate the calves, though this might very easily be done in a land like Liberia, where domestic cattle thrive. The natives do not appear to recognise any difference between red and blackish brown buffaloes, calling both varieties by the same name tor buffalo, which in Mandingo and Vai is si or sigi, in Kpwesi ##, Gora odyi, and in the Kru languages tui or juln. Captain d'Ollone states that the two types of buffalo— ttnbalus nanus and B. planiceros — are both found in Liberia ; the former in the forests and the latter in the more open country in the north. The most primitive group of the Antelopes is perhaps in sonic respects the Cephalophine sub-family, which includes the Indian four-horned antelope, Tetraceros^ but which, with that exception, is an African group of something like twenty- three species. These African forms of the genus Cephalophus are usually known in Lnglish as duiker.1 This is a Cape Dutch word meaning " ducker " or "diver." It was given to the smaller members of the group in South Africa by the Boers, from their habit of diving or ducking into the herbage to escape observation. With two exceptions they are small- i antelopes. These exceptions, of which more will be said later, are both of them inhabitants of Liberia, one of them being apparently absolutely restricted to that country in its range. 1 Pronounced in Knglish "dyker," in Dutch " doiker." 734 Liberia *- There are three duikers (Cephalophus abysstnicus, C. coronatus^ and C. yimm'i} with long slender heads, long legs, and more lie-like build, remarkable also (as compared with the rest of the genus) for their light bay or ochreish grey coloration. But the rest of the duikers are as a rule more pig-like in build, often resembling very much in shape of head and body the water chevrotain. The nose and muffle are always naked and moist. The somewhat prominent and mobile nostrils in many of the duikers give the rather large head a pig-like aspect. On either side of the nose ridge is the anti-orbital frland, which opens into a long naked slit, very characteristic of the duikers. The horns, which are generally present in the females as well as the males in all the West African duikers of the forest region, are directed backwards in a line with the profile of the skull, and do not rise erect and more or less at right angles as is the case with the East African duikers. The first half or two-thirds of the short horns is more or less corrugated, with those annular markings characteristic of the true antelopes, goats, sheep, and capricorns. But in several forms of duiker the horns tend to be somewhat triangular in their lower half, with a tendency to form a slight ridge along the upper surface. In most of the species there is a crest or tuft of long hair between the bases of the horns. All the duikers have four mamma-, and tails which are in some cases fairly long, never reduced to a mere stump or tuft. The side hoofs of the lateral toes are always present, though in the smaller duikers they are pressed so closely against the bones of the two central toes as to be scarcely discernible in the delicate feet. It is stated that in one or more instances traces of upper canine teeth, not piercing the gum, have been found 1 C. coronatus is possibly found in Northern Liberia. 736 -* Fauna : Mammals in young examples of Cephalophine antelopes. This upper canine is more frequently met with in the Ourebia genus of a nearly allied group, the Neotragine antelopes. It is possible that a more extended search, especially amongst young 287. SKIN OF. HARNESSED ANTELOPE FROM CENTRAL LIBERIA or foetal examples of this group, might result in traces ot the canine being found in the upper jaws. In most of the cephalophines the gall-bladder is said to be absent or reduced to a mere rudiment ; otherwise in their anatomy they are VOL. ii 737 15 Liberia <*- among the least specialised antelopes, and offer some slight approximation to the capricorns (mountain antelopes) and even to the tragelaphs. It would seem as if in the one living Indian example of the group — the four-horned antelope — the character- istic tragelaphine white spot appears on the cheek, together with the remains of the tragelaphine white markings on the throat and fetlock. No trace of any such markings has yet been revealed in the African cephalophines, but the study of this group is very far from complete as regards anatomy, and any traveller in Liberia who may be reading these lines and may have an opportunity of collecting and forwarding in spirit foetal or immature specimens of cephalophine antelopes might enable a good many moot points in their anatomy to be cleared up. These antelopes (at any rate all that section with procumbent horns) live almost entirely on leaves and bushes, and do not graze. They are not silent animals, except when wishing to remain unobserved ; most of them bleat like a goat. Liberia is remarkable for its Cephalophines, two of which, so far as our present knowledge goes, would seem to be quite peculiar to that country in their distribution. These are the big Jentink's duiker (Cephalophus jentinki\ and the small Zebra antelope (Cephalophus dori Fauna: Mammals over on to each side of the haunches. Immediately above the tail is a patch of nearly bare skin on the rump. The hair round the naked muzzle and the chin is white. The tail is fairly long, and not much plumed, but is usually almost hidden between the long coarse hair of the projecting buttocks. 289. TIIK LAK<;K YEI.LO\V-|:A< KKI» Dl.MKKk (CKPIIALOI'IIUS sYl.VK \ I.TKIX) From a specimen recently living in the Zoological Gardens (in very bad condition) The known range of this large duiker is very extensive, extending from French Guinea on the west through Liberia and the Gold Coast to the Cameroons, and the whole of the Congo Basin as far south and east as the north-western limits of 74i Liberia British Central Africa. The creature is scarce in Liberia, and does not seem to be clearly distinguished by the natives from the somewhat smaller Jentink's duiker. Its presence in the country, however, has been noted by Bilttikofer, and an immature specimen has been brought by the author from the neighbour- hood of Monrovia. The smallest of the horned ruminants is found in Liberia : namely the Royal antelope (Neotragus pygm^us]} This pretty little beast is only about ten inches high at the shoulder, and about twenty inches long from nose to rump. Except that its legs are longer, it is only the size of a rabbit. The feet arc- excessively fine, the re- are no side hoofs, and the limbs are very slender. The chin and under-surface generally are pure white ; the rest of the body, except the forehead and nose-ridge, which are blackish, is a golden-brown. The horns are about three-quarters of an inch in length, 1 Sec p. 1085 for illustration. 742 YKLI.OW l:.\< KKD IHIKI K <+> Fauna : Mammals perhaps nearly an inch in old males. They are almost smooth, with scarcely any trace of the annulations characteristic of the antelopes. This tiny Neotragus received the name of the " Royal antelope " from Pennant in the eighteenth century, under the impression that it was the " king of harts " referred to by Bosman, though Bosman in taking up and repeating native traditions about the beasts of Guinea was possibly referring in his " king of harts " to the water chevrotain, which is renowned in the folklore of West Africa for its extraordinary sagacity.1 The Vai call this animal san, whereas they apply the name gberima to the water chevrotain. There is no doubt that it exists in all the coast region of Liberia, though it is so shy, so clever at hiding itself in the herbage, and able to take such tremendous leaps when surprised that it is very rarely captured. No specimen has yet been sent home from Liberia, but there is little doubt that Biittikofer was correct in identifying the animal known as san with the Royal antelope. Apparently the range of the Royal antelope extends from Sierra Leone along the West African coast-lands to the Niger Delta. It has not as yet been recorded from farther east than Lagos or farther west than the eastern part of Sierra Leone. It is probable that the West African waterbuck, Cobus singsing, is found in the interior of Liberia, where the forest is less dense. Pictures of it and drawings of the horns seemed to be recognised by Mandingos and other natives of the interior whom I questioned. But so far the existence of this antelope has not been established by a recorded specimen. The same may be said about the Roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus gambianus), which seems to be present on the Mandingo Plateau. 1 It is by no means certain, however, that Bosman did not really mean Neotragus pygmaus. The natives seem to mix up both the Royal antelope and the water chevrotain in their stones. 743 Liberia <•- The West African hartebeest (Bubalis major*) penetrates to the more open country at the back of the Liberian forests, and I give here a photograph of a pair of horns obtained in the interior of Liberia by Lieutenant-Colonel Powney in 1903. This seems to be the only form of true hartebeest found in \Vest Africa outside the forest belt, apart from the one or more species of Damaliscus. The beautiful Damaliscus korrigum^ with its satin-like mauve-brown coat marked on the front and hind limbs with velvet-black and elsewhere with pale yellow, a near relative of the allied South African sassaby and the East African topi (so near, in fact, that the distinctions are scarcely specific), may also be found to penetrate into the northern parts of Liberia. The order of the Sirenia is represented in the rivers of Liberia by the well-known Manatee (Manatus senegalensis}. Most of my readers will remember that the Sirenia are herbivorous aquatic mammals, represented at the present day by the manatee and the dugong, of vague, primitive, ungulate affinities, with no hind-limbs (of which, however, there are traces in some extinct forms), and the fore-limbs of five toes modified into paddles. The lips are enormously developed, and are of great assistance to the animal in grasping herbage. The Manatee has lost all traces of front teeth in the adult, merely retaining its molars for grinding, whereas the East Asiatic dugong retains the incisor teeth in the upper jaw. The manatee is found in all the Liberian rivers of any size from the sea-coast up to the first falls. It is said also to be found in the waters of the Upper Niger. If this is the case, and the statement is not due to an error or to confusing the manatee with the hippopotamus,1 1 Ace online to various writers the manatee is a totem for a large section ol the Mandingo race ; but the writers like Koelle who make this statement to be not very clear in their discrimination between the hippopotamus and the manatee, classing both together as some herbivorous river-dwelling mammal. 744 291. HORNS OF WEST AFRICAN HARTKHEEST (BUBALIS MAJOR) FROM NORTHERN LIBERIA Liberia <*- this is a remarkable fact, as it shows either that the manatee must have been able to scramble up and over the rocks of the Niger rapids between Busa and Sai so as to reach the placid waters of the upper stream from the Gulf of Guinea, or else that its presence on the Upper Niger is a sign of its extreme antiquity in that region, as it may have remained in these waters from that undetermined period of the Tertiary epoch when the northern basin of the Niger was an inland sea communicating with the Atlantic. In any case, the existence of the manatee in all the rivers and estuaries of West Africa is another fact which goes to support the theory of a land bridge connecting West Africa with South America as lately as the end of the Eocene Period. I Fauna : Mammals attacks of sharks or killer whales. The fishermen on the coast of Liberia say that if a manatee crosses the bars of the rivers from an estuary into the open sea, it is attacked and devoured by sharks. No fresh-water dolphin or cetacean has as yet been dis- covered in the Liberian streams such as may be met with in the Cameroons River and the Congo, but it may likewise (if it be found) prove to be another evidence of former connection between Eastern South America and West Africa. The " Edentates " in this country are represented by three species of the genus Manis — scaly animals with long tails, which are termed " ant-eaters " or " armadilloes " by the Americo- Liberians. There are two Orders of mammals in Africa which from want of any other indication of affinities are thought to be distantly related to the edentates of South America, though there is no evidence to show (at any rate at present) that these two divisions — Pholidota and Tubulidentata — either have an origin in common from one ancestral group, or that in like manner they are genetically related to the Edentates (armadilloes, sloths, and ant-eaters) of South America. All three groups are ancient and very primitive, with generalised or archaic features in their anatomy, suggesting an affinity, here with low ungulates, there with marsupials and insectivores. The Orycteropus or earth pig (aard-vark) is a large long-snouted beast of Southern, Eastern, and North-Eastern Africa, which once existed in Greece, Asia Minor, and perhaps also in other parts of the Mediterranean region. It has a long snout, long ears, and a long powerful tail ; its body is hairy, with an in- clination to baldness on the upper parts and on the tail. It has large eyes, a long flexible tongue, and no front teeth, but from eight to ten pairs of molar and premolar teeth in both jaws (eight pairs only in the lower jaw). But although it is stated 747 Liberia <+- (without positive proof) that the Orycteropus is found in parts of Senegambia and the drier regions of the Niger as well as in some parts of the Congo Basin, no trace of it has yet been reported from any part of the west coast region of the African continent or from Liberia. Consequently, the only u edentates " we have to consider in our review of the Liberian mammalia are the three species of Manis. The Manid\\\t terminal edge of the body scales (it is not so marked in those of the tail) possesses two other point-like projections or cusps. One is always warned by the natives in Africa to be careful in taking up a Manis that it does not suddenly straighten itself and pinch one's fingers between the edges of the scales. This seems to be its only method of offence, as apparently it does not use the strong and very long claws of the feet for scratching its enemies. The Manis is the only "edentate" which at the present day extends its range into Asia. Several species are found in India, Ceylon, and Southern China. They differ from the African forms in possessing remnants of an external ear, 748 Fauna : Mammals and in the presence of hairs on the upper surface of the body growing between the scales. In all four of the African species of manis the ear-hole has no conch —nothing but a thick fold of skin round its upper edge ; and no hair grows on the upper surface of the body. On the other hand the belly of the smallest African manis (M. tricuspls] is well covered with thick whitish hair. The eye is fairly large, at any rate normal in proportionate size. The tongue is longer than the whole head, and is of course, very slender. The mouth opening is quite small. The food of the animal in a wild state con- sists entirely of ants and termites, which it gathers in with the viscous saliva on the tongue. (In cap- tivity it will eat in the same way very finely chopped meat or powdered biscuit.) It is fond of milk, which it and withdrawal of the tongue 292. THE WH1TK OR HAIRV-HKLLIKI) MANIS (MANIS TRICUSPIS) absorbs by the rapid protrusion 749 Liberia V The pointed scales are of great assistance to the animal in climbing or in retaining its hold of any rough surface to which it is affixed. Mr. L. Fraser, who was the first naturalist to record observations of the life habits of Mams tricuspis (about fifteen years ago), describes the power which this particular species possesses of using its sharp-clawed hind-feet and long tail (with its pointed scales) as a tripod support on the vertical trunks of trees. With the tail firmly adpressed against the bark of- the tree, and the claws of the hind-feet grasping the same surface, the little manis could throw back its body in an almost horizontal position, the front feet being closely tucked up under the head. In this way it might sometimes remain perfectly immoble, deceiving any casual observer into the belief that it was merely a blunt end of a branch projecting from the tree ; or if it had no object in feigning immobility, it would sway itself backwards and forwards round half a circle without dislodging the grip of its tail. The same observer noticed that this manis would curl itself up into a ball and fall from a height of twenty feet to the ground without sustaining any injury, owing to the elasticity of the semi-erect scales, which caused its rolled-up body to bounce like a ball. There are four species of Manis in West Africa, of which three at any rate are found within the limits of Liberia, these being the gigantic manis (M. gigantea), the long-tailed manis (M. longicaudata\ and the white- or hairy-bellied manis (M. tricuspis}. The fourth African manis (M. temmincki\ which is distinguished from the other African forms by its very thick and relatively short tail, is present outside the region of dense forests in some parts of West Africa, and ranges over the rest of the continent south of the Sahara as far east as Zanzibar and as far south as Natal. The Gigantic Manis is quite a large beast, perhaps as 75° -•> Fauna : Mammals much as four feet long (163 centimeters) in the biggest examples, and about two and a half feet high when raising itself on its hind-legs. This animal is terrestrial in its habits. The Liberians call it the Ant-bear, reserving the name of Ant- eater or armadillo for the smaller species. It lives in burrows, easily excavated with its enormous claws and generally made in some termite hill which it has attacked in order to immolate the 293. GIGANTIC MANIS (MANIS GIGANTEA) From the specimen in the British Museum white ants. The Gigantic manis, at any rate in adult forms, is nearly hairless on the under-surface of the body, with only a little yellowish hair growing sparsely on the leathery skin. Like the other forms, it has a tendency to rest or even walk on the doubled-up wrists after the manner of the American ant-eater, no doubt turning back the sharp claws so that they may not be too much blunted. According to Bttttikofer, how- ever, when pursued by man it is able to run very quickly 751 Liberia *- over the ground. This species would appear to be a little less limited in its diet than the smaller kinds of manis, as Biittikofer found in its stomach, besides a quart or so of termites (white \ MAMS I-KOM Till.. sIKKKA I.KoM I;OKI>KKI,.\\I> OK LIKKKIA (?M\MS GIGAN1 K A, IMMATUKK?) ants), a large quantity of true ants (the bellicose, venomous driver ants) (Anomma\ and worms of a peculiar kind. The Long-tailed Manis has developed this appendage to an extraordinary length. Its tail is nearly twice as long as the body, 752 "* Fauna : Mammals and contains forty-nine caudal vertebra-, the largest number, by far, known amongst mammals. As it is rather difficult in theory to regard this extravagant length of the tail as characteristic of the primitive mammalian stock (from which this manis, like all other mammals, is descended), and as a feature which the Long-tailed Manis alone has retained, it is necessary to sub- scribe to the assumption that additional vertebrae of the tail can be formed in differentiation of species. If this be the case with Mams longicaudata, it would apply to other mammalia, and might dispose of several difficulties in classification, such as, for example, the origin of the domestic sheep from a relatively short-tailed mouflon. The Long-tailed Manis is hairy on the under-parts, and the hair is of a dark brown or blackish grey, with a tendency to a whitish line along the edge of the scaly armature. The White-bellied Manis (M. tricuspis\ whose specific name em- phasises the three-cusped edges of its scales, is rather a pretty little animal, a trifle more normal in aspect than its relations, owing to the relatively larger size of its eyes and its under-coat of soft hair, which is a yellowish white. The Manid. Uucopry tnnus . .p.fuscus) .... ebus fuliginosus . . . Biittikofer, Johnston, etc. itliccns caltitrichns . . „ 75* Fauna : Mammals AUTHORITY. C. campbcllii C. bucttikofcri C. diatia ignita . Colobus polycomus C. it rsi fins . C. cnstatns . C. ferrugineus G&fagO (icinidoffi . Periodicticus potto Biittikofer. Whytc, etc. Johnston, etc. Whytc, Johnston, etc. Whyte, etc. Gow, etc. Hypsignathus monstrosus Epomophorus gambidnits E.franqueti .... E. pusillus ..... E. veldkampii .... Roussettus collaris R. stramhicns (? also R. buettikofert) Megaloglossus woennauuii . Hipposiderus fuliginosus Nycteris hispida .... N. grandis ..... Pipistrellus minutus . P. tetmipcnnis .... Vesper tilio stampflii . V. nanus ..... Kerivoula africana CHEIROPTERA Biittikofer. Crocidura schweitzeri C. buettikoferi C. stampflii . \Erinaceus sp. ?] . Anomalurus beecroftii . A.fraseri . Sciurus st anger i . 5. orbinii INSECTIVORA Buttikofer. »> » [Johnston]. RODENTIA Biittikofer, Whyte, etc. 755 Liberia AUTHORITY .V. rufobrachyatus . . .V. punctatns ... .V. pocnsis .... A', pyrrhopus ... Xcnis crytJiropus .. Graphini'iis Jincti . . G. nti£'fg/(is/i ... G. crassicaudatus .. Cricctoinys gainbiauits .. Lophnroinys sikapnsi .. Mns rat tits .... M. dccninaniis ... J/. alc.vaudnntis ... J/. tnnsculoidcs ... J/. trivirgattis ... Arricantlris nigricauda . ./. nifinns .... .-/. barbams ... ^4. dorsalis .... Thrynomys swindcinrianits . Atherura africana .. Hystri.v iris fata ... Biittikofer. Alexander VVhytc. Biittikofer. 1'elis pardns l'~. serial /•'. celidogaster \ Hvn-na crocnta\ . \ II. stria ta \ . / 'ircrra civctta . (iCnctta pardina . X and in ia binotata Hcrpcstcs pi u to . //. gracilis . Crossarchiis obscnrns Lntra nincnlicollis L. (Aony.\-j ca pen sis CARNIVORA . [Johnston]. . Biittikofer, Johnston, etc. . „ Whyte, etc. . „ Johnston, Govv . [d'Ollone, Johnston]. „ „ . Biiltikofcr, Whyte, etc. . „ . „ Whyte, etc. Whyte, etc. U'hyte, etc. Fauna : Mammals UNGULATA ATTHORITY. dorsalis [P. stainpjlii ?} . Elcplias africautis (West African variety ?).... {Diceros bicornis ?] Hippopotamus libericnsis Potamochoerus penicillatus . i llylocliivrus sp. ?) Dorcatkerium aanaticnin Kubalns nauus .... [ />'. planiceros ?] . Tragelaphus scriptns . Boocercus euryceros Cephalophus sylricultrix C. nigcr . C. dor sal is .. C. doria .. C. maxwellii . Neotragu s pygmceus 2 Bubalis major . Biittikofcr. „ l^raham, etc. [Johnston]. Biittikofer, Pyc-Smith, Johnston, etc. Buttikofer, etc. (Pye-Smith). l^iittikofer, Braham, Johnston, etc. [d'Ollone]. Buttikofer, etc. Johnston. Braham, etc. Wliyte, etc. Pye-Smith, Gow. Whytc, etc. Powney. Manatus senegalcnsis . SlRENIA Buttikofer, etc. Manis gigantea . M. longicaudata . M. tricuspis PlIOLIDOTA Biittikofer, Gow. 1 The Terpone longiceps of Gray. 2 The Cephalophus spinigcra of Biittikofer. 757 CHAPTER XXIV FAUNA: BIRDS THE birds, like the mammals of Liberia, are not as varied and abundant as are those of the open countries of Tropical Africa — that is, bird life is not so obvious to the eye as, for example, in Senegal, in East Africa, and on the Great Lakes. This is, no doubt, partly because the forest conceals so much of the vertebrate fauna. The ostrich, though it would seem to inhabit the more arid regions to the north of the Upper Niger and Senegal, probably comes nowhere near the frontiers of Liberia, though it is not infrequently kept as a pet and a curiosity by the Fula chiefs on the not far-distant plateau of Futa Jallon. Amongst noteworthy gallinaceous birds there is the Agelastes guinea-fowl, which is confined in its distribution to the forest coast belt of West Africa, between the Niger on the east and Sierra Leone on the west. The nearest relation of this guinea- fowl, perhaps, is the still more primitive gallinaceous type, Phasidus (confined to the Gaboon and the countries to the north of the Lower Congo). The Agelastes, or white-necked guinea-fowl (A. meleagroides], is the smallest of that gallinaceous sub-family, and is not much larger than a bantam-fowl. In the adults the head is quite bare, and covered with bright red skin ; but in the females, and still more in the young, there is a tendency for the head to be sparsely feathered with white or greyish white plumes, especially up the back of the neck and along the top 758 --* Fauna: Birds of the skull. The breast in both sexes is pure white, and the rest of the plumage is very dark, bluish or brownish grey, with fine whitish vermiculations. There are no round spots, as in the typical guinea-fowl. The feet are armed with short, stout spurs in the male. The feet are rather large proportionately to the body, and are of a greenish grey. This bird seems to go about in pairs rather than in companies, and is exceedingly shy. It is found, nevertheless, throughout all the forest region of Liberia. The painting opposite p. 370 is done from specimens obtained by Mr. Harold Reynolds in 1904. The other Liberian guinea-fowl is the common crested guinea-fowl (Guttera cristata\ with its partially bare neck and face of slaty grey ; its silky black crest, black breast, white pinions, and rest of body bluish grey boldly spotted with white. At the present time only three francolins out of the many African species have been recorded in Liberia in the forest region. These are Latham's francolin (Francolinus lathami), rather boldly marked on the face, breast, and back with black and white (the female usually has brown where the male is black) ; the Ahanta francolin (F. ahantensis), upper parts brown or blackish brown, throat white, under-parts pale brown with white and black striations ; and the two- spurred francolin (F. bicalcaratus)) which is of a ruddier brown in parts, with a white throat and chest, and black streaks on the face. This species, of course, is easily distinguished by its two spurs. The Americo-Liberians call the francolins " guinea-fowl " with singular inconsistence, seeing that true guinea-fowl are found in Liberia. The Liberian pigeons include the common fruit-eating treron (Vinago calva\ whose plumage of grey, olive, bright yellow, purple, cinnamon, and black accords strikingly with the colours of the leaves and branches ; one, if not two species of 759 Liberia <+- Coiumba (the very rare C. unicincta — pale reddish grey below, ash and lead-colour above, with dark bluish scalelike edges to the feathers, white throat, bluish black tail, and blackish pinions ; and the widespread C. guinea^ with red upper parts marked by triangular white spots) ; a Turturcena (T. iriditorques—grty, copper-colour, and slate above, glossed with metallic green and violet, and below wine-red and cinnamon) ; the common African turtledove (fTurtur semitorquatus*), with the broad black patch — a broken ring — round the neck ; and three small doves of the genera i\mpanistru^ Chalcopelia, and Calopelia, all of which have metallic green or blue spots on the wings. Calopelia puclla has a cinnamon-brown body with a pretty blue head. These little peristerine doves frequent the ground a good deal, and are very tame. Amongst the Glareoline plovers, often called Pratincoles (which assume so much the outward aspect of large swallows), is the Liberian glareole (Galactochrysea liberui). This pretty little bird is coloured as follows : dark ashy or olive-brown above, with a broad band of white over the base of the tail, which is black ; under-parts white or greyish white ; a streak of white under each eye ; face, throat, and breast dark grey, and a collar of bright yellow-brown round the neck ; beak (except black tip) scarlet, also feet. It particularly frequents the rocky islands and cataract reaches of the rivers, especially the St. Paul's River, and would seem to nest on the bare rock, whereon (in adjacent parts of West Africa) I have sometimes seen the little nestlings, three or tour in number, squatting closely, their variegated down being coloured very much like the mottled surface of the rock. Biittikofer states that the greyish green eggs mottled with umber are laid on sand. The ran^e of this bird would seem to extend eastwards as far as the Lower Niger. A form which Biittikofer and other collectors seem to have 760 -+ Fauna: Birds overlooked is the common African jac^ana, or leaf-walker (Phyllopezus africanus}. This pretty bird -with enormous feet is found on pieces 'of stagnant fresh-water in Liberia, as else- where in Tropical Africa. The present writer obtained one 761 Liberia *- from the St. John's River in 1888 (near Upper Buchanan), and has seen it in Maryland also. The jac^ana, though offering a superficial resemblance to the rails, belongs in its classification to the plover order. Its feet are large to commence with, but the extreme apparent length of the toes is due to the prolonged claws. The coloration is red and umber-brown, black on the head and face, white cheeks and neck, and a golden breast. The beak and very small frontal shield are leaden blue. This African ja^ana has mere knobs at the wrist-joint of the wing, no sharp or stout spur like its Asiatic and South American congeners. Among the plovers may be noted the common West African spur-winged wattled plover (Xiphidopterus albiceps}. Here, as in other parts of Africa, this bird is very " cheeky," knowing that it is not a favourite article of food, owing to its bitter flesh. It haunts the banks of rivers and swamps, and irritates the human stranger by its loud cries, as it flaps about in front of him with partly extended wings, elevated white crest, and pendent, lemon-coloured wattles. This bird has a strong spur on the wrist-joint of the wing, the object of which is not very clear, as it does not seem to use it for fighting. Very possibly in Liberia (as, according to my own observations, in other parts of Africa) it acts as the crocodile's friend, warning this reptile when on land of the approach of human enemies, and attending to the toilet of the crocodile's teeth. The latter, in lazy good humour, opens its mouth to allow the spur-winged plover to pick pieces of decaying flesh or intrusive grubs or worms from between the interstices of the white teeth. The omnipresent curlew (Numenius) is to be seen on the Liberian coast, frequenting the mud-flats of the river estuaries. It is migratory, apparently. In Eastern Liberia a specimen of the Red phalarope (Crymophilus fulicarius) was obtained by 762 -•> Fauna: Birds Mr. Maitland Pye-Smith in March, 1905. An account of this bird is given by Mr. Chubb in the appendix. This web-footed wading bird, related to woodcocks and snipe, is usually an inhabitant of northern — not to say Arctic — regions, and its occurrence in Africa had never been noted before. It was 297. THE YELLOW-WATTLED SPUR-WINGED PLOVER (XIPHIDOPTERUS ALBICEPS) therefore remarkable to find it so far afield as Equatorial Liberia — a belated winter visitor, of course. Most of the West African types of the rail order are found in this country, amongst them the aberrant and peculiar finfoot (Podica senegalensis). This is a bird the size of a duck, with a whitish breast and belly. The upper parts are brown, of various shades, with a greenish black gloss on the shoulders 763 Liberia *- and back. On this upper part of the body, from the base of the neck to the wing-coverts, there are — especially in the adult male — a number of round yellowish spots, each spot surrounded with a ring of greenish black. It has a broad tail of fairly long stiff feathers. The neck is long and snaky, rather goose-like, with a whitish line down the middle on each side, extending from the eyebrow to the shoulders. The beak is rather long and heron-like. The feet are the most easily distinguished feature of the bird. There are four toes, of nearly equal length, which are webbed in separate lobes like the toes of a coot. The finfoot dives and swims well, and is able in some way to depress its body when swimming, so that little more than the snaky neck and sharp beak (nearly continuous in outline with the forehead and throat) appear above the surface, moving backwards and forwards in just the same way as the uplifted head of a snake when it is swimming, and raises itself to observe what is going on. Several times the present writer has observed finfoots on West African streams, and taken them at first to be snakes swimming across the water. The Finfoots are distributed nearly all round the world in the tropical belt. Biittikofer states that the end of the thumb in the wing is armed with a long, slender, only slightly curved claw, a feature which occurs in not a few other birds, such as the ostrich, the young of the duck, and so on. It does not appear to be specially developed in any specimens of the West African finfoot which have come under my notice. The finfoots, from their world-wide distribution and some features in their anatomy, are one of those indeterminate types not very closely identified with any particular order. No doubt their nearest affinities are with the rails, but they may be related to an older stock, which gave rise not only to the rails, but to the herons, and possibly the pelicans. 764 -+> Fauna : Birds Our information about the life habits of this African finfoot are singularly lacking, considering that it is a bird found pretty well all over Tropical Africa in one or two species. Buttikofer learnt from a native that it nested amongst the Cyrtosperma arums by the waterside. In this nest the natives told him there were two eggs. The American genus of the finfoots is also reported to lay two eggs, or, at any rate, a single pair of young were found in a nest attributed to the American form. These young, in the case of the American finfoot, are said to be born naked. Absolutely nothing is known of the condition of the young in the African or Asiatic types. Persons who may read this book in Liberia might note that the finfoot is from many points of view an exceedingly interesting bird, and might use their best endeavours to obtain the nest (or a photograph of it), the eggs, and, above all, the nestlings or young birds for transmission to one or other of our museums. It would be interesting to observe whether or not the young of the African form was born naked or covered with down ; whether not only the thumb, but the index-finger of the wing was armed with a claw, and whether the young aided themselves in moving over the ground by these claws on the naked wing. According to Buttikofer, the finfoot was not observed by him in Liberia farther west than Monrovia. This, however, is not a point of much importance, since the very name of the Liberian species — senegalensis — shows that it is found as far west as Senegambia. Specimens have, in fact, been sent to the British Museum from Senegal and from the River Gambia. The present writer has also collected it on the Upper Congo, at Stanley Pool. It not only frequents fresh-water rivers, but also brackish estuaries and mangrove swamps. It moves over the mud or sand with considerable rapidity, and one of these birds seen by me on the Congo, scrambling up a river bank 765 Liberia <*- to hide away in vegetation, seemed to me to aid itself with the outspread wings. Buttikofer doubts whether these birds really dive. On the three or four occasions when I was able to watch a Podica on the Upper Congo, and on tributaries of the Cameroons River, it appeared to me to disappear under the water when conscious of observation — that is to say, that the snaky head moving backwards and forwards (which was all that could be seen of the bird) occasionally ducked under the water. The present writer has never seen any of these birds in night, but Buttikofer — an accurate observer — states that they fly with reluctance and difficulty, only taking to this method of escape when discovered on the water at some distance from land. Flight under these conditions would seem to make it improbable that they immerse themselves for long, or swim much under water. When flying, Buttikofer observed that they struck the water repeatedly with their short wings, and thus skimmed along the surface till they reached the land, when they scrambled into the vegetation or amongst reeds and trees with considerable agility, their coloration making it easy for them to become concealed from the eye. In studying the life habits of this bird, one is reminded several times of a speculative guess thrown out by E. Ray Lankester as to the evolution of birds from a quadrupedal reptilian type. He suggests that the wing arose from the coalescing of three fingers of the hand into a broad, skin- covered, penguin-like flipper, with the clawed thumb left free as it is at present, and further supposes that this may have taken place in a reptilian form which frequented the water a good deal, using its fore-limbs for progression through the water, while the hind-limbs (less specialised) remained free for wading, leaping, and perching. Such an avian type of reptile may have skimmed the surface of the water a good deal, in much 766 .-* Fauna : Birds the same manner as penguins might do. From beating the water with their pinions, they would take to leaps and skimming flights over the water, beating the air with the pinions instead — pinions on which were developing longer and longer quill-like growths, which eventually evolved into feathers. Having acquired the power of flight, most bird types took to a land and even an arboreal life ; whilst others, like the ancestors of the ostrich, became essentially pedestrian, till their wings dwindled to uselessness. The finfoot suggests so many interesting resem- blances to an early stage in the life of birds (no doubt partly by a process of reversion), that I hope these few lines may stir up educated Liberians to making a special study, for our further information, of one of the most interesting creatures in their country. Bilttikofer states that one of his assistants shot a flamingo in the vicinity of Cape Mount, in Western Liberia. Mr. Braham informs me that numbers of flamingoes may sometimes be seen on Fisherman Lake. In all probability the flamingo that visits Liberia in a more or less migratory fashion is of the genus or subgenus Phaniconais. It has a beak that is purple-and-rose- colour, and a plumage somewhat more rosy than that of the larger Mediterranean flamingo. There are the usual ducks and geese of West African waters : the Spur-winged goose (Plectropterus)^ the widely distributed but very handsome Knob-nosed goose (Sarcidiornis\ one or more species of Tree duck and teal (Pteronetta). The gorgeous Hagedash ibis (Hagedashia) is common throughout Liberia. There is also the conspicuous olivaceous ibis (Ibis olivacea). This bird has a red beak and feet. The forehead is naked, and there is a considerable crest on the head of loose feathers with pale yellow centres and coppery green edges. The black skin of the face and forehead is 767 Liberia *- naked. The general colour of the bird is a coppery green, rather dull, with cream-coloured centres to the feathers on the breast and belly. There is apparently only one Stork — Dissura episcopus — a very common bird throughout Africa and Southern Asia. It is metallic black above and white on the belly. The top of the head is black, and the rest of the head and neck is sparsely covered with fleecy white feathers. The bill is black except the ridge and tip of the upper mandible, which are red. The feet and legs are also black in the Liberian type, not orange-red as in the more eastern forms. The beautifully coloured Saddle- billed stork1 ought to be found on the rivers of this country, and probably is present here. The natives seem to know of it, but no specimen has as yet been secured for identification. But if storks are scarce in this forested country, herons are abundant. I give an illustration here of the beautiful White heron (Ardea alba), widespread in its distribution through Southern Europe, Tropical Africa and Asia, with closely allied forms in America and Australia. But this beautiful big white bird is particularly common along the West African coast from Liberia to the Cameroons. It has seemed to me most abundant in the rivers of -the Niger Delta and at Old Calabar, but it was amongst the few birds that I observed on the Liberian waterways, especially in my visit to that country in 1888. There are other species and genera of white herons in Tropical Africa smaller than Ardea alba, which may generally be seen in flocks. When they go to roost on riverside trees they make a beautiful spectacle ; but the great white heron seems to be more solitary in its habits, and is generally seen alone or in couples, making a most striking object against the background of dark green riverside forest. Like the other white herons, 1 Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis. 768 298. ARUEA ALBA (THE GREAT EGRET OR WHITE HERON) VOL. II 17 Liberia <*- it is a bold bird, not easily alarmed. It may be that it is not attacked by natives, as the flesh is bitter. It has only to fear 299. THK SLATY BLUE HERON (LEPTERODIUS GULAKIS) the European with his gun and his senseless longing to slaughter everything that is striking and beautiful. 770 Fauna : Birds 300. THE GREEN HEBRON (BUTORIDES ATRICAPILLA} Another common heron in Liberia is Ardea or Lepterodius gularis, which is dark slate-grey with a white throat. In the breeding season this heron seems to be almost purplish black, 771 Liberia v and develops a long plume from the top of the head. A somewhat similar bird is the slate-coloured Ardea ardesiaca. Eutorides atrlcapilla is one of the Green herons, with plumage of glossy green, black, grey, and chestnut. These birds are fairly common in Liberia, and assume the stiff attitude given in my sketch. This bird is especially common in the mangrove swamps, and although its habits are somewhat nocturnal it may be seen in the daytime perched on the mangrove roots, close to the waterside, immobile, as though it believed itself to be invisible by its colours harmonising with its surroundings. Kuttikofer records having met with two species of ''bittern" in Western Liberia, in the mangrove woods along Fisherman Lake, but in this definition he was mistaken. There is apparently no true bittern in West Africa, though there is in South Africa. Biittikofer's " bitterns " were respectively Ardelrallus sturml and Tigrornis leucolopha. The first named is a tiny little heron of slate-grey above and ochre-yellow or tawny brown below, with a white throat and a streak of bluish black down the middle of the throat. This strange-looking little bird will stand stiff, as if carved and painted, under the traveller's gaze, if it believes its " colour scheme " to have melted into the background of grey roots and brown sand. Tigrornis is a much larger bird, very handsomely coloured. Above it is greenish black, striped or banded with reddish yellow ; below the ground colour is buff, barred with black and streaked longitudinally with white. There is a conspicuous white crest growing from the nape of the neck. There are two night herons in Liberia, one the common O ' species, and the other Nycticorax leuconotus, which is widely spread over Africa. It has a reddish neck. The general colour on the upper surface of the body is black, but the long plumes that start from the shoulders, and a patch underneath them on 772 -* Fauna : Birds the upper part of the back, are pure white. The lower part of the hack, wings, and tail are a dusky slate colour, rather greenish in tone. The head is mainly black, with a long plume starting from the nape of the neck. There is a white patch round the eye, the upper throat is white, and the whole of the neck is a bright chestnut-orange, except the ridge along the spine, which is black. The large eyes are a bright gamboge yellow with a black pupil, so that this is a very striking and handsomely coloured heron. The birds of prey are well represented in this country, firstly by the magnificent eagle Spizaetus coronatus^ a form found right across Africa to Uganda and Nyasaland. According to native stories (in which it figures a good deal J), it lives principally on monkeys. An interesting and handsome object — one of the few common birds of Liberia — is the white and black Fishing vulture (Gypohierax angolen$ts\ which is so abun- dantly met with in the coast regions, along the rivers and the estuarine creeks, where, every hundred yards or so, one of these strikingly coloured birds may be seen perched on the bare topmost branches of mangrove trees. The adults only of both sexes assume this brilliant black and white plumage, the pinions and back being chiefly black, whilst the rest of the body is white. The naked skin about the face and cere is pinkish grey, the feet and legs being a somewhat brighter pink. In some examples the crop below the neck seems to be bare of feathers, the skin being a yellowish flesh-colour. The young birds, however, are simply brown, light and dark, and travellers often take them for a distinct species, because they are three or four years old before they completely assume the black and white plumage of the adult. This slow change from immature to mature plumage is 1 The Vai call this bird P6. 773 Liberia <*- met with in other accipitrine birds, especially in the case of the bateleur eagle and the sea eagles (Haliaetus}. The bateleur eagle, which ought also to be present in Liberia, but has not yet been recorded there, is quite four years old before it has assumed the handsome black, chestnut, and pale grey plumage of the mature bird. The actual relationships of the Fishing vulture (sometimes called the Vulturine sea eagle) are uncertain. It seems to offer some slight affinities to the vultures, but perhaps is more nearly related to the huge Lammergeier. Some authorities have placed it near to the sea eagles, which it certainly resembles in mode of life and in that slow change of colour in the young birds. Though this bird lives chiefly on fish and occasional carrion, it is related of it, both in Liberia and in other parts of Africa, that it will occasionally devour the oily rind of the oil palm nut. Biittikofer states that when it has been feeding on this substance, its flesh is considered to be very appetising by the natives, who eat it under those circumstances. The screaming Fishing eagle (Haliaetus vocifer), which inhabits all Tropical Africa, is met with in Liberia along the coast, but is not so common a bird as in the less forested regions. Here also is found the Bat-eating hawk(Mac/i Fauna : Birds its habits, and is stated by Mr. R. P. Currie to kill and eat snakes. Among the Picarian and Passerine birds of Liberia may be singled out for notice the following. This country is rich in examples of that beautiful family peculiar to Africa in its distribution at the present day — the plantain-eaters or turacos (Musophagidtf). This group may be another instance of Eocene communication between Africa and South America. In the present age it is limited to the African continent, but in the Miocene period one or more forms strayed northwards as far as France. The Musophagid* are related to the cuckoos, which are a world-wide group ; but they seem also to be connected with that extraordinary South American form, Opisthocomus, the other affinities of which are with the rails, and possibly the gallinaceous birds. In many ways Opisthocomus (which in outward appearance somewhat resembles the turacos) is a primitive or generalised type of bird, which exhibits still in its young a certain degree of quadrupedal locomotion — that is to say, the young scramble about " on all four legs," using the wings with their clawed thumbs to scramble over branches. To the present writer it has seemed, in studying examples of young nestling turacos in Africa, that they also were inclined to move about, resting the finger-tips of the wings on the ground ; but as his impressions were only derived from the possibly exceptional attitudes of three or four examples, it is a point which requires more confirmation before it can be asserted. The Turacos in their breeding habits — like the finfopt already alluded to — are very little known indeed, although they are such striking birds in their coloration, and so bold in their habits that they are amongst the first to attract the attention of even the most heedless travellers. One or two species have, 775 Liberia *- however, recently bred in confinement in England, but no information seems to have been secured as to the following points : Are the nestlings born naked, or are they (as it has seemed to the present writer) covered with a dark grey or slate-coloured down ? Are they helpless when first born, like young pigeons, or do they evince soon after leaving the egg the power to move about and a restlessness which leads them to scramble out of the nest ? In these movements do they make use of the hand (i.e. the wing) to assist them in loco- motion ? Do they at this stage show any signs of possessing claws on the thumb and index- finger ? Even if any or all of these points have been noted in the case of the one species of turaco which has bred in captivity, it would be interesting to know how far they apply to the other genera and species of the family. The most interesting of these birds to be studied in its life habits would certainly be the largest example, the magnificent Corytheola crlstata^ the great blue plantain-eater. This beautiful bird extends in its range through the forest region of West Africa from the vicinity of the Gambia River on the west to the Uganda Protectorate on the east, and from the basin of the Congo on the south to the Bahr-al-Ghazal on the north. It is very common in the Liberian forests, and is known by the Americo- Liberians as "the peacock." As this bird was illustrated in colour in my work on the Uganda Protectorate, it is hardly necessary to give a detailed description of it here. Its colours range from purple-black to verditer and ultramarine-blue, yellow- green, and chestnut-red. It is a very bold bird, and nests in trees, probably gathering together a rough platform of twigs. The eggs are said by the natives to be white, but we have no precise information on this subject. I believe the e^qs ot this plantain- eater do not exist in any collection. 776 <+> P^auna : Birds This is a very noisy bird, which usually goes in troops of four or five companions. It is a species which does not seem to show any colour variation throughout its extensive range, examples collected by us in Liberia being precisely similar in colour to others which were collected in Uganda. In reviewing the specimens of this bird in notes on the Liberian fauna, put together for the Zoological Society, I made two mistakes : one was to say that the examples collected by Mr. Harold Reynolds in Liberia differed from the Uganda forms by the blue in the male inclining more to ultramarine, and also that the male of this species was considerably larger than the female, and brighter in coloration. But in examining a larger series of specimens from Liberia and Uganda, I find that although in both countries there are individuals that attain to a lighter and more greenish blue, there are other forms in which the colour inclines more to ultramarine ; while the smaller, duller-coloured types which I took to be representative of the females were merely immature females, and resembled closely immature males of the same age. In this great blue plantain-eater, therefore, the same thing occurs as throughout all the other known members of the family : the males and females do not differ sensibly in coloration or in size. The Grey parrot with a red tail does not exist in Liberia in a wild state. Its place is taken by the dull-coloured Psittacus timneh of Sierra Leone, the tail of which is dark grey, and not scarlet. The true red-tailed, ashen-grey parrot begins its range in West Africa on the Gold Coast, and extends thence across the continent to the eastern shores of the Victoria Nyanza, to Tanganyika and the northern edge of the Zambezi Basin. The Sierra Leone parrot (Psittacus timneli} is an uninteresting bird — a dull drab brown, with a dark grey tail that has a tendency to a purplish tinge in some examples. It is rather 777 Liberia v smaller than the ordinary grey parrot, and does not learn to talk. It seems to be a connecting link between the larger forms of Pceocephalus (some of which have a marked tendency to brownish grey in plumage) and Psittacus. It would be an interesting study for some ornithologist to collect a series of Psittacus forms from, say, south of the Gambia River on the west, and along the coast to Angola, including the island of Principe in the Bight of Biafra, to see to what extent Psittacus timneh grades into P. erithacus — whether, for example, the grey parrot of the Ivory Coast has a true red tail or a tail that is more inclined to purple (as is the case with the Sierra Leone parrot), and in what locality the dun or brownish grey of Psittacus timneh changes into the light or dark ash-colour of the true grey parrot. The parrots of Principe Island are quite a well-established variety, in which the grey has become almost purplish — very dark — and the tail a purplish crimson. The Grey parrot of Angola and the southern part of the Congo Basin tends to be a very light whitish grey, or to be flecked with patches of pink or light scarlet. Some examples of this variety are a pinkish scarlet all over, and are known as " king parrots." It would seem as if the Grey parrot was in the process of developing at least two new species : that of Principe Island, which is becoming a purple bird, and that of Angola or the south-western Congo Basin, which is growing into a form scarlet all over. The Grey parrot seems to have extended its range quite recently from the north-eastern verge of the Congo Forest, and perhaps the adjoining kingdom of Uganda, to Kavirondo, the Nandi Plateau, and even Kikuyu in East Africa, within three hundred miles of the Indian Ocean. It also seems to be spread- ing southwards, from Lake Tanganyika in the direction of Lake Nyasa. It is curious that at the same time there seems to be no 778 -+> Fauna: Birds advance of the grey parrot westwards from the Gold Coast into the domain of its dull-coloured relation, Psittacus timneh. The only other parrot that has as yet been recorded from Liberia is the pretty little West African love-bird (Agapornis swindereniana). Amongst the Owls is a small reddish brown Eagle Owl— Bubo lettii — discovered by Biittikofer, and possibly peculiar in its range to Liberia. There are two other eagle owls found in this country, chiefly grey in plumage — Bubo cinerascens and B. leucostictus. Amongst the Rollers may be mentioned as a common and a beautiful bird Eurystomus gularis, called by the Americo-Liberians " the daytime bat," as it pursues insects through the air with open mouth. The allied species, R. afer, is also found in this country. My coloured illustration opposite p. 786, will give some idea of the bright colours of these birds, which are so commonly met with in many parts of West and Central Africa. The Kingfishers are well represented here, but not as yet by any species peculiar to Liberia. Those which are most frequently seen by the riversides are the Great kingfisher (Ceryle maxima), and the very pretty Alee do quadribrachys, with its black beak, rose-coloured feet, and beautiful contrasts of deep ultramarine, purple, cream-white, and chestnut-red. The grey, blue, green, brown, chestnut-coloured Halcyon kingfishers, with long red beaks, frequent the bush rather than the waterside, and live on insects chiefly. These birds are very common in the environs of Monrovia. They are of largish size for a kingfisher — from eight to nine inches long. The Crested kingfisher (Corythornis) is smaller, a brilliant little bird of emerald, ultramarine, and cobalt above with chestnut below. The small Ispidina kingfishers are ultramarine and black above, white and orange-tinged-with- lilac below, with red beaks. 779 Liberia <«- The Hornbills are represented by at least eight species, amongst which is the smallest member of this Asiatic and African group, Lophoctros ciimurus^ a demure little bird, not larger than a pigeon, with a bright red beak. A much more striking example of this family is the long-tailed, white-crested Ortholophus leucolophus. This bird is sufficiently illustrated by my coloured drawing. It is, apparently, the more western species of the two known forms of the genus Ortholophus. It will be noted that the tips of the secondary and primary feathers of the wing are not marked with white terminal spots, as is the case with the larger and handsomer O. albocristatus? but that the white on the ends of these feathers is either absent or limited to a very narrow margin. There is also a difference in the distribution of greyish white about the cheeks. Ortholophus leucolophus is also slightly smaller (it would seem) than the other species. Its range of distribution would appear to extend from Senegambia on the west to Lagos on the east, from which point to the east- wards begins and extends the range of the larger and handsomer Ortholophus albocri status, which is particularly characteristic of the Niger, Cameroons, and Congo. But Cassin, who appears to have first described these white-crested hornbills in the early part of the nineteenth century, is supposed to have collected the type example of Ortholophus albocristatus at Sierra I ,eone. The point requires clearing up, but it seems very probable that the single specimen sent to America by Cassin, and marked Sierra Leone, must have been labelled in error, and really have been obtained from the regions of Lower Guinea, It, however, this type, so characteristic of the Congo, can be proved to exist in Sierra Leone, then the occurrence of the less specialised Liberian form (without the white spots on the wings) in a 1 In an immature female specimen of O. leucolophus^ obtained by -Mr. R. I*. Currie, the throat \vas black, and the white spot appeared on the tips of the primaries, 780 The White-crested Hornbill or " Monkey Bird'' (OrtliolopJuis leucolopkus) ^ Fauna : Birds sort of enclave in the range of the bigger species will be very curious. This Crested hornbill is well known to the Americo- Liberians, who call it the £' monkey-bird," as it is supposed to frequent the society of monkeys in the forest. Two other striking forms of hornbill are fairly common in the forests. There is the Black hornbill (Ceratogymna atrata\ the range of which extends right across the continent to Uganda, and the 301. THE BLACK HORNBILL (CEU ATOGYMNA ABRATA) : FEMALE nearly allied Elate hornbill (C. data}. Both these hornbills share in common with other members of the same family in eastern Asia the peculiarity that whereas the males have black heads and necks the females have a plumage of bright red-brown instead. This is illustrated in my painting, which has been made from specimens procured from Liberia in 1905. I also give a drawing of the head of a male Elate hornbill which died recently in the Zoological Gardens, London. Amongst other points of difference, 781 Liberia <*- this bird may be at once distinguished from the black hornbill by the mottled appearance of the short feathers below the throat. The horns on the beaks of these birds vary very much, according to age and sex, in the degree to which the projection of the ridge is developed. In the females and in young males there is very little variation in the rounded outline of the ridge, but in adult males this swells at the sides and develops into a permanent u horn." Both these hornbills, like those of 302. THE KI.ATK HoKNBILL (CERATOGYMNA ELATA) : YOUNG MALI the genus Bycanistes, utter loud, braying cries, especially whilst flying. Two species of Bycanistes (B. subcylindricus and B. fistulator*} exist in Liberia, according to Biittikofer. They art- large birds with big casques to the beaks and full crests, the plumage being a boldly contrasted combination of black-bronze- green and pure white, with some grey on the face and crest. Amongst the passerine birds may be noted the presence of many lovely species of Nectariniida (Sun-birds), a brightly 782 *> Fauna : Birds coloured Ground thrush (Pitta) (one of the Malayan forms which reappears in West Africa); almost innumerable Weaver birds1 and Waxbills, some of them gorgeously coloured ; one or more examples of the Metallic starlings, the " Pepper-bird," a 303. HEAD OF MALE ELATE HORNBILL kind of bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus\ a Thrush, an Oriole, a good many Shrikes (some of them very brightly coloured), and the familiar black and white Crow of Tropical Africa, Corvus 1 The larger weaver birds of the genus Hyphantornis, principally, hang their nests on the fronds of oil palms, which they completely strip of their filaments. 783 Liberia <•- scapulatus. This is almost the only scavenger of forested Liberia, from which country vultures and marabou storks 304. I'Al.M TKliE HUNG WITH WEAVER HIRDs' NKSTS seem so curiously absent. The black and white crow is chiefly seen along the coast region. The bird fauna of Liberia does not offer such striking local peculiarities as is the case with the mammalian. So far as is yet known, only six species are peculiar to this country, 784 Male and Female Black Hornbill (Ceratogytnna Female has Brown Head <+> Fauna : Birds all of them discovered by Biittikofer. But in common with the rest of forested West Africa— the Guinea Coast especially, from Senegambia to the Cameroons — Liberia presents in its avi-fauna, as in its " Miocene " mammalia, affinities with the regions of Eastern Asia (Burma, Malay Peninsula and Archi- pelago). This is due, no doubt, to the survival of forest- 305. THE BLACK AND WHITE CROW (CORVUS SCAPULATUS) haunting forms in this part of West Africa which have become extinct in the deforested regions separating Central Africa from Indo-China. Many of these Liberian and West African types are continued in their distribution right across Africa to the territories north of the Victoria Nyanza (Uganda Protectorate). VOL. II 785 18 Liberia *- In the following Appendix is a list of the known birds of Liberia, prepared for this book by Mr. Chubb, of the British Museum. It is based on the collections of Schweitzer, Biittikofer, Currie, Harold Reynolds, Alexander Whyte, John Gow, and J. Maitland Pye-Smith, as well as on notes and specimens collected by myself. 7*6 APPENDIX VI LIST OF BIRDS OBSERVED OR COLLECTED IN LIBERIA BY HERR SCHWEITZER, DR. BUTTI- KOFER, MR. R. P. CURRIE, AND BY SlR H. H. JOHNSTON, MESSRS. .HAROLD REYNOLDS, ALEXANDER WHYTE, JOHN Gow, AND J. MAITI.AND PYE SMITH.' BY CHARLES CHUBB (Zoological Department, British Museum} REFERENCES are given to the following papers and works which treat of the Ornithology of Liberia : (i) BUTTIKOFER, J. — Zoological Researches in Liberia. A List of Birds, collected by J. Biittikofer and C. F. Sala in Western Liberia, with biological observations. Notes from the Leyden Museum, vii. pp. 129-256 (1885). (2) . Zoological Researches in Liberia. A List of Birds, collected by Mr. F. X. Stampfli near Monrovia on the Mesurado River, and on the Junk River with its tributaries. Op. cit. viii. pp. 243-68 (1886). (3) . Zoological Researches in Liberia. A List of Birds, collected by the author and Mr. F. X. Stampfli during their last sojourn in Liberia. Op. cit. x. pp. 59-106, plate 5 (1888). (4) -— . Zoological Researches in Liberia. Fourth List of Birds. Op. cit. xi. pp. 113-38 (1899). (5) . Zoological Researches in Liberia. On a series of Birds, collected by Mr. A. T. Demery in the district of Grand Cape Mount. Op. cit. xii. pp. 197-206 (1890). (6) . Reisebilder aus Liberia. Resultate geographischer, naturwissen- schaftlicher und ethnographischer Untersuchungen wahrend der Jahre 1879-82 und 1886-7. 2 vols. Leyden, 1890. 8vo. Vogel, ii. pp. 397'434, plates xxx., xxxi. (7) . On a Collection of Birds sent by the late A. T. Demery from the Sulima River (West Africa). Notes from the Leyden Museum, xiv. pp. 19-30(1892). 1 The notes following the names of certain species apply nearly always to Mr. Reynold's collection. 787 Liberia * (8) Oiu KHOI si R, II. C.— A List of the Birds collected by Mr. R. P. Currie in Liberia. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, xxii. PP- 23-37, plate vii. (9) CHUBB, C. — List of Birds collected in Liberia by Mr. Harold Reynolds. P.X.S. 1905, vol. i. pp. 205-10. Family PHASIANID/K Francolinus lathami, Hartlaub. Fraiicolhins lathami, Hartl. ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 231 (Bavia and Sofore Place), viii. p. 265 (Schieffelinsville), x. p. 99 (Hill Town and Waflah), xi. p. 127 (Farmington River) ; id. Rcisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 426 cum fig. No. 20. $ adult, St. Paul's River, Feb. 23, 1905. Bill black ; tarsi and feet yellow ; claws black (Reynolds). 1 F. ahantensis, Temm. F. bicalcaratus, L. Family NuMlDiD.i: Agelastes meleagroides. Agelastes meleagroides^ Temm. ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 230 (Sofore Place, St. Paul's River), x. p. 98 (Schieffelins- ville), xi. pp. 126, 136 (Galilee Mountain); id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. pp. 424, 425, cum fig.; Grant, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 374 (1893); Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 206 (St. Paul's River). Guttera cristata. Xinnida cristata, Pall. ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 230 (Bavia and Buluma), x. p. 98 (Hill Town), xi. pp. 125, 136 (Mount Olive); id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. pp. 424, 425, cum fig. d' ii If era cristata, Grant, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 381 (1893); Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 206 (St. Paul's River). Family COLUM r.lh.K Vinago calva, Temm. Columba unicincta, Cass. Turturcena iriditorques, Cass. Turtur semitorquatus, Riipp. Calopelia puella, Schl. Chalcopelia afra, Linn. Tympanistria tympanistria, Temm. 1 The names given without further references are nearly all attributable to BQttikofer. 788 * ! ;;uinu : I >ird> Tamil) ]\\I.I. Il» I Himantornis haematopus, Temm. Ortygometra nigra, din. Rallina oculea, Hartl. Sarothrura pulchra (Gray). Family HELI< »KMTIIII> i Podica senegalensis, Hartl. Family L.\kll>l Sterna cantiaca, Gm. S. fluviatilis, Norman. Hydrochelidon nigra, Hriss. Rhynchops flavirostris, Vicill. Stercorarius cephus, Brunn. Family PARRID/E Phyllopezus africanus, Gm. Ibarra africana. Collected by Sir H. H. Johnston at Grand Basa (St. John's River), 1888. Family CiiARADRlin.K Xiphidopterus albiceps. Lobivanellus albiceps, Gould ; Buttik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 236 (Sofore Place and Cobolia) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 428. Xiphidopterus albiceps, Sharpe, Hand-list B, i. p. 150 (1899). No. 2. $ adult, Montserrado County, Feb. 25, 1905. Bill and wattles yellow ; tip of bill black ; tarsi and feet pale greenish grey ; iris yellow. Vanellus inornatus, Swains. Charadrius hiaticula, Linn. C. cantiana, Lath. C. forbesi, Shelley. Family SCOLOPACID^E Numenius phaeopus, Linn. Totanus glottis, Linn. Tringoides hypoleucus. Liberia <+•- Totanns hypolciicus (Linn.) ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. viii. p. 266 (Junk River), x. p. 102 (Dukwia River), xi. p. 127 (Farmington River). Totauus \_Actitis\ hypoleucus^ Buttik. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 429. Nos. 42, 45. c? ? adult, E. Liberia, March 13, 1905. Tringa subarquata, Gould. Crymophilus fulicarius. Crymophilus fulicarius (Linn.); Sharpe, Cat. B Brit Mus xxiv. p. 693 (1896). No. 34. $ adult, E. Liberia (J. Maitland Pye-Smith), March 23, 1905. Tarsi and feet greenish grey. This appears to be the first record of this Red phalarope in Africa, as there is no mention of it in Capt. Shelley's ftinis of Africa or Dr. Reichenow's Vb'gel Afrikas. This species breeds within the Arctic circle of both the Old and New Worlds, and migrates south in winter. A great number of stragglers have been taken in England, chiefly during the autumn migration, and captured most frequently in the southern counties. In North America it ranges south to Pennsylvania on the east and California on the west, and has been found on the western side of South America as far south as Chile. It has also been found in India, and even in New Zealand (cf. Butler, Birds of New Zealand, ii. p. 30 [1888]). It is not surprising, therefore, that a bird which lias such a wide range in its migration should be found in the Ethiopian Region ; it is most interesting, however, to have discovered it. The following is a description : The general appearance of the upper parts is slate-grey, some of the scapulars are black margined and broadly tipped with grey, the longer ones fringed with white, the shafts are black and reach almost to the tips of the feathers, which gives a streaked appearance, lesser wing-coverts dark slate-grey like the bastard wing, the longer feathers of the latter arc tipped with white ; primary coverts blackish, the inner ones fringed with white ; median coverts slate-colour with narrow white edges ; greater coverts broadly tipped with white ; primaries black with white shafts and white on the inner webs towards the base ; secondaries white at base, blackish towards the tips and fringed with white, the innermost feathers almost entirely white; the long tertiaries feathers are black down the middle followed by 79° *+> Fauna : Birds brown, hoary grey at the tips and along the edges ; upper central tail-coverts grey, the lateral ones almost entirely white; tail feather- grey, becoming grey towards their tips and fringed with whitish, one of the middle feathers margined with rufous: both this and the rufous brown on the tertiaries show an approach of the breeding dress; forehead, crown (nape grey), hind neck, sides of face, and under-surface of body white, inclining to cream-colour on the breast ; sides of breast and body grey, becoming streaked with grey and white on the flanks ; axillaries and under wing-coverts white. Total length, 7-5 inches; wing, 5'I5; culmen, ri ; tail, 2-45; tarsus, cr8. Family GLAREOUD.I-: Galactochrysea liberiae. (ilarcola megapodat Gray, tn-ui. mid. ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. pp. 233, 256 (St. Paul's River, Fisherman Lake, Mafa River); id. op. cit. x. p. 99 (Fisherman Lake); id. op. cit. xi. pp. 127, 136 (Farmington River); id. Reiscbilder Liberia, ii. p. 427 cum fig. G. uncJialis 1'bcruc, Schl. Notes Leyd. Mus. iii. p. 58 (1881 : Liberia). GalaclocJtrysea liberty, Sharpe, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xxiv. p. 63, plate v. fig. i (1894); Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 206 (St. Paul's River). No. 4. Five males adult from Boporo, Feb. 16, 17, 1905. Bill salmon-pink, dark at tip ; tarsi and feet salmon-pink. No. 38. ? adult from E. Liberia. G. marchei, Oust. This species was collected by Mr. R. P. Currie ; cf. Oberholser, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxii. p. 25. Family CEDICNEMID^E (Edicnemus vermiculatus, Cab. Family Dissura episcopus. Dissura episcopus (Bodd.); Sharpe, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 294 (1898). 79' Liberia <•- Cicouia cpiscopitS) Biittik. Notes Lcyd. AT us. vii. p. 242 (Buluma), x. p. 10 1 (Junk and Dukwia Rivers) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 429. No. 15. $ adult, Boporo, Feb. 21, 1905. Bill black ; culmenal ridge and tip scarlet ; tarsi and feet black. Family Hagedashia hagedash. Ibis hagedash (Lath.) ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 242 (Buluma), p. 127 (Dukwia River); id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 429. llagedashia hagedash, Sharpe, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xxvi. p. 19 (1898); Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 207. One adult bird, F. Liberia. Ibis olivacea, Du Bus. Family ARDEIDJ Ardea alba, Linn. A. ardesiaca, YYagl. A. gularis, Bosc. Nycticorax leuconotus, Wagl. N. nycticorax (Linn ). Ardeirallus sturmi, Wagl. Tigrornis leucolopha, Jardinc. Butorides atricapilla. Ardea atricapilla, Afzel. ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 239 (Grand Cape Mount), viii. p. 266 (Junk River), x. p. 101 (Dukwia River) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 428 ; id. Notes Leyd. Mus. xiv. p. 30 (Sulima River). No. 40. ? imm. E. Liberia. Family PIKKNICOPTKRID/K Phcenicopterus (Phceniconais) sp. ? Family ANATID.K Plectropterus gambensis, Linn. Sarcidiornis melanonotus, Perm. Pendrocygna viduata, Linn. 793 ^ I;aiMi;i : Hirds Pteronetta hartlaubi. Oncrijnctlnlti linrtlanbi, Cass. J l.iittik. Notes Leyd MIH. viii. p. 267 (Junk River , x. p. 105 (Old Field, Junk River ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 433. No. 29. 6* adult, K. Liberia, March 4, 1905. Bill black at base, tip yello\v, nail black ; tarsi and feet black. Family Pi I.M.Ac ROCORACIl > 1 Phalacrocorax africanus. (iracnlns Fauna: Birds p. 202 (Mafa River) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 404 ; id. Notes Leyd. Mus. xiv. p. 22 (Sulima River). Alcedo picta, Buttik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 160 (St. Paul's River and near Fisherman Lake). No. 14. $ adult, St. Paul's River, Feb. 21, 1905. I. leucogastra (Fraser). Halcyon badius, Verr. H. semicceruleus (Forsk.). H. senegalensis Halcyon senegalensis (Linn.) ; Buttik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 161 (St. Paul's River and Grand Cape Mount), viii. p. 249, x. p. 70 (Junk River), xi. p. 117 (Schieffelinsville) ; id- Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 401. Nos. 13, 23. ? adult | St. Paul's River, Feb. 21-5, 1905. No. 17. $ adult J Tarsi and feet black. H. cyanoleucus. H. cyanoleuca (Vieill.) ; Buttik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 162 (Bavia, St. Paul's River), xi. p. 130; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 401. //. cyanoleucus, Sharpe, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xvii. p. 245 (1892); Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 207 (St. Paul's River). No. 13. ? adult, St. Paul's River, Feb. 21, 1905. No. 17. $ adult, St. Paul's River, Feb. 22, 1905. No. 23. ? adult, St Paul's River, Feb. 25, 1905. H. forbesi. H. forbesi, Sharpe, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xvii. p. 247, plate vi. fig. 2 (1892). H. malimbica, Buttik. (nee Shaw), Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 162 (Bavia and Buluma), viii. p. 249 (Junk River), x. p. 270 (Dukwia River), xiv. p. 22 (Sulima River). No. 8. $ adult, Boporo River, Feb. 19, 1905. No. 7. $ adult, Maho River, Feb. 19, 1905. Bill, lower mandible black, upper mandible lake-red ; tarsi and feet rose-colour. No. 27. $ adult, Maho River, March 4, 1905 Nos. 43, 44. $ adult, E. Liberia, March 31, 1905. One adult, E. Liberia. 797 Liberia <*- Family BUCEROTID I Bycanistes cylindricus, Temm. B. fistulator, Cass. Ceratogymna elata. Ceratogymna elata (Temm.) ; Grant, Cat. H Brit. Mus. xvii. p. 388. Bnccros clatns, Bu'ttik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 204 (St. Paul's River and Grand Cape Mount), viii. p. 262 (Junk and Dukwia Rivers), x. p. 92 (Cess and Sino Rivers), xi. p. 125 (Mount Olive) ; id. Rcisebilcler Liberia, ii. p. 418. Nos. 25, 26. $ ?, head only, E. Liberia, March 3, 1905. C. atrata. Buceros atratns, Temm. ; Bu'ttik. Notes Lcyd. Mus. vii. p. 205 (St. Paul's River), x. p. 93 (Hill Town), xi. p. 125 (Mount Olive) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 389. Ceratogymna atrata, Grant, Cat. B, xvii. p. 388 (1892) ; Sharpe, Hand-list B, ii. p. 66 (1900). One adult male in entire black plumage except the outer tail- feathers, which arc broadly tipped with white. This specimen \vas collected in Eastern Liberia by Mr. Govv. Ortholophus leucolophus, Sharpe. Lophoceros camurus. Buceros camurus (Cass.); Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. xi. p. 210 (Sofore Place, St. Paul's River), viii. p. 262 (Junk River), x. p. 93 (Hill Town). Tokus cawiirns, Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. xi. p. 134; id. Reise- bilder Liberia, ii. p. 419. Lophoceros camurus Grant, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xvii. p. 404 (1892) ; Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 207 (St. Paul's River). L. semifasciatus, Temm. L. [Horizocerus] hartlaubi, Gould. Family MEkorm.i. Merops albicollis. M 'crops albicollis, Vieill. ; Biittik. Notes Lcyd. Mus. vii. p. 166 (Bavia and Buluma), viii. p. 249 (Junk River), x. p. 71 (SchicrTclinsvillej, xii. p. 202 (Kobcrtsport) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 473 ; Obcrh. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxii. p. 27. No. 24. Two 3 adults, Boporo Station, March 5, 1905. 798 -* Fauna: Birds M. superciliosus, Linn. M. erythropterus, Gm. M. gularis, Shaw. Family CAPRIMULGID^E Scotornis climacurus. Scotornis longicaudus (Steph.) ; Blittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 156 (near Grand Cape Mount), viii. p. 248 (Junk River), x. p. 68 (Schieffelinsville), xi. pp. 116, 129 (Galilee Falls), xii. p. 198 (Robertsport) ; id. Reiscbilder Liberia, ii. p. 392 ; id. Notes Leyd. Mus. xiv. p. 21 (Sulima River). .5". climacurus (Vieill ) ; Hartert, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xvi. p. 596 (1892) ; Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 207 (St. Paul's River). Caprimulgus inornatus, Hengl. C. fossil, Hartl. Family STRIGIM: Bubo lettii, Buttik. B. cinerascens, Guer. B. leucostictus, Hartl. Syrnium nuchale, Sharpe. Scotopelia peli, Bonap. S. ussheri, Sharpe. S. bouvieri, Sharpe. Scops senegalensis, Hartl. Family CYPSELID^: Cypselus apus, Linn. Family TROGONID^£ Trogon narina, Le Vaill. Family CAPITONID^: Pogonorhynchus hirsutus (Swains.). Barbatula duchaillui, Cass. B. subsulphurea (Fraser). B. erythronota (Cub.). B. scolopacea (Temm.). Trachyphonus goffini, Schl. Gymnobucco calvus, Lafr. 799 Liberia * Family Pirin.l- Mesopicus pyrrhogaster, Malh. Dendropicus lugubris, Hartl. Dendromus maculosus, Valenc. D. caroli, Malh. D. arizelus, Oberh. D. nivosus, Swains. Family PITTID/E Pitta angolensis, Vicill. Family HIRUNDINID.E Hirundo rustica, Linn. H. nigrita, Gray. Family CAMPEPIIAC.ID.I. Campephaga quiscalina, Finsch. Family MUSCICAPID/K Parisoma plumbeum, Hartl. Muscicapa grisola, Linn. M. lugens, Hartl. Platystira cyanea (P. L. S. Mull.). Diaphorophyia castanea (Fraser). D. blissetti, Sharpc. Artomyias ussheri, Sharpc. Smithornis rufolateralis, Gray. Bias musicus, Vicill. Megabias flammulatus, Vcrr. Cassinia finschii, Sharpe. Tchitrea nigriceps, Hartl. Trochocercus nitens, Cass. Family PVCNONOTID.I Criniger verreauxi. Cruii^cr ^crrcaii.vi, Sharpc, Cat. B Brit. Mus. vi. p. 73, plate iv. Si, J^intec) ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. x. p. 79 (Hill Town and Schicffdinsvilli-j, xi. pp. 12 1, 131, xii. p. 203 (Jarjee), xiv. p. 22 (Sulima River); Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 208 (St. Paul's River). 800 -•> Fauna : Birds Stelgidillus liberiensis (Reichenow). Chlorocichla gracilirostris, Strickl. Andropadus latirostris, Strickl. A. curvirostris, Cass. Eurillas virens (Cass.). Ixonotus guttatus, Verr. Xenocichla syndactyla, Swains. X. eximia, Hartl. X. canicapilla, Hartl. Pycnonotus inornatus. Pycnonotus barbatus (Desf.) ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 180 (Buluma and Robertsport), viii. p. 256 (Mesurado and Junk Rivers), x. p. 83 (common along the whole coast of Liberia), xi. pp. 122, 132 (Mount Olive), xii. p. 204 (Robertsport) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 408 ; id. Notes Leyd. Mus. xiv. p. 23 (Sulima River) ; Oberh. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxii. p. 31. P. barbatus inornatus, Hartert, Nov. Zool. ix. p. 329 (1902, Gold Coast). P. inornatus, Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 209 (St. Paul's River). P. simplex, Hartl. P. leucopleurus, Cass. P. indicator, Verr. P. serinus, Verr. P. tricolor, Cass. P. calurus, Cass. Family TiMELUD/E Hylia prasina (Cass.). Stiphrornis- erythrothorax, Hartl. Cossypha poansis, Strickl. C. verticalis, Hartl. C. cyanocampter (Bp.). C. leucosticta, Sharpe. Alethe poliocephala (Bp.). A. diademata (Bp.). Drymocataphus johnsoni, Btittik. Turdhms gularis (Sharpe). T. fulvescens (Cass.). T. rufescens, Reichen. Crateropus atripennis, Swains. VOL. II 80 1 '9 Liberia *- Family TURDIM; Geocichla princei, Sharpe. Turdus pelios, Bp. Pratincola rubetra. Pratiticola nibctm (Linn.) ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. xiv. p. 23 (Sulima River); Sharpe, Hand-list B, iv. p. 171 (1903); Chubb P./.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 209 (St. Paul's River). Family NECTARINIID.K Cinnyris fuliginosa (Shaw). C. cyanolsema (Jardine). C. verticalis (Lath.). C. obscura (Jardine). C. johannae, Verr. C. chloropygia (Jardine). C. venusta (Shaw). C. adalberti (Gervais). Anthreptes hypodilus (Jardine). A. rectirostris (Shaw). A. gabonicus, Hartl. A. idius, Oberh. Zosterops demeryi, Biittik. Z. obsoleta, Biittik. Family SYLVIID.K Sylvia hortensis, Bechst. Phylloscopus trochilus, Linn. Arcocephalus turdoides, Meyer. Prinia mystacea, Riippell. Cisticola lateralis. ('isticola lateralis (Fraser) ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 171 CSoforc Place, St. Paul's River), xi. p. 131 ; Sharpe, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xii. p. 251 (1883); Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 209 >t Paul's River). C. rufa, Fraser. Sylviella stampflii, lUittik. Camaroptera concolor, Hartl. C. brevicaudata (Cre/sch.). Eremomela badiceps (Fraser). 802 <+> Fauna : Birds Family PRio\orii> i Fraseria ocreata, Strickl. F. cinerascens, I lartl. F. prosophora, Oberh. Sigmodus caniceps, Bp. Family LA Mi D.I Lanius smithii, leaser. Telephonus senegalus, Linn. Laniarius multicolor, Gray. L. melamprosopus, Reichenow. L. zosterops, Biittik. L. cruentus (Hempr. and Ehr.). Chaunonotus sabinei, Gray. Dryoscopus gambensis, Licht. D. leucorhynchus, Hartl. Nicator chloris. Nicator chloris (Less.); Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 185 (Bavia and in the mountains of Grand Cape Mount), viii. g. 258 (Schieffelinsville), x. p. 87 (Hill Town), xi. p. 123 Mount Olive and Galilee Mountains), xii. p. 204 (Robertsport and Jarjee) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 411 ; id. Notes Leyd. Mus. xiv. p. 23 (Sulima River). No. 1 8. ? adult, Boporo Station, Feb. 22, 1905. Bill, tarsi and feet black. Family MoTACILLID/E Motacilla vidua. Motacilla vidua, Sundev. ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 173 (Bavia, St. Paul's River), x. p. 73 (Dukvvia, St. John, Cess, and Sino Rivers), xi. pp. 122, 132 (Farmington River); id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 409 ; Oberh. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxii. p. 30; Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 209 (St. Paul's River). M. longicauda, Riipp. M. flava, Linn. Anthus pyrrhonotus, Vieill. Macronyx croceus, Vieill. 803 Liberia *- Family PLOCEID.K Vidua serena. \~iiina priii cifalis (Linn.) ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 197 (Robcrtsport), viii. p 259 (Junk River), x. p. 91 (Schieffelins- villc and Marshall), xi. pp. 124, 134 (Farmington, Junk, and Mesurado Rivers), xii. p. 204 (Robertsport) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 416. / '. scrcua (Linn.); Reichen. Vog. Afrikas, iii. p. 217 (1904); Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 209 (St. Paul's River). Pyromelana flammiceps, Swains. Coliopasser macurus, Gin. Quelea erythrops, Hartl. Pyrenestes coccineus, Cass. Zonogastris melba (Linn.). Ortygospiza polyzoaa, Temm. Estrelda rhodopyga, Sundev. Pytilia schlegelii, Sharpe. Amauresthes fringilloides (Lafr.). Spermestes bicolor. Spcnncstes bicolor (Fraser) ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 202 (Sofore Place, St. Paul's River), viii. p. 261 (Monrovia and Junk Rivers), x. p. 62 (Schieffelinsville), xi. pp. 125, 134 (Mount Olive), xii. p. 205 (Robertsport), Reichen. Vog. Afrikas, iii. p. 151 (1904); Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 209 (St. Paul's River). S. cucullatus (Swains.). Nigrita emilia, Sharpe. N. bicolor dlartl.j. Sporaeginthus melpodus. I'.strcliid uiclpoda (Vieill.) ; Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. viii. p. 260 (Oldfield and Schieffelinsville), xi. p. 134; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 417 ; id. Notes Leyd. Mus. xii. p. 205 (Roberts- port). Sponcgiutlins tnclpodns, Sharpe, Cat. H Brit. Mus. xiii. p. 325 [890) ; Chubb, P.Z.S. 1905, vol. i. p. 210 (St. Paul's River). Ploceus nigerrimus, Vieill. P. nigricollis. P. tricolor, Ilartl. 804 .-•> Fauna : Birds P. aurantius, Vicill. P. brachypterus, Swains. Hyphantornis cucullatus. llyplictntoniis cucnllatns (P.L.S. Mull.) ; Sharpe, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xiii. p. 451 (1890). rioccus cucullatus, Biittik. Notes Leyd. Mus. viii. p. 289 (Mcsurado and Junk Rivers), x. p. 88 (Cape Mount to Cape Palma) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 416. One adult bird from St. Paul's River. Cinnamopteryx castaneofusca. Hyphantornis castaneofuscus (Less.) ; Buttik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 192 (Bavia and Robertsport). Ploceus castaneofuscus, Buttik. Notes Leyd. Mus. viii. p. 258 (Mesurado and Junk Rivers), x. p. 88 (common throughout Liberia), xi. p. 204 (Robertsport), xii. p. 204 (Robertsport) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 416. Cinnamopteryx castaneofusca, Sharpe, Cat. B Brit. Mus. xiii. p. 472 (1890). One specimen from St. Paul's River. Malimbus scutatus. Sycobius scutatus, Cass. ; Buttik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 296 (Sofore Place and Robertsport), viii. p. 259 (Schieffelinsville). Malimbus scutatus, Buttik. Notes Leyd. Mus. x. p. 90 (Hill Town), xi. p. 124 (Mount Olive), xii. p. 204 (Jarjee) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 412 cum fig.; id. Notes Leyd. Mus. xiv. p. 27 (Sulima River) ; Oberh. Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xxii. P- 34- One adult from St. Paul's River. M. malimbus, Daud. M. cristatus, Vicill. M. nitens, Gray. M. bartletti, Sharpe. Spermospiza haematina. Spermospiza Juematina (Vicill.) ; Buttik. Notes Leyd. Mus. vii. p. 198 (Buluma), viii. p. 260 (Oldfield and Schieffelinsville), x. p. 91 (Hill Town), xi. p. 124 (Farmington River), xii. p. 205 (Mafa River) ; id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 475. No. i. ? adult, Boporo, Feb. 1905. 805 Liberia *- Family ORIOLID.i. Oriolus brachyrhynchus, Swains. Family DlCRURID.K Dicrurus modestus. Dicntms modestiis, Hartl. ; Biittik. Notes Leycl. Mus. vii. p. 183 (Buluma and Caba, Mafa River), viii. p. 257 (Schieffelinsville), x. p. 86 (Hill Town); id. Reisebilder Liberia, ii. p. 411 ; id. Notes Leyd. Mus. xiv. p. 23 (Sulima River). One fully adult specimen from E. Liberia. I), atripennis, Swains. D. atactus, Oberh. Family STURNIH.K Onychognathus hartlaubi, Gray. Lamprocolius cupreicauda, Hartl. L. purpureiceps, Verr. PLolidauges leucogaster, Gm. Graucalus azureus, Cass. Family Corvus scapulatus, Baud. 8g6 CHAPTER XXV FAUNA: REPTILES, AMPHIBIANS, AND FISH THE Reptiles of Liberia, so far as is known, offer no species restricted to that country in its geographical distribution, though there are here represented most of the forms peculiar to West Africa north of the Equator. Amongst the long array of Snakes at least ten are poisonous, though it is remarkable how very seldom any death is reported to occur from snake-bite in this country, or in other parts of Africa, as compared with Asia, Australia, and America. Of the Viper group of poisonous snakes there are two puff-adders of the genus Bitis — B. gabonica and B. nasicornis, both very gaudily coloured1 and differing one from the other in head markings, and also in that Bitis nasicornis develops two little pointed quill-like horns above the nostrils, which can be erected when the snake is angry. This horned puff-adder has more red-purple in the colour of its sides than the very similar Gaboon puff-adder. Most of the vipers are viviparous (producing their young alive), but two African forms (also found in Liberia) (dtractaspis and Causus) lay eggs. In the case of the horned puff-adder, the young when born are a foot long. The adult puff-adders of these two species (which are generally called " cassava " 1 Bitis gabonica is illustrated in my book on Uganda. Its range extends eastwards to the Victoria Nyanza. 807 Liberia *- snakes by the Americo-Liberians) grow to between four and five feet. Atractaspis is shorter (about three feet), and somewhat thick in the body. It does not at first suggest relationship to the vipers, as there is no well-marked " neck " or expansion of the jaws to enhance the separation of head and throat. This viper has only the poison fangs in the front of the upper jaw, and no other teeth behind, but it still retains a separate row of small teeth on the palate. It has a longer tail than the true vipers, and, as already mentioned, lays eggs, and does not bring forth its young alive. Causus rhombeatus is very common in Liberia, just as it is throughout Africa south of the Sahara. It is a small, slender viper, with the head distinctly marked off from the neck. The Causus viper is only about two feet in length, but very venomous and dangerous from its insignificant appearance and size. It is olive-brown in colour with V-shaped brown marks along the back, and a reversed V or arrow mark on the top of the flat head. Atheris chlorechis is a tree-dwelling viper of no great size, perhaps at most two feet in length. It is remarkable in the first place for its long and prehensile tale. Very few vipers are tree-haunting snakes, most of them being confined to the ground in their habits, and in consequence the tail is never very long, and does not seem to be prehensile. But in Athens both body and tail are long and lithe in comparison with what characterises the true vipers. Moreover, Atheris in its bright green colouring differs from the brown, yellow, grey, and reddish black of the terrestrial vipers. The emerald-green of this snake (in //. chlorechis) is dotted here and there with small dark blue spots. The head is heart-shaped, and set on a rather slender neck. The scales on the head and especially on the 808 Caiisus ttombtattu (Gaboon puff-adder) thfi-i* chlorechis (Tree-viper) Kiti* >iasi,;,,;ns (Rhinoceros puff-adder) \aitt nselaiwlfh (a cobra) Dendraspis -viridis (a tree-cobra) 306. SEVEN Of THE PRINCIPAL POISONOUS SNAKES OF LIBERIA Liberia f*- throat under the lower jaw have strong ridges or keels pro- jecting somewhat at their points from the surface of the body. These rough scales on the throat are said to aid the snake in its progression up the trunks and branches of trees. The eyes are proportionately rather larger than in the true vipers. The Causus viper already referred to has a habit (which may be observed when it is kept in captivity) of dribbling its venom from the points of the long fangs when it is angry and excited. This peculiarity has been much noticed by Europeans and natives in South and South-west Africa, where this little viper shares with the much larger cobra the nickname of " spitting snake." The Cobras, of course, are not connected with the vipers at all. They are simply a group of colubrine snakes that have independently acquired the feature of a poison gland and a perforated fang. They may be told at a glance from the average viper by the narrow jaws. The skin on the sides of the neck in the common African form of Naja haje is dilatable into a hood, but this feature is not so striking as in the common Indian cobra or the hooded snake (Sepedori) of South Africa. The West African forms of cobra are regarded as separate species — N. nigricollis, from the black markings on the back of the neck spreading into a general black tinge, and 7V. melanoleuca, in which the general colouring is in bolder contrast of black and white. These cobras are fairly common in Liberia, where they often attain a length of four to eight feet. Naja nigricollls is not infrequently seen in native villages, which it visits on account of the rats and other vermin that form its food. The snakes frequent the thatch more especially, and do not generally interfere with human beings unless first attacked. Even then, instead of striking with their fangs they seem to prefer to eject the venom by compression of the muscles of -+> Fauna : Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish the poison gland, so that, like the Causus viper, this serpent also bears the nickname of " spitting snake." I have never, myself, actually observed this ejection of the venom, nor, I believe, has the fact been certified by any scientific observer ; but it is asserted to be the case all over Africa wherever cobras are found. The natives say that the snake aims at the eyes, and that if the venom enters the eye it causes a very severe inflammation, but nothing worse. One fact is certain (from my own observation) : that these African cobras are very slow to strike with their fangs. I have once or twice nearly trodden on one, and the snake has rapidly with- drawn to a safe distance, and then adopted an attitude of menace. A different story may be told of the far more dangerous Tree cobras of the genus Dendraspis. These snakes all over Africa are noted for their fierce disposition. They will frequently attack human beings unprovoked, this fury being probably connected with the breeding season. Males and females of the Dendraspis are extremely attached when they have paired, and either of them will attack a human being if it thinks that the life of the other is in danger. No doubt the stories of their flying at natives from the grass may be connected with the male or female defending the eggs, near which these snakes are said to keep watch whilst the hatching is going on. The West African Dendraspis jamesonii1 is a bluish black in general colour, and about four feet long when full grown. As its name implies, it is usually an arboreal snake. The eggs, no doubt, are deposited in the hollows of trees. There is a tree snake, Dipsadomorphus, greyish green above and yellowish white below, about five feet long. This snake belongs to a group (opisthoglyphous) which is somewhat 1 The Liberian form is a green snake, D. viridis, 811 Liberia <•- poisonous and in which the poison-teeth are not immediately in the front of the upper jaw, but are preceded by a considerable number of small harmless teeth. The poison-teeth are some- times three in number, and they are generally grooved for the descent of the venom and not perforated. The Psammophis and Thelotornis snakes also belong to this group of poisonous colubrinc snakes which have grooved teeth at the back of the upper jaw and not in the front, like the cobras. The egg-eating snake (T)asypeltis^ and numerous harmless (aglyphous) colubrine snakes (mostly tree-dwellers) are present in Liberia. There are at least two species of burrowing snakes (Typhlops) . These are at once the most degenerate and yet generalised of snakes, descendants of an early branch of the sub-order which have become specialised for life underground and have nearly lost the functional use of their eyes. These typhlopine snakes offer a remarkable external resemblance to a large earth-worm, just as the enormous blue-green earth-worms of Liberia (Acanthndilus) do their best to look and act like snakes. In Typhlops, as in some other burrowing serpents, the head looks so like the tail as to justify the name of " two- headed " snakes by which Americo-Liberians know them. The eyes are very minute and scarcely functional. The mouth is small, and these snakes live on insects and small worms. The Python family is represented by two species — Calabaria and 'Python. Calabaria is an inconspicuous snake of somewhat dull coloration, about four feet long, with a relatively small head. It is sometimes styled the West African boa, but it is not nearer to the boas than to the other members of the same group (A'rv.v, Koti, Python, etc.). The name, therefore, is somewhat misleading. There is a veritable boa in Madagascar, a most remarkable fact in African zoography, because the 813 <>+> Fauna : Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish chief home of the boas Is South America ; there is also, I believe, a form of boa in the Malay Archipelago, so that it is not absolutely necessary to account for the broken distribution of the $0/>/^ by the Eocene bridge connecting West Africa with Brazil. No doubt this former equatorial land belt between South America and Africa is the real explanation of the boas found in Madagascar and Eastern Asia, the intervening types in West and Central Africa having died out. Or the reverse is possible — that the boas may be specialised pythons, which originated in Africa and spread thence to Madagascar and Eastern Asia on the one hand, and South America on the other. The Python (Python seb Fauna : Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish a great consumer of flies, cockroaches, and other noisome insects, it is unharmed by the Negroes, and is frequently met with in towns and villages. The family of the large Monitor lizards is represented by the common Varanus niloticus. These creatures — often six feet long — are miscalled throughout West Africa by Europeans and Americo-Liberians " iguanas." Iguana is the name of 307. A SKINK, LYGOSOMA FERNANDI a remarkable group of vegetarian lizards confined to America, the Pacific Islands, and Madagascar in its distribution. This, like so many other American names, has been imported into West Africa, usually in the corrupted form of "guana." The correct English name of this type is "monitor." The Latin name Varanus is derived from the Arabic Waran, the name given to these lizards in Egypt. This large monitor lizard 815 Liberia *- is a great nuisance in Liberia as elsewhere in West Africa, because it preys on fowls and ducks, as well as on their eggs. It is very fierce, can bite, and inflict some damage with its whip-like tail. It frequents the water a good deal, and its skin is valuable in commerce. According to Biittikofer, the snake-like or worm-like lizard, Amphisbana liberiensis, is found in this country. In outward appearance these creatures are singularly like large worms. They burrow in the ground, and live chiefly in ants' or termites' nests. Along their burrows they can move both backwards as well as forwards, and they get over the ground not by writhing from side to side or curving the body laterally like snakes and other lizards, but rather with the movements of a caterpillar or a worm — vertical undulations along a straight line. The head is exceedingly small, and over the snout and forehead there are large scales, at the side of which the tiny little pin-point eyes are half concealed. Amphisbsena is probably nearly blind. These creatures exhibit another interesting instance of relationship between the fauna of South America and Tropical Africa. The genus Am$hisb&na is represented on both sides of the tropical Atlantic — in South America and the West Indies on the one hand, and in Western and Central Africa on the other. In the Liberian fauna are included the three types of African Crocodiles, two of which are confined in their distribution to the West Coast of Africa. The common African form (Crocodilus niloticus) is fairly abundant in Liberian rivers and lagoons, and exists in water that is quite brackish. I do not think that the common crocodile grows to such a considerable length, however, in this part of West Africa as in the great rivers and lakes of the interior. But it is said to be dangerous to human life in Liberia, and to seize and drag under water 816 -*> Fauna : Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish men, women, ami children who imprudently go down to the edge of a river. I have killed one of these crocodiles quite close to Monrovia. But they are far less common in the coast waters than they were seventy or eighty years ago when the Americo-Liberians first came to this country. The flesh of the crocodile is eaten by most of the inland tribes. The Slender-snouted form (Crocodilus cataphractus] was 308. THE COMMON CROCODILE (CROCOUILUS NILOTICUS) supposed at one time to be a near relation of the Indian gharial, but this is not the case. It is simply an independent development of a long, slender-jawed type of true crocodile. This form grows to considerable size and length. It differs from the common crocodile not only in the slenderness of its snout but by the proportionate length of the bones of the upper jaw ; also in the bony armour of the adult form : VOL. ii 817 20 Liberia <•- the scutes on the throat and belly of the slender-snouted crocodile solidify into bone, and offer a resemblance to the bony ventral armour of extinct forms. In colour the slender- snouted crocodile is very similar to the Nilotic form — a dark olive-brown above and a yellowish white below. Young forms are splotched with blackish markings, particularly vivid on the tail. These persist to some extent in the adult. 309- (RO(Ol)lI.K (( . CATAPHRACTUS) Crocodilus cataphractus is not met with in the estuaries of the rivers, as it seems to dislike brackish water. It is consequently very seldom seen by Europeans in Liberia unless they leave the coast region and penetrate beyond the first rapids of the rivers. The accompanying photograph, which I owe to the kindness of Mr. Cecil H. Firmin, was taken from a large specimen of slender-snouted crocodile killed in the Mano River. 8T8 -+> Fauna : Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish The slender-snouted form lives mainly on fish. According to Dr. dadow this crocodile is probably allied in origin to one of the crocodiles of the Orinoco River of northern South America (C. intermidius}, and also to Johnston's crocodile of Northern Australia. The Short-headed crocodile — OsteoLemus — is apparently more restricted in distribution over West Africa than the slender-snouted type, scarcely reaching as far south as the Congo. It is easily distinguished from the other crocodiles by its very short broad head, turned-up nose, and much smaller size, which is not known to exceed five feet in length. 310. SHORT-HEADED CROCODILE (OSTEOLJEMUS TETRASPIS) Like the slender-snouted crocodile, it has bony plates on the throat and belly. It lives exclusively on fish. On the sea-coast of Liberia the Hawksbill Turtle (Chelone imbricata] is often met with ; and although it is not liked by Europeans, it is eaten by the natives. Its carapace yields the tortoiseshell of commerce, so that the abundance of this animal on the Liberian coast might be a source of profit if the native fishermen were more enterprising. The Green or edible turtle (Chelone mydas} also visits this coast very frequently. The leathery turtle (Dermochelys coriacea\ which is so distinct from other turtles or tortoises as to be included within a separate 819 Liberia <•- sub-order, is also a visitor to the Liberian sea-coast. Its leathery carapace rises into strongly marked ridges along the back and sides that are composed of small discs of bone, almost fused together, and covered with a leathery skin. This, together with the plastron or belly-shield (equally studded with ridges of bony nodules) is quite distinct from the bones of the vertebrae and the ribs, and in this particular therefore the leathery turtle differs from all the rest of the order. Its habits are entirely marine. The flippers are exceedingly long. In the marshes and rivers of Liberia fresh-water tortoises are found of the genus Sternoth&rus. They may be distinguished from other groups by the sideways flexion of the neck when it is withdrawn under the shell. Other members of the order outside the side-necked families withdraw their necks under the carapace in perpendicular loops, or backwards into a sheath. The Sternotheres and their allies in Africa and America curve their long necks round to one side between carapace and plastron. Sternothcerus frequents fresh water, and is carnivorous. The shell is bony, and the size of the animal is not large — perhaps a foot long. The Trionychidtf or Soft tortoises, on the other hand, retract their necks into a sheath of loose skin. Their nostrils are prolonged into a short proboscis. The carapace is covered with a smooth, leathery skin with a crenellated edge. They can therefore at once be distinguished from land and water tortoises by the absence of the segments between the plates of the carapace. They do not grow to any great size, are almost wholly aquatic, very carnivorous and ferocious, and bite sharply with the bony rims of their jaws. The true Tortoises arc represented by the genus Cinyxis. In these forms the back part of the carapace over the loins is hinged, so that it can be moved independently of the front portion of the carapace. When these Cinyxis tortoises have 820 -+> Fauna: Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fis withdrawn their legs and tail within the plastron or belly-shield, they can close down tightly the hinder part of their back carapace to meet the rim of the plastron underneath, so that they become completely screened from attack on any soft portion of their body. The rim or edge of the carapace, both in front, behind, and at the sides, is sometimes developed into 311. THE GREEN TURTLE (CHELONE MVUAs) fantastic foliations or toothed processes, which are distinctly ornamental. Amongst Amphibians there is a representative of the Apoda or limbless order — one of the Cceciliid*. This creature, which was collected in Liberia by Dr. Biittikofer, is probably Urceotyphlus seraphini, though it was placed by Biittikofer in a different (East African) genus, Plypogeophis. There might well be in Liberia also another Coecilian amphibian, Geotrypetes petersii. These creatures in appearance are easily mistaken for one of the big earth-worms found in Liberia, or a burrowing snake. They are slimy, viscous, a pale brownish flesh-colour, 821 Liberia *- about eight inches long, and slender. Their skin is marked with a large number of rings or folds which originally corre- sponded with the vertebras ; but as the animal grows older the rino;s increase without correspondence with the segments of the spine. Under the skin, hard, bony scales are formed, which are thought to be vestiges of skin armour so characteristic of the Stegocephali) an ancient division of the Amphibia which existed and became extinct at a most remote period of the earth's history. The genera Unzotyphlus and Geotrypetes, like some other African, Asiatic, and American Ccecilians, possess in both jaws a double series of teeth — -two parallel rows. The eye is a mere vestige concealed under the skin, and the Ccecilians are therefore totally blind. But something like a sense organ exists in the curious tentacles (which can be retracted or protruded at will) growing out just under the eyes, in the front of the face. Very little is known about the life habits of the African Coecilians, which is one reason why I have inflicted a description of these obscure animals on the reader in the hope that Siberians may recognise them and study their ways. One of the Indian species is known to take some trouble about the hatching of its eggs, round which the female coils her- self. In all probability these blind, limbless amphibians are much dreaded by the Liberian Negroes, as they are by the natives of East Africa, from the belief that they are poisonous to handle. The slimy exudations from the skin certainly seem to be of an inflammatory nature. The Toads and I;rogs L of Liberia have been very im- 1 There is not much scientific importance to be attached to the use of the terms '-In)"" or "toad," which do not accord markedly with the natural divisions amongst the tailless Amphibians. 822 <+> Fauna: Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish perfectly collected and studied. The list of species, when the country has been thoroughly investigated, ought to be a much longer one than I am able to give (quoting from Dr. Hiittikofcr) at the end of this chapter. There may yet be discovered other species akin to the remarkable " hairy " frogs of the northern Congo and Gaboon coast-lands, in which the flanks and thighs are covered with a fringe of blackish filaments (really excrescences of the skin) which resemble hair or bristles in appearance. As it is, three true frogs (Rana and Rappia ') have been recorded from Liberia, a toad (Bufo regularis\ and, lastly, a representative of a very peculiar sub-order of Tongue- less frogs, Xenopus, a group which retains some archaic features and yet has become much modified and specialised along a line of its own. The Aglossa or Tongueless frogs are confined in their distribution to Africa and northern South America, possibly another result of the former Eocene bridge connecting the two continents. The species which is found in Liberia — Xenopus calcaratus — is a little creature only about two inches long, which has very small eyes and a tiny tentacle projecting below the eye (like that in the blind Coecilian). There is a spur or claw of some length on the ankle. The toes are armed with pointed nails, and are connected with broad webs. The hind limbs are very large in these Xenopus frogs, which lead a wholly aquatic life. The common form in West Africa (X. calcaratus — which has very small eyes) floats a good deal on the surface of the water or hides under duckweed and water-lily leaves. It is a type of amphibian that has reverted to an entirely aquatic existence just as the whale has done amongst mammals. These frogs have been observed by the 1 Rappia differs from the large genus of Rana by having fingers as well as toes webbed and terminated with discs. 823 Liberia *- present writer to be very abundant in the stagnant fresh water behind the Sino settlements in Kastern Liberia. The Fresh-water Fish of Liberia are characteristic of that vast region of Tropical Africa styled by Mr. G. A. Boulenger " Megapotamia " : they are related more or less intimately to the fish of the Gambia and Senegal systems, the Niger, and the Nile. It is known by now that the fish fauna of the Niger and the Nile presents much closer resemblances than is the case between the fish of the Nile, the Congo Basin, and the Zambezi, or even as compared to the fish of the Victoria Nyanza and those of the Nile and Lake Rudolf. For instance, in Lake Victoria Nyanza (which gives birth to the Victoria Nile, but has probably only recently become connected with the Nile system) there has not yet been discovered any example of that remarkable African fresh-water fish, Polypterus ; yet there is a Polypterus in the rivers of Liberia ( P. palmas). It is true that this remarkable type of fish is also found in the Congo Basin, but it is quite absent from Lake Nyasa and the Zambezi. Of all existing fishes the Polypterid* probably offer the greatest number of affinities with amphibians, and therefore- come nearest (though they may still be very far off) to that, as yet unknown, link between the fish and the land vertebrates 824 312. ELECTRIC CAT-FISH * Fauna: Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish which were the ancestors of the amphibians and reptiles, and thus links in the evolution of Man. Of all the fresh-water fish which have been collected by Dr. Biittikofer, Mr. K. J. Whicker, and others in the Liberian rivers, about eight or nine are thought to be peculiar to the country. Of these four are Silurids (cat-fishes). These, of course, are fresh-water fish with naked bodies and a number of tentacles growing from the lips. Some of the cat-fish of Liberia — those of the genus Clarias — grow to a considerable size, especially where they in- habit isolated pools or meres. Some very large cat-fish are kept as fetish or totem objects /J by the natives of Boporo (or were before the former town was destroyed in civil wars), and it was reported both by Dr. Blyden and by Winwood Reade that dead slaves or criminals used to be thrown into the pools where the tame cat-fish lived in order that the fish might be nourished on human flesh. The natives eat the pappy soft flesh of the cat-fish of whatever species, but prefer the electric cat-fish as an article of diet.1 This is a small fish, seldom more than about twelve inches long. It is known scientifically as Malopterurus electricus, and is generally common throughout Tropical Africa, but especially 1 Biittikofer asserts that this last (Malopterurus} is delicious. The present writer cannot agree, as the flesh tastes too much like fish which has been kept too long on ice, and has lost all firmness. 825 Liberia <*- so in the Liberian. rivers. It dislikes the glare of the sun and always skulks in dark holes or under the banks of streams. Its scaleless skin is a dull greenish grey, irregularly spotted with black, but the body is covered with a thick slime which conceals this coloration. This gelatinous coating appears to be in some way connected with the glands on the surface of the skin which generate the electric current that is accumulated in the great cell at the front end of the spinal chord, near the base of the skull. This fish can give very powerful shocks to man and easily kills other fish. Most Silurids, those of Africa and South America especially, have accessory organs of respiration which permit of the blood being oxygenated by direct assumption of air. Clarias can live for a long time away from the water — indeed, allied species in South America make long journeys over dry land from one pool to another. The Snake-headed fish (Ophiocephalus) of Liberian waters absorbs air direct through labyrinthine cavities behind the jaws and can live for a long time out of water. Mastacembelus, an eel-like fish with tiny sharp spines along the back, has its nostrils slightly prolonged into a slender snout through which, apparently, it sucks in air from above the surface of the water. An allied species in India is said to drown — suffocate — if it cannot reach the air to breathe. There are of course the celebrated lung-fishes of Africa, Australia, and America, which, though retaining gills, have converted their air-bladder into paired lungs and inhale air at frequent intervals. The African and American forms hibernate in mud-burrows during the dry season, away from water. This African type of Lung-fish (Protopterus^ ought to be found in Liberia, but has not as yet been collected there. In this country there is a species of Anabas (of the group called 826 *+ Fauna : Reptik-s, Amphibians, and Fish "climbing perch") which is also able to breathe and exist for some hours on land. But as regards u Fish out of water," no form strikes the visitor to the coast region of Liberia so forcibly as the Mud- skipper or Bom mi-fish (Periophthtilmus koelreuteri). This little creature, the appearance of which is perhaps sufficiently indicated by my drawing, will hop about the sand and mud and even climb on to low boughs and roots of trees, remaining out of 314. THE BOMMI-K1SH (PERIOPHTHALMUS) the water (if unafraid) for some considerable time. The pectoral fins are quite serviceable arms and the pelvic fins become a kind of pedestal on which the body rests between the leaps. Watching this little fish emerging from the water and pursuing small insects and tiny crustaceans over the mud-flats in the mangrove swamps, one realises the way in which by slow degrees some fish genus of the Primary Epoch left the dreary water-world to found the stock of the land vertebrates, under 827 Liberia « the same impulse towards better things as had earlier turned water-worms to insects and crustaceans to spiders. The Mormyrida are a family of fresh-water fishes peculiar to Tropical Africa and the Nile, north of the southern tropic. They are usually so singular in appearance as to arrest attention even on the part of heedless people. The mouth aperture is always small, and the snout is more or less prolonged, some- times with a bold curve, so that the heads of such types as Mormyrus and Gnathonemus resemble in outline an elephant, an ant-eater, a curlew, or a horse. At the extremity of the snout there is, below the mouth aperture in some of these fish, a hook-like finger of cartilage. The Mormyrids have exceedingly large and heavy brains (for fish), and are furnished with an electrical organ of weak power formed out of the muscles in the vicinity of the tail. Several Characinid fish such as Hydrocyon attain to a considerable size in the St. Paul's River, the Lofa, and the Cavalla. The Hydrocyon has a slight outward resemblance to a large salmon, but has very formidable tusk-like teeth. The Carp family is represented by two species of barbel, and the Cithlidtf, a group so characteristic of the lakes and rivers of Africa, have at least six types in Liberia, of which perhaps two are peculiar to that region. As regards marine and estuarine forms, it may be said that the Liberian coasts constitute one of the best fisheries in West Africa, though of course nothing like so famous as the Sahara coast between Cape Blanco and the Rio de Oro. The best fishing season is probably between November and February. There is, no doubt, a certain migration in the sea fish of the Atlantic, dependent either on seasons of the year or the set of currents. Although most of the Liberian sea fish are common to the Mediterranean and warm Atlantic regions and even the 828 * Fauna : Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish Indian Ocean, a few forms seem to be limited in their distribution to the West African coast between the Gambia and the Gaboon. Amongst these is the extraordinary Psettus seb Fauna : Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish The Vai, Basa, and Kru fishermen tell many stories of the boldness and ferocity of these great fish, declaring that they will sometimes leap out of the water and capsize the narrow fishing canoes in order to snap up the fishermen. The sharks are particularly in evidence at the mouths of rivers. They watch the bars of these estuaries, no doubt because it is easier in this shallow water to catch the fish that are passing from sea to river or in the reverse direction, while there is always a chance of some canoes upsetting and their human occupants being caught at a disadvantage. The Saw-fish (Pristis), sometimes attaining to a length of twenty-four feet, also frequents these coasts, and ascends the rivers till it is stopped by rapids. It is most destructive to the fishermen's nets. Whip or sting rays (Trygon} are also of common occur- rence. They frequent the brackish lagoons a good deal, lying half-concealed in the mud, ready to slash with their powerful armed tails at shoals of small fish passing overhead. In this position they are often harpooned by the fishermen. The following Appendix, which has been prepared with .the help of Mr. G. A. Boulenger of the British Museum, gives a list corrected down to date of the known Reptiles, Amphibians and Fish of Liberia. It is based on the collections of Professor Biittikofer and his companions, of the author, and of Messrs. F. J. Whicker, John Gow, I. F. Braham, and other servants of the British companies in Liberia. It is far from being adequate or final, and if the reader misses therefrom the enumeration of familiar West African forms, he need not con- clude necessarily that these creatures are absent from Liberia, but only that as yet their existence in that country or in the adjacent seas has not been definitely established by collected specimens. 831 APPENDIX VII REPTILES FROM TIIK COLLECTIONS OF DR. BUTTIKOFER, MR. F. J. WHICKER, SIR H. II. JOHNSTON, AND OTHERS OPHIDIA (Snakes) Burrowing snakes. Boine snakes. Harmless colubrine snakes without grooved fangs. Typhlops punctatns T. liberiensis Python scbce Calabaria reinJiardtii Rood on niger Bothrophtkalmus lineatus 7 'ropidonotus fcro.v Gasti -opyxis sma ragdina Hapsidophrys lincata Rhantnophis a-thiops Thrasops flavigularis Grayia smythii Dasypcltis scabra Pipsadomorphus pnlvcnilcnta (slightly poisonous) 1 D. blandingii „ „ ' Colubrmc snakes Psammophis sibilans „ ' W 'I'lielotornis kirtlaiidii „ Naja nigricollis (very poisonous) .\". inclaiiolcuca „ „ Dendraspis i^iridis „ „ D. jamcsonii (?) „ „ Cansits rhombcatus (very poisonous) llitis gabonica „ „ />. nasicornis „ ,, At her is chlorcchis „ „ Atractaspis corpnloita (poisonous) 832 posterior fangs. Cobras. Vipers. Fauna : Reptiles, Amphibians, ami Fish LACERTILIA Hemidactylus tnahnia \ II. fasciatns r Geckos. I,ytf>(ttic/y/ns gtttttim/is i Lnccrta cchhiata \ . Lizards. A gam a colonorum ' I.]Ws»nia J'cniaiidi Malaria iiiacnlilahris .17. I ) M. he n so ni niloticns (the Monitor Lizard ["Iguana"]). ia lihcricnsis (the burrowing, limbless, worm-like Lizard). Chamceleo saiczalctisis \ ~. f Chameleons. 6. gractlts CROCODILIA Crocodilus niloticus (Common African Crocodile). C '. uituphractns (Slender-snouted Crocodile). Osteol&mus tetraspis (Stumpy or Short-headed Crocodile). CHELONIA Dcnnochelis coriacea (Leathery Turtle). Clielonc tin-das \ r ^ . , . ' \ Sea Turtles. 6. unbricata ) Ciny.vis erosa (Box or Hinged Tortoise). Sternoth&rus dcrbianus ) Fresh-water Tortoises with necks retractile S. niger ) sideways. Trioiiyx triungnis (Soft-shelled river Turtle). AMPHIBIA APODA Ur&otyphlus serapJiini ^ (Ccecilians, or worm-like, limbless Amphi- \Geotrypetes peter -siiT\ I bians). ECAUDATA Rana occipitalis. Rappia fuscigula. R. vittigera. Bufo regiilaris. Xenopus calcaratus. VOL. II 833 Liberia LIST OF KNOWN FISH FOUND IN THE RIVERS OR OFF THE SKA COASTS OF LIBERIA NOTK. — The really indigenous fish frequenting the fresh-water rivers and marshes or the brackish estuaries and lagoons of Liberia, have their names printed in heavy type : the names in Italics indicate sea fish only. ("AkCHAKllD.K (Sharks — Marine and Estuarine) Cart-lianas sp. TRYGONIU/E (Whip-Rays—Marine) Ttygon uiargarita. POLYI'TERID.E (Fresh-water only) Polypterus palmas. ALBULID/E (Marine) A I b n la conorhy fichus. MORM YRID/K ( Fresh-water) Mormyrops deliciosus. M. breviceps. Petrocephalus simus. Gnathonemus mento. G. ussheri. Isichthys henryi. NOTOPTERID.K (Fresh-water) Notopterus afer. Xenomystus nigri. CLUPKID/K (Herrings, etc. — Marine) /\ '( '/on it la I'orax. Clnpca inattcrcHsis. CHARACINID.E (Fresh-water) Alestes macrolepidotus. A. nurse. A. longipinnis. Hydrocyon forskalii. Sarcodaces odoe. Neolebias unifasciatus. 834 Fauna : Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish CYPKINID/E (Carp, etc.— Fresh-water) Barbus camptacanthus. B. ablabes. SiLt'Kin.K (Cat-fish, etc.— Fresh-water) Clarias salae. C. laeviceps. C. liberiensis. C. buettikoferi. G. buluma. Chrysichthis buettikoferi. C. nigridigitatus. Eutropius mandibularis. E. ultipinnis. E. liberiensis. Malopterarus electricus. Arius park ii. A. Jieudelotii. MUR^NIOE (Sea Eels— Marine) Ophichthys buettikoferi. O. semicinctus. Myroconger macrops. CYPRINODONTID/E (Fresh-water) Haplochilus spilauchen. FlSTULARIM (" Flute-mouths "—Marine) Fistularia tabaccaria. SvNGNATHID^E (" Sea-horses "—Marine) Syngnathus kaupii. SCOMBRESOCID^: (Gar-pikes, Flying-fish— Marine) Belone senegalensis. Hemirhamplius schlegelii. Exoccetus lineatus (Flying-fish). 835 Liberia *- MUGILID.K (Mullets— Marine) cephalns. M. falcipnuiis. POLYNKMID.K (Marine) Galeoitles polydactylns. SPIIYK/ENIIXE (Barracudas— Marine) Sphynena gnacaiiclio . OPHIOCEPIIALII>/K (Fresh-water) Ophiocephalus obscurus. ANABANTID.E ("Climbing Perches"— Fresh-water) Anabas kingsleyi. SERRANID.-E (Marine) Serranus ccneiis. Lutiauns caxis. L. inacrolcpis. SCLKNID/K (Marine) Otolithus senegaleusis. GERRID/K (Marine) Genes gerrida. G. nigri. PRlSTli'OMATin/K (Marine) Diagi '< i ui ma mac ~t -olepis. I *ristip»ina jitbelini. P. macrophthalmus* J\ suit In in. Smaris melahurus. Si'ARiD.i-; 'Sea Bream — Marine) Spams sp. goreenss. Scoki'iDii. i; ! Marine) P Set til S SC/'n'. 836 -* Fauna : Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish Ci L'KTOi >ONTii ).!•; (Marine) Drepane punctata. lipliippns gon rust's. DRETANID/E (Marine) ACANTHURIM; (Marine) Acanthnrus inonroviie. LABRID.K (Wrasses, brilliantly coloured — Marine) Cor is guineensis, ClCHLIDjE (Fresh-water) Tilapia lata. T. nilotica. Palmatochromis buettikoferi. P. jentinki. Hemichromis fasciatus. H. bimaculatus. CARANGID/E (Horse-mackerel — Marine) Caranx clirysos. C. africanus. C. Jiippos. C. carangus. Trachynotus goreensis. TRICHIURID/K (Ribbon-shaped fish — Marine) Trichiurus lepturus. PLEURONECTID/E (Flat-fish, Soles, etc., Marine) Cynoglossus senegalensis. Plem irhombus guineensis. GOBIID/K (Gobies, Mud-skippers, etc. — Marine and Estuarine) Gobius banana. G. sopor at or. PeriopJitJialmus koelreuteri. Eleotris buettikoferi. E. pisonis. 837 Liberia EciiKNKlblD/E CRemoras, Sucking-fish — Marine) Echcncis uancrates. BLENNIIRE (Blennies, Wolf-fish, Sea Cat-fish — Marine) S alar i as vomerinus. Bknnhis crinitits. MASTACEMBELID.E (Estuarine or Fresh) Mastacembelus liberiensis. ANTENNARIIM; ("Marbled Anglers"— Marine) Antennarins marmoratus. A, multicellatus. A. pinniceps. : (the File or Trigger fishes, or Drummers — Marine) Batistes maculatus. TETRODONTID/E (" Puffers " or Globe fishes — Marine) Tetrodon guttifer. T. Icevigatus. 838 S CHAPTER XXVI FAUNA: INVERTEBRATES O far as LAND MOLLUSCS are concerned, Liberia would seem to come within the Senegambian province of the Central African sub-region, a region which includes much of South, East, and North Central Africa. This region is apparently much less rich in forms of land molluscs than the special West African province which extends from Cape Palmas to the mouth of the Congo. Amongst those which have been collected in Liberia is the slug-like Veronicella, which instead of a distinct shell has the back covered with a leathery mantle. Streptaxis offers one peculiar Liberian species. This is a mollusc with a compact shell in coils, and together with Ennea is carnivorous and not vegetarian in its diet. Perideris and Limicolaria have long spiral shells, to some extent translucid. The large Achatina land snails are familiar objects all over Africa, even to un- observant persons. They have usually very large shells, hand- somely marked with black or brown on pearly white, sometimes fading into pinkish fawn colour or even becoming wholly white. These are much in vogue among the natives as ornaments or recep- tacles for snuff, salt, and other compounds. The whole group of the Achatina snails is peculiar in its distribution to Africa and South Arabia. Achatina purpurea has a beautiful purple tinge. Achatina variegata is perhaps the largest of known land-shells. It is sometimes six and a half inches in length, is pinkish brown, and has very faint zebra markings. The snails 839 Liberia * of this genus lay very large white eggs, nearly the size of a pea. Other snails of the same family (Stenogyrid*} lay eggs as large as those of a thrush, white and shaped like a bird's egg. The FRKSH-WATER MOLLUSCS of the order Prosobranchlata offer perhaps four species peculiar to Liberia in their distribution. '1 he marine are of course of widespread distribution, and only those are catalogued here which are commonly met with out of water on rock or sand. Among these may be mentioned the limpet-like shells of Siphotmria and Gadinia^ thickly clustered on the rocks up to high-tide mark and able to live for a long time out of water, content with the splashings of the high tides. Buttikofer states that the fresh-water shells of the numerous kinds of Melania are so abundant in parts of the St. Paul's River that they are burnt by the Liberians to make lime. Several other molluscs of fresh and brackish water furnish lime to the Liberians through their shells, and this lime is used to make mortar for building as well as whitewash for the walls and ceilings. Large oysters, apparently of the genus Ostrea (besides the " fresh-water oysters " of the genus &theria), are familiar objects in the estuaries of all the Liberian rivers, growing as they do in bunches affixed to the mangrove stalks and the trunks and branches of other trees that lie in brackish water. These oysters are much eaten by the Liberians. Nevertheless, unless specially treated they are dangerous for Europeans (and probably also for black men, only that not so much attention is paid to the unrecorded sufferings of Negroes). This may be because they take some poisonous substance out of the mud or water into their intestines. Moreover, when drawn from the brackish water and not from the sea, they are so insipid in taste as to be quite repellent. When the present writer lived in the rivers of the Niger Delta, he, following the example of the European traders in that region, used to collect oysters 840 -* Fauna: Invertebrates from the mangrove stalks and keep them for at least a fortnight in sea-water, feeding them meantime on oatmeal. At the end of a fortnight they were not only palatable and sufficiently salt hut perfectly wholesome. A "fresh-water oyster" of the Unh order — Mtheria — is found in the St. Paul's, in the Cavalla, and no doubt in all the other rivers of considerable size in Liberia, affixed to the rocks of islands or banks, and occasionally to the roots of trees growing in the water. EARTHWORMS (Oligocfata) are represented by the striking genus Acanthodrilus. According to Buttikofer, examples of these worms grow to the length of a yard, and are about half an inch in diameter. Though the present writer has observed them frequently in Liberia, he never saw one of a greater length than twelve to fourteen inches. On the other hand, the examples he has collected are proportionately thicker than those mentioned by Buttikofer. These earthworms are remarked even by un- observant persons because of their brilliant colours, generally a bright verditer blue. They are very active, and not easy or pleasant to catch, as they readily slip through the fingers and bury themselves in the soil. Moreover, when they feel them- selves grasped they squirt from the pores of their body a disgusting milky liquid which seems to be of a bitter or irritating nature. This is very observable if the worm is plunged into alcohol and feels itself at the point of death. It then squirts out such a quantity of thick milky fluid as com- pletely to obscure the liquid in which it is immersed. The Liberians naturally believe this creature to be poisonous, and in the minds of the natives it is a good deal confused with the worm-like snakes, lizards, and amphibians described in the previous chapter. 341 Liberia •<+-- Leeches {Hirudo ? or possibly Limnatis) are common in the swamps and even in the wet grass (Hamadipsd) in some districts, as will soon be discovered by any European traveller who is foolish enough to wade through swamps or streams with bare feet and legs. Although Biittikofer noticed no case of guinea-worm (Filaria medinensis) in Liberia, this pest has evidently begun to spread southwards from the Mandingo hinterland, where it is very common. It is already frequently met with on the Ivory Coast, to the east of Liberia, and cases occur amongst the Mandingos in the western part of Liberia. But this worm is more associated with the drier regions of Africa than with the forest country of heavy rains. Some description of it is given in the chapter dealing with the diseases of the natives. As regards the CRUSTACEA, they are abundantly represented in the coast region by the great land crabs of the mangrove swamps and river banks (Cardisoma). The fresh-water crabs of the widespread genus Thelphusa are found all over Liberia, often at some distance from water, in the trees or the damp undergrowth of the forest. At the breeding season they resort to holes in the river banks under the water. As Thelphusa is so often in evidence in the daytime, its habits cannot be so nocturnal as they are stated to be by Dr Biittikofer. In the mangrove and pandanus swamps two small shore crabs arc found of the genera Gelasimus and Sesarma. The first-named has the left claw disproportionately large and brightly coloured in the males, and the second (Sesarma) has blue claws. Both of these crabs can climb trees and even scramble along slender branchcs, no doubt in the pursuit of insects or other food. The great land crabs of the coast region (Cardisoma) also have one claw (the left) disproportionately developed, and strong 842 -•> Fauna: Invertebrates bristles on the other legs. They are nearly omnivorous, and attack and devour not only insects, worms, and fish, but also chickens and young ducks. The sandy beaches are alive with burrowing shore crabs of the genus Ocypode, which are ex- ceedingly rapid in their movements. These crabs can make a purring or growling noise which is very uncanny as coming from a crustacean, and is supposed to be caused by rubbing a membrane on the inner side of the big claw. The coarser crabs (as the Ocypoda are sometimes called) live in burrows in the sea-sand, each in his own hole, being very jealous of any encroachment on their claim. The Grapsus crabs, boldly spotted and very handsomely coloured, frequent the rocks at the mouths of rivers or along the sea coast. The Calappa crabs keep more to the shallow water in shore. They close up like a tortoise if meddled with, with- drawing their limbs within the carapace and belly shield, the much-broadened integument of the big claws assisting to form part of this compact, round Japanese puzzle-box, which Nature has painted most gaudily with a network of red streaks and spots. Fresh-water crayfish (really large prawns of the genus Pal Fauna : Invertebrates Liberian forests as in those of Uganda and the Congo Free State. There are very few species peculiar to Liberia, and the appended list represents most of the butterflies known in Sierra Leone, the Ivory Coast, the Gold Coast, and the Niger Delta. The BEETLES of this country are also slightly disappointing as compared to the extraordinary forms furnished by the Cameroons and Gaboon and the interior of the Congo Forest. Amongst interesting types, however, may be mentioned the Ceratorrhina beetles, remarkable for the beautiful or delicate coloration of their elytra (wing cases) and for the extraordinary rhinoceros horns borne by most of the males. One species (C. auratd) has the elytra delicately gilded, in another species these wing cases are dove-grey lined and spotted with black. The ceratorrhines are near allies of the large Goliath beetle, which so far has not been found in Liberia. The large white beetle grubs found in palm midribs and in decaying wood in the forests, which are such a favourite article of diet with the indigenous natives, develop into large shiny black beetles of the family Passalid Fauna : Invertebrates gnat found almost all over the world in damp localities. Their bite is much more irritating and painful than that of the mosquito, but it does not apparently convey any germ of disease. Large grey gadflies of the genus H Sea-dwelling swimming Crabs. L \ilappa rubroguttata) MACRURA (Hermit Crabs, Crayfish, etc.) Petrochirus cavitarins Clibanarius cooki Diogenes pugilator D. var. intermedia Hermit Crabs. D. denticidatns D. brevirostris J 'ag u ristes Jiispidus Paniilirus rcgius (Sea Crayfish). Pahcmon macrobrachion \ 71 ,, . • /T- i /-. r * x } Large Prawns. P. vollenhovem (Fresh-water Crayfish) J Lcauder edwardsii\ . . , \ Prawns. Aty a scabra J STOMATOPODA (Mantis Shrimps). Si]iti//(i einpiisa. Lysiosquilla Jioei }eni. ARACHNIDA SCORPIONES (Scorpions) l^audiints inipcrator ^thc (iiant African Scorpion). I'KDIPALI'I (Whip Scorpions) Titanodamen bassantensis. 862 Fauna : invertebrates (Spiders) Phoneyusa gigas. Scodra brachypoda. NepJiila lucasii Nephiln cruoitatn j \ \ ^phi I a fan on i/is. Heteropoda vcuatoria (?). Aranicthm MYBJAPODA CHILOGNATHA (Millipedes) Julns sp. SYNGNATHA (Centipedes) Scolopendra sp. Geophilus sp. Scutigera sp. CILETOPODA OLIGOCH^TA (Earthworms) A cantliodrilus schlegelii. A. buettikoferi. A. beddardi. HIRUDINEA (Leeches) Hirudo sp. ? Limnalis sp. ? H&madipsa sp. ? NEMATHELMINTHES (Intestinal Worms) NEMATODA Filaria medinensis (the Guinea Worm). INSECTA NEUROPTERA MYRMELEONT1DJL (Ant Lions) Palpures sp. CymotJiales sp. 863 Liberia *- TERMITIDJ? (" White Ants ") 1 \*nnes be Hi cos us. T. iiiorda.v. ORTHOPTERA BLATTID& (Cockroaches) Temnopteryx sp. Deropeltis sp. Rhyparobia madenc. Periplaneta atncricaiia. P. australasice. Heterogamia cegyptiaca. MANTW& (Mantises? — Praying Insects) Sphodromantis lineola. Mantis sacra. Miomantis pellucida. PHASMID& (Stick Insects) CypJiocrania cestuans. Bacillus gracilipes. Palophus cen taunts. ACRIDIID^E (Locusts and Grasshoppers) Tryxalis sp. Acriditim sp. Schistocerca sp. Catantops melanost rictus. rilASGONURID.E fGreeri Grasshoppers) Arantia sp. Dolichopoda sp. GKYLLID.E (Crickets) (riyllus sp. (iryllotalpa sp. 864 Fauna : Invertebrates HYMENOPTERA FORMICID^L (Ants) Formica sp. Anomina sp. Dory his sp. PaltotJiyreus sp. SPHEGID& (Mason Wasps) Pelopceus sp. SCOLIID^E Apterogyna sp. (an ant-like, subterranean mutillid). VESPID& (Wasps) Belenogaster sp. Polistes sp. APID^E (Bees) y^//> fasciata. Trigona sp. DIPTERA CULICID^E (Gnats, Mosquitoes) Culex sp. Anopheles sp. CHIRONOMIDsE (Midges, Sandflies) Ceratopogon sp. TABAN1D& (Gadflies) Pangonia sp. (the Hippo Fly). Hcematopota sp. (Grey Gadfly). MUSCID& (Flies) Glossina sp. (akin to Tsetse) £. palpalis ? APHANIPTERA PULICID& (Fleas) Sarcopsylla penetrans. VOL. ii 865 23 Liberia <*- HEMIPTERA REDUVIID& (Bugs) Platy inert s Jiorrida , HOMOPTERA CICADIDAL (Cicadas) Pycna liuibata. COLEOPTERA (Beetles) i. PASSALID& (Wood Beetles) Diiiy inns klngii. 1 ^cntalobns barbatiis. 2. LUCANID^E (Stag Beetles) j 1 1 c sot opus taraiidus. j I ietopodontus sa vagei. M'. sisauzyanus. Frosopocwlns qnadridens. 1\ senegalensis. Plouurodenis inellyi. 3. SCARABsEIDJL (Chafers, Dung Beetles) Sisyphus sp. Gytnnopleurus sp. Chalconotus cupreus. Cat I HI r si us pitliecins. Copy is cannclita. Onitis cnprcits. ( Inthvphagus ntscuue. O. tridens. O, libcrianns. O. deplanatns. Holhoccnis senegalensis* Oryctes boas. Ar^ou ecu taunts. . / nachalcos cupreus. L *eratorrhina frontalis. 866 * Fauna: Invertebrates C. aurata. C. gut tat a Chordodera pentachordia. C. quinquelincata. Heterorliina africaua. Polystalactica stellata. PacJinoda inarginata. P. postica. .P. tridentata. Diplirontis cruenta. PorpJiyronota cinnamomea. Diplognatha gagates. Eriulis variolosa. Psetidinca aduiixta. Ccenocliilus ventricosus. Incala stampflii. Platygenia barbata. Myoderma alutacea. Polyblasttis assarius. Heteronychus claudius. 4. CICINDELIDAL (Tiger Beetles) Cicindela cine fa. C. interstincta. C. caternautii. C. verstcolor. 5. CARABID^E (Ground Beetles) Casnonia cribriceps. Drypta sp. aff. melanartJira. Dendr ocellus bocandei. Galerita inter stitialis. G. leptodera. Acanthogenius bimaculatus. Meladroma umbraculata. Pheropsophus marginatus. Calleida ruficollis. Thyreopterus flavosignatus. 867 Liberia <*- r achy teles sp. aff. I lit ens. Catascopns scncgalcnsis. C. savagei. Stereostouia stoliduin. Kudcres oberti. Morio guineensis. M . ant hr acinus. 1 ^latyiiodcs westermanni. C ^chyropns savage i. O. gigas. O. patroclns. Scarites perplexus. Anlacillns liber ianus. Craspedophoms Icci. >ifrons. Epigrapkus arcuaticollis. Stomonaxus lougulus. S. complanatns. Chlcmius sp. aff. sellatus. Eccoptomenus obscuricollis. I lypolithus marginicollis. Anisodactylus abaculus. Drimostoma westermanni. Abacetus gagates. A. ainaroides. Megalonychus subrirens. .)/. explauatiis. 6. DYTISCIDJL (Water Beetles) ( 'opelatns sp. Cybister modestns. C. distinctus. C. irritans. C. deplanahis. ALthionectes obtains. 7. PAUSSID& (Ant-frequenting Beetles) Orthopterus lafertei. Paussus huinboldti. 868 -* Fauna: Invertebrates 8. GYRINID^ (Whirligig Beetles : Aquatic) Orectogyrus specnlaris. O. bnettikofcri. O. diinidiatiis. O. stain f)flii. O. os can'. 9. HYDROPHIUDsE (aquatic or marsh-haunting in habit) Sphceridiu in pic hi in . 10. STAPHYLINIDAL ("Cock-tail" Beetles) //ex penis cadioides. 1 1. HISTERIDsE (Compact Beetles) Hololepta semicincta. Placodes senegalensis. Macrosternus lafertci. Apoblctes foliaceus. A. migneauxi. Pac/iycrcerus cyanescens. P. liisteroides. P . I'itscinic. P. desidiosus. Mister hottentotta. H. tropicus. H. tropicalis. H. lentulus. //. confo rnn's. H. ritsemce. Saprinus brunnivestis. S. gabonensis. 12. N1T1DULID& (Flower Beetles) &thina tumida. 13. TROGOS/TlDsE (Corn Beetles) Gymnochila varia. 869 Liberia v 14. CUCUJ1D& (Bark Beetles) Hectarthrum unirrayi. Chilopoma castancii in . 15. EROTYLID.E (Fungus-haunting Beetles) Megalodacne grandis. Episcaphula intcrnipta. E.piciventris. Zytfwni fulva. * \ inblyopiis ninrrayi. 1 ^alieolybas dors a Us. 7 ^r it 0111 a liberiana. Triplax vittipeiuris. ia calabarensis. 1 6. BOSTR1CHID& (Timber-boring Beetles) Apate terebnms. 17. MALACODERMID& (LAMPYRID^) (Fireflies) Diaphanes leucopyga 1 8. LYMEXYLUNIDA: (Timber-drilling Beetles) Atractocerus brevicornis. 19. KLATERIDsK (Click Beetles) Tylotarsus rcductiis. Alans excavatus. A. stellio. I etralobus auricovius. Pantolamprus nit ens. P. doJirni. P. auratus. 1 *scphus bcninioisis. l\ brcvipcnnis. P. sp. aff. bucculatiis. P. sp. aff. ovalis. Telesns ritsemce. Melanoxanthus senegalensis. 870 -* Fauna : invertebrates 20. BUPRESTID& (Metallic Beetles) Iridotcenia cJirysocJdora. /. decolor. Psiloptera punctatissima, P. pipcrita. ttcliouota n tricolor. B. laticornis, 21, AV///V/V/^AV/;./-; (Parasitic and flower-frequenting Beetles) Myodites bucttikoferi. 22. MKLOID& (Cantharids, Blister Beetles) Horia macrognatJia, 23. CHRYSOMELID& (Leaf-eating Beetles) Sagra amethystina. Lema annata. Pcecilomorpha murrayi. MiocJiira filiformis. Cryptocephalus gladiato rius. C. lowii. Colasposoma tarsale. Syagrus calcaratas. S. ceratus. Menius tarsalis. Corynodes simillimus. Nisotra dilecta. Myrcine nigra. Packytoma gigantea. DiacantJia bidentata. OotJieca mutabilis. 871 LEPIDOPTERA (Butterflies and Moths) [BY EMILY MARY SHARPE] "TiiE following list is compiled from Dr. Biittikofer's Reisebilder au s Liberia, to which I have added the additional species procured by Messrs. Harold Reynolds and F. J. Whicker. " In addition to Dr. Biittikofer's work I have here referred to Professor Aurivillius' Rhopalocera ^EtJiiopica" — E.M.S. RHOPALOCERA (Butterflies) DANAID& 1 . Danais chrysippus (Linn.) Aurivillius, Rhopalocera sEtliiopica, p. 32 (1898). Coll. F. Whicker. 2. D. alcippus (Cram.) Biittikofer, Reisebilder ans Liberia, vol. ii. p. 482 (1890) ; Auriv. t.c. p. 32. Coll. Biittikofer, Reynolds. 3. A-maiiris niavius (Linn.) Butt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 37. Coll. Biittikofer, Reynolds. 4. A. enceladus, Brown. Auriv. t.c. p. 37. Coll. F. Whicker. 5. A. damocles, Beauv. Butt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 38. Coll. Biittikofer. 6. A. egialea (Cram.) Butt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 39. Coll. Bjittikofet; \Vhickcr. 7. A. Jiecate, Butl. Auriv. t.c. p. 39. Coll. Reynolds. SATYRIDJL 8. Elymnias phegea (Eabr.) Butt, t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 45 Coll. Biittikofer. 872 Fauna : I n vertebrates g. Gnophodcs panncno, Doubl. & Hewits. Auriv. i.e. p. 46. Coll. Reynolds. i o. Bicyclns sebctus, Hewits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 49. Coll. B'iittikofer. 1 1. Mycalcsis evadne (Cram.) Butt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 51. Coll. Buttikofer, Reynolds. 12. M. Jialyuia (Fabr.) Auriv. t.c. p. 51. Coll. Reynolds. 1 3. M. mesogena, Karsch. Auriv. t.c. p. 53. Coll. Reynolds. 14. M. sandace, Hewits. BUtt t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 54. Coll. Buttikofer, Reynolds. 15. M. technatis, Hewits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. 54. Coll. Buttikofer. 1 6. M. sciathis, Hewits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 51. Coll. Buttikofer. 17. M. tcenias, Hewits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 5 1 . Coll. Buttikofer. 1 8. M. macrones, Hewits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 51. Coll. Buttikofer. 19. M. dorothea (Cram.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 54. Coll. Buttikofer. 20. Ypthima doleta, Kirby. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 77. Coll. Buttikofer, Reynolds. 373 Liberia *- 21. Acnca quirina (Fabr.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 86. Coll. Biittikofcr. 22. A. Jiorta (Linn.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 89. Coll. Buttikofer. 23. . /. zctcs (Linn.) Auriv. t.c. p. 90. Coll. \Vliickcr. 2.\. A. incdca (Cram.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 92. Coll. Bilttikofer. 25. A. egina (Cram.) Biitt. t.c. p 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 92. Coll. Biittikofcr, Whicker. 26. A. natalica, Boisd. Auriv. t.c. p. 100. Coll. \Vhickcr. 27. A. pseudegina^ West w. ]^iitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 100. Coll. Buttikofer. 28. A. scrc/ia, Godt. ]^iitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 104. Coll. Biittikofcr. 29. A. cpnuiua (Cram.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p 104. Coll. Buttikofer. 30. A. bonasia (Fabr.) Auriv. t.c. p. 105. Coll. Reynolds. 31. A. eucedon (Linn.) Auriv. t.c. p. 1 10. Coll. Reynolds. 32. Plane 11 1 a gca (Fabr.) JUitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 119. Coll. Biittikofcr, \\' /ticker. 874 Fauna : Invertebrates ^ }. /'• ciiryta, Linn. Butt, t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. U. p. 121. Coll. Unttikofer. .vj. /'. umbra (Drury). Auriv. t.c. p. 121. Coll. Reynolds. 35. P. vesta Us, Feld. Auriv. t.c. p. 122. Coll. Whicker. NYMPHALID& 36. Lachnoptera i»lc (Fabr.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 125. Coll. nmtikofer. 37. Atella columbina (Cram.) Auriv. t.c. p. 126. Coll. Reynolds. 38. Hypanartia delins (Drury). Auriv. t.c. p. 130. Coll. Reynolds. 39. Jinuwia delia (Cram.) Butt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 135. Coll. Buttikofer, Whicker. 40. Precis sophia (Fabr.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 1 36. Coll. Biittikofer, Whicker. 41. P. terea (Drury). Butt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 141. Coll. Biittikofer. 42. Hypolimnas misippus (Linn). Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 147. Coll. Buttikofer, Reynolds. 43. //. salami's (Drury). Auriv. t.c. p. 148. Coll. Whicker. 44. //. dubtus, Beauv. Auriv. t.c. p. 149. Coll. Whicker. 875 Liberia <*- 45. H. antliedon (Doubl.) Auriv. t.c. p. 1 50. Coll. Whicker. 46. Neptidopsis ophione (Cram.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 1 56. Coll. BUttikofer^ Reynolds, Whicker. 47. Ergo Us cnotrea (Cram.) Butt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 1 56. Coll. Buttikofer. 48. Byblia ilitJiyia, Drury. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 158. Coll. Buttikofer. 49. Neptis nemetes, Hewits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 167. Coll. Buttikofer. 50. N. nebrodes, Hewits. Auriv. t.c. p. 169. Coll. Whicker. 51. ^V. melicerta (Drury). Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 169. Coll. Buttikofer. 52. Pseudacr&a eurytus, Linn. Biitt. /.<:. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 176. Coll. Buttikofer. 53. Pseudoneptis acnobita (Fabr.) Hiitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 177. Coll. Buttikofer, Whicker. 54. i'atitna crithea (Drury). Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 178. Coll. ttitttikofer. 55. £T. angustata (Feld.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 179. Coll. Bilttikofer. 56. £7. rectecostata, Ritscma. Biitt. t.c. p. 482. Coll. Buttikofer. 57. r. oberthnri) Ritsema. Biitt. t.c. p. 482. Coll. Buttikofer. 876 <+> Fauna : Invertebrate 58. Cynandm opis (Drury). Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. /.<-. p. i; Westu. Biitt. /.r. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 186. Coll. Huttikofer. 65. £". o-rw (Fabr.) Auriv. t.c. p. 187. Coll. Reynolds, Whicker. 66. £. ravola, He wits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 1 87. Coll. BUltikofer. 67. E. tlieinis, Hiibn. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 188. Coll. BUttikofer, Whicker. 68. E. gausape, Butl. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 189. Coll. Biittikofer, Reynolds. 69. ,£". campaspe (Feld.) Auriv. t.c. p. 1 88. Coll. Reynolds. 70. /s. xypete, Hewits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 1 89. Coll. BUttikofer. 877 Liberia <*- 71. E. cupalus (Fabr.) BUtt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 190. Coll. Biittikofer, Whicker. 72. E. Jiarpalyce (Cram.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 190. Coll. Biittikofer , Reynolds. 73. E. losinga, Hevvits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 191. Coll. Biittikofer. 74. EurypJiene cutteri, He wits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 198. Coll. Biittikofer. 75. E. lesbonax, Hewits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 198. Coll. Biittikofer. 76. E. cocalia (Fabr.) Auriv. t.c. p, 198. Coll. Reynolds. 77. E. pJiautasia, Hevvits. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 199. Coll. Biittikofer. jS. Diestogyna uiilnei (Hewits.) Biitt. /.<:. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 203. Coll. Biittikofer. 79. I), veronica (Cram.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 203. Coll. Biittikofer. (So. Cymothae althea, Drury. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 213. Coll. Biittikofer. 8 1 . 6'. jodutta ( Westw.) Auriv. t.c. p. 215. Coll. Whicker. 82. £7. ehmckei) Dewitx. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 215. Coll. Biittikofer. 83. Euxanthe ansellica (Butl.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 221. Coll. Biittikofer. 878 -* I:auna : Imvrtcbnitcs 84. Charaxes etheodes (Cram.) Auriv. i.e. p. 237. Coll. Riyiw/its. 85. C. tiriihites (Cram.) Auriv. t.c. p. 239. Coll. Reynolds. 86. C. amcliu', Doumet. Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 240. Coll. Bilttikofer. 87. C. deems (Cram.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 242. Coll. Biittikofer, \\'liickcr. LYC&NIDJL 88. Abisara gerontes (Fabr.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 20. Coll. Biittikofer. 89. Larinopoda lircica (He wits.) Auriv. t.c. p. 272. Coll. Whicker. 90. Megalopalpus zymna (Doubl. & Hcwits.) Biitt. t.c. p. 482 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 300. Coll. Biittikofer. 91. Lachnocfiema bibnlits (Fabr.) Biitt. t.c. p. 483 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 301. Coll. Biittikofer. Reynolds ) \ T '/ticker. 1 06. Eronia poppea, Donov. Butt. t.c. p. 483 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 446. Coll. Biittikofer. 1 07. Catopsilia florella ( Fabr. ) Auriv. t.c. p. 449. Coll. Reynolds, Wkicker. 880 ioS. Terias brtntUi) Doubl. & Ilcuits. Hull. /., p. 4*3 ; Anri\. /.,. p 451, Coll. /»'/V////v/iv, Whicker. 109. '/'. //<>/YiMl. Hull. t.c. p. .}S ; ; Auriv. /.< . p. . Coll. ttiittik, 1 10. y*. /«v///.v, Huti. ./;/;/. c JA/A'-. AW/. ///>/. (5), xvii. p. 222, pi. v. fig. 6 (i 886). Coll. Reynolds. MI. /'///<> zi<>.\-is, Mewits. Auriv. /.<:. p. 462. Coll. Reynolds. i u. /'. tfttn fauns, Hrown. Auriv. t.c. p. 464. Coll. \Vhickcr. 113. Papilio ///rV'/r, Cram. liiitt. /.f. p. 483 ; Auriv. /.<•. p. 464. Coll. nattikojcr. 114. /*. ^cm>bia, Fabr. Hiitt. /.r. p. 483 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 469. Coll. Kiittikofer. 115. /'. iiirt'itSy Linn. Auriv. /.r. p. 475. Coll. Whicker. 116. 7*. hroniins, Doubl. Butt. /.<:. p. 483 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 476. Coll. nattikofer. \ 17. /'. (ic)inHiocus, Ivspcr. Auriv. t.c. p. 477. Coll. Reynolds, Whicker. 1 1 8. P. menestheus, Drury. Auriv. t.c. p. 478. Coll. ReytmMs. 119. /*. tyndeneus, Fabr. Biitt. /.<.-. p. 483 ; Auriv. /.£ p. 4X2. Coll. BUttikofer. VOL. u 88 1 24 Liberia *- 1 20. P. Icoiiidas, Fabr. Biitt. t.c. p. 483 ; Auriv. t.c. p. 487. Coll. Biittikofcr, Reynolds. 121. />. police tics, Cram. Biitt. /.6-. p. 483 ; Auriv. Ar. p. 490. Coll. Buttikofer, Reynolds, Whicker. HESPERID^E 122. Tagiades flesus ( Fabr. ) Butt. t.c. p. 483 ; Holland, P. Z. S. 1896, p. 16. Coll. Buttikofer. 123. Hidari cccnira (Hewits.) Butt. /.<:. p. 483 ; Holland, P. Z. 5. 1896, p. 82. Coll. Buttikofer. 124. Plesioneura vulpinus, Hewits. Coll. Buttikofer. HETEROCERA (Moths) SPHINGID^E 125. Daphnis nerii, Linn. Coll. Buttikofer. 1 26. Nephele accentifera, Pal. de B. Coll. Reynolds. SATURNIAD^E 127. Anthercea caffraria, Stoll. Coll. Buttikofer. 128. Copaxa arnobia, Westw. Coll. Whicker. AGARISTIDJE. 129. Xanthospilopteryx geryon> Fabr. Coll.' Whicker. 130. ^f. eupliemia, Cram. Coll. Buttikofer. 131. Metagarista tripJuenoides, Walk. Coll. Whicker. 132. Massaga viaritona, Butl. Coll. Whicker. 882 * I-.iuna : I n\ rrU-l>r.ite- 133. J/'//////•< NOCTUIDA 136. \yctipao tnacrops, Linn. Coll. \Vltickc r. 'ylignunina /innninat Gucr. Coll. /iiitfikofer. i ^phisiiui pracstaiiSi ( iucr. Coll. iriittikofer. 1 39. Sarrothripa indica, Feld. Coll. ttiittikofci. 140. Dichromni batiaka, Plotz. Coll. Hiitlivofrr. 141. Pn>(tcnj]><>l<>-y: Historical The languages used by the various peoples of Liberia will he described in clue course. I propose now to treat of the anthropology and ethnology of the Liberian Negroes. So far as these peoples have come under the observation of the author ot" this book or of the very few travellers, such as Captain d'Ollone, who have recorded their impressions either in words or with the camera, they may be divided roughly into three main stocks : MAN DINGO, KPWESI, and KRU, with various interminglings of the different racial types where one impinges on the other. So very little is as yet known about the central parts of Liberia that it is too soon to say that we have found no trace of any older Pygmy stock in the dense forests. A Pygmy race, indeed, is reported to exist in the Central Liberian Forest, north of the Farmington River. Hitherto, however, no traveller has seen any example of these dwarfs or any type that recalls the Pygmy peoples found here and there in the basin of the Congo, in the far interior of the Cameroons, in Southern or Eastern Africa. In fact, it may be stated generally that no trace of the Congo Pygmy fi or of the Bushman type has ever yet been by itself and the surrounding tribes, it has generally been rendered " Golah " by the Americo-Liberians. The first person to record the existence of these people was Koelle, and he writes the word Gura. The name is pronounced as though it was written in English Gohra. 4 In the northern regions this tribe is generally known as Beila, Gbele, or Bere, and in the north-west as Gbalin, a name incorrectly rendered in early maps of Liberia as "Barline." This congeries of peoples generally knows itself as Gbele, but for some reason is called by most of the surrounding tribes Kpwesi. Other sections of this tribe north of the Beila or Gbele are known as Gizima or Buni. 5 These peoples are inserted on the authority of Captain d'Ollone's De la Cole d'lvoire, etc. Very little is known about these peoples, who may be affiliated to the great Kpwesi race or to the Kru stock, more probably to the former. r> British anthropologists seem to be arriving at the conclusion that the Congo Pygmies do not constitute a homogeneous type of Negro clearly marked 887 Liberia <*- found Jiving or dead or represented by its special stone im- plements in any part of West Africa west of the Niger Delta. Stone implements have been found in abundance in the soil 317. AN AMERICO-LIBKRIAN of the Gold Coast regions, and no doubt will be found yet in Liberia and many other parts of Guinea ; but I believe that off from th<- main stock in the same way as the South African Bushman. They are rather arrested, infantile, or degenerate groups of the Nilotic or Bantu Negroes produced by the depressing conditions of the dense forest. The author of this book believes them in the main to be the dwindled descendants of the earliest pioneers of the true Negro stock (as compared with the divergent Bushmen). Their most typical physical feature is the large, broad, flattened nose, with prominent a/ce. 888 -* Anthropology : ' Historical such a distinctive Bushman implement as the perforated stone used as a weight tor the digging-stick, or any other stone implement or weapon connected with the Bushman races of South or K.ist Africa has not yet been found in the west. At any day, however, a discovery may he made which will nullify this statement. Our knowledge of tropical Africa is so scanty that 318. A KI'WKM MAN I K< >M (I.MUAI. I.Ii;lKI\ no wise man would make rash declarations at the present time in denying the past or present existence of this or that type in such and such a country. In parts of Nyasaland I have seen cropping out amongst the Bantu tribes many a type of face strikingly like the Hottentot or the Bushman, and the same thing has occurred 889 Liberia *- to me on the plateaux of Eastern Africa amongst the Andorobo. Likewise, two or three hundred miles east of the Congo Forest I have seen the Congo Pygmy type with the squashed nose appearing in tribes of mixed origin. This also occurs in the eastern parts of the Bahr-al-Ghazal region of the Egyptian Sudan and perhaps as well to the north and south of the River Benue. But I have never seen the physical characteristics of the Bushman, nor, as yet, those of the Congo Pygmy, in any of the West African peoples ; though when visit! no- Portuguese Guinea in 1883 I realised that there were West African savages with prognathous profiles and savage appearance. Specimens of the Kpwesi peoples of Central Liberia seem to be of somewhat more primitive physical type than the rest of the Liberian peoples. They have dispropor- tionately long arms and short legs, like some of the races on the north-eastern flanks of the Congo Forest. The nose- has a depressed bridge, but though it is broad and rather flat at the tip, the cartilage of the nostrils is thin, and does not exhibit the flattened snout of the Pygmy with the alIM;I> I^KDM MMMIIKKX urn KIA VOL. II 25 Liberia <•- state in Nigeria — which arose and flourished in Nigeria before the foundation of Timbuktu in the twelfth century, also rein- forced West Africa with a foreign element, brin^inu; more of the blood, customs, and civilisation of Morocco and the East into savage West Africa. A little of this northern strain, this faint trace of Caucasian intermixture, trickled through the forests of Liberia till it affected even some of the coast populations. As tribe upon tribe pressed do\vn from the open country on the north through the forests to the sea-coast while that great hive of nations on the Mandingo plateaux sent forth swarm after swarm of emigrant peoples, the more bestial and degraded types of Liberian Negroes were consumed (perhaps in more senses than one), destroyed, driven into the sea, enslaved by the oncomers from the north. ( What tiny element of the Caucasian there is in the bodies of the modern Krumen, in the Vai, the Basa, or the Gora may have been acquired before their forefathers left the open country on the north to force their way through the forests to the sea-coast, to the region where salt could be obtained. The craving for salt was at the bottom of many of these race migrations in Africa, the trend of which has been with rare exceptions from north to south and east to west.1 The s and Negroids who dwelt on the Mandingo plateaux, about the sources of the Niger and the upper waters of the Senegal, could obtain salt by traffic with the Negroids and Caucasians south of the Sahara Desert, who worked the salt- 1 Very rarely, and recently, from west to east, and from the south northwards. Race movements thus "against the grain " oi" Africa have been the Libyan inv, of Morocco in the twelfth century, the Kula irruption into Central Africa in the eighteenth century, the /ulu marches into Eastern Africa in the early nineteenth century, and tb stern and Southern Africa during the last hundred y> -* Anthropology : Historical mines of those regions from an early period. When over- population, civil wars, the necessity for emigration forced sections of people to leave the plateaux and wander in search of a new home, they were attracted by stones which reached them, through predecessors, of the great salt water that lay beyond the forest, the water which on drying or evaporating left behind it that precious condiment, salt, which had become of supreme necessity to man. Some of the tribes had learnt (as in East Africa) how to make salt from potash, by burning reeds and extracting salt from the lye. But this was a pro- cedure not easily effected out of the open country, in the dense forest. Those people who stayed in the forest from choice or necessity were forced to keep up some kind of commerce with the people on the sea-coast, or the people to the north on the open plateau, in order to get supplies of salt. Whether or not cannibalism arose from this longing for salt and the satisfaction which was derived from the salt-tasting blood of man, is an undecided point. Cannibalism must have arisen as a purely human practice, because amongst the apes and monkeys that are known to us there is not a trace' of such a practice, rather a horror of it, even though some apes, baboons, and monkeys are slightly carnivorous. Islam must have penetrated through Liberia to the coast in what is now called the Vai country before, or at least simultaneously with, the arrival of the first Europeans. A certain degree of Muharnmadan civilisation, and the use of clothing specially connected with that civilisation, is noted amongst the Vai people, at any rate as far back as the sixteenth century. Long prior to this, however, the civilisation of the north had brought to the Negroes of Liberia modifications of their purely savage life. No doubt two thousand years ago they 899 Liberia *- had begun to learn the use of metals and were leaving the Stone Age. They had already received from the north a domestic ox, and earlier still the goat and the sheep. The dog no doubt had accompanied them to Liberia at a most remote period, thousands and thousands of years ago, though it, like most of the Negro's domestic animals, came from the east and north. The domestic fowl began to enter this region, one might say at a guess, about fifteen hundred years ago.1 Perhaps about the same time the Guinea corn (sorghum) and eleusine were introduced, having found their way overland from Egypt via Lake Chad to the Niger and thence to the Mandingo Plateau. Rice may have been cultivated about eight or nine hundred years ago, having first been brought by the earliest Arab traders and settlers to the Niger regions. Whether the sugar-cane was introduced in the same way, or much later by the Portuguese direct from America, is not certain. It would almost seem as though the sugar-cane (from the Oriental region) had been brought across Africa from Egypt to the Niger and up the Niger to the Senegal and so on to the Wolof country at the mouth of that river, by Arabs or Islamised Berbers. From the mouth of the Senegal it may have crept down the West African coast from river to river till it reached Liberia and passed on beyond. It is equally probable, however, that the sugar-cane (which reached the Mediterranean by means of the Arabs [Saracens]) was carried from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic islands by the Portuguese and Spanish, and thence found a fresh home in Tropical America, from which it was introduced into the coast-lands of Sierra Leone and Liberia by the Portuguese navigators in the sixteenth century. 1 My reasons for asserting this recent introduction of the domestic fowl hav<- been given in previous writings on East Africa. The fowl did not reach Egypt till after the Persian invasion, in B.C. 400 (about). 900 -* Anthropology : Historical These people, who were the great benefactors of East ami West Africa as regards the introduction of new food products, also brought to Liberia the pineapple, guava, tomato, capsicum (red pepper), sweet potato, maize, cassava (Manihot\ papaw, the orange and lime, and the short form of banana.1 The coffee tree is an indigenous form ; cacao was only introduced towards the close of the nineteenth century ; castor-oil is also indigenous, though it may possibly have come from the more northern regions ; the bread-fruit and mango have also been introduced during the nineteenth century. The origin of the coconut palm is uncertain, and has been already commented on. The cocco yam or edible arum (Co/ocasia) is of African origin, and may have found its way hence from the more eastern regions. The cotton plant is partly indigenous and partly derived from cultivated forms introduced from Egypt or America. Onions were originally brought by the Arabs to the Niger regions, and were introduced by the Mandingo into Liberia.2 There remains only to be considered the origin of the ground-nut {Arachis and Voandzeia)) which is still very uncertain. Some authorities think that ground-nuts are indigenous to Africa, others that the genus Arachis had its home in South America. On the whole the balance of origin seems in favour of an African or Oriental origin, and that these forms were early introduced from West Africa — Senegambia — into Tropical America, ^oandzeia is a native of Madagascar. As regards domestic animals, the dog was the earliest in Negroland, and then after a very long interval — an interval during which Liberia's Miocene forests may still have been 1 The long banana or plantain seems to have existed in Tropical Africa Iroin a very distant period. It must have been introduced from India unless (which does not seem likely) it was developed from the indigenous wild Musce. 3 But also into Vai-land by the Portuguese. One of the Vai names for onion is sipara — a corruption of the Portuguese cebola. 901 Liberia •*- unpenetrated by man — came the goat from Egypt, and the sheep from the same direction. Then the ox in its two African types, one of which is represented in Liberia. In all probability there existed once in North-eastern Africa a type of wild ox which was a connecting link between the wild Indian cattle (Bos indicus, long since extinct, the parent of the humped zebu breed), and Bos taurus, the ancestral type of our own domestic cattle. This intermediate ox is generally known in its domesticated descendant as Eos os Innriis approximate much to />V;\ Anthropology : Historical remarkable ; there is no known wiKl ox, except two or three kiiuls of extinct buffalo, which develops horns of such enormous length. In the si/e (hut not in the direction) of their horns 2 2. 322. HORNS AM> 11 KAILS OF DOMK.SIKJ OXI.N 01 AI-UK AN AND, EUROPEAN TVI-E.S 1. Bos agyptiacits from Uganda and Northern Nigeria. 2. Bos taunts (white park cattle and Kerry cow). .''. Mandingo cow (probably hybrid between 1 and 2). they differ from the Indian cattle, as also in the relatively straight back without a hump, the plain uniform coloration, and some other points less easily discernible. From the male of the Bos taurus type they are distinguished by the different Liberia <•- direction of horn growth, the longer and narrower head, and the absence of all mane or growth of curly hair about the neck, forehead, and back. This long-horned Egyptian ox was first domesticated in Egypt, and thence spread northwards through Syria into Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean regions, permeating by its influ- 323. MAN'IHNM - ence many of the breeds of cattle in Eastern, Southern, anil Western Europe. Perhaps the farthest extension northwards and westwards of the influence of this breed was to Normandy and the Channel Islands. In the Jersey cattle we can see just a faint trace of the influence of this Egyptian breed. In Africa the long-horned cattle found their way southwards into 9°4 "* Anthropology : Historical the Egyptian Sudan and westwards to Lake Chad ami the Niger. In (ialaland and parts of Abyssinia they became the dominant breed, and from these regions they were brought by dala immigrants into the regions about the dreat Lakes, perhaps even mingling their strain with the Indian breed, as tar south as (ierman Last Africa. The humped or Indian type of ox, derived no doubt 324. TIIK M K.\|(, II ['-I!. \( KKD M.\MHN<.() n\ separately from a wild form, Ihs indi.us, at a relatively early period reached Egypt and Mast Africa -i-iii Arabia. The Hottentots when they migrated southwards from East Africa seem to have brought with them some of the long-horned breed, though it is possible that the long-horned, big-framed cattle of South Africa and Madagascar arose almost entirely from the cattle introduced from Spain, in which, however, there was a marked Liberia *- strain (in some districts) of the Egyptian breed. But most of the cattle in the possession of the Bantu races, if not of the Hottentots, at the time when Europeans first came into contact with South Africa, belonged to the smaller, humped Indian type. This same Indian breed also found its way into Eastern Africa, where it became the dominant race, and is such at the present day (the Masai cattle belong to this stock). Thence, by way of the Great Lakes, it reached the southern and western portions A I 1 LI-,, SIERRA LKONK of the Congo Basin. Skirting the forest region on the north, into which cattle have very rarely penetrated, it was carried across Africa in ancient times via Lake Chad and the Niger, and from the regions of the Niger found its way along many paths to the coast of Guinea. The indigenous domestic cattle of the Lower Niger regions are all of this humped, spotted type. But I do not think that the humped type of ox has wandered farther west in Africa than the Gold Coast and the regions behind, in the bend of the Niger. I have seen no trace of the Indian type of ox, for example, in Liberia or in Sierra Leone, -» Anthropology : Historical though it is possible sonic forms of ir have- reached the Gambia. The black and white or brown and white dwarf small- horned cattle which are the dominant breed in the coast regions of Liberia seem to be entirely of European origin and to have come from Holland. The other type of Liberian cattle, generally called the Mandingo ox, is an interesting form, which 326. M.\NI>IN(;O COW, LIHKKIA in some respects suggests a dwarf variety of the Egyptian long- horned, straight-backed, uniform-coloured cattle. But I am inclined to think that this Mandingo ox, which is the dominant type of the Mandingo Plateau and the regions of the Upper Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and the western Fula countries, is a hybrid between Bos taurus and Bos Anthropology : 1 li^toric a! the MauHtanian domestic cattle, which were largely of the Bos taunts breed, with a slight intermixture of the L^vptian type. In the regions ot Senegambia aiul the MandingO Plateau this much smaller type of ox was developed from a mixture between the Kgyptian and Mauritania!! breeds. The MandingO cattle seem to stand the moist forest climate of Liberia pretty well, but have not become so completely acclimatised as is the case with the still smaller parti-coloured short-horned cattle, which, though they may have been brought 328. MAMMM.O < \lll.l , LIDKKIA direct from Northern Europe, have in the course of three centuries become a well-established local breed. The Goat is not such a common domestic animal in Liberia as it is (for example) in the Niger Coast Protectorate or through the southern third of Africa. It is more abundant perhaps in the interior than on the coast. It belongs of course to the well-marked breed of Central Africa, which ranges in its dis- tribution throughout the tropical parts of the continent from the mouth of the Senegal to Somaliland and from the southern 909 Liberia *- limits of the Sahara to the Cape of Good Hope. This goat is distinguishable from other domestic breeds of the same family by its small size and plumpness. Unless half starved, it never shows the angular outlines of other domestic breeds. The original colour was probably a pale yellow-brown, deepening 329. MAM>IX<;o BULL, -SIKKKA I.i to, black or lightening to white in the markings on the belly and limbs — in short, the coloration and markings of the wild Capra hircus, which in that respect it much resembles. But it frequently appears with a black, a white, or a grey pelage, or may be mottled and blotched with black and white, or brown and white. Still, the coloration to which it reverts over and yio * Anthropology: Historical OVcr again is strikingly like that of the wild Persian goat yellowish brown deepening here and there to a bright bay on the upper parts, with a black tail, a black ridge of hair along the back, a blackish beard, a dark brown stripe down each shoulder, and black or brown stripes down the front edge of 330. MAND1NGO 1:1 I.I. each limb (contrasting with white outer edges and inner side of the limbs and of the belly). But although resembling the ancestral goat in its typical coloration, this domestic goat of the Sudan and Southern Africa has very short horns, far shorter than those of the domestic goat of Europe. On the other hand, it is seldom found horn- less, as is the case with some of the Oriental breeds. From these it is sharply distinguished by its small erect ears, which are never long and pendent as in the domestic goats of North Africa, Egypt, Syria, and Western Asia. Although it has 911 Liberia <*- become such a dwarfed breed, there is no doubt that the domestic goat of Negro Africa is a descendant of the Persian wild stock which first reached Egypt from Syria at a period of great antiquity. The Egyptians on their own account appear to have domesticated the Nubian ibex (Capra nubiana) 331. \I.\NI>IN<;<) COW FROM ( I NTRAL I.IIHKIA as well as the audad sheep. But these forms, like the ibex (Capra waalii} of the high mountains of Abyssinia, have left no domesticated descendants. The ancestor therefore of the Negro's goat, as in the case of all his domestic beasts and birds, is an Asiatic animal. No doubt it was the first breed of true goat received by the Ancient Egyptians, who passed it on to 912 -* Anthropology : Historical the land of the Negroes up the Nile valley and ,u TOSS to Lake Chad Ivforc they received the much -modified and specialise,! domestic breeds of n'oat associated at the present day with L^vpt and the Eastern Mediterranean region. 1 think it will he found 332. A i.n.i.Ki \N <;<>AI IIIMALK) that the goat of the Central African type was the first domesticated animal of the black man, after the dog ; if, indeed, the dog preceded it. The domestic Sheep of Liberia is of the maned type, with VOL. n 913 26 Liberia +- rather long legs and a simple tail, a tail which develops no deposit of fat. The domestic breeds of sheep in Negroland, outside the direct influence of the Caucasian races on the north and east, belong chiefly to two types, which are hypothetic-ally derived from two species of sheep no longer existing in a wild condition. One of these is styled Ovis jubata or the maned sheep, and the other Ovis longipes or the long-legged 333. DVVAKI' MALI (IOAT, l.llll.Kl A sheep, the last being really more remarkable for its development of a lat tail than for the proportionate length of its legs. There is an interesting variety of the Maned sheep styled provisionally Ovis jubata pygm-ea, which has been recently discovered in the Camerpons district. It is perhaps the smallest breed ot the domestic sheep, nearly if not quite hornless, and remarkable tor its coloration, which is light brown above, with 914 Liberia *- a black belly and black markings on the limbs and face. But for the black belly, this little Cameroons sheep is rather like a female mouflon in appearance and coloration. As regards the colour, the resemblance would be striking but for the black under-parts. These may have changed abruptly from white to black in the way that markings of this description can do in closely allied varieties and sub-species, as for example the stripe along the back in the Tragelaphs, which in females may be black and in the males on maturity may become white ; or in certain foxes, where the belly becomes black instead of white. Other forms of the maned sheep (which is limited in its range to the forest regions of West and West Central Africa) are occasionally found of this brown colour with darker and lighter markings ; but they are generally black and white like the fat-tailed sheep of Somaliland and Abyssinia. The ac- companying drawing, which was done from a photograph I took of one of these sheep at Monrovia, gives a good general idea of the coloration, the average size of the horns and length of throat mane. The mane in this breed of sheep seems to take the place of the dewlap, which frequently appears in the fat-tailed variety. The throat mane, however, is almost a characteristic of the European mouflon and of several Asiatic breeds of sheep.1 But I have seen not a few examples of the 1 It is of course met with to an exaggerated degree in the wild sheep of North and North-east Africa, the auclad (<>ijx>l«>-\ : the least shortened tail is the moutlon .if Corsica and Sardinia. In most examj^es <>t" this animal, cspeciallv in the miles, the tail scarcel . CXCCeds three inches in length from root to tip, bur 1 have seen examples in which the tail was decidedly longer. In one, still present in the ( iardens of the Zoological Society, London, the tail measures nearlv six inches from root to tip, and lo-)ks a little longer, because it ends in a slight tuft. 33'). KAN! ()K MANKI) MIKK1', I.IHKKIA The European mouflon has long been extinct except in Corsica and Sardinia, though there is a tradition that it was once found in Greece and in the Balearic Islands. May it not have been that in the Continental form of the true mouflon, which no doubt once ranged through Southern Europe, from Spain to France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, the Balkans and Greece, the tail retained its primitive length, and that it was only in 919 Liberia *- those forms isolated on Mediterranean islands that it gradually dwindled to its present degree of shortness ? The North Chinese goral, a Capricorn allied to the chamois, tahr, serow, etc., has such a long tail that it is called Urotragus longicaudatus. It is possible that these capricorns, which are certainly the ancestors of the goats and sheep, still retained the primitive long tail of the earlier ruminants before they gave rise to so many different forms such as the musk ox, the Rocky Mountain goat, the takin, the tahrs, the goats, and the sheep, in all of which, with four exceptions, the tail has subsequently dwindled to a length of two or three inches or to a mere stump. Sheep of this black and white maned type are very common throughout Liberia, and give excellent mutton. The fat-tailed form only makes its appearance on the extreme north, within the limits of the Mandingo country ; but from what I can learn it is rather a transitional type, such as is met with in the western parts of Uganda. The only other domestic animal of the Liberian natives which needs any allusion is the Muscovy duck, an introduction, of course, from Brazil, brought to the West Coast of Africa originally by the Portuguese. It has become, however, as well established in the coast-lands of Liberia as elsewhere in West Africa, and indeed is met with in some of the native villages at a hundred miles from the coast. A pair of these birds may be seen in the illustration on p. 481 of the Bwe stream, which is about that distance from the sea, in the county of Mary lain] . The foregoing sketch of the origin of the Negro's domestic beasts, birds, and cultivated plants is part of the unwritten history of West Africa prior to the fifteenth century A.U, The 920 + Anthropology : dements of native stock-keeping ami agriculture ,ire a testimony to that constant indirect influence of" the Caucasian on Tropical Africa, an influence which has been going on for thousand years, and which has possibly saved the Negro from relapsing into a life more bestial than human. When the Portuguese first reached the coast of Liberia in 337. l-.WKs OK MANKD SI1KKP BROWSING IN THK STREETS OK MONROVIA the fifteenth century, they seem to have found the Vai people. a branch of the Mandtngo stock, already established round about Cape Mount. It is not, however, certain that the coast people east of the St. Paul's River belonged to the Kru tribes which now occupy that region : they may have been of the older Kpwesi race. A short vocabulary recorded by an English traveller in the middle of the sixteenth century in the vicinity 921 Liberia *- of the Cestos River seems to refer to a Kpwesi dialect rather than the Kru language which would be spoken there now. The Kru people appear to have come from the north-east and east, to have reached the coast regions in the vicinity of the Cavalla River, and then to have pushed westwards along the coast, till their avant-garde^ the De, found themselves stopped by the Vai, Kisi, and Gora in the vicinity of Boporo and the Lofa River. The Rev. J. Payne gives the following history of the Grebo people of Eastern Liberia, who speak a dialect nearly related to that of the Krumen, and who are the present inhabitants of Southern Maryland. (Closely related to the Kru, they belong to that considerable congeries of tribes speaking languages related to Kru, and offering the common feature of terminating their tribal names with the suffix -o, -bo, -po, -pio, or -bwe and -pwe. Glancing at the map of Eastern Liberia, it will be seen that this u Bo " group of peoples extends into the western regions of the Ivory Coast territory and far up the Cavalla River.) " The Grebo [in the 'forties of the nineteenth century] extend along the Maryland coast for about thirty miles from the mouth of the Cavalla River to Fishtown River [to the west of Garawe]. They emigrated from the eastward probably about one hundred and fifty years ago, to the territory now occupied by them. They lived a short distance from the coast, and constituted part of a tribe still living in that region known as the \Vorebo. A crowded population appears to have led to the emigration. "The name Grebo is composed of Gnl and bo. The latter 1 Some authorities assert that this vocable should he written (He or (ide. Payne's etymology may he at fault and the vocable die or (ire maybe cognate with the Kla or Kra of Klawo, Krao, the original name of the Kru people. — H. II. J. 922 Antlin )]M)lo^y : designates a class (t'.^. tit'^K^ a doctor ; ile«n-b'i, doctors). The tornic-r, (ire, is the name ot a species of monkey which leaps with remarkable agility. In getting off from the shore at the time of" emigration, it appears that many canoes were capsi/eil. I he 338. <;KI-:I;O FROM nil. MAKVLAND ( o.\sr Grebo word for l capsize ' is wore^ and hence those who capsized and remained were called worebo. Those who were successful in embarking — leaping over the waves like the Gre — were styled Grebo. The Grebo, proceeding up the coast in their Liberia <*• canoes, landed at different points, and where they found water formed small settlements. The coast at that time appears to have been uninhabited ; only at Cape Palmas, tradition relates, a small settlement of whites was found. These were probably Portuguese and slave traders. The first settlements of the Grebos in this region were not permanent. They proceeded at different times up the coast till they reached Grand Sesters, where contact with other tribes and a partial fusion produced 339. "PAPA, MAMAN, KT i;i'.i;i'.": A (;i MAN, \\IKK, AND CHILD (CAPE TALMAS) a modification of the language and the tribe. At length, directed by an oracle, the scattered settlements of the Grebo retraced their steps to the eastward. The great body proceeded at once to settle at Cape Palmas ; subsequently considerable numbers followed, and became admitted into the tribe. u From Cape Palmas (Berina Se), Rocktown (Tashe) was colonised ; and, after considerable intervals, (iarawc (Blege) and the River Cavalla towns (Wata and Kobla). Again, from Rocktown were colonised Middleton (Lede), Kishtown (Wa), Anthropology : and Half Cavalla (Bwcde). The names here inven are those of the principal Grcbo towns, having an a^re^-atc population of about twenty-five thousand." The Km people apparently descended from the north, through the countries of Putu and Sikon, and settled on the 340. A K KIM AN coast at least as early as the sixteenth century. The name " Crou " or " Krouw " ' appears on the Dutch maps of the Grain Coast in the seventeenth century, exactly where the K ru- men are established at the present Jay. In the middle of the seventeenth century a great change 1 Pronounced Kran. 925 Liberia <*- took place in the tribal arrangements of Western Liberia (accord- ing to Dapper), due to the invasion from the north or north-west of a people whom he calls " Karou." This race seemingly had no connection with the Kru stock — at least Dapper gives no encouragement to such an idea, though with a little twisting of geographical indications the invasion he describes might represent the westward march of the De tribe. Biittikofer inclines to the idea that the Karou under the war chief" Floni- kerry " were a section ot the Kpwesi people which attacked and subdued the pre-existing "Gala" and the Vai and Kwia, and then established themselves in the Kpwesi country to the east of the St. Paul's River. They might of course have been a section of the warlike Buzi tribe, a people which plays a promi- nent part at the present time in North-western Liberia. But the Kpwesi to the east of the St. Paul's River seem much more to represent a race long settled on the Liberian soil, and more aboriginal in its features than the Gora. It is more likely that the " Kwoya " were a section of the Kpwesi people, perhaps identical with the Kwia tribe (on the Dukwia River), and that Dapper's invading Karous may have been the Gora people. It is true that Dapper writes of the "Galas" as being one ot the races conquered by the Karous, and Biittikofer assumes that "Gala" is equivalent to Gora. This may be so; but it might then follow that the Karou adopted the name of the race they conquered, with whom undoubtedly they mingled. Kver since the seventeenth century the people dwelling in the Gora country seem to have been a turbulent, aggressive, advancing race, which furnished very sturdy opponents to Liberian rule during the first twenty years of the State's existence.1 The last of the race movements in Liberia consists in the 1 President Barclay considers the- invading " Kanms " of Dapper to have been a Km people, probably the ancestors ol the De and Mainba tribes. 1*26 'I I IK KUANA ( OUNTKY, NOKTIIKKN I! Liberia *- steady infiltration of the country by Muhammadan Mandingos from the north. The tribes of fine physique which dwell to the west of the Upper Cavalla River, known generically as Gon, are still holding the forest against the advancing Muhammadans. But these latter firstly penetrate as merchants amongst these cannibals, then as religious teachers, and, if they are not checked by the power of Liberia or restrained by France, they will eventually create a series of small Muhammadan states in the north of Liberia, and at the same time will apply themselves steadily (as they have done for centuries and centuries) to the cutting down of the forest. Already the Mandingo have introduced the Muhammadan religion into much of Western Liberia, especially in the Gora and Vai countries ; they have almost become the dominant factor in the regions between the St. Paul's River and the Sierra Leone frontier. Fortunately they have become well disposed towards the Government of the republic, and they come in increasing numbers to the Liberian settlements. It is quite possible that with the enlargement of Americo- Liberian views this sturdy, industrious race of mixed affinities may play a considerable part in the political future of Liberia. 928 VOL. II CHAPTER XXVIII ANTHROPOLOGY: PHYSICAL APPEARANCE OF NATIVES; CLOTHING; DISEASES; INDUSTRIES THE pictures of the various men and women in this book belonging to the indigenous races of Liberia will serve to give a general i.npression of the physical appearance of these people, and the relationship which their bodily proportions bear to other Negro types. The best-looking men and women belong to the Mandingo stock, which, however, as will be seen from the sketch given of the history of this race, is a somewhat mixed type, displaying varying proportions ot inter- mixture with the Caucasian species from across the Niger. The average man or woman of Liberia, however, might very well pass current as a native of Uganda, of the Swahili coast, of Nyasaland, Ashanti, or Old Calabar. The Mandingos present a striking resemblance (for example) to the Zanzibaris of the East Coast of Africa, who are formed of a very similar amalgam of Negro and Semitic or Hamitic blood. The nearest approach to a distinct indigenous race in Liberia is presented by the Kru and Kpwesi peoples, though even these occasionally exhibit types that must be due to some ancient or modern intermixture. Where they are purest in blood, the Krumen and Kpwesis belong to the short-legged section of the Negro race. The present writer is gradually coming to the conclusion that after the Bushmen and 1 lottentot groups are accounted 93° -, STURDY LEGS) Liberia *- for and put on one side as somewhat specialised sections of the Negro race, the remaining mass of black Negroes must be divided into two principal physical types, the short-legged and the long-legged. The most striking exemplars of the long- legged Negro are the Nilotic tribes of the White Nile and the north-east coast of the Victoria Nyanza. Amongst these people it will be noticed that the legs both in men and women are almost disproportionately long in comparison with the bust. Typical examples of the short-legged type may be seen in the Lendu, Baamba, and Ba-nande Negroes of the north- eastern fringe of the Congo Forest. The Red Jur of the Bahr-el-Ghazal and the Congo Pygmies are other examples of this short-legged type, which perhaps, on the whole, is more characteristic of Western Africa and the forest region than of the eastern and southern parts of the continent. The long legged type crops out all down the eastern half of Africa, as far south as Zululand. It is often noticeable at the north end of Lake Nyasa or to the east of the Upper Zambezi. The Krusy generally speaking, belong to this short-legged type. They have magnificent busts, but as a rule their legs are short though sturdy, and this detracts from the sculptural beauty of the upper part of the body, even making them look clumsy and badly proportioned.1 The arms, on the other hand, are disproportionately long (from the point of view of the Kuropean ideal), and when dropped flat against the sides of the thighs the tip of the second ringer is nearly level with the beginning of the knee. The relative shortness of the lower limbs is not so apparent in the women as in the men. 1 Hut there are exceptions, striking exceptions, to this ^eneial rule, notably in tin- Km peoples of the Ivory Coast east of the Cavalla River. Aiming these, and occasionally amon^ the Liberian Km?, may be seen noble specimens ol humanity. This well-proportioned type is illustrated on p. 311 in Bi tiger's book, I)u A'/XT/', etc. 932 343- A NATIVE OF THE COAST (BEREHl) TO THE EAS'l THE CAVALLA KIVEK Liberia The Km women when young occa- sionally offer ex- amples of comely figures,1 but as a rule they are unsightly and misshapen. They exhibit a slight ten- dency towards steato- pygy (protuberant buttocks), but this, as in some cases in the Egyptian Sudan, does not so much take the form of a great posterior pro- jection of the but- tocks, but is shown in the apparent en- largement of the pelvis and in the great breadth across the back of the thighs. The De, a small and dwindling tribe near Monrovia, who speak a Kru 1 Mr. I. F. Bniham writes: "The Kru women are hideous, gross, and coarse, short-legged and squat, their costume is unrHined, and their manners are wanting; they have loud raucous voices and are always wrangling." 934 344. " KRU WOMEN ARK HIDEOUS, SHORT, AND SQUAT" 345- (it)KA \\OMKN Liberia <*- language, depart very much from the average Kru type of physiognomy. They do not produce such "fine muscular men, 346. A KI'WKSI MAN, I ROM TIIK UUKVVIA CoUNI KY but the proportions of their bodies come nearer to the European ideal. They are not so prognathous as the <+ Anthropology : Physical Kru, and frequently have well-shaped, well-furnished brows. The I)e women often possess quite refined features. The (iora also have good figures amongst the men, but the women are inclined to be ugly, with rather a Sudanese type of countenance, produced by very prominent cheek-bones and * 347. A I'ktXi.N'ATHOUS TYPE OF KKUMAN somewhat marked prognathism. As will be pointed out in the chapter on languages, the Gora speech is somewhat isolated, and possesses but slight affinities with the surrounding languages. Yet in the recent history of Liberia the Gora seem to have figured as an invading race. It is possible that they may be 937 Liberia *- a people of the High Sudan, driven south into and through the Liberian forests by some race movement at the back due to Mandingo or Kula conquests. The Kp-ict'si tribes sometimes exhibit men and women with disproportionately short legs ; but the sections of this people on the north and north-west (the Buzi, for example) have evidently mingled with superior races. They speak a Kpwesi dialect, but the}' are people of well-proportioned, even graceful bodies, the skin colour is yellow-brown, the head hair is rather long, and the facial features are refined. The races in the east ot Liberia, south ot the Mandingo and northwards of the Kru tribes, are, according to the French explorers, a better- looking race than the Kru people, with legs that are neither disproportionately long nor short. Mr. Sim states that in the Nidi or Niete section of the Sapo people, north of the Niete Mountains near the Duobe River, the women are taller than the men — "an average 5 feet 8 inrhes ; a good number over 6 feet in height ; all of them well-proportioned. . . . The men of this tribe, though not so tall as their women, arc well-built with handsome figures." i\i uwe:i offer considerable variation in proguathhm ; some have retreating foreheads, wide cheek- bones and the muzzles of apes ; others again will exhibit a cast of feature that is almost comely, even from the Kurrpean point of view. In some the nose is depressed and very broad at the tip, with raised and fleshy aLv. Others again exhibit the pug nose ot a monkey, with scarcely any bridge, but a nose which never- theless is somewhat small at the tip, with no very marked fleshy development of the nostrils. The (fj/ottr fjf the skin ranges from a golden-yellow in some Mandingo. Vai, and Kpwesi to a deep black in certain Kru types. ' The Mandingo offer very varying types in this respect, 93* A PUG-NOSKD TYPE OF KRUMAN Liberia *- us also in facial 'features. Some m:iy he quite a light brown, others (though the features are slightly Caucasian) are a decidedly deep black. The Basa, De, Gora, Kisi, and Grebo tend towards a deep brown or blackish tint of skin 349- A KRl'MAN WITH HKAKD (with individuals here and there of lighter shades). The Gibi and many of the interior Kpwesi and Kru tribes are more often golden-brown in tint than black. The shade of skin in certain Vui and Mandingo women is such a rich golden- 940 350. A WOMAN OF THE SUSU TRIBE (EASTERN SIERRA LEONE). MANDINGO STC SHOWING NATURAL GROWTH OF HEAD HAIR Liberia <*- brown tint (especially after recent lubrication with oil) that they delight a painter's eye. In th-ir natural condition the men of the Kru race are inclined to considerable growth of pile cr body-hair. I have seen some examples the legs of which were covered with tightly curled black hair, and the same growth over the chest and stomach, but in no case have I ever noticed hair on the back, such as not infrequently makes its appearance in the Caucasian species. As a rule there is the s.ime tendency amongst these Liberian Negroes as elsewhere in Africa to dislike any growth of hair on the body, and a good many young men pluck out with tweezers the body pile when it begins to grow. Sm::oth-skinned specimens of Krumen are generally those persons who have artificially removed the body- hair. As regards the hair on the head, it grows abundantly : but underlying the abundance is the true Negro tendency for the head-hair in its growth to be sprinkled in those separate peppercorn clusters which are such a marked characteristic of the Bushmen-Hottentots and some other Negro races. This may be seen, tor example, on the sides of the head in those I ,iberians where the growth of the hair is not so long. The beard, whiskers, and moustache are often abundant among the Krumen after the age of about twenty-five years : face hair among Negroes is generally late in making its appearance. This hairiness of visage is also noticeable in the Grebo and Basa, perhaps also in the Vai. The (iora and Mandingo do not usualK produce much whiskers or moustache, but can grow a beard which in the Mandingo is usually a tufted u goatee." It is noteworthy that among the civilised Americo-Libcnans there is the same abundant development of face-hair that is characteristic of the Negro after transplantation to America. 942 A Basa Man (Kru Race) -+> Anthropology: Physical As regards mental characteristics, there is much diversity. The Mandingo are a proud but courteous people, reminding one of the East in their manners. They are passionately fond of music, of brightly coloured, strikingly patterned, or stately clothing. They are almost all Muhammadans, but not so 351. MANDINGO WEARING AMULET fanatical as the Fula. On the other hand they are much stricter about the avoidance of alcohol. It is this trait amongst others which marks them out as a " coming race " in West Africa. The drunken peoples— whether it be with palm wine, whiskey, gin, or champagne— will go down before the sober, wholesome folk, to the ultimate benefit of humanity. 943 Liberia <•- Though Muhammadans, the Mandingos are full ot super- stition. The amulets which they wear so profusely are almost invariably verses of the Koran sewn up in neat leather packets and hung about the neck. The Val and the closely allied Gbandi are like the Mandingo in many aspects of their character. They are usually the best liked (by Europeans) of all Liberian races. As to their women, every writer on Liberia, since Canot and Koelle, has described their charms of manner and person. Mr. Braham writes : " The Vai or Mandingo lady of high degree in tull costume is a picturesque and pleasing object. These women are good-natured, smiling, fascinating, and by far the most interesting aboriginal people in Liberia. They are soft-spoken, and their language is the Spanish of West Africa." Vai men are said by some writers to be cowardly, but I do not think this accusation is well founded. They are peaceable, fond of agriculture and commerce ; but the fact that they are the only race which at present furnishes reliable porters, guides, inter- preters and servants to European expeditions exploring the interior of Liberia or establishing rubber-collecting stations amongst turbulent cannibal people relieves them, I think, from the charge of cowardice. According to Canot, they could be very bloodthirsty on occasion (see p. 168), though whether his account of their bloody orgies is not to a great extent inven- tion is an undecided question. The Vai certainly evinced no repugnance at assisting Europeans in the slave trade for centuries, but on that point none of the African coast tribes have an easy conscience. No single separate African race or tribe yet has felt anything like solidarity with the black race in general ; otherwise Europe and Asia would not continue to dominate Africa. Koelle describes the Vai, especially the men, as very 944 352.' A VAI YOUTH AND MAIDEN VOL. II 28 Liberia <*- lascivious and given up to a libidinous life to an even greater degree than most West African races. Perhaps they have changed since his day, as that is not the impression one derives from an acquaintance with them now. But even Koelle, though he ascribes this characteristic to the race as a whole, cites numerous exceptions, who were according to his descrip- 353. VAI SERVANTS tion really noble-minded men, with a high ideal of sobriety in living. So far as pushfulness is concerned, combined with other good qualities, the Mandingo may be considered the future dominating native race in Liberia; but the Vai (who after all are nearly related to them in language and religion) will perhaps join hands with the Grebo in furnishing the civilised and civilising element. Just as the Mandingo remind one of 946 -* Anthropology : Physical the Zanzibar Swahilis, so the Vai recall irresistibly in their nianners the Baganda. In writing thus I am intending to apply to them a high compliment. May they increase and multiply ! The Gora are a more truculent people, one of the 354. GORA MEN ON HANKS OF ST. PAULS KIVKR races perhaps that will yet give trouble to the civilised govern- ment of Liberia. They are noisy and quarrelsome, and for the most part ugly. Their faces have not that ingratiating pleasantness of demeanour which is markedly characteristic of the Vai and to a certain extent of the Mandmgo. The 947 Liberia *- Buzi section of the Kpvvesi peoples are industrious, hard- working and good-looking, but are also turbulent and inclined to indulge in strife with their neighbours or amongst them- selves. The Kp-ivesi to the east of the St. Paul's River are less quarrelsome, but at present they represent the "great unknown" of Liberia. The De are now so few in numbers that their mental characteristics are obscured, a good many of them having been absorbed by the Americo-Liberian community. The Basd and Gibi people are fairly placable, and on the coast have settled down to a great degree of orderly self-government under Liberian supervision. The Kru tribes are, on the other hand, still a noisy, self-assertive race of bullies, who are cowards when boldly faced or when placed in positions of danger. Away from his own land, in the Kru settlements of Monrovia, Sierra Leone, and other places on the West African coast, still more in the service of European ships or at trading-stations on the Niger Coast, the Kruman is docile and hard-working and as a rule a faithful and even honest servant to his employer. Those of them who still reside in the aboriginal Kru country are passionately attached to their own land, and resolutely return there after their term of foreign service. The Krumen are a great deal given to drunkenness in their own country and (if they can obtain the liquor) when abroad. On board British men-of-war they take as readily to discipline as white men— perhaps more so ; but in their own country they are cheeky, almost hostile to Europeans, and still endeavour to set at defiance the Americo-Liberian Administration. Not a few of them ruivc recently penetrated to the courts of the chiefs in the tar interior, where they become advisers in " foreign affairs." In this capacity they are great nuisances sometimes 948 Liberia to European expeditions, as they are insolent braggarts, per- petually begging for presents, and trying to make mischief between the European and the native in order to assert their importance. Yet, as the present writer knows from personal experience, they can sometimes develop very kindly KM CM \N l-KOM SK'I KA KIU' qualities. In his consular work on the West Coast of Africa he had much cause to remember the faithful service and devotion of his Krumen. No doubt their demeanour towards the European depends a good deal upon the European's treatment of themselves. The (irebo have long fought against the Americo-I >iberian 95° <+> Anthropology : Physical Administration, but they have now accepted it more or less implicitly. They are the only race that has given much encouragement to missionary work. A considerable number of the (irebos arc now Christians and have received a good education at the mission schools. Civilisation, in fact, may 357. A K RUM AN FROM S1NO be said to be making considerable strides amongst the Grebos, and if this progress continues it is a race which has a distinct future before it in the development of Liberia. Both these people and the Kru were in all probability cannibals not more than one or two hundred years ago. Their near relations— closely allied in language and race — of the interior districts 95 i Liberia <+- are cannibals at the present day. They are also turbulent, and much given to local warfare, though not ill-disposed towards the European. Cannibalism is widespread in interior Liberia between the Cavalla River and the St. Paul's. Mr. Reynolds states that human hands are considered a bonne bouche by the Kpwesi. Mr. Gow states (1904) that the people to the north of Sikon or Sikombe station killed a woman whom they caught in a plantation. She had her child with her at the time. The captors secured the child in the village stocks near the plantation. They then removed the body of the woman to the centre of the village near the stocks, cooked her flesh in the hot embers of a big fire, and feasted on it, staying the child's crying by giving it freshly grilled morsels of its mother's flesh, which the poor baby ate quite unknowingly. Women who intentionally or accidentally surprise men and boys when organising their initiation ceremonies and who are incontinently killed, are usually eaten as well. The Gbalin tribe of the Kpwesi people are reported to be inveterate cannibals, fattening and devouring their war prisoners and slaves. But all these people — all the indigenous Liberian Negroes — are cleanly in person and much given to washing the body. The Kru tribes in the interior as well as on the coast frequently take two baths a day.1 The natives of the interior Cavalla Basin (according to d'Ollone) take a hot bath in their houses when returning from work. This is done by the simple process of pouring hot water out of kettles or calabashes over their shoulders and limbs. Soap is used in Western Liberia made from the lye of the leaves or bark of a sapindaceous tree or also from the spongy leaves of a 1 Mr. I). Sim, however, states that the Putii people behind the roast Kru are a dirty race in their peisons and dwellings. 952 358. A KRUMAN FROM THE DEWA RIVER Liberia *- dracaena. The skin is lubricated with oil. On the other hand they are disgusting in dealing with head parasites (lice). These accumulate in the head-hair of the women, shielded by their elaborate coiffures. Kvery few weeks a woman friend examines the heads of her friends and removes and eats the lice, which are esteemed a delicacy. The Negroes of Liberia range in their ideas of clothing from the European vestments of British civilisation and the ample garments of the Mandingo, Vai, and Gora to the almost complete nudity of some of the interior tribes of Kru stock in the eastern portion of the country (Cavalla Basin). Whether there are any tribes within the limits of Liberia that are abso- lutely nude in one or other sex after maturity is an unsettled point. Captain d'Ollone in his book refers to complete nudity on the part of the women — perhaps the unmarried women is meant — in some of the interior Kru tribes. Nudity in women is a somewhat common feature in the life of Western Africa from Eastern Liberia to the Cameroons. The present writer can remember even as late as 1888 that adult but unmarried women and girls at such comparatively civilised places as Bonny (Niger Delta) and Bell Town (Duah, Cameroons), besides the interior regions of the Cross River, affected absolute nudity without any feeling of shame, and this custom continued to prevail even when they were converts to Christianity. Married women in the same regions usually wore some slight fragment of clothing. In the Lrik country behind Old Calabar complete nudity amongst the men was not infrequently to be noticed in the days before the British Protectorate had introduced European ideas of decency ; but elsewhere in Western Africa the author has never encountered within his own experience this entire indifference to decency amongst male Negroes, though it is a 954 359- A MAN OF THE GBALIN TRIBE (CANNIBALS OF WESTERN LIBERIA) Liberia *- common trait still in some parts of the Zambezi Basin and in Eastern Equatorial Africa. The great explorer, L. G. Binger, however, in his remarkable journey which revealed for the first time the absolutely unknown countries separating the basin of the Upper Niger from the Ivory Coast, described a tribe which seemingly offers affinities to the Mandingo stock, known as the Bobo-fing. In this tribe he noted that the men were absolutely nude — possibly the women also. They were the inhabitants of one of the most remote parts of the Niger Basin, three or four hundred miles to the north-east of Liberia. It is probable that at the present day even the most secluded and primitive of the Liberian tribes have conceived the idea of decency as regards the male ] if not the female sex, and that some slight covering is worn, even if it only be a piece of bark- cloth. All travellers who have as yet penetrated into the far interior of Liberia, however, either report the widespread use of cotton-cloth or give evidence of the same in their photographs. Dressed skins, though reported to be in use amongst some of the coast tribes of this country by early Portuguese and Dutch explorers, seem to have gone out of fashion as clothing or covering at the present day anywhere within seventy miles of the littoral. But in the eastern hinterland of Liberia (Cavalla Basin) the skins of monkeys, cats, antelopes, and goats are used by the men as short aprons. Of course the children of both sexes in all parts of the country go perfectly nude till the age of eight or nine years,2 though they may wear amulets round their necks, or necklaces 1 In the part of this book dealing with the history it will be found mentioned that absolute nudity amongst the men — possibly of the Km stock — was observed on the Liberian coast by Ki.ropeans who visited it during the sixteenth century. 2 Among the Vai, girl children at this age assume the /wv, which is a narrow strip of cloth passed between the legs and brought up betw< en the waist girdle behind and before. 956 -* Anthropology : Physical of beads or other adornments. Amongst the people of Kru stock (He, Basil, Gibi, Kru, Grebo, and their inland relations) and amongst the Kpwesi, the men's clothing in its simplest form will be a piece of cloth passed between the legs and brought up in front and behind through and over the waist-girdle, which is a ring of metal or of twisted fibre. Amongst the coast tribes 360. A CHIEF OF THE GREBO COUNTRY, MARYLAND this is arranged with some neatness, and it may even be cut and sewn till it assumes more the form of a pair of short bathing drawers ; or it may be reduced to a mere bag concealing the genitalJa. In the coast regions the men of these tribes sometimes add a long shirt without sleeves, in addition to which they are now beginning to wear (especially if they are married men of 957 Liberia \N CNMAKKll.l) KRU MAIDEN some standing and arc not engaged in'rough work) ample loin- cloths wound round the waist, sailors' jumpers, or European coats, waistcoats, and trousers. On the coast they are very 958 -* Anthropology : Physical partial to head-covering, for preference any form of European hat. The chiefs of the Kru and Grebo tribes, perhaps also still in the Basa country, consider top hats de rigueur. These are sometimes black silk or beaver, or they may be white, grey, even scarlet ; but they must be chapeaux de haute-fcrme, and "'••'.'^ - E -« . 362. A BUZI CHIEF VISITING MONROVIA very hideous they and their wearers look. Inland, beyond the resources of civilisation, the head-covering, if there be any, is generally made of closely plaited string or fibre ornamented with beads or kauris, tufts of hair or feathers. Sometimes large, widespreading rain-hats are worn, made of wickerwork, into which smooth leaves are plaited. Some of the Kpwesi people 959 Liberia *^ make quite elaborate hats of plaited palm-leaves, with high crowns, decorated with dried pineapple leaves and plumes of feathers. All these people of the Kru and Kpwesi stock usually go bare-foot, without any form of sandals. In war-time the men wear elaborate head and breast ornaments made from the skins of colobus monkeys, leopards, serval cats, or civets. They (the men) do not appear to attach so much importance to amulets or grigris, nor do they deck their bodies with beads or with metal necklaces. They nearly always wear rings — one or more — on the fingers, and these are made out of the hard rind of palm-nuts, out of horn, iron, brass, or silver. The clothing of the Kru women when they are young and unmarried is still limited to little else than a string of beads or a wire circle or bundle of string round the loins from which may depend a tiny bead-work square of leather or cloth, something like a sampler in shape. But it is becoming far more customary amongst the coast peoples for the women in addition to wind a length of European calico round the waist, extending to the knees. Bead necklaces — sometimes to an extravagant extent — are worn round the neck, metal bracelets round the wrists or on the ankles. In default of brass, copper, or silver out of which to make wrist and ankle ornaments, plaited grass rings will be used. Mothers often wind broad pieces of cloth round their bodies from above the breasts to below the knees, arranged in such a way as to bind closely to them the child they bear on the back. Amongst the Mandingo, Vai, Gora, and other Muham- madanised people in the north and west of Liberia, clothing is much more elaborate in both sexes, at any rate amongst the men ; here come into play native manufactures to a much greater extent than imported cotton goods or other stuffs. 960 VOL. II 29 Liberia *- As far back as the first coming of the Portuguese and Dutch it was observed in the western parts of the Grain Coast (presumably amongst the Vai people) that the men had taken to wearing ample large-sleeved garments that hung from the neck to below the knee. A good many of the Vai, Gora, and Buzi do not wear these voluminous garments when they are at work in the bush, out hunting, or in the privacy of their homes. They may then reduce their clothing to a waist-cloth. But Mandingo men generally put on first a loin- cloth, then a pair of baggy breeches which are tight over the calves and very loose in the seat. These are more or less of Moorish origin. Over these breeches a sleeved shirt or smock is worn, and over this again the voluminous duma, bubu^ taub, or tobe of the Western Sudan, an amplification no doubt of the Moorish and Egyptian jubbah or gandura. This is generally a huge garment, with a large hole in the middle (through which the head is passed), and sleeves which are as broad as they are long. It hangs very loosely about the body. The opening in front is cut sometimes rather low, so that it shows a piece of the white shirt underneath. The borders of this open- ing round the neck and sides of the bubu over the chest are sometimes pleated and gathered and ornamented with a patch- work embroidery. On the other hand, often this loose garment is made like a dalmatic in shape, and its material is black velvet (amongst the Mandingos who are in touch with the coast trading stations) or even silk, or very dark indigo-dyed cotton. The indigo dye of this stuff often fades through washing into a pale u butcher " blue. A favourite material for the bubu is the stout, thick cotton cloth woven in the native looms anywhere in Mandingolaiul or in the western part of Liberia. This is usually striped dark blue and white. There- is a good deal of variation in the cut of this garment and 962 MANDINGOS FROM NORTHERN LIBERIA Liberia *- the relative length or breadth of the sleeves, and these variations are best illustrated by the different drawings or photographs given in this book. These voluminous garments for men have not only become the fashion throughout Muhammadan Liberia from the Mandingo Plateau to Cape Mount on the coast, but also among some of the interior tribes supposed to be related to the Krus who have not as yet adopted the Muhammadan religion. It seems to the author the most becoming and suitable garment for the Negro, and he could wish that it was worn by all the natives of Liberia whilst they lived in that country. They could adopt European costume when travelling to colder lands. The peoples who wear the bubu are pretty sure to make use of sandals when fully dressed or on the march. The Mandingo sandals are generally made of wood, almost like pattens, with broad thongs of dyed leather or woven grass or fibre, to be passed over the instep and inside the great toe. These patten-like sandals are most artistic in design, inlay, and colouring. They are generally only worn when in full dress. On the line of march the Muhammadan Negroes either go bare- foot or wear very light sandals of dressed leather. The favourite head-covering is a round cap, fitting more or less tightly to the top of the head, and very similar in appearance to the cap or fez worn by so many Muhammadan peoples in North Africa and Nearer Asia, round which a turban may be wound. But turbans, so far as I am aware, are never seen amongst the Muhammadans of Liberia or even of Senegambia. They may have been introduced amongst the Kula, but ordinarily they do not make their appearance west- wards of the latitude of Timbuktu and Hausaland. Of late the fez or tarboush has been introduced by European merchants, 964 365. A MANUINGO WITH SKULL CAP Liberia and this head-covering has become very popular, displacing to a great extent the really artistic embroidered and padded skull-caps of native manufacture. The men of these Muhammadan tribes sometimes wear anklets, and they always wear one or more finger-rings. An 366. KKU \VOMKN IN (JALA MTIKK, WITH KNOKMOUS FIViKK KI.\(;S, KAM'S IIOKNS, AND ISEAU NECKLACKS amulet of some kind (usually a verse of the Koran sewn up in leather) is hung round the neck. Individuals may wear five or six or even more of these oblong or oval-shaped amulets. In some cases they are much larger and nearly square, and are worn outside the clothing, depending from a plaited leather necklace. A three-cornered amulet is sometimes attached 966 -* Anthropology : Physical to the same necklace and worn down the hack between the shoulders. Many Mandingo men carry a whip with several long thongs. This in origin was an implement for coercing slaves, 367. KKU WOMAN WITH "SHIELD" FINGER-RINGS AND HAIR ORNAMENTS but it has come to be a mere symbol of gentility. The foundation of the stick is usually some supple twig, round which thin strips of leather are artistically and tightly plaited. In the middle of the whip there is often a boss or swelling decorated with bright-coloured fur or scarlet leather. The whip at each 967 Liberia *- end has an ornamental loop by which it may hang from a t; WOMAN finger. The thongs are either double or quadruple, and are of finely plaited strings of leather. The Mandingo women, and those of the Gora and Vai 369. GOKA WOMEN Liberia <*- tribes, are generally nude from the shoulders to the waist. From this point cloths of great breadth and length are wound several times round the body, perhaps tightly girdled round a high waist by a string, and then pulled up and over the girdle in additional folds or loops. A loose cloth — -very often a piece of rich-coloured velvet — is thrown over the shoulders at times. Round the head is bound bright-coloured cloth something like a turban. The Vai women wear most artistic silver ornaments in this coiffure. It is very seldom, however, amongst these Muhammadan women, that anything is worn on the feet. They have bracelets, anklets, and rings, and necklaces of beads as amongst the naked Kru women. With regard to artificial adornments or mutilations of the body, the Mandingo — at least the men of that nation — seldom practise tattooing * or the much more hideous cicatrisation? Some of the Mandingo women, however, practise tattooing, either because they are conservative or because they like to imitate tribes amongst whom they dwell. The Vai men do not usually tattoo or cicatrise nowadays, 1 Binger, however, reports that the Mande of Kong and the Niger Basin north of Liberia incise their cheeks from temple to corners of mouth on either side with three deep lines : adding sometimes a cross or a : : to the middle of the forehead. 2 Cicatrisation, which means the cutting of deep incisions or the raising of blobs or scars on the skin, prevails through a great deal of Negro Africa, from the Guinea Coast to the Benue River, the Egyptian Sudan, the interior regions of the Congo Basin, the shores of the Great Lakes, the Portuguese province of Mozambique, and some countries to the north of the Zambezi. It was probably a much earlier practice than tattooing. This last in all likelihood has been in- troduced by the Caucasian from the north, whereas cicatrisation may have originated amongst the Negroes. The process begins by slashing the skin with a knii'r, spear-head, or razor; and where a raised scar or "blob" is wanted the acid juice of some fruit or herb is dropped into the wound and raises a prominent cicatrice. :! Biittikofer asserts that they did— as late as twenty years ago— and that the body marks made on the Vai men were a double row of small cicatrices down the back, extending from the nape of the neck to the end of the spinr. 97° 370. A BASA WOMAN OF THE CIVILISED TYl'K (liECOMl.NGLY AND Al'l'ROl'KIATELY CLOTHED) Liberia v but on the other hand their women almost invariably practise cicatrisation. This is done, generally when they pass through the Sande or bush school of initiation just before puberty, on the back, chiefly over the loins. The pattern which is thus marked in raised scars is either diamond-shaped and divided into a sort of chessboard arrangement (as indicated in my drawing), or else takes a shape resembling two triangles partially fused, overlapping at the apex. This pattern is best explained by the accompanying drawing. The Gora women have their backs marked in much the same manner as the Vais. The Kpwesi people also practise cicatrisation, confining this adornment as much as -possible to the back, which is often marked in the manner illustrated in my drawing. They do not practise tattooing. The Kpwesi women, however, do not cicatrise their bodies to anything like the same extent as the men : they generally confine themselves to the Vai patterns on the loins. This insertion of colouring matter into the skin occurs a good deal amongst the Kwia, Gibi, Basa, and Kru people. The Kwia men are tattooed with slanting lines on the sides of the neck, the shoulders and arms. So are the Gibi men and women. The Basa men have the broad blue stripe down the forehead and all the bridge of the nose which is so characteristic of the Kru people. This generally consists of a number of horizontal cuts made with a sharp knife, into which charcoal, soot, gunpowder, or indigo is introduced. When it has healed it presents an inch-broad striated band of slightly raised skin of an indigo-blue colour. The Gibi and Basa men frequently tattoo their chests with two blue stars and a broad horizontal line as represented in my drawing. These marks are sometimes repeated on the forearms. The 972 371. A VAI CHIEF (SINKO) AND HIS WIVES Liberia <*- Kru men and women tattoo their foreheads with the same broad hand as the Basa ; but in addition they sometimes make two blue 372. A VAI WOMAN, UKMKKN I,II;IKI\ triangular, marks, starting from the outer corner of each eye and extending to the edge of the cheek-bone. These are the 974 373- A VAI WOMAN WITH SILVER HEAD ORNAMENT! Liberia <*- distinguishing Kru marks in addition to the blue forehead and nose. The Kru men tattoo their arms a good deal, but this is a practice probably learnt from European seamen, and the patterns they adopt are usually of the same origin. They are, however, fond of having either their English or their native names tattooed in Roman capitals along the forearm. Their women imitate them in this. The tribes to the north of the Kru and Grebo people (the last-named do not practise much tattooing or cicatrisation) confine their body ornamentations to raised scars, and apparently do not tattoo with colour. Mr. John Gow informs me that the Sikofi people have in most cases (but not always) the forehead and nose mark of the Kru and Basa. When this mark is absent, it is because the person to be operated on feared the pain so much that he somehow evaded the rite. The Sikon people —the women more than the men — are cicatrised on the back and on the chest. The marks are generally these : X T^r The Vai, Gora, Kpwesi, and Kru peoples are a good deal given — especially amongst the women — to decorating ths skin with brown, grey, or white earth (these substances are generally derived from some form of kaolin) or stripes of indigo. Amongst the Vai, Gora, and Kpwesi women this is often done at the time that the girls go through their -period of initiation in the bush school. At such times they cover all their bodies with whitish clay, which gives them a peculiarly hideous appear- ance. A Kru woman when getting herself up in gala costume smears her face with brown clay, and then draws round each eye a large circle of white kaolin. The Basa women have much the same custom. Behind the Kru peoples of the coast it occurs sometimes that the warriors of the cannibal tribes paint their bodies with white, yellow, red, and black earths when getting ready for war 976 VOL. II Liberia *- or if preparing for certain dances or ceremonies ; but as a rule the fighting men of those tribes prefer head-dresses and plumes to skin decoration. As regards mutilations, the Kru men generally file a gap between the two middle incisors. The De men extract one or two of the middle incisors in the upper jaw. These mutilations of the teeth are illustrated in some of my photographs. I have not heard of any cases of the filing 375. RAM'S HORN SKT IN SIIA'KR. A (.minion ornament worn under the nrm by Mend.' and Vai women, and adopted also by the Kru women of the incisors to sharp points such as is so characteristic of the cannibals and some of the Pygmies of the Congo Forest. As regards circumcision^ it is practised of course by all the Muhammadanised peoples (Mandingo, Vai, Gbandi, and Gora) and perhaps by the Buzi and some of the Gofi peoples in the north-east of Liberia ; but as a rule all the races of Kru stock do not circumcise, the Kru tribe especially holding that practice 978 ^ Anthropology: Physical in abhorrence.1 The ears of the women and sometimes of the men are pierced for the insertion of earrings. This, in Liberia, is rather a Muhammadan or European custom. Nowhere in this land does the practice exist — so common in Eastern and 376. A GBANDI WOMAN FROM WESTERN LIBERIA, SHOWING STYLE OF HAIR-DRESSING Central Africa — of introducing into the lobe of the ear discs of wood or stone ; neither in any of these tribes do the women perforate and enlarge the upper lip. 1 Yet, as has been pointed out in several medical reports from West Africa, the Km men stand greatly in need of this prophylactic custom, for reasons which may be gleaned from those reports. 979 Liberia *- The indigenous Negroes of Liberia compared with those of other parts of Africa are distinctly a healthy and wholesome- looking people, nearly always of fine physique. Amongst the diseases recorded in the medical treatment of natives on the coast or at no great distance in the interior are : (i) Gastric and 377. PATTERN 1NSCRIUKI) ON HACK OF VAI WOMAN 378. PATTERN INS( KJI'.I I' ON BACK OF VAI WOMAN 379. CICATRISATION ON BACK OK ki'\vi:si MAN intestinal diseases (chiefly diarrhcra and dysentery) ; (2) respiratory diseases (pneumonia and pleurisy) ; (3) muscular rheumatism ; (4) diseases of the genital organs ; 1 (5) skin 1 I should say compared with other parts of Africa that the Liberian peoples were as yet singularly free from what has been a curse and a cause of depopulation in many other parts of Africa — I mean syphilis, a disease certainly introduced into Africa by the Caucasian in the first place, the principal agencies being the European sailor or soldier from the coast and the Arab or Muhammadanised Negro merchant 980 <+> Anthropology : Physical diseases (boils, nettle-rash, yaws, craw-craw, and the results of jiggers — burrowing fleas — eating into the hands or feet) ; (6) inflammatory swelling (such as buboes) ; (7) diseases of the joints ; (8) diseases of the eye ; (9) diseases of the throat ; 380. TATTOOING ON CHEST OF A GIBI NEGRO (10) malarial fever; (i i) sleeping sickness; (12) ainhum or amputation of the toes ; (13) leprosy ; (14) Guinea worm. Guinea worm is very common amongst the Mandingo peoples in the more open country beyond the forest, and of coming from the north and east. In Liberia this disease is manifested worse perhaps at those places on the coast where there is most intercourse with ships. As a rule, however, the Kru country is singularly free from it. Neither does Gonorrhcea (Vai name, " kania ") appear to be very common amongst the Km people ; but Balanitis and Phimosis occur "somewhat frequently. 981 Liberia <•- course their sufferings from this parasite are observable when any one who is infected with it reaches the Liberian coast towns. The Guinea worm (Filaria medinensis) in one of its stages of microscopic smallness enters the body of a minute water crustacean — Cyclops quadricorms — which acts as an intermediary host for the worm embryos. From the human stomach the 381. MAKKSON KRl MAN'S FACE, FORKHKA1J, AN U TEMJ'l.KS embryo of the Guinea worm penetrates in some way to the blood, and then passes into the subcutaneous tissues. Here, under the surface of the skin, it develops till it reaches maturity. This parasitic worm found in the human body is only of the female sex. " It is supposed " (writes Dr. J. Graham Forbes) ' " that the minute female embryo of this worm is 1 In a report published by the African Society, March, 1905. 982 582. TWO UE MEN : THE ONE ON THE RIGHT SHOWS MISSING INCISOR TOOTH IN UPI'ER JAW Liberia *- impregnated by the male before it enters the human body. Once this female worm has entered the human tissues, it grows to a remarkable length, and develops an enormous uterus, which is crowded with actively mobile embryos. The fully developed worm measures as a rule between two and three feet, but its diameter is only one-sixth of an inch. It has a blunt head at one end, but the tail at the other extremity develops into a hook by which the worm is able to retain its hold. When the female has brought her embryos to a suffi- ciently advanced stage for setting them free in the world, she begins to move through the tissues under the skin towards some point of escape from the human body. Usually — that is to say, in by far the greater number of cases — the worm pierces the 'skin and begins to protrude in the legs or in the feet. Much more rarely the worm appears in the skin of the arms or of the abdomen, of the sexual parts or the back. One or two instances have been recorded, however, wherein this long Filaria worm has worked its way up into the face. When it is getting ready to leave the body, it is often distinctly visible as a slender, twisted cord under the skin. Gradually its head reaches the surface of the skin, causing a large pimple to form, through the top of which at length the head is visible." When this occurs the West Coast natives treat it in a manner which throws an interesting light on the course that Nature might take if she were left to herself : they souse the open boil with cold water. Instinctively the worm ejects or protrudes its uterine sac from the oral aperture. This is a thin membranous bag containing a slightly opalescent fluid swarming with minute embryos. The protruding bag then ruptures and sets free the tiny worms. No doubt this is what would occur if by chance the Filaria found itself near water. The embryos would then escape into the water, take refuge 984 Liberia <«- in the body of the water insect above mentioned, and so con- tinue their strange cycle of existence. No doubt this spread of the worm often occurs through the Negroes standing in water in order to wash the affected part. By continued douching the worm protrudes an inch or so of its length. It is then cautiously but firmly seized, and the protruded portion is attached to a small stick. This is given two or three turns a day until at last the whole worm is wound up and removed from the body. The winding has to be most cautiously under- taken, or the worm will break, and serious results might follow caused by the portion of the creature that remains in the body. A West Coast Negro may sometimes have as many as twenty-five of these Guinea worms in his system. Cases of five or six at once are not uncommon. It is thought that the germ enters the body not only through the stomach but also through any wound or abrasion. Sleeping sickness occurs in this country sporadically, mostly in the western districts. It seems to be traceable, on the Mandingo highlands, back to the thirteenth century, so far as recorded history is concerned. In Liberia it became noticeable early in the nineteenth century : Doalu Bukere, the inventor of the Vai alphabet, died from this disease. The Mandingo from the St. Paul's River illustrated in the frontispiece to Vol. I died of sleeping sickness in 1905. The symptoms seem to be the same as those characterising the disease in Congoland and Uganda. As regards remedies for the simpler maladies, the native pharmacopoeia is well supplied with drugs derived from vegetable substances and a few minerals. As on the Gold Coast and in the Niger Delta, trade gin enters largely into the composition of some of the medicines. So far as I can ascertain, the vegetable drugs in use amongst the natives of Liberia are 986 Liberia *- derived from the following sources : The seeds of Strophanthus grants (which is a deadly poison, and is probably the basis of the arrow-poison), the leaves of the Funtumia tree (? F. africana), Guinea grains (Malagueta pepper), kola nut, one or two kinds of Cassia, the leaves of a verbenaceous plant with a blue flower and long flower-stalk (Stachytarpheta\ the seeds and bark of several kinds of acacia, a shrub which on the Gold Goast is called Ahame^ the leaves of the Colocasia arum, the fibre of pineapple leaf, the leaves and juice of the lime (Citrus], the bark of the silk-cotton tree (Bombax) reduced to ashes, the skin of bananas treated in the same way, ginger, palm oil (an ingredient used in a hundred different ways, internally and externally), and the seeds, leaves, bark, or roots of a great many trees and shrubs not yet identified by their scientific names. In addition to these vegetable substances, gunpowder, clay, kaolin, iron ore, iron rust, and mutton fat are used. Palm wine, fermented or unfermented, is used with some mixtures, and trade gin, as already stated, percolates through a good many of the remedies. Indeed the use of this much- decried form of alcohol in the interior of Liberia, as in other parts of West Africa, seems to be much more medicinal than anything else. The food of the aboriginal Siberians is mainly of a vege- table character. I have already alluded to the period in their history at which cultivated rice was introduced (probably from the north). Maize or Indian corn has been introduced here and there during the last hundred years by the Americo-Liberians ; or by the Mandingo from the north, who of course received it from the Senegambian coast, whither it was brought by the Portuguese from America. The principal sources of vegetable food possessed by the aboriginal Liberia ns at the present day are nearly all of foreign introduction, and as most of them come 988 ?5- OUTSKIRTS OK GORA VILLAGE, SHOWING SMALL CLAY RECEPTACLE FOR GRAIN (POSSIBLY FETISH HUT) Liberia <*- from America and have only been in vogue during the last two or three hundred years, it is difficult to understand what the Liberian savages lived on (unless they were more cannibalistic and carnivorous) in the days before the Portuguese, French, and English introduced into the coast-lands of their country the food staples of Tropical America or the Mandingo brought from the north-west the cultivated plants of the Sudan. For example there is the manioc or cassava (Manihot, a species of Euphorbia).1 A favourite way of preparing this for food is as follows : The manioc roots are pared of their outer rind and then boiled till quite soft, after which they are mashed in a wooden mortar until they form a thick, stodgy paste. This paste is rolled into gluey balls, which are then cooked again in u liquor of meat, fish, or palm oil, something as dumplings would be in broth. The soup is much seasoned with pepper, and a good deal of red pepper is mixed up with the manioc balls. This form of food is generally eaten by means of spoons. Small pieces of the manioc paste are cut off with the spoon and swallowed whole with mouthfuls of soup. 'It is impossible to chew this form of manioc, as it would stick the jaws together. The manioc planted in Liberia is of two kinds— bitter (Manihot utilissima) and sweet (M. palmata]. The former has a minute proportion of prussic acid in the tuberous roots which must first be got rid of by scraping and soaking. The latter is without this disadvantage, and the roots can be eaten raw. The cultivated grains of Liberia are Guinea corn (sorghum), rice, and maize. Amongst other cultivated vegetables and fruits, there are the sweet potato, arrowroot (Maranta], guava, tomato, okro 2 1 Known to the Americo-Liberians as " dumboy"; Vai " dumbai/' a The okro or edible Hibiscus (II. csriih Anthropology: Physical principal articles of food in the Nidi country, along the Duobe River. As regards spices, there are possibly two or three kinds of indigenous pepper already described, and the spice derived from Malagueta (Aframomum). Cayenne pepper (Capsicum') has been introduced from America. Tobacco can hardly be included in a category of food-stuffs, but as an article of consumption it might be mentioned here. 387. VAI HOUSES IN PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTION There can be no question that this plant originally came from America, and it is wonderful how throughout Africa it has (with occasional lapses) preserved its name (taba, tambaku). Binger questions, indeed, whether some form of tobacco was not in- digenous to Africa, as he finds it difficult to conceive how it can VOL. ii 993 31 Liberia *- have penetrated so early to the remotest parts of the Niger Basin. It is perhaps at the present day the most widespread cultivated plant throughout Tropical Africa, and the one which has entered most closely into the category of native wants. Yet a careful inquiry always results in its origin being traced back to the intercourse with America which began in the sixteenth century. There is distinct evidence of smoking having occurred long before the introduction of tobacco, but it was hemp that was smoked, and not tobacco. Hemp is almost universal as a cultivated plant throughout Africa, but probably had an Oriental origin, and the vice of hemp-smoking reached Tropical Africa perhaps as much as a thousand years before tobacco-smoking was established. I have not noticed hemp-growing or smoking anywhere in Liberia except by Americo-Liberian Negroes of Congo origin, nor have I ever heard hemp-smoking amongst the indigenes alluded to by other travellers in that country. Tobacco is used as snufF by some of the interior tribes, but the smoking of it and the use of pipes are much more prevalent than snuff-taking. The use of tobacco as snuff possibly preceded in Africa the custom of tobacco-smoking, but it does not seem a common practice in Liberia. The staple of the Negro's food in Liberia is either rice,1 manioc, or yam. These substances are usually cooked by steaming or boiling, and are then served in large wooden bowls. The natives sit round these bowls, and generally have in addi- tion some appetiser, such as palm oil, which is often poured over the rice or yam, or a palm-oil stew, in which any meat procurable is cooked. Rice is sometimes parched and then 1 Then- are two or even three kinds of rice in Liberia: a good kind, fairly white, which has b.-en no doubt introduced by Kuropcans and Americans ; a red lire, possibly of Kastern origin ; and a small semi-wild grain known as "manikoro," with a blackish husk This kind, which ripens very quickly, is said to have been brought by the Mandingos. 994 Liberia <*- ground into fine flour, or it is soaked, dried, and pounded in a mortar. This flour is used to thicken stews or palm-oil soup. A very favourite vegetable dish is the truly delicious " palm cabbage " (Vai, boro). This is the heart of the oil palm, and its extraction kills the tree. A sort of spinach is made from 389. IN \ PADEBU vn i,\<;i. NKAK TIIK CKNTI KAI. CAVALLA Show-in- ( in ulai . l.iy houses, platfoim for drying i;r;iiii, and lofly CM Irtish ) various leaves, especially those of the shrub Portulaca. Away from the coast, the small sweet banana, which was probably introduced from America, is not met with : the plantain or long banana is the only kind, and as a matter of fact no travel lei- seems to note any abundance of banana groves. Although the 996 -* Anthropology : Physical climate ought to be well suited to its growth, the banana does not take any important place as a staple of food in Liberia. In all probability, as no form of the edible banana is really in- digenous to Africa, it has scarcely penetrated as a cultivated plant into all the recesses of the Liberian forests. 390 NYENEVVODOKE, A VILLAGE ON THE LIHKK1AX HANK OK THE CAVAl LA KIVEK (KETIEBO COUNTRY) Fish, ot course, makes a very good second to vegetable food in the diet of the coast tribes, and dried and smoked fish make their way a certain distance inland as an article of trade. P'ish are also procured from the rivers, and are a favourite article of diet throughout the country, except in such rare instances^ as 997 Liberia *- when some religious or totemistic custom interferes with their consumption. Except where prevented by superstition (as will be seen in the paragraphs dealing with totemism) from eating any beast, bird, reptile, or fish, the Liberian Negroes are singularly catholic in their tastes. Almost every vertebrate and not a few insects are in their eyes edible. I have already alluded to the canni- balism which prevails amongst the Kpwesi and Kru races. They will also eat the flesh of the leopard (except when super- stition forbids), all forms of monkeys, the hippopotamus, all antelopes,1 in fact, any mammal they can get hold of, from a mouse to an elephant. They will even eat the hides of crea- tures after removing the hair. This is one of the reasons why it is so difficult to obtain skins from the natives for natural history collections. Every bird is good for food, as are also the Monitor lizard and several snakes, but most other lizards seem to be disliked. I have not heard that they eat crocodile, but I should think it probable. The flying males of termites (white ants) are of course a delicacy, as everywhere in Africa. Not a few beetle-grubs are eaten, especially those very large ones which burrow into the heart of the oil palm. They do not seem to like the eggs of domestic poultry, but of course they eat the flesh of fowls. As to drink, the country is ordinarily well supplied with water. The sap of the oil palm, of the Raphia (R. vinifera\ the wild date, and perhaps the Borassus is the national beverage, either fresh or fermented. European alcohol (usually gin) is employed more as a medicine than a stimulant. But the coast Kruboys arc a very drunken lot, and some of the pagan chiefs 1 Kxrept perhaps the blac k duiker {Cephalophus ni^cr}. There is a. strong prejudice against this animal, which may be partly totemistic. Its flesh is said to produce some kind of blood poisoning, manifested by an itchy skin disease. 998 -*> Anthropology: Physical inland have a craving for rum and brandy. Muhammadanism fortunately induces abstinence where it obtains a hold. Whilst dealing with the food question it may be as well here to enumerate once more their domestic animals, kept of course in the main for purposes of food. The ox of the types already described is much commoner throughout Liberia than is the case in other forest lands of Africa, and the natives are very fond of beef, though from thrift they rarely kill an ox for food, but prefer waiting till the animal dies from disease or accident. 999 Liberia •*- Sheep and goats are kept for their flesh. Nowhere in Liberia do they seem to milk their goats or cows or to care about milk. Dogs are kept throughout the country, and the Vai people also have tame cats. In many parts of the interior of Liberia the smaller breeds of dogs are eaten. Mr. Sim notes the very large breed of dog which is kept by the Nidi people on the Duobe River. Native agriculture in the coast regions is simple and perhaps somewhat degenerate. Most of the field work is done by women among the Kru peoples on or near the coast, because so many of the men go to sea for their livelihood as sailors or fishermen. Farther inland the people of all tribes are decidedly agricultural in their tastes, though they do not rise above the simple Negro methods, and have no idea of manuring (except by wood ashes) or of the rotation of crops. When a new plantation is required, the men often aid one another in turn, voluntarily. The month of January or February is chosen for the purpose on account of the relative drought, the bush and trees are cut down, left for a short time to dry, and then burnt. The unconsumed logs are dragged aside as much as possible, and the women (or youths) set to work to hoe up the soil and mix with the clods the ashes of the burnt vegetation. The ground is then ready for sowing when the new rains tall in March or April. Manioc (cassava or cassada) is often planted simultaneously with rice in alternate rows. The rice ripens before the cassada, and the tuberous roots of the latter then occupy all the round. But after one crop of any product the land is seldom tilled a second time. It is given up to weeds and bush tor a long period, until this subsidiary growth is sufficiently developed to yield a supply of manure in the form of ashes or leaf- mould. 1000 A NATIVE KITCHEN IN A Liberia <*- Rice is reaped by being cut in bundles by a small knife — such bundles of grain-heads as can be grasped by the hand : a very slow method of gathering. There is no such thing in native husbandry as a scythe or sickle : the nearest approach to this is the billhook (sian) of the Vai. Maize (Vai, nyord) grows exceedingly well in Liberia, but is surprisingly little cultivated by the natives or even by the Americo-Liberians, though green corn would be such a luxury for the table and the ripe maize would certainly be worth exportation. It is grown most of all in the Vai country. Guinea corn or sorghum (liolcus} (a grain, no doubt, of Indian origin introduced very early into Egypt and the rest of Africa) is but little cultivated in Liberia. No doubt the climate of the forest region is too wet. The Vais call this grain kende and cultivate it in the interior. It is also met with among the Mandingo, the Buzi, and the Kisi peoples. Pumpkins are much cultivated and gourds are grown everywhere, to provide utensils, drinking-cups, sounding-boards of musical instruments, dishes and bowls. The native agricultural implements are few and simple. They are the ordinary African hoe (wood or iron), a matchet or long swordlike knife with a broad blade (nowadays imported from Europe), a small narrow axe, a billhook for lopping branches, a pointed stick for digging, and a few knives. All attempts to introduce the plow (or even the spade) have failed. The soil is too hard, there are too many tree stumps or roots for either implement to be conveniently applied to Liberian agriculture. The natives take readily to the use of the saw and adze, to the sickle and even to the scythe ; but the plow and spade — those most inappropriate emblems on the shield of Liberia — will long remain strangers to its agriculture. The principal #/«W*/J used for cooking and eating- are gourds, too? <+> Anthropology : Physical earthenware pots, ami brass kettles (bought from European and Liberia?! traders) ; knives (either of native or European manu- facture), wooden spoons, wooden bowls of all sizes, and wooden platters. The pots are made of red or black clay, and are sometimes quite artistic in design, studded with round knobs or engraved with variegated patterns. The spoons, which are cut out of solid pieces of wood, exhibit a surprising fancy and skill in their intricate carving and ornament. Grain and other comestibles are pounded in the large wooden mortars1 with 393. A VILLAGE IN THE SABO OR SAPO COUNTRY, EASTERN LIBERIA wooden pestles, so familiar to the traveller throughout Negro Africa. They, too, are cut from solid blocks of wood (the African is quite ignorant of joinery). Sun-dried bricks (in lieu of stones) are used to build up the hearth. There are few of those cylindrical, clay-plastered granaries so universal throughout Moslem, Nilotic, and Bantu Africa. Occasionally one is met with in a Vai village. Grain is stored in the rafters of houses, between the thatch and the ceiling of palm 1 Vai name, 1003 Liberia <*- midribs. It-is also spread for drying on lofty platforms in the open air. The houses of the Liberian natives may perhaps be divided into two types, which, like the two breeds of cattle, are found widely distributed throughout Negro Africa, often side by side, and sometimes mingling their characteristics. They are the round and the rectangular or oblong. The round house in its most characteristic form is generally associated with the use of clay or mud as a building material. Though the framework is of wattle (usually) the clay is worked into this and plastered over inside and out with mud that has been well mixed. On this relatively smooth surface grotesque designs are often drawn. The roof, of course, is a framework of sticks or poles (very often the midribs of raphia palms) thatched with palm fronds, banana or other leaves, grass or reeds according to the district. In the forest region, of course, the thatch is nearly invariably of palm fronds or big leaves. The oblong house, which is perhaps more characteristic of the forest than is the round hut (the last-named being more usually adopted by the Mandingo or Muhammadan tribes living in the open country), is the form generally met with on the Kru coast. The sides of these rectangular houses are often made of slabs of palm midribs.1 They may be made of palm fronds or mats worked into a wattle frame. But sometimes the oblong house borrows from the round hut the principle of clay architecture. The tendency, in fact, is increasingly towards clay walls, on account of their greater security. Far inland, on the Mandingo Plateau, the architecture is like that of the Niger Basin — buildings of considerable height with clay walls, and mosques of a wattle framework supporting clay, with minarets shaped like extinguishers. This, however, 1 Usually mis-called bamboos. 1004 .-* Anthropology : Physical is quite a foreign style of architecture, due to Moslem influence, a faint reflex of the Saracenic, or even Egyptian. The Kru house is of oblong shape. There is first of all a framework of sticks, into which may be interlaced the split midribs of the raphia palm. The root is generally thatched with raphia fronds. The house is built on a low, hollow platform, raised above the ground on piles. The floor of the 394. A WOMAN MAKING CLAY POTS, LIBEKIAN WESTKKN BORDEKLAND house is generally made of the raphia midribs (" bamboos "). The interior is usually divided into three rooms separated by partitions, also of raphia planks. The partitions rise as high as a ceiling of the same material, which forms the ground of a loft under the roof. This loft, of course, is used as a store- room for many articles. The hearth is formed of clay in one corner of the house, and close to it is a window, sometimes 1005 Liberia v closed by a shutter. The window serves as a passage for the smoke, and also admits a little light to the cooking apartment, the rest of the dwelling being lit by the open doorway. In the houses of the wilder Kru people of the bush there is very little in the way of furniture. Perhaps one or two rude seats or chairs made of tree branches or raphia midribs serve the purpose. As a rule the plank flooring is sufficient for a bed, with perhaps a skin to sleep on and a round block of wood for a pillow. But the houses of the well-to-do Krumen on the coast, and especially in the Liberian towns, have already attained a certain degree of comfort. The floor, as also in the case of the Grebo houses, is not infrequently of hard clay, raised slightly above the level of the ground, and there are beds, tables, benches, chairs, and even pictures (coloured supple- ments of 'Ihe Graphic, for example) fastened to the walls. The Vai houses are usually round and plastered with clay, as are also those of the Mandingo. The Vai and Mandingo always use beds, generally made of the indispensable palm mid- ribs fastened longitudinally and side by side on a wooden frame with short legs. The Grebo houses are frequently plastered with clay on the outside, and decorated with striking patterns in black and white. The floor is raised above the level of the ground outside, but is of solid clay ; not of planks. The interior of the house is often much more spacious than it will appear from the outside. It is generally clean. These Grebo houses are often circular in shape. There may be a few screens or partitions erected to ensure privacy for the sleeping apartments. The interior may be open to the apex of the roof, but in all probability there are rafters from which things hang by string, or on top of which are put away impedimenta. The doors of these houses are usually made of raphia midribs fastened closely together by 1006 Liberia +-- cross-pieces. The door may be secured from within by a long bar of wood. In nearly all the villages or towns of the interior there is a half-open guest-house or palaver-place with a lofty roof of palm thatch and a raised clay floor. This sometimes becomes the fetish temple of the village. As regards ideas of sanitation, many of the Negro races of inland Liberia are distinctly in advance of the coast peoples, who have probably retrograded under European influence. The surroundings of the Kru and Grebo and some of the Vai villages on the coast are often filthy,1 and probably insanitary from the accumulation of ordure ; but away from the coast influence, most of the tribes, especially in Eastern Liberia, have latrines arranged in their villages, very similar to those which can be seen in Uganda. There may be as many as four latrines to a village. Sometimes the retiring-place is masked with high fences of sticks and thatch ; in other cases it is open to view, and consists of a long pole laid horizontally on low supports of forked sticks, with a deep trench behind. From time to time these trenches or pits are filled up, and fresh ones are dug. There seems to be generally a discrimination between the retiring-places of the men and of the women. The manufactures of the native races of Liberia are simple, except perhaps for the leather-work which has been introduced by the Mandingo, and the silversmiths' work amongst the Vai. Pottery is made by all the tribes, even by the uncultured Kru ; but in the coast countries, especially between Monrovia and Cape Palmas, the making of pots on the part of the natives has to a great extent become a lost art, through the introduction from Europe (dating from the fifteenth century) of iron pots and coarse earthenware vessels. It is probably in the Vai 1 Tliis is particularly so in the native quarter ol Monrovia. 1008 Anthropology : Physica Countries and in the lands more adjoining the Sierra Leone boundary and the l;reneh Sudan that indigenous Siberian pottery work is carried on at the present day, though French travellers report that the Kru races in the far interior about the Upper Cavalla make a good deal of pottery still, not being sufficiently in touch with the coast to have acted like the Krumen in replacing the native article by imported goods. The potters in almost all cases are women. The illustration of a female potter given on p. 1005 is from a photograph taken near the Sierra Leone- Liberian boundary by Mr. Firmin. The woman is of Mende race, but the women potters of the closely allied Vai tribe make exactly similar vessels of clay, dry them in the sunshine and the wind, and then bake them in the red-hot ashes of wood fires. In some parts of Western Liberia the jars for holding water or palm wine are very large, con- taining two or three gallons. In the Kpwesi country these large jars are often quite ornamental, with incised patterns in bands, and rows of knobs. Perhaps an older art than pottery, and one dating from VOL. ii 1009 32 396. WOMEN 1'OUNUING FOOD IN WOODEN MOftTARS Liberia a that may even have preceded the Age of Stone, is the utilisation of gourds as receptacles for liquids and solids, and the shaping of blocks of wood into implements. I believe occasion- ally wooden hoes may be met with in the far interior of Liberia, just as they are found amongst savage races in East Africa. Wood-carving, however, is carried by most of the indigenous Liberians to rather an advanced art. Beautiful and fantastic spoons are carved out of solid blocks of wood. The spoon is an implement of widespread use throughout Negro Africa, and must have come into existence at a very early stage of Negro culture, soon after the stone knife, and long before any metal instrument. It is curious how very little any of these backward races think of the fork. There were no forks in use in England till the time of Queen Elizabeth. Hewn out of a big block of wood by an adze (and anciently by the use of fire only) is the almost universal wooden mortar and wooden pestle used throughout Negro Africa for pounding. The shape of this wooden mortar scarcely varies between Senegambia and Zanzibar and between Somaliland and Natal. Buttikofer states that the wooden mortars made in Liberia are not at first hollowed out to their full depth, as a good deal of the wood is worn and triturated with the constant pounding, so that as the mortar is used its depth gradually increases— which means, of course, that with the food is continually mixed small fragments of wood. This perhaps is why the flour and other native food-stuffs prepared in these African mortars is so indigestible to Europeans ; just as the flour that is ground between stones in Eastern Africa often produces disorders of the bowels if eaten by Europeans, being so full of minute stone grit as to be very indigestible. This experience has been the sad result of many honest attempts of missionaries to " live the life of the people," an experiment which has nearly always resulted in prolonged ill-health. J010 + Anthropology : Physical Besides mortars of various si/cs (tiny ones are made of wood or of ivory for grinding snuff), the native Liherians make- wooden scabbards (sometimes covered with leather) for swords, small wooden stools to sit on, and large benches ; the framework of beds (amongst the Vai), and a variety of pots and dishes, some of these bein^ obviously modelled on European patterns in earthenware. The /> Anthropology: ably have the well-known musical instrument which is widely spread throughout Ne Africa a \vlophone made of long slabs of resonant wood. The Val people have wooden calendars made of small wooden squares that are hung on strings. Be- sides what have been enumerated, the natives carve little fetishes or idols, more or less clumsily, out of wooden blocks. 399. WOMAN MAKING COTTON THREAD They also make masks of wood (stained black), which are used in their initiation ceremonies or devil dances. The wooden masks that come from the eastern part of Liberia generally display a more serious attempt to resemble a human face than is the case with those used by the Vai people of Western Liberia, in which the face is reduced to a conventionalised design, though a great deal of attention is given to delineating an 1013 Liberia *- elaborate coiffure of hair worn in knobs. On the whole it may be said that the skill that all these people display in their wooden carving shows them to be capable of strong artistic development if led along the right paths. The gourds which are cut in half by them make useful calabashes, or ladles or cups. Cleaned out and preserved intact they can be used as bottles or clysters. Some gourds are hand- 400. COTTON-WEAVING IN WKSTKKN LlliKKIA somely ornamented with engraved designs in black and white- conventional figures of men, crocodiles, elephants, combs, and dogs. Combs, perhaps, should have been mentioned amongst the wooden manufactures, as they are generally cut from that sub- stance, though occasionally they are made from bone or ivory. Mats are woven or plaited by most of the tribes, usually from the useful filaments of palm fronds, sometimes also of grass. A 1014 .-* Anthropology : Ph\ stiffer kind of mat is made from the outer rind of the palm stems or frond midribs of the much-used Rdphia --civil The same material is used for the plaiting of fish-baskets and fish-traps. Ktish'fs of all descriptions are manufactured from palm filament and fibre or from grass, some of them made with great neatness. Other fibres go to the making of string and coarse rope, and of thick string are made the slings which 401. A MK.NDK LOOM, ON WESTERN* FRONTIER OF L1MKKIA are still used for hurling pebbles in some parts of the Kru country. In the interior of Central Liberia (the Kpvvesi countries), and also still more amongst the Negroes speaking Kru dialects near to the Cavalla region, bark-cloth is still in use. This bark- cloth is a kind of felt made from the bast, or fibre under the bark, of a fig tree, possibly of diverse species ; bark-cloth, in 1015 Liberia <+- fact, of this description is widely spread throughout Negro Africa from Senegambia to Uganda and Nyasaland. It is a form of covering which preceded woven cloth, and succeeded the use of skins as a body-covering amongst the Negroes. The Negro's earliest covering, as indeed that of primitive man all over the world, was the skin of a beast. The first modification that man adopted to improve this form of covering was to rub and tear the under-surface of the skin so as to render it supple. In rubbing these skins bark and twigs were employed, together with sand and fat. By the use of bark (no doubt moistened with water), the first idea of tanning skins arose. Then followed the idea of vegetable covering, or adorn- ments for the person, when an idea of decency arose. The filaments of palm fronds and dried grass were tied together to make aprons or cloaks or head-dress. Then occurred the idea of stripping off the bast or the inner bark of thick trees ; and it was found that by soaking this in water and beating it out with wooden mallets, it could be fused or felted out and rolled out in long, narrow strips. These strips were sufficient for the simple tegi-pudenda used by the Negroes (who also before and since that period have, like the legendary Adam and Eve, resorted frequently to bunches of leaves for this purpose) ; while increasing civilisation taught the Negroes to sew strips of bark-cloth together, so that some races, like the Baganda, acquired the fashion for this voluminous clothing before they learnt the art of weaving The plaiting of vegetable fibre is no doubt an ancient art in Africa, but -weaving can only have been recently introduced into the land of the black man. It came unquestionably from the regions of the Nile, or Egypt, and was carried westwards across the Sudan to the valley of the Niger, and southwards through East Africa into parts of the Congo, Abyssinia, and 1016 -* Anthropology : Physical Arabia. When Negro Atrici \\.is hrst visited by civilised white men, say in thv.* fifteenth century,, there- can have been but few looms at work amongst the Negroes, except in the valley of the Niger, and in Muhammadamsed Senegambia, in Hausaland, and Abyssinia (besides of course North Africa and Egypt). Four 402. LARGE PIECE OF COTTON-STUFF WOVEN AND DYED IN WESTERN LIBERIA, ALSO DRUM FROM WESTERN LIBERIA hundred years ago (except in the regions just mentioned), the Negro either went nude or covered or adorned himself with dressed skins, with bark-cloth, with dried grass, leaves and palm filaments. There may, of course, in the Hausa Sudan and the valley of the Central Niger have been looms in existence before 1017 Liberia *- the Muhammadan period, brought thither by the spreading civilisation of Egypt. It is doubtful, however, whether weaving 403. A GIRL FROM TIIK CKNTKAI, ST. I'.U'L'S KIVKK, WITH I1\M» I ISIIIN<;-NKT had penetrated into any part of Negmland before the uprising of Islam forced so much of Kastern culture into Africa, for in those days, before the eighth or ninth century, what was there |oj. jScj of vol. ii. of Hiittikofer's Rcischildrr mis l.il/cria. 1026 -* . \nthn )|)()]OL;\ : I 'hysical sometimes standing by itself", at other times carried siting round the body. Tiny little hand-drums with an exterior string lashing and painted red and blue are made in the Kru country. The wt'tius of transport iniil locomotion resorted to, in addi- tion to porterage and walking, is the use of dug-out canoes on anv sheet of water that is navigable.1 Only the Mandingo coming from the north possess any idea of a beast of burden. They have horses of two or more breeds. Some of these — of a 409. A MANDINGO HORSE pony-like type — find their way from the north through the forest to the coast. More often the Mandingo horses which one meets with (very rarely) in Liberian towns have come by sea from PVench Guinea. They do not thrive in the coast region at all. Where canoes cannot be employed for the transport of men and burdens, the traffic and commerce of the country are carried on by means of human porterage. All burdens are 1 No type of canoe but the " dug-out " is indigenous to the country. The canoe is simply a tree trunk hollowed to the requisite thinness by fire and by adzing. 1027 Liberia <•*- transported on the backs of men and women by means of the characteristic " kinja," which is a kind of long pottle or hamper attached to a stout frame of sticks. This method of carrying loads is well illustrated on p. 1025, and characterises not only the interior of Liberia but much of Sierra Leone. A consider- able native industry on the coast consists of boiling sea-water and making salt. This salt, fashioned into sticks, is almost a trade currency and circulates throughout the interior. 1028 CHAPTER XXIX SOCIAL LIFE IT may be convenient to commence an account of the social life of the Liberian Negroes by describing the initiation cere- monies for boys and girls which prevail amongst nearly all the tribes except the very few individuals who have adopted Christianity. Even Muhammadanism has not led to their abolition. The men's school of initiation is known among the Vai as Beri and among the Kru and Grebo as Kedibi. The women's school is called by the Vai Sande. The institu- tion, however, seems to have fallen out of use to some extent amongst the Kru peoples in the coast region. It is scarcely necessary to point out to students of Africa that this institution of initiation schools for boys and girls is not only widely spread throughout Negroland but is characteristic of most savage nations, reappearing in much the same form amongst the blacks of Australia. The " Grigri Bush " (as it is called in the pidgin English of the coast) appears in almost exactly the same form not only in Western Liberia, but in the interior of Sierra Leone, in the Congo Basin, and right away down to the Zulus and Basuto of South Africa. It has died out to some extent amongst the eastern Nilotic Negroes, and when Muhammadanism (still more Chris- tianity) gets hold thoroughly of an African country, this institu- tion disappears more or less completely ; though of course it is so fundamental an institution in the growth of human civilisation 1029 Liberia *- that it even lingers or revives in Christian Europe or America at the present day in the form of confirmation services in branches of the Christian Church, in the Catholic sodalities, in boys' and girls' clubs, and so on. In Liberia, as in other parts of Africa, initiation ceremonies generally commence with boys and girls on their approach to puberty. The two institutions for the different sexes are kept absolutely distinct. A man interfering with the women's school runs the risk of at any rate severe bodily harm, whilst any unfortunate woman who by blundering or of set purpose pries into the mysteries of the boys' school is more probably killed — and in some districts eaten. To enforce regard for the teaching given in these assemblies, and respect for tribal custom, lore, and the wisdom of the elders, recourse must be had of necessity to a bogey , to what is commonly termed a devil} The institution of this mysterious, somewhat supernatural personage may no doubt be traced very far back in human history, to the times which immediately followed on the birth of human consciousness and the dawn of religion. But it has sometimes occurred to the present writer to trace the origin back, the form devised for this disciplinary devil in West Africa, to the superstitious dread which the Negro of forested Africa feels for the gorilla or even the chimpanzee. Some of the masks and mantles of long imita- tion hair which are worn in the countries at the back of Old Calabar or even here and there in Liberia decidedly suggest the appearance of a man-ape. In Liberia the devil's mask is carved out of ebony or of other wood stained black. The voluminous dress is usually composed of palm filaments dyed black. The men's devil in these Negro societies has to attend 1 In Y;ii, the Fcinhrt (literally, Fen />rt = big thing.) 1030 410. TIIK I'.KKI-NVANA, <>K WENS HI-.VII. <)K \VI.SIKKN I.IKKKIA (THE HUNUU OF MI KKA u.oNii) Liberia <*- to many matters, and is made use of for social discipline not only in connection with the initiation school of the boys, but also for enforcing obedience on womankind. It is therefore generally arranged that boys shall be initiated into the know- ledge of what the devil really is upon their approach to manhood, and shall be bound to keep the secret on pain of death, or at any rate outlawry, while a woman attempting to find out the mystery of the men's devil is almost invariably killed. Thus (though no doubt they have cracks of scepticism) women and children in this part of Negro Africa continue to believe that the men's devil is a supernatural being. The men, of course, not being under quite the same degree of delusion, are probably not overawed by the women's devil, though public opinion allows considerable licence to the women at this time and in connection with this institution (just as happens in Australia), so that open scoffing, incredulity, or impertinent inquiry on the part of men would be punished to a considerable extent by a strike on the part of the women or a respectable degree of violence in their actions. The devil which looks after the men's school amongst the Vai is generally known as Beri-nyana. The women's devil is called Femba or Sande-ny&na. In the case of most parts of Liberia except the Kru country the men's bush school seems to be in full torce. Ordinarily, except where the tribe is Muhammadanised, the boys are circumcised at these schools in the bush, and at the same time are taught more or less the mysteries of sex and their duties and responsibilities as future husbands. Possibly here, as in South-east Africa, these initiation ceremonies are ac- companied by indecent dances of a pantomimic kind, but from all the information I can gather there does not appear to be much, if any, deliberately intended indecency on these occasions 1032 Anthropology : Social The boys may or may nor pass tVom this simple rite of initia- tion (into sexual nutters ;i'ul tribal affairs) into more elaborate secret or Masonic societies of different kinds, and possibly of different grades, connected with the ages of the initiated.1 Usuallv during these ceremonies they wear a special cap of plaited palm leaves and rub their bodies over with grey wood ash or white kaolin, or they may wear fantastic petticoats of fibre or leaves. The name possibly is changed at this time, the boy leaving the name of his childhood and adopting a new name conferred on him by the medicine-man or priest who conducts these ceremonies, either in propria persona or masking as a devil. The site of the school will be a place in the forest not too far from the village, where temporary huts are constructed and sentries are posted with rattles or flutes or horn trumpets to scare away women from coming too near their pre- cincts. Amongst the Vai, a boy undergoing initiation is called Duamba, and a girl Boni. The Kru and Grebo with their abandonment of circumcision, and possibly owing to their life on or near the coast in contact for several centuries with foreign ships and traders, seem to 1 Amongst the Vai (who are mostly Muhammadun) a youth may stay for a few months in the Deri (for sexual initiation) or may spend years in that institution to become initiated into all the tribal Freemasonry. But civilisation and the demands of commerce for labour are sapping these silly practices. 41: A DEVIL-MASK OK \\KSII.RN I.IKKKIA Liberia <+- have given up the initiation schools for boys in favour of a number of leagues and societies, secret or otherwise. An in- teresting description of those which were in force amongst the Grebo people about sixty years ago is given by the late Rev. J. S. Payne (see p. 1078). Though these institutions have weakened very much in the vicinity of Cape Palmas and the Christian missions established in that part of Maryland County, they remain in other parts of Eastern Liberia practically unaltered at the present day. Beyond the coast belt, the boy and girl initiation schools appear to be pretty much the same amongst the people of Kru stock, the Ngere or Gon, and all the Kpwesi and Gora tribes, except that the Kru peoples do not circumcise. The Basa-Gibi people follow much the same customs as the Kpwesi, the Vai, the Kisi, and the other tribes of Western Liberia. The Vai only differ from the others in that, being Muhammadan (as are also most of the Goras), circumcision is performed on the boys soon after birth. They do not wait to perform this rite on the approach of puberty. It is in this particular that one may discriminate in Africa between the aboriginal rite of circumcision, which was mainly prophylactic, and the introduc- tion of that practice as a solemn religious rite derived from the teaching of the Semitic races of Palestine and Arabia. In these, as in the Ancient Egyptians, the practice of circumcision no doubt arose, as it did amongst the Negroes, for reasons of purely physical necessity. But to enforce compliance with this rite superstition gradually wove round it a religious significance,1 so that when it was reintroduced into Africa after the uprising 1 I do not think that sufficent evidence has been quoted anywhere to show that the rite of circumcision had anything to do with Phallic worship. The Phallic rult has sometimes been practised by races that ignored the idea of circumcision. I034 -* Anthropology : Social of the Semitic faiths, it reached these Negro countries as a practice specially connected with Muhammadanism. At the women's luish school in Liberia, as in so many other parts of Negro Africa, a practice somewhat analogous to circumcision?? is in force — the excision of the clitoris. This 412. A DEVIL-MASK OF EASTERN LI HER I A operation (and perhaps the elongation of the labia minora) is probably universal throughout Liberia, except, of course, amongst the thirty thousand Christians. A discussion on the usefulness or uselessness of this practice would be out of place in the present work : it is sufficient to note that it is firmly established 1035 Liberia *- throughout Negro Africa,1 and nowhere more so than among the uncivilised peoples of Liberia. It may he that there is less need for this than there is for circumcision. And both practices (together with similar ones amongst the savages of Australia) may arise neither from religious sentiment nor wise medical foresight on the part of early man, but simply from that morbid interest taken by him in the sexual organs, a concentration of thought which may have arisen before he ceased to be an ape, and which increased greatly after he had attained to human consciousness. It is necessary to pass these bush schools in review before dealing with marriage and marriage ceremonies, because outside the absolutely Muhammadan Negroes and Christian Americo- Liberians it would be very difficult for any girl who had not passed through the initiation school2 to obtain a husband on equal terms. It is not so clear, however, that native girls would refuse a husband who had not passed through the initiation school, except, of course, where the tribe had been Muhammadanised. It is said, of course, that these bush schools are excellent for the discipline of the sexes, and that at these gatherings the women are taught a great deal of housewifery, cooking, etc., whilst the boys are instructed in the secrets of the chase, of warfare, tribal politics, etc. 1 have no hesitation myself (after long experience of these institutions in many parts of Africa) in saying that they are merely instrumental in keeping the Negroes who still practise them in a state of savagery. The minds of the young girls are completely debauched. They may be taught the crude methods of native cooking, 1 Tin- only excuse given for this practice is that it diminishes feminine salacity. - In Yui a j^irl who has not been initiated is called "gboroa/' which is r<|uivalcnt to "silly lout," "idiot." 1036 o* Anthropology: Social hut they arc certainly not instructed in the rearing or care of their children, or in ways to lessen the terrible infant mortality. The hoys merely learn how to he 1400. 1 . . . savages, to maintain fidelity to the narrow clan or even the tribe, hut to regard all human beings outside that tribe or clan as being beyond the pale of common humanity. I admit that a heavily 413. "SANDE" OR "BOM" GIRLS (OF THE INITIATION SCHOOL), WESTERN LIBERIA clothed Negro with a great deal ot cheap scripture quotation on his lips is rather a repulsive person, or that a Negress dressed in a caricature of last year's style in London or Paris is not so comely an object as the same Negress retaining the modest, downcast airs of savage Africa, merely decked in slight drapery. But the modest, downcast looks conceal no greater purity of Liberia <*- heart than is met with in the worst of the Europeanised black women, while of course there is a chance for both black and white women that by absorbing something of abstract Christian morality they may become better citizens of the world, even if for the time they lose in our eyes their picturesque attributes. When the old woman who directs the girls' school con- siders that any of her pupils have arrived at marriageable age, she informs the parents, who pass on the news to the young, middle-aged, or old man who may have bespoken their daughter ; for very often a man will take a fancy to a little girl-child and bespeak her when she becomes marriageable in after years. On being thus advised, the prospective husband brings the girl's parents presents, partly for the schoolmistress, and partly for the girl. When her marriage is definitely arranged, the girl is probably rubbed all over her body with a pomade made of animal fat and palm oil mixed, so that her skin is glistening. The old governess of the bush school decks her with many weird ornaments which are supposed to have some spiritual or medicinal charm, and in this guise leads her to the husband's village. Here great preparations for a feast have been made, and a lashings " of palm-wine are distributed to the assembled guests ; while if the bridegroom is of any respectable condition he supplies some form of European alcohol in addition — rum, brandy, or syrupy liqueurs with a German or Italian name. Music of some form will be called in to contribute to the occasion. If the village is anywhere near a Mandingo settle- ment, the professional singers will go with their little harps, or other instruments, and the songs may have sonic approach to the white man's idea of melody. But in pure savagery 1038 414. '1'HE ENTRANCE INTO A \.\I ToWN O1-" TIIK "KKMHA," oK WoMKN's DEVIL Liberia <*- the music will consist chiefly of drum-beating, flute or trumpet playing, and loud singing. Among the peoples of Western Liberia, the custom prevails of the bride's mother leading the bride to her husband's hut whilst the revelry is at its height. She then retires outside. The hut is surrounded by other women, friends of the bride, who keep up a loud singing, which is supposed to drown any whimper of the newly wedded girl at the introduction into matrimony. After an interval the mother-in-law asks through the doorway or some crevice in the walls if all is well, and the bridegroom replies that everything is satisfactory, unless he should have reason to doubt the virginity of his spouse : in which case (it is stated by Biittikofer) he replies in emphatic terms that all is not well, and the marriage feast would in such circumstances be broken up, to be followed by a violent wrangle as to the rejection of the bride by her husband, and the return of the purchase-money. It is very improbable — at any rate at the present day — that when matters have proceeded as far as this any reclamation is made or any other answer given than the stereotyped " It is well," because the practice of unmarried girls, after puberty, receiving the attentions of lovers who do not necessarily become their husbands is increasing, and for many years it has been recorded amongst the customs of the Vai, Mandingo, and Kpwesi.1 It was formerly an article in the moral code of Western Liberia (at any rate), as in Eastern Africa or Zululand that any amount of immorality might be practised with the unmarried women by their lovers provided that virginity 1 As regards sexual intercourse, this sometimes begins before the girl is mature. In many parts of the country the custom of ignoring chastity on the part of girl-children or unmarried women obtains. In some districts it is thought a shameful thing for an unmarried woman to have a child, thou.yh sli- may openly receive attentions from an acknowledged lover without loss of respect. 1040 * .\iUhn>|><>l<>-\ : Soc ial remained intact, or above all th.it preim mcy did not take place. In almost all parts of Africa the women, especially the old women, are adepts in the art of procuring abortion, either by the administration of drugs or by the insertion of rude in- struments. Many cases of possible disgrace are no doubt disposed of by this means. Nevertheless it has occurred 415. THE WOMEN'S DEVIL PAKADINC A VAI TOWN occasionally under the observation of European travellers that men have been charged with the results of their immoral dealings with unmarried girls and that both parties to this offence have been severely punished, even occasionally by death. It must be admitted that the stories of the few European writers who have dealt with the native customs in Liberia are rather conflicting on this head. VOL. ii 1041 34 Liberia -+- Mr. McConnell, writing of the Kru people about fifty years ago, states that as a rule young men (or the parents of young men on their behalf) purchase their future wives when they are little children : in fact, carry out the idea of infant marriage ; but the girl does not come to live with her husband till she has reached the age of puberty, which may be some- where about twelve .years. Amongst the Kru people circumcision is rarely practised in the men, and apparently clitoridectomy is not in favour, so that there is less reason for holding these initiation schools for boys and girls. In the Sikombe country, however, behind the Kru coast, and also in the adjoining country of Putu, and indeed wherever one can gather information of the customs of all the races belonging to the Kru stock in the basin of the Cavalla River, the licence permitted to unmarried women takes the following strange form. A girl having been pledged from early childhood to her future husband is nevertheless allowed to take an official lover when she wishes between twelve and fourteen. This lover cohabits with the girl until she proves to be pregnant, and then she is taken over by her lawful husband, who has no commerce with her, however, until she has not only borne a child to her lover but duly weaned it ; so that the husband and wife do not come together until the latter is, for Negrohind, quite a mature young woman, say sixteen or seventeen years of age — equivalent to our twenty- seven. As the husband no doubt in his time has been a lover, the system works out equitably all round. Amongst the Mandingo, boys and girls are allowed to cohabit before marriage, but the female companion provided for a boy by his parents is no doubt very often a young slave. When a Mandingo youth or man desires to become definitely married he gives the girl that he fancies a present 1042 -* .Anthropology: Social in goods or even silver money. The girl is tree to reject these presents it' she does not like the man, ami this is supposed to settle the question finally ; but if she accepts the preliminary present she hands it on to her mother, who gives it to the K> ST Irw 416. THE "FKMliA" PARADING father, the girl at the same time explaining that this present has been given to her u with a view to matrimony." The father and mother then proceed to discuss with the girl's relations the desirability of the prospective bridegroom. If they are willing that the courtship should proceed, the man who has proposed marriage must conciliate the immediate 1043 Liberia <•- relatives (brothers, sisters, etc., of the girl) by presents, such as a gun for a brother, a piece of cloth for a sister, a brass kettle and a piece of cloth for the mother, besides two more pieces of cloth for the girl herself. After these presents have been given the marriage negotiations have advanced another stage, and the next point is to fix the actual price of the girl, of which an average estimate may be given as one cow, two slaves (or the current value of two slaves in goods), and twenty pieces of kola nut. When the bridegroom has agreed to pay this price, he sends the cow in advance, and the girl is then taken to his house and the marriage is consummated in the way already described — namely, during much feasting, dancing, and playing of music. The remainder of the marriage price is paid in instalments, which sometimes are protracted over a considerable period. Of course if the man fails to complete the marriage price, the girl may be taken back to her home by her parents. On the death of a husband — amongst the Mandingo and perhaps most other Liberian peoples — the wife or wives become the property of his eldest brother. On the death of this brother they would pass to the brother next in age, but if there are no brothers of the original husband to take over his wives, they become free women, widows in the strictest sense of the word, and these widows play a somewhat important part in Liberian village life.1 They are the licensed women of pleasure, and public opinion permits them to dispense their favours in return for an emolument. Sometimes these women attain quite a local vogue, they lead the " smart set," so to speak. When they decide to leave one man for another, their 1 Apparently amongst the Vai any male relative may propose to a widowed woman. This is done by sending her a slip of the bark of the raphia palm (" fara ") about six inches long. If this is accepted, it indicates willingness to marry ; if rejected, then a refusal of the proposal. 1044 -* Anthropology : Social new favourite kt tires onus, aiul his lawful wives rejoice with him, because they regard it as adding importance to their husband." ' Infidelity after nitirriiige is not — at any rate nowadays regarded as a very serious offence. In the case of old men 417. T11K "FK.MIIA" llHilNs TO IU N (who in Liberia, as in the rest of the world, seem, the older they grow, to be more and more anxious to marry) the infidelity of their wives with the young men of the town is an almost admitted custom, all society being on the side of the young wife and ready to laugh at the old husband. Amongst the 1 The Rev. Mr. McConnell, in his account of the Km people. i°45 Liberia *- Kru people it is thought hospitable to offer a stranger-guest the society of a wife when the stranger is staying in the village, or the same favour might be granted almost anywhere in Liberia (amongst the aboriginal natives, bien entendu) upon prior payment. But illicit adultery, so to speak, is still condemned by native law. There are traces in their customs of its having been punished with death at no very distant period. It is doubtful whether the death penalty is ever inflicted nowadays. In the Kru country, if a man surprises a lover with his wife in his own or the woman's hut, custom obliges him to bow the man out : the law of hospitality forbids him to strike or injure the man whilst he is actually by his own hearth. But once the adulterer is outside the threshold, the injured husband may proceed to attack him. This means, of course, that the guilty person takes to flight with all possible speed, and the husband if he can- assisted by all the friends he can summon to his aid — catches up with him and inflicts a severe beating. The wife also gets her share of blows, and finally the two are tied together, forehead to forehead, and exposed to public derision in the village square, after which no doubt some present or indemnification finally sets the matter right. But it is doubtful whether at the present day (except perhaps in the remote interior) any fuss at all is made. The matter would generally be immediately compounded by the offer of a present on the part of the woman's lover. Amongst the Mandingo the illicit lover is rarely called upon to do more than pay the equivalent of a few dollars as indemnity. Should- he, however, be a man of notoriously bad character, constantly caught out in his interference with other men's wives, a large payment is enforced, and if he refuses to comply with the demands of the husband, the chief of his country or district will decree that he be sold into slavery ; 1046 * \nthn>]M>l<>-\ : S< x i;il in which case the proceeds of the sale in> to the chief, who presents a portion of" the same to the injured husband. Divorce is simply the sending away of" a woman for repeated acts of" infidelity, hut most of all for barrenness. After she has been sent back to her own people or taken over by another 418. THE "FEMBA" IN PURSUIT man, her dowry or a portion of it must be recovered^from her relations; and this is a fertile source of wrangles and even quarrels that lead to internecine strife. A woman who is ill- treated will often take up her abode with another man. Polygamy, of course, is a universal custom, but as a rule 1047 Liberia <+- the men amongst the common people have at most two legitimate wives, and even the chiefs seldom maintain a household of more than ten. A big chief, nevertheless, especially if he is the head of a tribe, may put no limits to his harem — a hundred, two hundred, and so on. Still, in this country large establishments of wives are not the custom, nor are they really necessary to the peasants. No boy or man need look far for female favours, nor need any husband who yearns for variety fear to be seriously repulsed in any direction, especially if he is sufficiently well off to distribute presents. From this it may be argued, and with truth, that the sexual morality of Liberia is a little lower than that of average Europe and America, and perhaps much lower than the morality of India.1 The birth customs are usually simple. In all cases the woman works in and out of doors at her accustomed tasks until the pangs of labour begin. In some tribes it is customary then for the women to go into the bush to be delivered, or 1 Most of the tribes do not consider it wrong to continue sexual intercourse with their wives after pregnancy up to within a short time before the birth. But in no tribe (except of course amongst the Chiistians on the coast) is it permissible to resume sexual intercourse with the wife until after the child has been weaned. This long period of separation between husband and wife is at least eighteen months in duration, and this custom makes polygamy as an institution absolutely necessary to uncivilised Negroes. Authorities like Dr. Blyden have discussed whether for this reason it may not be necessary for a civilised St.-ite or a Christian Church to recognise polygamy as a lawful institution. Dr. Blyden maintains that children reared under these circumstances —namely, the mother remaining apart from the father, and suckling the child as long as possible produce a stronger and healthier race. It is doubtful whether there is validity in Dr. Blyden's aiguments, as the physique of the American and \\Vst Indian Negroes does not seem to have .suffered by their cleaving more or less to one wile ;iud resinning sexual intercourse soon after the birth of a child. One reason of the line physique of most of these aboriginal Negroes in Liberia is the rude law ol the survival of the fittest. The mortality of their young children is as great as in other parts of Africa, and only the strongest can survive the experiences they go through. Deformed or defective children are no doubt usually put away more or less quietly. 1048 -* Anthropology: Social to m> into another house in the same village or in one adjoining that in which they ordinarily dwell. Amongst the Kru people, however, women are generally confined in their own homes. Those that go out into the hush tor delivery arc frequently alone and unattended, but where the birth takes place in a hut there 419. DANCE KOI.1.O\VIN<; ON Till-. "llMUA's" KETKEAT is generally present some old woman as a midwife, usually one of the old women connected with the girls' bush school, or else a companion or friend of the wife who was her school-mate in those institutions. No man is ever permitted to be present at child-birth or (in most cases) to see the woman for several 1049 Liberia *- days after the birth. The Mandingo women are delivered in their own houses, and immediately the child is born the woman attending to them goes out to the village and shouts to the people stating whether it is a boy or a girl. Amongst the Mandingo, women remain in their own houses without going out for seven days after child-birth. On the eighth day they go abroad, and the father of the child generally provides a feast for his fellow-villagers. The baby's head is shaven, it is clothed and washed, and a small cap placed upon its head, in full view of the people. It may not be taken away from the village for forty days after the birth, nor is the mother allowed to leave the village during that time. In the Kru countries the husband sends a present to his wife soon after the birth, which consists of two or three pieces of new cloth and one or more brass rings. Elsewhere than in the Mandingo countries, the attentions of the mother to her newborn child generally consist of rubbing its body all over with palm oil. As a rule, however, they take great pains throughout this land to keep the children clean and wholesome. Twins are regarded with suspicion and superstitious distrust. They are thought to be unlucky, but I have not heard of any instances so drastic as the customs prevailing, for example, in the Efik countries of the Cross River, where the mother of twins is ostracised and driven out into the bush, whilst the twins themselves are destroyed. Usually when twins are born in Liberia and they are boy and girl, the boy is destroyed and the girl kept. This at any rate is the Kru practice ; in which tribe girl-children are thought to be more valuable than boys. Giving birth to twins seems to be a not uncommon event in Liberia. When triplets or quadruplets are born, the natives probably destroy them all, as it is thought to be a horrible reversion to beast customs. Nevertheless, the fecundity of 1050 o* Anthropology : Social the West African Negroes is noteworthy, and a ease occurred last year (1905) in which //'.v children were horn alive at one birth from a Negress of the dold Coast. After the birth of a child it is, as already mentioned, the invariable custom throughout the aborigines of Liberia that the husband shall have no further connection with this wife until the child is fully weaned. This means an interval of at 420. DANCE OF THE "FEMKA" least eighteen months ; but amongst the Mandingo the practice is pushed even further, for it is stated by Mr. Braham that sexual intercourse between husband and wife is absolutely prohibited for three years after the birth of a girl-child and for four years in the case of a boy. If this practice was rigidly adhered to it would of course limit the issue from one woman to quite a moderate number of children, as the women probably 1051 Liberia *- cease to breed after the age of thirty-two or thirty-three. The custom, at any rate, entails polygamy or marriage with more than one wife as a necessity for all these Negro men. Whether it is as rigidly carried out as all observers insist is sometimes a matter of doubt to myself when t have compared the successive ages of one woman's children. Still, it would seem to be a valuable hygienic measure. It is doubtful whether in Negro Africa any such case exists as may be witnessed by the hundred thousand in all large European communities of unfortunate women done to death by incessant, unremitting child-bearing ; or dragging out the life of an invalid as the result of twelve to fifteen exhausting years of married life. But although women in Liberia are punctilious about not return- ing to their husbands till their children are able to run and to eat ordinary food, they do not leave them for more than about three months after birth without any addition to the mother's milk. When they are three to four months old the mothers begin to give their children pellets of pounded banana or mashed manioc (a sort of tapioca). When the infants are a year old they are feeding themselves on rice and other food prepared for their parents. Children are very rarely ill-treated. As a rule they may commit many small offences without any punishment. There is great affection between children and parents, the fathers seemingly being quite as fond of the children as the mothers are. Mr. Whyte writes from the interior of the Basa country : "The farther one goes into the interior, the better is the physical development of the native tribes, and the larger are the families of children reared by the women. This I believe can be accounted for in two ways : the abundance of good nutritious food, and the fact that the boys are not called upon 1052 421. DANCE OK THE " FEMBA " : WOMEN SHAKING RATTLES Liberia <*- to perform work of any kind till they arrive almost at the age of puberty. I have heard big lads slanging their mothers when asked as a favour to fetch a pail of water." Nevertheless, the little boys soon begin to frequent the society of the men of the village, and pick up from their father or his friends a great deal of information about bush life, so that when they are twelve years of age most of them can find their way easily about the forest for miles around the village in which they dwell. The girls go to work rather earlier, being taught to bring in firewood, fetch water, prepare food for cooking, and so on. Where the bush schools exist, no doubt a good deal of the children's education and discipline is carried out by these institutions in the way already related. So the life of these forest Negroes passes by in what would be the idyllic happiness of the superior beast, if it were not for the cruel customs connected with the belief in witchcraft and the inter-tribal wars. These communities have arrived at the state of fidelity to the family and even to the clan, but have scarcely conceived of any wider human relations. A big town headed by a big chief brings under its sway the surround- ing villages, and this creates a " country." But this country is ready and willing to go to war with the next congeries of human habitations if by so doing it may capture slaves, wives, cattle, goods, or accumulated produce. Even if there may be no great loss of life in these wars, if by chance one party gets the other at a disadvantage it kills and spares not. The Man dingo, of course, are far more civilised, but after all they are only just recovering from the massacres and conflicts incident on Samori's bloody rule and widespread dominion. If one could combine a scrupulous respect for law and order and an administration of law (without the engine of ferocious customs connected with the use of " devils," secret societies, or 1054 ** Anthropology : Social witchcraft ordeals) with a minimum of interference on the part of Kuropean civilisation, a minimum introduction of European clothing, theology, hypocrisy, and daily labour, these people might arrive at the leading of a life of great material happiness. But to them, as to us, death must come in due 422. DANCE OF THE "l-'E.MHA" course, and death still seems to them an outrage, an unnatural breach of continuity. Nearly all these people, except those who have become sincere Muhammadans, consider death to be t{ unnatural " if it occurs after puberty, in child-birth, or from any wild beast, or sudden accident or particularly rapid disease. However it comes, death is greeted with as keen a sorrow as amongst other races of men, and the nature of these people being much more frank and open, their sorrow is displayed to all in public, not Liberia <*-- only as a testimony to the affection they felt for the deceased, but in some way as an appeal to the deceased, whom without reasoning very clearly they still imagine to be alive and about somewhere as a spirit. The corpse of man, woman or child (except in the case of slaves) is usually exposed in public for one or more days after the death (sometimes in a temporary grave in the house). The women of the family or of the town spend several days in wailing and crying, and they or one or two men connected with the deceased by family ties will prob- ably deliver at intervals disjointed addresses to the spirit of the deceased, asking him or her to declare who bewitched them and caused their death, or calling on the as yet unrevealed witch or wizard to stand forward and attest their innocence by drinking " sauce wood." A certain amount of drum-beating or other rough music may accompany these lamentations. In many cases the weeping and wailing are absolutely genuine. There can be no question of the agony of mind that death will cause amongst these West African Negroes when the deceased was a child, lover, friend, sister, brother, or parent. With regard to slaves, their death excites far less commo- tion— little more, in fact, than if they were beasts of the field. They are generally buried at night, and with no ceremony, the body often being merely thrown into the forest or bush at a sufficiently great distance from the village to ensure the putrefy- ing remains not poisoning the air. In the interior of the Kru country — such as, for example, the district of Sikon — if any man's wife dies suddenly and her parents belong to another village, the parents make a claim on the husband or the chief of his town for a considerable payment as "damages" for the loss of their daughter. When the amount of the payment is settled after much disputation, they take no further action ; but if the husband of the deceased 1056 423. KRUBOVS PRACTISING A MARRIAGE DANCE VOL. II Liberia & woman or the chief in his place does not agree to the payment demanded, the woman's parents are apparently allowed by custom to slay all the domestic animals of the town in which their daughter died, and they even go further — pillaging rice and other food-stuffs or stored-up property, finally burning down the town. In this district it is stated by Mr. Gow that the townsfolk keep up a continual howl for forty-eight hours after the death of any person of mature age (not a slave) occurring in their midst, while the near relatives of the deceased are supposed to howl and lament almost without intermission for a fortnight. In this country it is generally the custom to give presents to the relatives of the deceased so that they may be supplied with the means for holding a good " wake." Amongst the Vai, a widower must, after the death of his wife, redeem his children by sending a present in goods. Otherwise they will leave their father and go to the mother's family. If, however, the present is sent, the father-in-law sends another daughter (if he have one) to be wife and step-mother in the dead woman's place. The corpse of a deceased person is kept more or less exposed to view from one to 'five days, according to the rapidity with which putrefaction sets in. When the relatives are ready to proceed to the burial, the corpse is sewn up in a mat, and after being laid within the grave a varying quantity of cloth, according to the wealth of the deceased, is piled on top of the body. Usually they bury with the dead person all the cloth found in his possession at the time of his death, and much else of the trade goods that were his property. Amongst the Vai and Gora peoples the grtivts of all but slaves are very often dug in clusters near the entrances or exits of the villages. A chief here and in all parts of the country may sometimes be buried temporarily in his own hut. Or there 1058 * Anthropology : Social may he sites set apart not far from towns or villages as regular cemeteries. Not Infrequently islands in rivers or just off the sea coast are used for cemeteries, very often being dedicated to ruling families of chiefs, or to medicine-men or castes or orders of any native hierarchy. There is a celebrated cemetery island in the tidal channel of the Cestos River, and another — Russwurm Island — just off the promontory of Cape Palmas. Even if the use of these islands or islets is now forgotten and they are overgrown with trees and bush, it will be found generally on examination that nearly all the islands in the rivers or off the coast are still, or have been at one time or another, burial-grounds. P'or this and other reasons they are constantly regarded as " tabu " (to use a South Sea Island ex- pression) or " fetish." This partly arises from the native's in- stinctive horror of dead bodies, whether it be the scarcely defined spiritual existence after the dissolution of the body — an existence which may result in evil-disposed as well as friendly ghosts — or the lurking belief in ghouls that frequent the cities of the dead, or of wizards who may be there for similar and equally nefarious circumstances connected with the concoction of charms. In several of my previous works on other parts of Africa I have described the most loathsome form of cannibalism which exists more or less in the eastern half of Africa from the equator down to Basutoland. This is the disinterring and devouring, cooked or uncooked, of dead bodies by men and women of horrible morbid tastes, who besides the pleasure which they take in consuming putrefying flesh, believe at the same time that by this disgusting act they are acquiring supernatural powers. Traces of this horrible practice are met with here and there in the traditions of the Liberian natives. Besides this, there is something very ghastly in these West African forest regions connected with human burying-grounds. The graves are very Liberia *- shallow, and the corpses are sometimes disinterred by animals, or, in the case of chiefs, they may not be buried at all, but put in rough wooden coffins with no top, and allowed to decay, exposed to the air in dense thickets. A faintly fetid smell rises from these places, the vegetation has a luxuriance that is no longer pleasing, but diabolically lush. Nasty beasts, birds, and worst of all, insects, haunt the surroundings, and the visitor has a sensation that disease is in the air, even though he may not be able to supply scientific reasons for his apprehension. The graves, as above remarked, are usually shallow, from two to five feet in depth throughout the whole country. The grave of a chief is sometimes lined with blue and white cloth or drapery of other colours. With a chief will be buried articles in use by him in his lifetime, such as a pipe, a stick, silver or brass ornaments, and quantities of cloth. In the countries near the coast the contents of the grave — corpse and piled-up mass of worldly goods buried with it — are soaked in huge libations of alcohol — rum or trade gin, or, in default of anything else, palm wine ; but this proceeding is discontinued amongst the Vai and Gora where Muhammadanism has taken root. It is probable that besides a desire to do honour to the manes of the departed, this practice is also adopted in order to render valueless the cloth which is thus soaked in alcohol. Most of the favourite objects of the deceased that are buried with him are broken, partly in order to u kill " them and send their spirit forms to the Land of the Dead, and also to remove temptation from lawless people who might rob the graves for the sake of the wealth they contained. The grave is filled up with earth to the height of several feet above the surrounding level. A number of men then jump and dance on the soil, treading it down on the corpse and his buried possessions till, when the job is thoroughly 1060 -* Anthropology : Social done, a very tight mass of earth secures the grave from being easily rifled. The Kru people generally put an empty bowl on the top of each grave, into which from time to time are poured libations of palm wine or trade gin, or handfuls of cooked rice are put in it. The Vai peoples often mark the graves with a stick, to which is tied a wisp of cloth, possibly an imitation of the Moslem system of planting flags or standards over the grave. As a sign of mourning in many parts of this country rings of dried grass or of palm bark are worn on the fingers, or round the forehead, or as a neckband. The body, especially with the women, is often painted more or less hideously with indigo or some dark green dye, varied with the grey of wood ash or the white of kaolin. In some tribes the hair is allowed to grow untended and undressed, or on the other hand men and women will shave as a sign of mourning. In the Sikombe country after a death the relatives of the deceased are not allowed by custom to eat rice already garnered. They must wait until the new crop of rice is harvested, and in the interval Jive on manioc or any other vegetable food. Also a few weeks after the death of any person of importance a great assemblage is held of all the relations and friends, and a feast takes place, to which each guest contributes a quota. These feasts are followed by drinking bouts (except amongst the Muhammadans) and dancing. I have already stated that there is a vague but sincere belief in existence after death. As amongst the Bantu in Eastern Africa, the duration of this existence no doubt is considered to depend a great deal on the importance of the person when alive. Perhaps it is rather this way, that an individual spirit may only be considered to linger in another 1061 Liberia + existence according to the strength with which he or she is remembered. Gradually this belief crystallises itself into a religion of ancestor-Worship. A chief of very great importance and power may be considered to exist as long as any remembrance of him is associated with a definite locality. In time his spirit may acquire permanent existence as a definite tribal god, or a demon haunting a stream, a mountain, a cavern, a clump of woodland, or an island. But one way and another, to the mind of these aboriginal Negroes, earth, air, water, and woodland are permeated with spirit beings, who in fact direct all the minor operations of nature and some of the major. Far up, above them all, is a great Supreme Being, who will be more or less identified with the thunder and lightning.1 The essence of true Negro religion is ancestor-worship, a belief in the ghosts of the departed, and if asked to define their views as to the Supreme God they would probably imagine that he was the sum and substance of all ghosts, reigning above the skies, aloof from any interest in this world. Occasionally moved to wrath, this Being speaks with the thunder and slays with the lightning. The use of fetishes — grigris, buli^ idols — is widespread throughout this country. Where the tribe has been Muham- madanised they cease to depict objects with any likeness to living things, but transfer their belief and their affections to verses of the Koran or other talismans encased in leather : the greatest fetish of all being a copy of the Koran slung round the neck in a leather binding. These fetishes, however, are not essentially sacred in themselves : they merely represent the temporary dwelling-place, the />'>/;// dc mire of a spirit ; or an essence into 1 I have never yet encountered ;i purely Ne^ro race that attributed divinity to the sun. The moon is worshipped '>r reverenced to a certain extent by Hottentots, Bushmen, and some East African races. The Kruboys on the coast of Liberia are said to accord the moon some reverence. 1062 -+> Anthropology : Social which spirits may, so to speak, infuse themselves and from which they may diffuse more easily their influence for good or bad. There is a belief in the validity of sacrifice, some of which is distinctly owing to the infiltration of Muhammadan ideas. In fact, amongst the Vai people a sacrifice is known as Sadaka or Saraka^ which is a scarcely altered form of the Arabic word. It is thought in most parts of this country that the spirits of the deceased can be attracted to the living in dreams by throwing down some sacrifice — a handful of beads, a strip of cloth, possibly a libation. Amongst the Kru peoples of the coast, fowls or even oxen are used for sacrificial purposes, as will be seen later in an account of the social institutions amongst the Grebo and Kru. Amongst the Kru people the favourite grigri or amulet is a small sheep's horn filled with a nasty amalgam of chopped herbs, palm oil, and filth that is best left unanalysed, but that is furnished by the witch doctor. Amongst the tribes of the interior behind the Kru coast, the horns of small antelopes and the skins of genets, squirrels, rats, mice, etc., and the red wing feathers of the turacos are used for fetishes ; as well as leopards' teeth, the tusks of the Pygmy hippo, finely mad 2 iron chains, little blocks of wood, the bones of small beasts, and even gun flints. A leopard's tooth throughout the whole eastern part of Liberia, perhaps nearly all through the non-Muhammadan tribes, is an object of great reverence. It is frequently used as a sign of freedom, and the presentation of a leopard's tooth to a slave woman or man at once sets them free. A belief in spirits leads naturally to the conception of exceptionally endowed men and women who by intercourse with supernatural agencies can cause death, illness, or misfortune to their fellow human beings whom they may wish to injure. In 1063 Liberia <•- short, belief in witchcraft is universal throughout the Negroes of Liberia, as elsewhere in Africa. To it is united an equally firm credence in medicine men or women, persons who might be styled u white witches," doctors who use their occult powers for beneficent purposes (it is hoped), or merely for destroying enemies of the tribe or community. The native men and women avowedly given to the study of medicine are doctors in the real sense of the word, in that they become learned in the application of local remedies. They know by acquired or inherited knowledge the virtues of many leaves, roots, barks, seeds, and fruits, or of animal or even mineral substances. They have practised from time immemorial a kind of hypnotism. They can not only hypnotise others, but can throw themselves into trances in which they see visions and practise clairvoyance. Amongst the Vai and Mandingo, the Arab practice of divination by sand (sifting or sprinkling the sand and drawing some deduction from the figures it assumes) has been introduced, evidently through Muhammadan influence, as it is widely practised through Muhammadan Africa, from the Senegal to the Red Sea, and from Egypt to Nyasa. Amongst the Pagan peoples of Liberia, the wise men or women divine by the study of the entrails of freshly killed animals, by administering poison to fowls or goats, and waiting to see whether they die or survive, by interpreting the cries of birds or the behaviour of tame and sacred snakes (generally a python).1 Throughout this country concurrently with the belief in witchcraft as being the origin of most deaths and misfortunes runs the crude idea of justice that persons suspected of this 1 In the eastern parts of Liberia, behind the Kru and Grebo people of the coast, practices exist in many villages strikingly like the snake-worship of Dahome, This is referred to and illustrated in Captain d'Ollone's work, 1064 -* Anthropology : Social and other crimes who will not confess, and whose guilt cannot easily be proved /';/ fldgrante delicto^ should submit themselves to an ordeal, the result of which will determine their guilt or innocence. It is scarcely necessary to remind my readers that trial by ordeal lingered even in Caucasian Europe as part of the juridical system, or as a custom having the force of law down to within three or four centuries ago. In some parts of Liberia, the west especially, persons accused of crime such as witchcraft or theft will sometimes go through the ordeal of plunging the hand and arm into boiling palm oil. If they come out of this without anything worse than a severe scalding of the skin, they are innocent — at any rate, public opinion is satisfied with having given them a nasty bout of pain, even if by accident or design the wound is only skin deep. But by far the most prevalent and favourite ordeal is the drinking of a violent " medicine " or poison, a decoction of the bark of Erythrophlxum guineetise. This is a fine tall tree of the papilionaceous order (Beans), which grows abundantly in West Africa, and perhaps right across the continent through the well-watered regions of the East. It is apparently only in the bark that the poisonous element resides. The wood of the tree is much used for canoes, and even for the wooden mortars used for pounding corn or manioc. The decoction thus obtained is generally known in the pidgin English of the Liberian coast as " sass-wood." This is a corruption of the Anglo-French word "sauce," a term which seems to have been much in use by the seamen of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to describe something pungent or spicy either in taste or behaviour. The Kruboy, therefore, may use this word with two meanings : either as a violent purgative measure, or as £' cheek," riotous behaviour, etc, 1065 Liberia <*- The decoction made from the bark of the ErythrophLrnm tree is usually pounded by the local medicine-man or one of his assistants (a female). It is quite conceivable that the medicine-man is not adamant against bribery, and that he may so deal with the strength of the liquor that it ranges under his preparation from a deadly and certain poison to a mere emetic. Also he may be guided in his discretion not only by a bribe or absence of bribe, but by a personal conviction, or the reverse, of the guilt of the accused. It is almost impossible in native society to avoid recourse to the poison ordeal when one is accused of witchcraft or any other crime. The alternative is to flee for one's life, and take refuge beyond the reach of one's accusers. The medicine man or woman who conducts the ordeal may know or hope that so-and-so is not guilty of the charge, and may persuade them to stay on for the ordeal with a wink and a nudge as to the certainty of a favourable result. According to Mr. Gow, who made careful observation of the Sikon people behind the Kru coast, there are three stages in the ordeal in that part of Liberia. If the person undergoing the ordeal dies almost immediately from the draught, that is clear evidence of his or her guilt, and the matter is ended, except that the body is probably burnt for a witch.1 If, however, death does not ensue, but the patient remains horribly ill, the medicine-man administers another kind of emetic, which relieves the system of the poison. After this, the " non-proven " accused is advised to leave the village and find a habitation elsewhere. But if after drinking " sass- wood " the patient immediately vomits, he is clearly not guilty, 1 In sonic parts of Liberia a further test is applied to secure final evidence of guilt or innocence. The spleen of the accused is cut out and thrown in water. If it sinks, it is clear the dying person is a witch ; if it floats, the accused is innocent, and dies without a stain on his or her character. 1066 -* Anthropology : Social and a tremendous ovation occurs in his honour, guns being tired. If the accused be of the male sex, flattering attentions are bestowed on him by the females of the town, attentions singularly unwelcome at that moment, as after the first spasms of delight at his acquittal he probably retires to the shelter of a hut, a prey to horrible nausea and severe pains. The sass-wood in the Grebo country is called u gedu." More will be said about the administration of this ordeal in the Grebo country when the various divisions of the social hierarchy in that part of Eastern Liberia are described. Amongst the Kru people ordeal by " sassy-wood " was formerly very frequent, though it is disappearing now that the young men of that nation go out so much into the world to earn their living and return imbued with so many wholesome European ideas. Amongst customs connected with the administration of this ordeal in the Kru country is that of the accused walking about excitedly after his drinking the decoction, shouting t{ Am I a witch ? Am I a witch ? " In these gyrations he is followed by one of the medicine-men, who dances behind him, replying " Yes, you are a witch." Rapid motion to and fro is supposed to assist the working of the poison. If the wretched sufferer succeeds in vomiting the liquid, he is at once pronounced innocent, and the usual rejoicings supervene. But if it proceeds to act on him with a purgative effect or he merely becomes stupefied, he is compelled to take a second dose, and as he is now rapidly qualifying as guilty, the assistants proceed to administer an increasing series of cruelties, which probably cause his death before it can be brought about by the poisonous draught. In the case of innocence, the medicine-man returns his fee to those who employed him. Amongst the Kru people the ordeal already mentioned may sometimes be lessened in its virulence. 1067 Liberia <•- Weaker decoctions of " sassy-wood " are administered for accusations of theft or disputes affecting the person's honour In the case of theft, if the medicine acts as a purge instead of as an emetic the accused is guilty, and is then liable to be killed, but it is usual in such cases for the friends or relatives to subscribe together and buy him off by paying up the value of the goods stolen, plus a " fine " to the Court. Mr. Gow states that in the Sikon countries there is another form of ordeal, which is conducted by the medicine- man squeezing into the eye of the accused the acrid juice of a plant, probably a species of Euphorbia. If this poisonous juice is of a certain degree of strength, it is supposed to break or snap the eyeball and blind the patient, whereas if it is less virulent it merely causes a cruel inflammation which may eventually become cured. The medicine-men play a very important part in the social hierarchy. Sometimes, as amongst the Grebo people, their duties seem to be divided amongst different classes of the community, or they form associations or secret societies known as the Kwi-iru and T)eyabo. The latter would seem to be in embryo a corporation very like our Royal College of Surgeons or Physicians. The following is a summary of the account of the Kwi-iru and the Deyabo given by the late Bishop Payne of Cape Palmas. " There is a curious secret society to be found in every drebo community, styled Kwi-iru, or 'children of departed spirits.' Though it is attempted to keep everything connected with this association concealed, it is known to be composed of persons of all ages in the community, except children. They have a ' father,' as he is called, but he is never visible or known, except to members of the society. When, as is 1068 -+ Anthropology : Social rarely the case, the K\vi-iru appears in the clay, the 'father' is always so masked as to he perfectly disguised. The night is the usual time tor this strange association to go abroad ; often at midnight, on the outskirts of the town, or in the adjoining bush, a sudden discordant shrieking, whistling, yelling, hideous noise bursts forth. In a tumultuous body they run around and through the town. Women and children fly affrighted into their houses and close them up, for a heavy fine would be the penalty of their seeing and being seen by the mysterious visitors. If in their wild revelling they fancy they want something from any person, they surround his house, and there remain yelling, dancing, screaming, and threatening until their demand is granted. The avowed object of the association is to seek and to punish witches and wizards. These are said to be particularly active in practising their arts at night. They strip themselves naked and go to the houses of those whose lives they seek ; and especially is it their delight to visit and dance on the graves of those whom they have succeeded in killing by their enchantments. Woe, then, to the man or woman who is seen walking about or through the towns in the night ! The Kwi- iru pounce upon them, carry them to a house prepared for the purpose, put them in the top of it, where they are smoked until next day about ten o'clock, the usual time for subjecting them to the universal African test, u gedu " or sassy-wood. Early in the morning an official of the Kwi-iru is dispatched to the forest to get the bark of the gedu tree. This arrived, the accused person is taken by the Kwi-iru to the field, there, in the presence of the assembled townspeople, to be subjected to the test. The officer of the society beats the bark in a mortar, pours water into it, then turns it out into a wooden bowl, and calls for the accused to come forward and drink, 1069 Liberia *- Holding the bowl in his hand, he looks towards the east, and says, in substance; 'Oh, God! oh, God! oh, God! God! I invoke thee four times ! If this person be innocent, cause him to vomit this gedu. If he be guilty, may it kill him.' The accused takes the bowl and repeats the same words. He then takes the potion and starts to town, escorted by one or two members of the Kwi-iru, followed by the multitude. The former keep near the accused and force him to walk incessantly until it is ascertained that the gedu does not affect him, or he falls down suddenly dead, a victim to the poison. As soon as this takes place a fiendish shout rents the air : ' The witch is found — he is killed.' Tied by the feet, the dead body is dragged on to the beach, where it lies for some hours exposed to the insults of the populace. Before the relations are permitted to bury it, they must purchase it from the Kwi-iru for a bullock or something equivalent." " The Kwi-iru, as a kind of police, are often employed by the Sedibo to administer gedu in cases where persons are accused of witchcraft either by them or by the Deyabo. " This last word — Deyabo — designates the most remarkable class among the Grebo : the doctors or devil-men. They sup- pose themselves possessed by a demon or spirit under whose inspiration they act and give their responses. They exhibit the peculiarities of those mentioned in Scripture as 'possessed.1 They are 'thrown down on the ground,' they 'gnash with their teeth,' they appear dead, and they ' pine away.' When- ever any of the above marks appear in an individual he is said to be possessed ; and is at once placed with an old ' Deya ' to be instructed in the arts and mysteries of the profession. 'I he novitiate lasts from one to three months according to cir- cumstances. During this time the candidate wears no other covering than grass tied with a cord round the loins. He does 1070 -* Anthropology : Social hot wash. He has no connection with his wife ; he sleeps and eats apart. When the instructing Deya is satisfied with his pro- ficiency, the candidate's family get a bullock ready to pay for his education, and a day is appointed for inducting him into office. This is quite a long ceremony. The test of the reality of his possession is very singular. A fowl or duck is killed and the head cut off ; some of the blood is put on the candidate's eyes, and the head is then thrown away into the bushes. The candi- date is now sent to find it. If he succeeds, his possession is real ; if not, he is deceived. The latter case seldom occurs, as good care is taken that the head shall be found, and the candidate is escorted by his relatives (usually on the back of one of them) to the place of ceremony. There he is divested of his filthy hair and habiliments, is clothed in the usual dress of his class, furnished with a stock of grigris and charms, and taken home. " Established at home, he is a most wonderful character. Under the inspiration of his demon, there is nothing which he cannot find out or do. For hundreds of miles the secrets of hearts are known and revealed. Hidden acts of witchcraft are brought to light. The potent spells and charms of the Deya control winds, rain, pestilence, health, wealth, life and death. There is no good sought nor ill deprecated for which he does not at once provide a specific grigri. But it is especially in reference to witchcraft that the powers of the Deyabo are in- voked. To guard against this, the Deyabo make charms for the persons of individuals, for their houses, for the town, for the country. u By consulting their demons they are supposed to be able at once to designate the witch or wizard in any particular case, and the word of a Deya is taken ordinarily as sufficient proof that the party accused is guilty, or rather as sufficient ground for subjecting him to trial by gedu. This fact, in con- 1071 Liberia <& nection with the popular belief that death in all cases — except those of infants and very aged men — is caused by witchcraft, causes a general fear through the whole community whenever any one dies ; for any one in town is liable to be arrested at any moment and subjected to the dread ordeal of gedu upon the mere ipse dixlt of a Deya." As regards the Kru people, the Rev. Mr. McConnell reported some years ago that their witch-doctors (who make a great deal of money out of the sale of amulets) are a distinct class of men, who come into the profession hereditarily, each witch-doctor teaching the business to one or more of his children. The children whom he destines to follow him in his profession begin their studies as early as seven or eight years old, and are marked off from the rest of the community by wearing a peculiar dress made of straw or reeds. The Kru witch-doctors profess a knowledge of herbs and roots, and certainly have the means of healing diseases, but their greatest reputation is derived from their supposed supernatural knowledge. Though the adviser of the king in each country is probably a medicine-man, or though the chieftain may in the exercise of his office have to perform certain duties associated elsewhere with the work of priests or medicine-men, I can find no record in Liberia of the priestly and the kingly office being actually held by one and the same individual — a prince-bishop. As a rule the constitution of each community is monarchical rather than republican, but actual despots, ruling without reference to councils of elders, are not popular, and seldom last long. There are, of course, many chiefs and "kings" throughout the two million aborigines of Liberia, but scarcely one of any cardinal importance in the politics of the state. Kor example, there is no one supreme chief over all the Vai people, or overall the Mandingo, 1072 -* Anthropology : Social Kru, Kpwesi, Grebo, etc. Perhaps the Bu/i tribe conies nearest to being under the dominion of one powerful chief. As a rule a tribe of about one hundred thousand individuals will be divided into about four principal chieftainships, each represented by a cluster of towns, and quite conceivably each at war with the other. The kingly office is hereditary, and amongst most of the tribes from father to son. But if the son be a minor or he not greatly liked by the people, his uncle (father's brother) will rule as regent, either until he reaches his majority or until he conveniently dies, leaving a son, also to continue under the guardianship of the popular uncle. In the case of the Kru people, they seem to be divided into a number of clans, at the head of each of which is a hereditary chief, generally known on the coast as " king." Alongside the king appears a sort of perpetual prime minister or mayor of the palace, whose function is also more or less hereditary, and who is known by the coast people as u governor." In each Kru tribe or community of towns there is a council of headmen — about a dozen or fifteen. As a sign of their office or their membership of an oligarchy they are entitled to wear an iron ring round the ankle. In war time a kind of generalissimo is elected by the council, who is known as the war king. Whilst the state of war lasts he is omnipotent both as commander- in-chief and as administering a kind of martial law in his own community. When there is no active warfare in progress, he probably assumes the position more or less of head of the police. In addition there is another community of " palaver men," of perhaps eight individuals, chosen for their powers of speech and knowledge of native custom. These also form part of the general council of the community. It is stated by the Rev. Mr. McConnell that the Kru people on the coast were composed of a succession of interior VOL. ii 1073 36 Liberia <+- tribes arriving one after the other from the hinterland, each tribe or clan retaining (to the present day) its own hereditary chieftain ; but that from out of these numerous chiefs was chosen a supreme chieftain from the Kru people, this office being held in succession by the head chief of each of the clans in turn. This hardly seems to be in force at the present day, when the Kru communities are coming so much under the general control of the Liberian Government. The general council in each of these Kru communities preserves in oral tradition the body of country customs which constitutes the Code of Law. The council is also empowered to enact special and new laws when these are required. Mr. Gow writes that in the Sikoil country at the back of the Kru Coast new laws are promulgated at any time by the king of the tribe or some other responsible person going round the town shouting out the law at the top of his voice — literally a " proclamation." The constitution of the Grebo people was thus described by the late Bishop Payne some fifty years ago. It remains much the same in theory at the present day, though on account of so many Grebos having become Christian and civilised, and having thus assumed the status of Liberian citizens, their old tribal customs are rapidly disappearing. a The constitution of the Grebo tribe is patriarchal, although the government is almost purely democratic. There are in it twelve families . . . deriving their names from the emigrant patriarch or father. Their appellations are Nyambo, Grebo, etc. In nearly every one of the Grebo settlements . there are parts of these families, having in each case their distinct head-man or patriarch, who usually occupies a particular portion of the town, with his sons, grandsons, and relatives round him. The male members of these deposit with the 1074 -* Anthropology : Soc-ial patriarch a portion of the money which they accumulate, and the latter in return pays the betrothal money (about twenty dollars) for their wives, as well as the fines and expenses to which they may be liable from any source. " Besides these duties to their relatives, the patriarchs collectively constitute an upper court or senate. To this body belongs the right of originating plans for promoting the public weal ; to them are referred questions involving international rights. In all matters of grave interest, whether domestic or foreign, the voice of the patriarchs must be heard. u But the most influential class in every Grebo community is the Sedibo. This is most emphatically ' the house of representatives,' the popular house, for it is composed of all males beyond the age of twenty, except the patriarchs. Usually, as soon as a young man is married and has a home he pays into the treasury of the Sedibo a bullock, a goat, half a bushel of rice, and thenceforth, unless convicted of witchcraft, he is entitled to all the rights and privileges of the Sedibo. These combine the legislative and executive powers, for although the patriarchs may originate and advise, the Sedibo must discuss and resolve before any action can be had or law passed, and they meet and make laws at any time, and in relation to almost anything. They meet and decide that a man has stolen some- thing, and for the offence make him pay a fowl, or all that he possesses, according to their temper towards him. They determine that a man has been guilty of witchcraft, and give him gedu (sassy-wood) to kill him. The fines imposed by this body are divided according to hereditary right. Thus, for example, if a bullock is slaughtered (fines are almost always paid in something to eat), one man by hereditary right takes the shoulder, another the neck, etc. These rights owe their origin to the same causes as titles in Europe : they were given I075 Liberia *- to ancestors for some services rendered, and have come down in lineal descent to posterity. "The same principle prevails in respect to offices, of which there are tour principal ones in every Grebo community. These are the Woraba, Bodia, Ibadia, and Tebawa. The former two are taken from the class of * Nyekbade ' or patriarchs — the latter from the Sedibo. u The Woraba (literally town s father] is the oldest or most influential patriarch, lineally descended from the founder of the town. In the assembly of the patriarchs he takes pre- cedence of all others, and has the largest share of all the perquisites of this body. " The Bodia appertains to one family ; but this is by appointment of an ancient oracle. The Bodia, and the other two offices of which I am to speak, though belonging to particular families, are only conferred upon those designated by some oracle consulted in reference to the appointment. The Bodia resembles the office of high priest among the Jews. The individual having been designated who is to fill the office, on the appointed day he is installed by a long ceremony, the leading features of which are as follows : There is a sacrifice of a goat to the Kuru (demons and departed spirits), the blood of which is sprinkled around and inside the door-posts of the Bodia' s house. The Bodia is shaven, clad in a new garment, has a leopard's tooth tied around his head (this is a common ornament of gentlemen), has a monkey's skin pre- pared to be placed always beneath him when he sits, and he is anointed. The house in which he lives is called from this circumstance the Te-kai (anointed house). During the cere- mony, the patriarchs of the several families, in order, give the Bodia-elect their respective charges. In substance these are : ' Let trade be active ; cause the earth to bring forth 1076 Social abundantly ; let health prevail ; drive war far away ; let witchcraft be kept in abeyance,' etc. During his continuance of office the Bodia resides in the Te-kai house, built by all the people. He keeps the public grigris and idols, and feeds them with rice and oil every new moon. In making sacrifices for the town to departed friends and demons, he officiates as high priest. He cannot sleep in any other house but his own ; he may not drink water on the highway ; he may not eat while a corpse is in the town ; he must not mourn for the dead. If he dies while in office (the ring put on his ankle at his inauguration having been previously taken off and placed on that of some member of his family), he must be buried in the stillness of night, none but the most important public functionaries hearing of it, and none mourning for him when his death is made public. All Grebo Bodias, too, must be buried on the island off Cape Palmas if they have died a natural death. If they have been killed by gedu (sassy-wood), they must be buried beneath a running stream of water. " The nominal power of the Bodia is very great, but in practice is very limited, for he dares not act contrary to the public will, which he is, therefore, very careful to ascertain. Whenever adversity of any kind befalls the country, the Bodia is held responsible for it — £ he has made witch ' — and many a poor incumbent has paid the penalty with his life. "The two remaining offices, Tebawa and Ibadia, appertain to the Sedibo, and on a vacancy occurring are filled in the same manner as that of the Bodia. These, too, are hereditary in families. In the assembly of the Sedibo their assent must be obtained to any measure before it can be carried into effect ; though, as in the case of the Bodia, this assent is rather the expression of the popular will than the direction of it. The most important duties of these officers devolve 1077 Liberia <*- upon them in time of war. Then the Ibadia must always lead \ and in case of retreat or defeat, the Tebawa must bring up the rear. In reward for their services they have by here- ditary right a large share of all the perquisites of the Sedibo. " The third class into which every Grebo community is divided is the Kedibo. This is composed of youths between the ages of eighteen and eleven. A small fee admits any one of initiation age to this class. They have a treasury, a kind of head, usually selected from among the elder Sedibo, to take care of their property. They have meetings, at which they discuss subjects of which they have the control, but are subject to the direction of the Sedibo in all important matters. " The Kimbo includes children from six to eleven years of age. Theirs is a separate organisation, although their rights and privileges are of more limited character. Their chief perquisites are those obtained for their collective services in busy seasons. It is wonderful to witness the stormy debates of this little society, and amusing to see them punishing each other for real or alleged offences, by putting pepper in the eyes, beating, etc. " In the meetings and councils of the Sedibo and people which I have attended I have been struck by the order, decorum, and mental acumen displayed. In grave assemblies each man has his place and his time to speak ; when this arrives he stands up, usually holds a long staff in his hand, and asks attention by saying ' Batea ' (Attend all) ; the assembly responds 'Bate' (We attend). In examining evidence they are most thorough ; and keen indeed must be the foreign casuist who can get the advantage of them on matters coming within the range of their experience." 1078 -»> Anthropology: Social Slavery is still in force as a social institution throughout Liberia, except in the regions near the coast which are under the effective administration of the Liberian Government. Need- less to say, it is not recognised by the Liberian Government as a legal condition ; but it would only involve the Govern- ment at Monrovia in a long series of costly and bloody wars if they commenced too soon a crusade against the Slave Trade in the far interior. It is clear, for example, that a considerable traffic in slaves still goes on between Western Liberia and the civilised blacks of Sierra Leone, a who take over the war captives of the Buzi and Mandingo tribes as labourers and domestic servants at a price of about ^4 each " (Mr. Conrad Viner's report). Amongst the aborigines, the farther one retreats from the settled coast belt the more evident is it that slavery is still a powerful institution. According to Mr. Gow, who travelled amongst the Kpwesi people on the Dukwia River in 1904, there is constant civil war between various Kpwesi tribes or communities, in the course of which prisoners are made. As it would be easy for these prisoners to run away back to their own homes, the desire of their captors is to dispose of them for large or small sums to Mandingo traders, or to hire them as apprentices to Americo-Liberian settlers. At one time, no doubt, the Mandingo did a very good business in the Liberian hinterland. They bought hundreds — possibly thousands —of slaves every year, and took them to the Mandingo Plateau, whence they were dispersed amongst the Arab, Fula, and Hausa traders who frequented Samori's empire before it was conquered by the French. But there has been a marked decrease in the demand for slaves by these Mandingo merchants since the whole of the Upper Niger Basin was occupied by the French Government. No doubt the simultaneous British 1079 Liberia <*- occupation of Northern Sierra Leone will equally react on this condition, since in all directions the market for slaves is being closed. There does, however, remain — it must be admitted— a great temptation to the Americo-Liberian planters, but one which it is difficult to stem. Undoubtedly the system of apprentices does not differ markedly from a legalised slave- buying. The Liberian planter, we will say, goes inland and is offered boy and girl or adult slaves by some native chief. He pays perhaps from £1 to ^3 value in trade goods for each human being, and to satisfy his own conscience calls them apprentices. These people are then conveyed — usually very willingly on their part — to his own plantation or place of business, where they settle down as cultivators. He may, if he likes, take advantage of the existing law of apprenticeship and bind these people, if they are under age, as apprentices for a short term. But this is the only legal control he has over them, and that amounts to very little. If he does not treat his apprentices well and they run away to some one who will treat them better, the employer has practically no redress. Therefore, although in theory this is not a proceeding without its objections, in practice it serves to people the coast regions, to increase the future number of civilised Negroes growing up under Liberian laws, and to give these unfortunate outcasts at any rate a life of tranquillity and safety ; whereas if they re- mained as slaves in the interior they would be liable to ill- treatment and death on small provocation. A good many of these apprentices become porters, retaining all or nearly all their earnings, and a good deal of the transport between the coast and the interior is carried on by ex-apprentices, who if they do chance to revisit the former place of their slavery, do so as men of the world, not at all inclined to put up with any aggression from their former masters. -* Anthropology : Social In the Vai and Kondo countries, and also in the interior of Eastern Liberia, there are often slave towns, villages in- habited by nothing but slaves. In some cases these people are only slaves by tradition, having regained their liberty of action to all intents and purposes through, the inability of their former masters to compel them to re-enter servitude. 424. EUROPEANS AND NATIVES ON THE BANKS OF THE ST. PAUL'S RIVER The " king " of Twidi, for example, in the Sikon country behind the Kru Coast, has a special town for his slaves, who live there under no restrictions, except that they may not leave the king's district or country without permission. These slaves are not only of Kpwesi origin, but in some cases are actually Mandingo who have been captured by the chiefs of the interior and sold as slaves, or more likely have been born Liberia <•- in captivity of slave parents. Mr. Gow writes that these Sikofi slaves are well treated, u much better so than many free-born people. Should a free boy wish to marry a woman from amongst the slaves, he has simply to give her a leopard's tooth (which is a sign of freedom) and she is then a free woman and can go away with him." Though it may seem wrong in principle that a Sierra Leone negro trader or an Americo-Liberian planter should under one guise or another recruit labourers by "redeeming," " hiring," or " apprenticing " war captives, there is no question that the result has been beneficial for the time. Mr. Conrad Yiner, who visited the Buzi country in the early part of 1906 (when this portion of Western Liberia was recovering from civil war), reported that the adult prisoners not disposed of under these pretexts were slaughtered, and their bodies thrown outside the clay walls of the town to be devoured by leopards. In consequence of this all the leopards in the vicinity had become bold man-eaters. What is wanted as a corrective to the Slave Trade is the construction of roads, and the creation of a legitimate commerce in the forest products of the country. 1082 CHAPTER XXX FOLKLORE THE folklore of the Liberian peoples is that of all Negro Africa. It is perhaps most luxuriant amongst the Vai. It is not my intention in this book to deal with this subject at any length, because it has already been illustrated to some extent by Koelle in his writings on the Vai people, by Miss Cronise in her stones of the Temne and Mende people,1 and by the Rev. C. F. Schleuker in his translations from the Temne language of Sierra Leone.2 The stories given by these authors can many of them be recognised in similar tales from Western , and Eastern Liberia. There is a remarkable similarity in these beast stories throughout Negro Africa, from the Senegal to Zululand and from Cape Colony to Somaliland and the Egyptian Sudan. Of course, to a certain extent they link on (I believe) with fables that are still told in North Africa, and they are of one family with the beast stories of mediaeval (and no doubt prehistoric) Europe, with jEsop's fables of the Eastern Mediterranean region, and with the beast stones of the American and Australian aborigines. There is a considerable resemblance in structure and subject between the African beast stories and the folk-tales of Northern Europe which have come down to us through their 1 Cunnie Rabbit and the other Beef. 3 A Collection of Temne Traditions, Church Missionary Society, 1861. 1083 Liberia <*- delightful versions in Low German and Walloon French which we know as " Reynard the Fox." In Africa, of course, the roles are played by animals different from those of Europe, and also different from those which were adopted by the transplanted Negroes in America as equivalent symbols in the " Brer Rabbit " stories. In West Africa the part of " Brer " l Fox is generally taken by " Mr. Spider," who is the emblem of more or less successful cunning and unscrupulous rapacity. The wolf of European legends is represented by the fierce leopard. Brer Rabbit in the American version is nothing but the African hare. Throughout all the open lands of Africa the hare is the emblem of cunning or wisdom, generally of a genial type, and not always turned to wicked purposes, as are the fox or spider. There is, however, no hare — or no hare that is much noticed by the natives — in the densely forested regions. Here this character in the story is assumed in some countries by the Royal antelope (Neotragus pygm^us)? or perhaps occasionally by the water chevrotain (Dorcalherium\ both of which animals have been described in Chapter XXIII. The other parts in these West African stories are played by the elephant (a most important personage), the tortoise, the antelope (using a term to d escribe all horned ruminants larger than the little Cephalophus\ the buffalo, manis (scaly ant-eater), monkey, chimpanzee, hycena, lion, python, bird (any small bird), eagle, and rat. The spider being the emblem of wicked cunning ; and either the tiny, dainty Royal antelope or the not much bigger water chevrotain the representative of genial wisdom ; the part of the stupid person 1 It is scarcely necessary to explain that " Brer" is merely an abbreviation of Brother. I he Ne^ro transplanted to America carried out the quaint practice of his own country, in which most of these animals were mentioned with some preliminary title, such as Father, Mother, Brother, or Mr. This tendency was further intensified in America by the spread of Methodist Christianity, which introduced into common parlance the terms of Brother and Sister • In Vai known as " san " or " sando." 1084 -* Folklore (the sheep of- European legend) is generally played by the antelope.1 The leopard represents the audacious robber. Mr. Wilfrid Kanga, a Liberian school-teacher of Maryland County has kindly furnished me with two typical folklore stories, one of the Vai people in Western Liberia and the other from the Grebo, a Kru race in the eastern part of the republic. 425. THE ROYAL ANTELOPE (NEOTRAGUS PYGM^EUS). AFTER A DRAWING BY J. WOLF STORY OF THE MAN AND THE LEOPARD (From the Grebo Tribe] A MAN once had for his personal friend a leopard. As times became hard and the financial condition of the town more 1 No doubt the Cobus or waterbuck and the allied reedbucks, or some of the tragelaphs may be included under this term. 1085 Liberia *- straitened, he moved his little family out on to an elevated tract of land nearly fifteen miles from every neighbouring community. Though it seemed at first sight a rugged mountainous region, there were to be seen many fertile parts dotted here and there with forest and yielding nice rich pastures. Here all the wild deer and other herbivorous animals were found to repair every morning till mid-day, the time when they would retire under some large tree to wait until the cool of the day. Havi no- discovered the time of their grazing the Man placed a noose at the mouth of each of their paths. Before dawn, however, a con- vention was agreed to by the deer that they should all at daylight proceed to the pasture in one great body. The Bushbuck was then made the leader. Just before day, early in the morning, they all arose and went to the field ; but when they arrived at the entrance to the road where the snare was, the Bushbuck got caught. When the others saw the buck kicking and jumping and unable to get out, they all got frightened and ran. When daylight came, the Man went to his noose and on approaching it found it had caught a large buck. Then he took it to his wife and charged her that, as he was going for fire, should the Leopard come before he got back, or in case she heard him clear his throat and say " Ku Ku ! " she should hide the meat ; for this was the sign of the Leopard's coming. He then went to Leopard's house ; and Leopard asked him what luck he had had. Man replied, " I got nothing." But Leopard said, " 1 shall, however, return with you, if for no other reason than the stroll." When they reached the Man's residence, the Leopard passed quickly to the front premises, where the deer had been imperfectly concealed by the woman, and exclaimed, lt Hallo! here I have found my buck." But the Man said, " No ! this is my buck I have just caught in my noose," and he refused to give it up. Thereupon they all consented to have 1086 <+ FolklnlV it cooked and the whole eaten together. The Bushbuck having now been cooked and dished in a large bowl, they again agreed that before eating each be tied against a post and that he only should eat who of himself was able to break the string. The Leopard was then tightly tied with great cords against a tree, and in spite of all his force and strength the cords still held him firmly lashed to the tree. But the Man and his wife having tied themselves with a thread soon broke the strings and ate up all the meat. And when the meat had been eaten up, they washed the bowl with pepper and water, and then dashed it in the Leopard's face, and left him there tied against the tree. But a Rat passing by was hailed by the Leopard and entreated to come and loose him. Mother Rat consented ; and brought her two children to gnaw the strings. Then the Leopard having been loosed, quickly seized her young ones and ate them up. In serving the wicked expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains. MR. SPIDER AND THE BONI GiRL1 (A Vai Story} As time went on the farm season soon came round and every- body was seen putting forth some efforts towards making plantations, first in the low marshes and then on the high- land or mountainous regions ; all except Mr. Spider, who was said to have been at the time very ill. Everybody in the town turned out to work but he. Spider laid in bed ailing from the time the bushes were cut down and burnt, and rice began to ripen. When rice was now fully ripe and the people had commenced gathering it, Spider's case became serious ; his decease was momentarily expected. But just 1 " Boni " is the designation of a girl in an initiation school. 1087 Liberia *- before dying he requested the people, when he was dead, to bury his body in some large rice farm. Spider then died, and his body was accordingly interred in his uncle's largest farm. Now every morning after this, when the people came out to the farm, they would perceive that either rice or some other articles had been stolen away in the previous night. This thing was carried on every night for a week. Several attempts were made to lay hands on the thief, but without the least success. There was no one who could for a single moment guess who it was. So they repaired to the More man,1 to seek his priestly advice, or if possible to have the person described to them. The priest, however, told them to go and make a wax doll in the shape of a young girl, and place it near the corner in the kitchen, and in the morning on their return they would find the burglar had been caught. As the shades of night gradually fell, the disheartened O O J labourers began to retire from their daily toil. There was a perfect stillness — all the farmers had gone home — and when it was nearly midnight, Spider crept out easily from his grave and went into the kitchen on a hunt for some rice. He hurried over his search, got everything he wanted, and commenced cooking. When the blaze became brighter and he looked around for a spoon to stir his rice, his eyes suddenly fell on the beautiful-looking Boni girl standing in the corner. So he laughed and said, " Ha ! ha! Are you here seeing me burn my hands, and won't come to my assistance ? " Mr. Spider was puzzled because the figure did not reply, and now dropping the spoon on the ground he stepped up boldly to her and laid his left hand on her shoulder. The pots soon began to burn ; he made several attempts 1 Muhammadan diviner. 1088 <>+> Folklore to go and look after his pots, but the Boni refused — he was stuck to the wax. So Spider got vexed and commenced cursing and swearing ; he told the Boni girl that if she did not speak or allow him to go and look after his pots, he would slap, kick, and knock her all over her face. Here a deep silence ensued for a quarter of an hour. The girl seemed to have refused to do either. It was now almost day — the rice in the pot had burnt to cinders — and there Spider was hanging with his hands, feet, and teeth stuck on to the beeswax coating of the Boni girl. When it was day, and the people had come to their farms, there they found old Spider hanging. So they yelled and shouted at him while some oiled him and set his body on fire. He was burnt to cinders, and his ashes were thrown into his old grave. Never expect an easy life : laziness is a crime. From these stories the natives easily pass into legends of devils,1 water-spirits, elves, and bogeys. The devils are very often (as in the Cameroons region and Sierra Leone) described as being cut in half — that is to say, they have a front which resembles a man, but if one succeeded in getting behind them they would be found to be hollow, empty like a mask. The water-spirits have about them the characteristics of our legendary syrens. They may owe their origin to the crocodile or the python, or even further back to some creature, no longer in* existence, which dwelt in deep pools and seized human beings, on the shore, luring them first by curiosity, until they came within reach of its jaws or grasp. The stories of ghouls, as already noted, seem here, as in other parts of Africa, to be based on real incidents of morbid cannibalism. There is no decided clear totemism now remaining in the 1 Nydna in Vai. VOL. ii 1089 37 Liberia <*- Liberian peoples, though in one district and another there are animals that men or women may not eat, such as the black Cephtilophus antelope, elephants, monkeys, fowls, cat-fish, or goats. Children, too, at birth are often dedicated to some animal or vegetable, and may not eat or destroy the same during their lives. On the other hand, totemism, according to Binger and other authorities, was at one time well marked amongst the Mandingo on the north, and through them had penetrated to the coast of Western Liberia with the Vai tribe. Muhammadanism seems to have killed out this practice to a great extent, in Liberia at any rate. Binger gives the following list of animals and plants that were regarded by the Mande peoples as totems, as things considered more or less sacred in the clan which adopted the particular totem : Crocodile, hippopotamus, elephant, snake (in general), " broken calabashes or gourds," lion, dog, milk of wild animals, the green monkey, leopard, paradoxure or palm civet, monitor lizard, ground-rat, python, and puff-adder. It is said that the word Mali or Mad'i^ which sometimes seems to be the root of the word Mandingo (the name, which is really pronounced Madina or Mandina), is really the word for hippopotamus ; that the original Mandingo people took the hippopotamus of the Upper Niger as their totem. The word is certainly the term for hippopotamus in several of the Mandingo languages, but it is not yet certain that Mali or Madi is the same word as Mande, Mende, or Melli (the Melli Knipire), though it seems probable. 1090 CHAPTER XXXI Till-. LANGUAGES OF LIBERIA THE native languages of Liberia — so far as they are known — fall into five groups : — (i) KRU ; (2) KPWESI ; (3) MANDINGO; (4) GORA ; and (5) BULOM. The three first groups have perhaps more fundamental relationship than is the case with the two last. Gora is an almost isolated language, with a very slight resemblance in its vocabulary, here and there, to the Kru group, to the Mandingo, or even to the Bulom. This last-named is only represented in Liberia by the Kisi language, spoken to the west of Boporo near the Sierra Leone frontier. Kisi is obviously related to the Bulom group of South-eastern Sierra Leone in its word-roots, but it has developed a very different grammatical construction, its nouns changing from singular to plural by an alteration in the termination, and not by the application of a prefix, as in Bulom and the Sherbro dialects. Bulom belongs to a large, scattered group of languages (which includes Temne) along the coast-line ot Northern Guinea, between Sherbro on the south and the Gambia on the north. An illusive resemblance to the Bantu family is offered by the feature they have in common of pronominal prefixes. All the other language-groups west and south of the Niger (so far as we know) change the number and signification of the noun by suffixes or alterations in the terminal syllable. Yet although the Fula language (for example) is a sufBx- 1091 Liberia <*- employing speech, its use of these suffixes recalls very closely the Bantu concord.1 In fact, in studying these very diverse West African languages, one comes to the conclusion that grammatical structure may vary greatly, while fundamental relationships in word-roots remain. A conquering race may more readily impose on the people it enslaves its own ideas about syntax and arrangement of words and particles than it can eradicate from the minds of the subject people the attach- ment to certain vocables expressive of familiar and common ideas. Thus, there might even be an agreement between Fula, Bulom, Wolof, Mandingo, Temne, and Kpwesi in certain word- roots or numerals while the grammatical structure employed in connecting and building-up these radicals differed very widely ; just as in the Keltic tongues of Britain and Ireland the vocabulary is mainly Aryan while the structure of the language is more of an Iberian — North African — type. In this last instance the discrepancy arises no doubt from the early Aryan 1 It might be of use at this stage to give some idea as to what is meant by the term " concord.'1 In the purer forms of Bantu, such as Uru-nyoro of North- west Uganda, it is something like this : //vV-toke nifi - kyo - ki - kunda £/-gwa ; tu £/dya. It banana I which it like it falls ; we it eat. (The banana which I like has fallen ; let us eat it.) Throughout this sentence, which is thoroughly ciiaracteristic of Bantu construction in its typical form, the word "banana" (Ikitoke] is of the root -tokc, to which,, in the special sense of an individual fruit, the pronominal prefix Iki is applied. This word Ikitoke must be accompanied throughout the sentence by its correspond- ing particle, k: or //'/(relative form kyo}. In the Temne language of Sierra Leone, a very representative example of the Western Pronominal-prefix group, there is almost exactly the same "concord." This sentence in Tcninc will illustrate the point : An na-m\ a - set na fumpo (My house falls). The the my the house it falls. E- ye - mi c- set yc- fumpo (My houses fall). The the my the houses they fall. lien- aha (shortened sometimes to a- or -na) stands for the definite article and pronominal prefix of "house" (set} in the singular. In the plural the similar prefix is Eye, shortened to E- and -ye. 1092 Liberia «-- (Fair-haired) Keltic invaders of Britain finding in possession of the country an Iberian race akin in origin to the Mediterranean peoples. The dark-haired Iberian spouse of the red-haired Kelt would adopt her husband's vocabulary and arrange it to suit her own Iberian ideas of grammatical construction, and so bring up her children to speak a language of mixed relationships. In West Africa, as in other parts of the Dark Continent, sometimes the invading race brings a new vocabulary which is woven into an older grammatical system, or, vice versa, it imposes on the conquered race its own ideas of grammar while accepting the vocabulary of the conquered. Moreover, these African languages are in such a state of flux that it is quite conceivable some relatively slight revolution might cause a system of prefixes to become a system of suffixes, and vice versa.1 I do not therefore lay much stress on the grammatical differences between the West African languages if I can find any trace of agreement in root forms and even in phonology. There is, for example, one distinguishing feature of the true Negro speech from the west bank of the White Nile west- wards to the Atlantic coast of Senegambia, an area also in- cluding the northern parts of the Congo Basin and the Cameroons. This region has in phonology the peculiar and distinguishing feature of the guttural-labials, the combinations of kpw and gbw.~ There is also a great liking for the nasal n (//). This last feature is shared by the great Bantu group to the south and by the Hottentot-Bushman, but is practically foreign to the Hamitic and Semitic languages on the north and 1 See how the English tongue has changed in this respect, as regards the place of the qualifying preposition. Our ancestors, following the Teutonic system, spoke of an " up-bringing" ; the modern arrangement is a "bringing-up." Compare "on-set" with "set on," " up-lifted " and "lifted up," "off-set" and " set-off," etc, 2 These generally appear in European transliteration as gb and kp ; but there is nearly always a w sound at the end of the combination. 1094 -* The Languages of Liberia east. But the gb and kp combinations arc the peculiar feature in the speech of Central and Western Africa between the Kijuator on the south and the 1 2th degree of north latitude on the north.1 The MANDINCJO • family of West African languages is a very well-marked group, employing suffixes in its grammatical changes. It seems to have its centre of origin about the Upper Niger and the sources of the Senegal and Gambia. Physically, the Mandingos vary somewhat in type, but appear to be the result of an early infusion of northern Hamitico- Caucasian blood into a pure Negro stock. Perhaps they were created by the ancestors of the Fula mingling with the pure- blooded Negroes of Western Africa. However that may be, at one time they must have formed a tribe which had the leisure and isolation necessary to the development of a very well-marked form of speech, so far as grammatical structure is concerned. They then prospered, increased in strength, and early adopted the Muhammadan religion and Arab civilisation. Overflowing their original bounds, which were perhaps those of the highland country immediately between the Upper Senegal and the Niger, they pushed their way south-eastwards to the interior of what is now known as the Ivory Coast, or on to the highlands of Liberia, or they reached the sea coast through (what is now) Sierra Leone. On their way south, by various 1 There may have been some trace of indeterminate guttural-labial in the original Aryan language, afterwards to be represented by qu. Thus bos and gau (cow), quinque and pente may have arisen from root-words of which the initial consonant was like the African gb and kp. 2 I am fully aware that this rendering of the name is not in strict accordance with its pronunciation amongst the Mandingo people ; but the exact form of the word seems to be somewhat in doubt, and as Mandingo has long been accepted it is best to leave it undisturbed. The word seems to be composed of a root Mande or Mendi, and a suffix nka and nga. But as often as not it is pronounced Mandina. Liberia <•- combinations with the indigenous tribes, they formed' the Hondo, Mende, Gbandl, and i-'a'i peoples. The \ \\ must have reached the Atlantic seaboard several hundred years ago, perhaps even before the arrival of the Portuguese. Another branch of this same people penetrated to the coast of the Sierra Leone peninsula, where they were once to be found under the name of Landogho. The SUSH also pushed their way through the Temne and Bulom peoples to the vicinity of the Atlantic seaboard at the River Pongo, or Pongas. Other Mandingo tribes colonised the banks of the River Gambia. Northwards, they appeared on the Upper Senegal as the Serekhule l and Bambara (Eammana] on the Upper Niger. The true Mandi or Mandingo race at the present day is most strongly represented along the Upper Niger, from its source as far east as Sego. There is a slight but obvious connection in word-roots and grammar between the MANDINGO group and the KpWESi-Buzi languages of Central Liberia, and a still slighter relationship with GORA and with the KRU tongues ; while there are hints of an underlying relationship of a most remote kind with the fundamental mother-tongues of the Fula and Wolof. The phonology of the Mandingo languages is harmonious and relatively easy for European pronunciation. It resembles that of the Bantu group in its love of vowels and desire to place as far as possible a vowel between each consonant, excepting of course the use of semi-vowels like the nasal ;/, w, and r. As in Bantu, no word can end with a consonant. 1 Various authorities have doubted the linguistic connection between the Serekhule or Gajaga (railed by the Moors, Asvvanek) and the Mandingos ; but although their dialect is much farther Ironi pure Mandingo than is (for example) Yai, its distinct affinity is undoubted. 1096 <+> The Lan^ua-o of Liberia In the form of the Negative Panicle (which is generally niti) l they recall a similar feature which is found in many of the Sudan languages from Senegambia right across to the speech of the Nile Negroes and Masai. I'll is ma negative particle even appears in some of the Semitic and Hamitic languages. In grammatical structure^ except for the use of suffixes instead of prefixes, the Mandingo, like other West African groups, offers resemblances to the Bantu. As in the last-named family of African languages and all other forms of purely Negro speech, there is no distinction of gender between male and female. In Fula and in some of the Temne-Bulom languages there is a distinction between what is human, or even what is living, and what is lifeless or merely vegetable. But the Mandingo family has dropped this distinction, if it ever possessed it. Some of the Nilotic Negro languages, even such as are found far to the westward of the main seat of the family, in the region of the Bahr-al-Ghazal, preserve that distinction of masculine and feminine which is so characteristic of the Aryan, Semitic, and Hamitic languages. This distinction, for example (though very often degenerating into two classes, " strong " and u weak "), is found in the Masai. It may possibly be explained by the direct influence of the first Caucasian invaders on the ancient Negro stock in the Nile Valley. It is curious, however, 1 In my vocabularies the negative particle in Mandingo proper appears usually as de. This is represented in Vai by re, applied often in connection with the auxiliary verb " to be." But the commonest and simplest negative in Mandingo and Vai is ma. Ma also reappears in Bulom as a sign of negation, though the verbal negative is ke, ken, en. Fula is altogether outside this group. Its most common negative particle is ta. Wolof, also, has no share in this negative use of ma ; it employs as prefixes or suffixes to express negation du-, de-, -u, nl. In De, Basa, and Kru the negative particle is si-, sed-, or ser- ; in Grebo it isj/-; in Kpwesi,/*- or fu- ; in Bu?i, ;<;-; and in Gora,/co-. In Bantu the negative particle is ka (£-), ta, sa, or si; sometimes as an adverb, ve, pe. 1097 Liberia <*- that a division of nouns — masculine, feminine, and neuter — (similar to what obtains in Masai) is characteristic of the Hottentot language, a form of speech which several writers have thought might have been created somewhere in East Africa or Somaliland by the early impact of Hamites on a people of Bushman stock, already partially hybridised with the Nilotic Negroes. The Mandingo group in its numerals exhibits another interesting feature. Half its dialects have tamu, tarn, tan as the word for "ten " and the other half fit, pit, pugo^ or some variant of pit-. This recalls the similar feature in the Nilotic Negro or even the Western Hamitic languages of the two rival roots for " ten " — tarn- and pa-, par-, or pitto. It is rather remarkable that in the FULA language there should be absolutely no trace whatever of Caucasian influence, such as is so marked in that of the far more Negroid race of the Hausa or of the numerous branches of the Nile Negroes already referred to ; for the Fula, as already stated, in physical appearance are almost more a Caucasian than a Negro people. Yet their language is fundamentally a Negro tongue, with literally no more trace of original Caucasian influence than the quite recent interpolation of words derived from Arabic and connected with the Muhammadan religion. An analogous influence to this is that remarkable Gala aristocracy of Eastern Equatorial Africa to be found still living amongst a purely Negro Bantu population. This aristocracy never speaks anything but the purest forms of the Bantu dialects, and these last are just as much Negro types of speech as are the languages of West Africa. It might be said, however, that the Bantu language family came into existence somewhere in the Nile Basin by the influence of some Hamitic invasion which accepted the language of the conquered Negroes though it cast it into' a new mould, impregnated with some Hamitic ideas of grammar. 1098 -* The Languages of Liberia Some of these ideas, in a different form, it is true, appear in Fula, but in a less recognisable way. The GORA language is somewhat of a problem. It is one of those West African languages that are comparatively isolated ,. offering no distinct relationship in its roots with adjoining forms of African speech. No doubt it is an old descendant of the original mother-tongue of West Africa, which was the basis of all the other West African groups alluded to. There is, perhaps, most resemblance in word-roots and grammatical con- struction to the Kru group, Kpwesi, and Mandingo, with an occasional suggestion of far-off affinity in numerals and some word-roots to Fula and even to Bulom. The KPWESI dialects are less isolated in their structure than the Gora. They show a decided affinity to the Mandingo group, while at the same time offering slight resemblances in some of their roots to Wolof, Fula, and Bulom. These re- semblances, if they are real, are undoubtedly due to the Kpwesi,. in common with all the other families mentioned, being derived from an ancient — a very ancient — W7est African mother-speech. The KRU languages cover much of the eastern half of Liberia, beginning in the west with £) i«ina. -* The Languages of Liberia allied to this is the Sandawi speech which lingers in the northern parts of German East Africa, and which is said to contain clicks- like those of Hottentot and Bushman. 3. The clear-cut BANTU family, which has occupied all Africa, more or less, south of the Equator, excepting the diminishing area retained by the Hottentots and Bushmen. The Bantu family is essentially a Negro speech, remarkable for the use which it makes of pronominal prefixes with their corre- sponding particles and pronouns. It may or may not have been created (not very anciently) by a Hamitic invasion of the southern parts of what is now the Egyptian Sudan, of the regions on either side of the Mountain Nile. It is possible that hereabouts a language of West African type existed, allied in its vocabulary and phonology to some of the great groups still existing in the region of the River Benue, on the Lower Niger,, and thence westwards to the Gold Coast. This speech was taken hold of and remoulded by invaders of some superior race,, possibly allied to the Ancient Egyptian or Gala. Once created, the original Bantu mother-tongue resembled somewhat closely the existing languages of Ru-Nyoro, Lu-Ganda, and the Bantu dialects on the western slopes of Mount Elgon. The Bantu mother language must have been the speech of a most powerful and vigorous Negro race, slightly tinged with Hamitic blood. From somewhere in the region between the Victoria and Albert Nyanzas, Mount Elgon and the White Nile, the Bantu Negroes with their harmonious and logical type of language swept in a vast tide of conquest over the southern half of Africa, at a period not perhaps more than three thousand years ago. They rushed down the eastern section of this southern projection of Africa, and attacking the Congo Forest firstly from the south,, they penetrated to the Atlantic coast, and so worked their way up till they were in the region of the Cameroons, from which I IOI Liberia <•- some of them migrated to the opposite island of Fernando Po. Then later they penetrated up all the affluents of the Congo from west to east, and later still pushed their way, though much more faint-heartedly, into the Congo Forest from the north-east. Racially they have not completely absorbed the Congo regions yet, since there still exist the Congo Pygmies and the short-legged Forest Negroes. 4. The MADI group. This would include a great many of the non-Bantu Negro languages immediately to the north of the Congo Basin — forms of speech such as the Madi, Momvu (r), Lendu (?.), Nyam-Nyam (?), Manbettu, etc. These languages offer slight resemblances in their phonology to the Bantu, and occasionally in their grammar, or even in the roots of some of their principal words. Yet they are emphatically outside the Bantu family, and present but little resemblance to each other. It can only be said that they differ less from each other than they resemble the surrounding language groups to the north, east, and west. 5. The NILOTIC family. This also, like the Bantu, is rather clearly marked in its features and in the relationships of its various members. The forms of Nilotic speech extend almost as far west as Lake Chad in some directions, as far cast as the confines of Galaland and Abyssinia. On the north they reach to within two hundred miles south of Khartum, and on the south and south-east in the form of the Masai group they •extend into the Bantu language-field south of the Equator. 6. The NUBA family. A group of Negro languages spoken by people that are much more Negroid than Negro — the present inhabitants of Nubia, Kordofan, and Darfur. This group merges into the next. 7. The BACJHIRMI group. This in a loose way includes most of the languages of Wadai, of Baghirmi, and the valley --* The Languages of Liberia of the Shari River ; perhaps, also, the Musgu, and it may also be related to — 8. KANURI, or the language of Bornu. This group perhaps includes the Teda of the Tibbu Negroids. 9. HAUSA. This language has undoubted affinities in the form of its word-roots with outlying dialects of group 7, which are absolutely Negro in their character. But in its grammar and in some other features the Hausa speech is distinctly connected with the Libyan or Hamitic tongues spoken by races that are rather more Caucasian than Negro. Hausa, like some of the western and eastern members of the Nilotic group, distinguishes gender, an idea borrowed from the Caucasian peoples. 10. The languages of the BENUE region. These offer marked resemblance in their word-roots and in some of the numerals to the Bantu family, but are in construction of an extremely degraded, broken-up type of language, and are very far from the parent speech which was moulded into Bantu. This Benue group may perhaps extend southwards from the south bank of the Benue River to the Cross River and the interior of the Cameroons and Fan country. 11. The Ijo or BONNY group. This is a small isolated family of languages in the eastern half of the Niger Delta, between the main Niger and the Opobo River. They are perhaps distinctly connected with, but older than, the succeeding group. 12. The LOWER NIGER languages. A web of tongues stretches along the last third of the Niger course from the country of Nupe to the sea, eastwards along the north bank of the Benue, southwards to Old Calabar and Benin. This group includes such prominent languages as Nupe, Bini, Efik, Jekri, and Ibo. It also offers vague indications of affinity 1103 Liberia <•- with the original basis of Bantu speech, and is connected with groups 13 and 14. 13. The YORUBA or Aku group, which is found to the west of the Lower Niger and thence to the boundaries of Dahome. 14. The EHWE-CHWI languages of Dahome and the Gold Coast. These form two distinct sub-groups, named respectively Ehwe and Chwi, but they have certain indications of a common origin. The Chwi language in its many dialects is the principal speech of the Gold Coast and Ashanti. These languages ex- tend into the northern and eastern portion of the Ivory Coast, where they are conterminous with the easternmost extension of the Kru languages of Liberia ; they also seem to be connected with the Eorgu or Barba language spoken north of Dahome and west of the Niger rapids. 15. The SONGHAI or Central Niger languages. These include the speech of Mose, Dagomba, and most of the regions between Timbuktu and the northern borders of Ashanti, Dahome, and Borgu. 1 6. Westwards of these begin the languages of the great MAN DINGO family, which viewed in its broadest aspects may include all the Kru and Kpwesi languages of Liberia, as well as, possibly, Gora. The Mandingo family also offers faint evidence of ancient fundamental connection with groups 17, i 8, and 19. 17. The FULA. There seems to be a little evidence of relationship in word-roots between Fula and Wolof^ but not enough to justify the association of these two well-marked and isolated tongues in one group. i 8. WOLOF. This is the language (sometimes called Giolof or Jolof ) which is spoken in Lower Senegal and to the south of that river. 1 104 -* The Languages of Liberia 19. The TEMNE-BULOM. Occasionally in its word-roots this group indicates an extremely distant affinity with Wolof, Fula, and Mandingo, but it is widely separated from all this group by its use of pronominal prefixes instead of suffixes. Still, as already pointed out in the earlier part of this chapter, this need not be the real cause of separation, since there may have been an interchange of system between the employment of suffixes and prefixes, while the principle of the " concord," familiar also in Bantu, and a feature of the Temne and its allies, also reappears in Fula. Pel haps this group may also be stretched so as to contain the other languages of the West African coast in Senegambia, such as Felup, Serer^ and Papel. Amongst these, however, there is extraordinary dissimilarity in vocabulary, though a general agreement in the principle of changing nouns from singular to plural by an alteration in the initial syllable.1 If the Gora language of Liberia is to be associated with any group, it is probably nearest related to the Mandingo-Kru section. Felup, Serer, and Papel amongst the western prefix- using languages may be the isolated remains of one of the oldest developments of African speech, stranded on the Atlantic limits of the continent. Putting these aside, it is possible to conceive of an extremely remote common origin for all the other forms of Negro speech (except those languages related to Hausa and Kanuri) between the districts west of the White Nile (outside the limits of the Nilotic group) and the mouth of the Senegal, including the hypothetical parent of the Bantu 1 This division of nineteen groups still leaves in an isolated, unattached condition several languages of the Central and Egyptian Sudan such as Buduma, Mundu, Lendu, Manbettu, Momvu, and Makarka, though I have provisionally classed the five last with Madi, a little because of geographical proximity. There are also isolated languages in German East Africa and in all parts of West and West Central Africa not yet classified. VOL. II 1105 38 Liberia <*- languages. This extremely ancient African speech might have possessed in its syntax a distinction between what was living and what was dead matter, or even between what was human and what was non-human ; but it had nothing like sexual genders. The numerals 2, 3, and 4 were represented by such forms as ba or ball, ta or tato^ and nai. The foregoing sketch must only be taken as a rough plan of the divisions of African speech. We are yet awaiting the philologist who after making a profound study of the representative forms of all these families shall see if he can find a common denominator, or at any rate succeed in tracing back the development of African speech to not more than four or five language births. No doubt the western third of Africa has been longer inhabited in time and far more com- pletely populated by the human race than Africa south of the Equator. But invasion after invasion of emigrants and con- querors has broken up old languages into new jargons, which in time have become stately and intricately-developed forms of speech. The contrast is striking with the southern third of Africa, where, apart from the extremely ancient Bushman speech and the more recent Hottentot compromise,1 you have only one language family to consider, the remarkably homogeneous Bantu. But as regards language, the Negro seems to be in a state of flux. Normally, he can acquire languages totally foreign to his own with far more facility than the average European. Many of the Negroes of Liberia are quadri-lingual. They speak some form of English, their own native tongue, and perhaps two other totally distinct Liberian languages. It is quite easy therefore to understand how a new speech can be 1 As before mentioned, the Hottentot language lias possibly been formed by an early union between the Nilotic Negroes and the Bushmen aborigines of Eastern Africa. "** The Languages of Liberia created in two generations of Negro humanity, while in one generation a dialect may differ as much from its parent or sister language as, for example, does Portuguese from Spanish. Already the Vai language as written and exemplified by Koelle fifty years ago is quite old-fashioned in the ears of the present generation of Vai-speaking people. Most of these Liberian languages are destined to disappear. VAI will probably become the dominant form of native speech. Its great similarity with Mandingo will make it unnecessary to cultivate that language also. It is a harmonious tongue, relatively easy to pronounce, and with a grammar that is reasonable and far from difficult. The phonology of the KRU languages is too difficult for their pronunciation by their African neighbours or by Europeans. The only rival to Vai in Liberia during the next hundred years will be ENGLISH. This is spoken by the Americo-Liberians with a more or less American accent, but it is as intelligible to an Englishman as is the language of the United States. The Grebo, Kru, and many of the coast natives speak a well-known form of "pidgin" English. This dialect is quickly mastered by a European, and it will probably become the trade language of the whole country. The VAI people excited much interest in the middle of the nineteenth century by the discovery made in 1849 by Lieut. -Commander F. E. Forbes, R.N., of H.M.S. Eonetta^ that there was an alphabet in use at Cape Mount which was neither Arabic nor Roman — a native invention, in fact. The Rev. Sigismund Koelle (the celebrated missionary-philologist of Sierra Leone) went to the Vai country behind Cape Mount 1 Lieut. Forbes's discovery was communicated to the world in a pamphlet by E. Norris (Librarian to the Foreign Office and an early student of African languages). 1107 Liberia <*- in the same year (1849). He afterwards wrote the following account of his investigations (I summarise) : " Doalu Bukere, the inventor of the Yai alphabet, was about forty years old when I paid him this visit in Bandakoro. He was the real originator of the alphabet, assisted by five of his friends. The first impulse to attempt it was given him in a dream (about fifteen years ago), in which a tall, venerable- looking white man, in a long coat, appeared to him saying : c I am sent to you by other white men ... to bring you a book.' Doalu asked what was the nature of this book. The white man answered : ' 1 am sent to bring this book to you in order that you may take it to the rest of the people. But I must tell you that neither you nor any one who will become acquainted with the book is allowed to eat the flesh of dogs and monkeys, nor of anything found dead, whose throat •was not cut ; nor to touch the book on those days on which you have touched the fruit of the To-tree (a kind of pepper).' The messenger then showed Doalu his book, and taught him tfo write any Vai l words in the same way in which the book -was written. This made a deep impression on Doalu's mind, .and he described it to me most graphically. He said : * The .man thus addressed me : " Look, Doalu, this sign (writing with his finger on the ground) means /." Then he wrote close to it another sign, saying, u And this means na. Now, Doalu, read both together ! " Doalu did so, and was •delighted to have learnt to read the word ina^ which means '* Come here ! In the same way the messenger showed him how a great number of other words could be written. At .last Doalu asked his instructor concerning the contents of the book he had brought. But the answer was, ' Wait a 1 For some unexplained reason, Kodlc, ordinarily so accurate in his ortho- graphy, \vrit<-s this word " \Vi," though it is most distinctly pronounced I'd/. i io The Languages of Liberia little, I will tell you by-and-by.' After this Doalu awoke, and, as he told me in a sorrowful tone, was never afterwards informed of what was written in the book. In the morning he called his friends together, in order to tell them his dream — viz. his brother Jara Barakora, and his cousins Jara Kali, Kalia. Bara, Fa Gbasi, and So Tabaku, the latter of whom died about three years ago. They were all exceedingly pleased with the. dream, and quite sure that it was a divine revelation. A few days after, Kalia Bara, also, as he himself told me, had a dream —the reality of which, however, I doubt — in which a white man told him that the book had come from God, and that they must mind it well. " Perhaps it may not be amiss to state here what, in my opinion, will account for Doalu Bukere's dream. Doalu Bukere was a thinking man ; and what once occupied his mind seemed, to occupy it altogether and constantly : all his thoughts and energies seemed to be concentrated on this subject. Now there was once a white missionary in the country, with whom Doalu,. when quite a little boy, had learnt to read for about three months, till the missionary's departure. This, in some measure, awakened his desire for learning. He could still repeat some verses from the English Bible, which he had learnt from that missionary. Afterwards he was employed as a servant by slave-traders and common traders on the coast. They often sent him on an errand to distant places, from which he had generally to bring back letters to his master. In these letters, his master was sometimes informed when Doalu had done any mischief in the place to which he had been sent. Now this forcibly struck him. He said to himself : c How is this, that my master knows everything which I have done in a distant place ? He only looks into the book, and this tells him all. Such a thing we ought also to have by which we could speak 1109 Liberia <•- with each other, though separated by a great distance.' The want of a mode of writing seems to have been felt even more generally. This I conclude from a passage in Kalia Bara's book, in which he speaks of the time when that art was invented. He says : ' At that time my father Doalu Worogbe began to write books. And the people said : " The Poro (Europeans) have long heads. Nobody has such a long head as the Poro." But some of our people did not believe this. Then said I to Doalu (Worogbe) : " Why do you call what I maintain a lie ? Can any Vai man write a letter and send it to his friend, and could he read it ? ' But Doalu Bukere's mind especially was so entirely wrapped up in his ardent desire to be able to read and write that it occupied his thoughts night and day, and this formed the natural basis of his curious dream, which seems to have been the reflex of his waking thoughts. "Though Doalu had been well instructed in his dream, yet, as he told me, in the morning he could not remember all the signs which had been shown him by night. Therefore— these are his own words — he and his friends had to put their heads together in order to make new ones. And on this ground we are fully justified in speaking of a real invention of the Vai method of writing. "But these six men, being then only from twenty to thirty years of age, feared lest the people might not pay them proper attention, so they agreed to take one hundred salt sticks, i.e. parcels of salt as thick as an arm and three or four feet long, and to bring them to King Fa Toro, or Goturu, in Tianimani, in order to make him favourably disposed to their object. Their present had the desired effect. The king declared himself exceedingly pleased with their discovery, which, as he said, would soor. raise his people to the level of the Poro (white men) and Mandingo, who hitherto had been the only hook-people. <+> The Languages of Liberia He expressed the curious opinion that this was most likely the book of which the Mandirigo (who are Muhammadans) say that it is with God in heaven, and will one day be sent down upon earth. He requested them to teach this new art in Jondu, where they resided, and to make known his will that all his subjects should be instructed by them. Accordingly, they erected a large house in Jondu, provided it with benches and wooden tablets, instead of slates, for the scholars, and then kept a regular day school, in which not only boys and girls, but also men, and even some women, learnt to write and read their own language. So they went on prosperously for about eighteen months, and even people from other towns came to Jondu, to become acquainted with this { new book.' But then a war broke out with the Gora, in which Jondu was taken by surprise, and committed to the flames, with all the goods and books it contained. The destruction of Jondu forms a crisis in the history of the Vai writing. By it the literary zeal of the people was so much checked that they have never had any schools since. After the destruction of Jondu the bookmen, i.e. people who can read and write, were scattered throughout the country, and it was only about five years ago that many of them collected together and built a new town, some miles distant from the place where Jondu stood. The name of this new town is Bandakoro, literally cotton-tree ground, from the abundance of cotton trees l which are growing thereabouts. At the time I first visited it, it appeared to me that a great proportion of the male adults in Bandakoro were more or less able to read and write, and that in most other Vai towns, near Cape Mount, there were at least some men who could likewise spell their £ country- book ' ; but a few days before my second visit, Bandakoro also \vas taken in war, burnt, and its population scattered. 1 Bombax. mi Liberia <*- " Doalu Bukere was a very interesting man, and distinguished from his countrymen, not so much by a greater intelligence, as by an altogether nobler spirit. The Vai people in general I call a very sensual and carnal people, the females especially unchaste and shameless. Idols they have none. I saw no mode of worship among them except the Muhammadan. But all the nominal Muhammadans I saw drink wine and spirits whenever they can get them ; they also take as many wives as they can afford to buy. Amongst such a people, to meet a man like Doalu Bukere was an indescribable pleasure to a missionary. I always felt very happy in his company, and he also felt attached to me : so that once, when he was called to another town, he said to me on his return : c My heart did not lie down the whole day, because I could not be with you ; but now it has lain down again.' " Doalu was an open, upright, and honest man. His modesty and humility surprised me the more, as these are virtues of very rare occurrence among the Negro race. He was grateful for kindness received, and could value disinterested motives. When I was lying sick of fever in Bandakoro, he said to me in one of his visits : £ My heart troubles me much because you have come amongst us, not in order to trade or to make any gain, but merely to tell us the true road to life ; and now you have also to suffer sickness for our sakes. But never mind, God will soon make you well again.' His mind appeared to have been frequently engaged with metaphysical and divine things. In our walks which we took together, and in which he often had to walk behind me, from the narrowness of the paths, I not infrequently heard him ejaculate, with deep emotion, words like the following : " Ever — lasting ! God Almighty ! Jesus Christ ! Alakabaru ! ' l He seemed to have 1 The Arabic "Allah Akbar ! "— H. H. J. I I I 2 -*> The Languages of Liberia been under real concern for his soul's salvation, and earnestly seeking to secure it. In a conversation I had with him he once said to me : ' My heart seeks after God. Once I thought to find God in our book-palaver, but it was not so. Afterwards, I believed that I could find God in Muhammadanism, and have now been praying after the Mandingo fashion these seven years ; but my heart has not yet found God. Now if you can help me, so that I may really find God, I shall be very thankful to you." I was of course delighted to point out to him the new and living way which leads to God and heaven. He was very attentive to, and much pleased with, what I said to him on this subject. . . . " In order to ascertain, as I conceive, whether I should be able to refute the objections of his Muhammadan guide, he introduced this Malam to me. I then told the latter that I was sorry to see him walking on a road which could not lead to heaven. He returned the same compliment to me. There- fore I showed him, in a long conversation, that he neither knew my road nor had a thorough acquaintance with his own,, and that, consequently, he had no reason to pity me. At length he could gainsay no longer, but ran away, the bystanders saying : ' This time palaver caught him.' Even Doalu appeared to be pleased with the defeat of his schoolmaster. Before I left the country, I offered to take Doalu Bukere with me to Sierra Leonev in order to instruct him more fully in the Christian religion. But he declined the offer, on the ground that there was then war in the country ; ' for,' said he, ' if I were to go now, the people would say on my return, " He left us while we had war in the country ; so he must now pay a large sum of money." u I regretted that Doalu could not make up his mind ta accompany me to Sierra Leone, the more so when I after- wards found that his remaining days of grace were to be so- 1113 Liberia v few. On my second arrival at Cape Mount, November 2nd, 1850, when I wanted to visit him again, I was informed that he had departed this life several months previously. Thus, how- •ever, he was spared the grief of seeing Bandakoro taken and laid waste by his enemies : he was permitted to descend to the grave in peace, whereas his brother, Jara Barakora, one of his assistants in the introduction of the new mode of writing, fell at the capture of Bandakora, in the night of October 27th, 1850, after a brave resistance, in which he himself killed four men with the sword. Doalu died of a cutaneous disease, called in their own language ' konje-kira,' l i.e. ball-sickness, which produced in him such extraordinary drowsiness that he often fell -asleep while taking his meals." The syllabarium which follows is copied mainly from the forms given by Forbes and Koelle, which in all probability are more exactly those invented by Doalu Bukere and his friends than are the cursive characters still in use after some sixty years amongst the Vai of Liberia. A close inspection of these characters will reveal the fact that many of them are clumsy adaptations of Roman letters or of conventional signs employed by Europeans : only two or three bear any resemblance to Arabic characters. There was little "logic " about this invention, and the tax on the memory and patience in using this syllabarium to write a language so easily rendered in Roman letters must be somewhat severe ; yet, as already mentioned, the Vai people obstinately •cling to the invention of Doalu Bukere and use it increasingly for literary correspondence (they have taken to letter-writing as much as the Baganda). But they have improved on Doalu 1 This phrase means sickness of the glands ( ? scrofula) or of the kidm-ys. It was, however, probably an early case of "sleeping-sickness." — H. H. J. 1 1 14 -•> The Languages of Liberia Bukere's system. Apparently, instead of more than one type of character to be used at will for each syllable, modern teaching restricts very wisely the use to one single sign, and the form of these syllabic letters is simplified and better adapted for cursive writing. Their addiction to this system is somewhat of a protest against " Christian " or missionary influence (the Vai are Muhammadan), and it is also due to their desire to carry on a correspondence not readily deciphered by the American Negro who rules their country. The Liberian Government can only combat this movement by adopting a simple and logical orthography in Roman letters for rendering Vai and other native languages, and then by spreading the know- ledge of reading and writing in the Roman character among its native races as part of a secular education carried on by the State, and not associated with the teaching of doctrinal religion. In the following pages I have added to the old syllabarium of Forbes and Koelle the modern types of the letters as accurately as I could obtain them from Vai scholars. I also reproduce specimens of Vai script to illustrate the cursive form of the alphabet. It would seem as though the Vai were not the only o • Liberian people to attempt the invention of a system of writing. •Captain d'Ollone in his book De la Cote d'lvoire au Soudan^ •etc. (p. 302), describes inscriptions of Greek and Roman character on the walls of huts in the Palube country (western bend of the Cavalla River) more than one hundred and fifty miles from the coast. But the explanation given by the natives was probably the true one, that these signs had been reproduced by young men of the tribe who in working with Europeans on the coast had imitated letters and signs in use there. Probably these were nothing more than the trade marks and signs on boxes and bales : and the Greek delta which so much puzzled Captain d'Ollone is in common use for this purpose. APPENDIX IX THE ALPHABET OR SYLLABARIUM OF THE VAI LANGUAGE KNCI.I^II LKTTER ORIGINAL SYMBOL U wa . we, we ok SYLLABLE MODERN SYMBOL J« ' I ' 0\0 uf, CO .... L/WV* Kv%** 5 .... ~~ tf^ wu . = WOJ / 77 X * WO . va . . . vc, vc . 1 116 ENGLISH LETTER OR SYLLABLE vu . fa . . fe . . fi. . . f u . . fo> . . fo . . pa . . pe . . pi . . pu . . po> . The Alphabet of the Vai Language ORIGINAL SYMBOL AA 00 8 MODERN SYMBOL tt.5.!,f.g s 1,1,6, 6,^ cT 1117 Liberia <•- Kxr.i.isii LKTIKK nk SYLLABLE ORIGINAL SYMBOL M.>I>HRX SYMUOI. po ...... na me .... 2 . . . (jf n, rn . . . ^V tl lound V^ ba - . . . EKCl.l,r=ban . . . . II' jo .... % da .... ?.« de . . . . tb di . . . . M du . . . . ^ dw .... s do .... ^ ta /Is ftc) 41; ^;S E r 1122 The Alphabet of the Vai Language ENGLISH LETTER OR SYLLABLE te ti .. . . . tu . . . . tw . . . . to , ORIGINAL SYMBOL MODERN SYMBOL re .. ru . . rw . . r5 . ya . . ye . . yu . . IP D (also do>) -fe IF UAJ 1123 Liberia ORIGINAL SYMBOL MODERN SYMHOI. yeo . . . . |i| yo . . . . hi bu thy sack fa ha \ Fatoma ! thy sack full / is ful1- Momoru Momoru ta ha fi la went bush 1126 ha lo he says -•> Specimens of Vai Writing , j days three Momoru went to the bush country, he says, three days ago (and met a man and said) Ta ha Thy ku m morning i yes nda ya friend thy ku ne morning me ko where be art ya thou gbana coming from 1 nyama gbi distant all be le nu good there? Ke le War ni ye that place z a only nyama far off gbi all be le good we n ye now in that place Ta ha Thou —-4 mbe wa do hn what thing thou eat 1127 sa ha morning Liberia ma me he la since and where ? Hm mbe I something hi thee « nda send ha Ji fowl ye do* ndo la he musa wife ndo marry nu there a and mu the na new ke n house SO build nu there ["Good morning! Yes, friend, good morning; whence art thou coming? Is all well afar off?" "War is here, only far off all is good now yonder." "What hast thou eaten since morning, and where? I will send you something to eat, a fowl. I myself am going to Wakoro Mount) to marry a wife, and to build a new house there."] 1128 Specimens of Vai Writing ma near m by na clothes la a) na wash mu there naa I see fa li crocodile fe le Behold ! //= s= C he la mu su woman ye bi catching and he be \S bula ashes burn trumpet, bugle fast brass kettle hand or arm Bundo guinea-fowl da mouth don cooked rice / / anchor jaia mangrove duma ground fra wind hi na come here ! na kira I am sick 1132 mbad very well Specimens of Vai Writing mfa my father mba my mother ba goat bana banana bu gun be uncle Ja Ba-ki-le Mrs. Barclay ara hammock yt^c-*^ X-*"Co«-' dlfi or rifi night karo moon thunderstorm i'33 Liberia <•- tOtl frog tungbe walking stick kali leopard SI buffalo sese wild duck sande crayfish samba basket pakai pa paw nyin tooth nyi beautiful nunu otter ne tongue TI34 gban sugar cane As gbasa :imens of Vai Writini 0—0 gbesa scorpion all little diamo friend wala we now auma Vai Vai country Fatoma bu fa Fatoma1 (has his) belly full i.e. Fatoma is satisfied ! The author's Vai teacher. "35 CHAPTER XXXII VOCABULARIES OF LIBERIAN AND OTHER WEST AFRICAN LANGUAGES THE following vocabularies have been written down direct from the natives by the author — namely, Grebo, Kru, Basa, De, Kpwesi, Buzi, Vai, and Mandma. The Kru dialects of Sikon and Tadebu have been contributed respectively by Mr. John Gow and Mr. Maitland Pye-Smith. The author has composed the 'Bulom, Fula, and Wolof from the most accurate sources obtainable, but almost entirely from books published about the middle of the nineteenth century. This was done purposely, so as to secure forms of these languages relatively free from more recent mixture or corruption. The Fula dialect here given is derived mainly from Reichardt, Earth, and Koelle, and is as nearly as possible that which is spoken in Futa Jallo, the nearest Fula-speaking district to the north-western corner of Liberia. In giving these examples of Fula the author has striven after etymological points of interest rather than the attempt to present the Fula words as they are spoken with varying suffixes. In fact, the Fula vocabulary is only given for purposes of comparison, and therefore many of the suffixes have been removed from the end of the word-root so as not to confuse the reader who merely wishes to get at the essence of the word as apart from removable particles, and thus compare it with the roots of other African forms of speech. 1136 Vocabularies of Liberian and other African Languages ORTHOGRAPHY EMPLOYED IN THESE VOCABULARIES a or d. d ce eore . e. i . sounds as ' u ' in ' fund ' or < a ' in ' Bella.' a' ,, 'rather.' 4 ; a ' , , ' fat.5 : e ' , , ' met,' ' berry,' ' lessen.' a' ,, ' cake,' ' plate.' 'i' ,, 'hit,' 'fill.' i ' ,, ' ravine,' or ' ee ' in * feet.' 'o' ,, 'not,' ' bother.' " store,' or ' aw ' in ' bawl.' bone,' ' cold.' w is a shorter sound, full,' 'put.' rule,' or ' oo ' in ' fool.' like the French ' u ' or German ' ii.' the German ' 6,' or like ' u ' in ' hurt,' or ' i ' in ' dirt.' i ' in ' wine,' or ' i ' in ' bite.' ' in ' how.' ea' in ' bear,' or se ' in ' there,' ' a ' in ' care.' ei ' in ' vein,' or ' ey ' in ' grey.' ' oi' in 'join,' or ' oy ' in 'boy.' Among the consonants, b, d, f, h, /, k, /, ;//, ;/, /, r, s, t, v, w, y, and z are sounded as in English ; c only is used for the English ' ch ' ; g is always pronounced hard, as in ' get,' ' give ' ; n represents the nasal 'n' in ' bang.' 'singer,' and 'ringing'; q is only used for the strong Arabic 'kof ; kw represents the sound of ' qu ' ; x represents the guttural Scotch or German 'ch' or Spanish 'j ' ; 7 (Greek 'gamma') is the Arabic £ [sometimes expressed by 'gh' in English — like the German and Northumbrian ' r,' or the French ' r ' grass^yf\ ; and * the Arabic £ [a gasping sound] ; s = English ' sh ' ; 0, 6 = English ' th.' and A, S = English ' dh,' or ' th ' in ' there ' ; z represents the French ' j,' or the sound of ' z ' in ' azure.' Nasalisation is marked by ~. ' shows where the accent falls ; in the absence of any mark the accent falls on the penultimate syllable. In spelling the native or other African words [place names, tribal designations, etc.] in this book the Author has conformed more or less exactly to the system approved by the Royal Geographical Society, Indian Government, and leading Missionary Societies. But in rendering the sounds of the native languages greater exactitude is necessary. The orthography given above is practically that of Lepsius and of Earth, Koelle, and most transcribers of African languages. 'a (Greek 'omega') ,. 'o' u . . . ., ., ' u' ii . . . ,, ,, ;u' ii . . . ,, like the °' • • • n „ the at . . . ., ,. ' i ' an . . ., ei . . . . , oi . . . ., ,, 'ei: ,, ' oi VOL. II 40 Liberia <+- DE. BASA. KRU. SIKON. GREBO. PADEBU. KPWESI. I>f; is spoken in \Yestern Liberia, behind Monrovia and up the St. Paul's River to near Boporo. \\.\- \ is spoken in the coast region from (".rand Cestos to Junk River and in the vicinity of the Mamba country behind Monrovia. KRT is spoken in the coast region from Garawe to (Irand Cestos. SIKO.N is spoken in the Sikon country, behind Si no in Eastern Liberia. ( i K Ki:<> is spoken in t lie coast region of Eastern Liberia, and on both sides of the Lower Cavalla River (Cape Palmas). 1'AHKiif is spoken in Eastern Liberia, in the Kelipo, I'adebu, and Sapo country south of the River Duobe. Ki'WKsi or GiiEi.K is spoken in much of the interior of Liberia, and is the most widely-spread language of the central parts. 15i xi is spoken in North-western Liberia, west of the Upper St. Paul's River. ENGLISH, DK. BASA. KRU. SIKON. GREBO. PAD KB r. Ant Nyo Sewe Sene Kwi/.e Sud Nyd Antelope— Cobus Gbwe Dri 6a-t6 ... rent G2 Nalmbu Bodebe Bo-16 P.ig Cephalophns ... Bwzw Duwl Nyabwe Nyebe Small ,, Kiire Kwe ... Kuda Ape (Chimpanzee) ... \Ve We Tuawe Pawe Tuawe Tuawe Arm So So So Sun So Son Arrow Pmi I)i Prose Se Pi^ ... Axe Gw, or Gii Djue K wit we K\\ Ttawe, To- Tue Towe we Baboon ... Hlf Kwamfaka Gyegiri We Gri PIS Back Ke Ivf, Nake Kun K* KoH Banana Uanfi Bw Kuw Pable Mene-ku Bana Beard \v Ve F* Fe Hind FjeH Bee IM Lu D6 Do D& Do Belly Kuri Kuri Kuri Kuri Kun Kwii Bird Bambaro N;i Yewa Flulu Nombara s,, Blood Nyem« Nyunnno Nyen<5 Pa \\ rli' i Nyemo Body Nafue Ned-yo Xafwe < !;io\\e NafwO Tumi Bone ( ibwa, or Kua Pros? Degwa Km hi Kabpa Bwd / bone. Borassus-palm K.-'. Bugo-tu So-tu 1138 Vocabularies of Liberian and other West African Languages BUZI. MANDINA. VAI. GORA. BULOM. FULA. WOLOF. MANDINA is spoken in the north and north-west of Liberia, on the Mandingo Plateau, and beyond in the adjoin- ing French and British Territories. VAI is spoken in South-western Liberia, from Cape Mesurado westwards to the Sierra Leone frontier, and beyond as far as the River Siilima. GORA is spoken in Western Liberia, along the east and west banks of the Lower St. Paul's River, and also near the eastern bend of the River Mano. BULOM is spoken in the Sherbro country of Sierra Leone, in the south-eastern parts of that colony. FULA. The dialect given of this language is spoken in the highlands of Futa Jallo, and about Timbo and the Niger sources. WOLOF is spoken in Senegal to the south of the Lower Senegal River. KPWESI (GBELg). BUZI. MANDINA. VAI. GORA. BULOM (for comparison). P'ULA (for comparison). WOLOF (for comparison). Wewe-wewe Wewe Bayaya, Zuma Azuma Isafi Horendolde, Melent, Melilo Metellu Korondom Mina (Hip- Kila Otuw (Hippo- potragus) t rag us ?) G\\s\\(Bubalis} Gusu ? Oguda (£tt- Sereani (Ce- Uwi balis) pho tophus) Q\.£(Cephal.) Wulu, Wuru Guru Wuru Wulu Qnyi lye Ze" Biiro,0r Muro Biilvi Okuamw Ukant, //. Dyungo, L5%w, Pwdeg Si-kar.t Wokude Tonw Mena Blfia Be Kekbe Sor, Ke Kurral Fet Ywwa Kbweldya Kono Tiere Egbu Bera Jambere, Seminy' Tenirde Tuwa ... Sura Gboii 12gange Itifl,//. Sitifl Yibkiru Ipulu Puru Ngoma Akote Eteumwa, Wilifi Bao Genao Jebete Gwe Maza Nasa Bana Gbana Poioth,Santu- inir, Banna Gbwele Ebgre Mumu Bwea Qya Usa Ware Kwe Kwen Li Kumii Agwe Ulw Nyakel Yamb, Leni KX> koi Ngono Bu Esua Kur, or Kun Redu, Dedi Bir, or Bid Kunne = Bowels Nwani Noni Konno Kunde Qwe Ive Sondu, //. Mplc, Perat Jolli Nama Nama Djuri Wviri Mase Nkon Jijam Derret Nakorw Dwtuisu Vali Magbuna Ekpuna Dial Bandu, Jadi Yaram Kaii Kae Nguru Kuru Egwa Pa Nyial, Gial YaX (//.Yie) t Bubula K66 Djwgaii ... Dugbi 1139 Liberia ENGLISH. DE. BASA. KRU. Si RON. GREKO. 1'ADEliU. Bow P16 Plo IV Pulon I'.!' Brains Driis. I'lani Xemane Fliimli Somiil^ Sosomoni Breast ... \ Xc Xyitie Asycn Xyidc Kiki Brother Naku Ni Dieju 1-Vn Dicyu \ym Di = JMotho Diey" Bieju, Bi = Father Buffalo Zu Djui Tui Tavveil N'imwe TuweS Bull Bri-b6 Bn-beo Bri-beo Birri-beo Buttocks Bwegbwu ( ib\VO Gb\vn B\valo Ilo Mdpwtn Canoe ( ! \\C- K\vo, or ( ivvd T5 Tii To To Cat Bli Swra Kubwe Kebioi Pdwc Chief Ma feu Nyofle Budio An5klal^wa Nyehwe Budia Child Wage, Wiigii Dyii Dja IN Talc Hy;ib\vc An Child, Small ... Dju-prubwe ... Au-bwci = Infant Cloth Hui Do Daro Gidic Daro Daro Cock ... Kokwa Coconut palm ... Kwidi- KwTvve Kwitatu Kwl-tab-da Swai-ta Sotu Country Abri Abri Borro Slonw Barf, or Brri Abcli Cow Briftyen6 BnydnoJ Bri-de Bli Birri-k\va Bli Crocodile Ugruwe Uyuwe Bwaurwpe Kola Urwl.c \Vuru-pe Day f». U\vc we Darobaba Xyenadw Kcni day Devil ... Ku, Mumavvi KCi Ku Dog < ilmc-. <»;• < ibc ..„«,, ,,G,,, ( il)\\(.\ cvGbe I»v\e ( ilmr Bue Donkey Jakasi = Kasaia Jackass Door BukayO Bukl Kay a Ihvaba Mia Kina Doorway Buw« Buw6 M \vaiyidi ... Dream fujli Inja Dyadyc Sll Yir. Y( 1 140 <+> Vocabularies of Liberian and other West African Languages KPWESI (GBELE). Buzr. MANDINA. VAI. GORA. BULOM (for comparison). FULA (for comparison). WOLOF (for comparison). KSran Ka, or Kagi Siakiirii, Kara, Keka, Ka Kere Lanyal, Le- Xala, Kala Twkpwa Kalail Tungbwa bol Nbotw Nkporo-gi Giinguro Mafulf Flefie Innini Nenena, or Zi, or Zl Susu Eya Kith, Umw Endu, Yendu Wien, Far Inene Ndiedii Deu, De-yu ? Made Inyomo Okbao Pintre Musido, Mak, Rak Man Teu Teu, or Tw Sivi Si Odyi Eda Teuflegw = Two buffa- loes Ula Pine Nyu Gbwarro Ebwa Utot, Purre Woru Gat, Tat Kelle Ke (Kegi) Dende, Kurfi Dende Ogo Worn Lana Lotkiw, Gal Nyalen Nyalu Nyungoni Manyai Obri Mus, Yari Musuru, Mus Mus, Undu Kalu Aso Masake Mandja Qkanda,Kanda Sukarno, Be Horejo Borom, Wai Lupane Du Dini DindT Qdjwa Uhiant Bi Xarel, Dwm Siyi Seye, or Seye Fani Kara De Kuta Koltu Serx Twlwlu ... Teiigolosu Konyakon Saakwi Doe Zu, Gaiyu Vaso, Du Bunt Jawa, Fiiiio Upok Ledi Rew Nina, Nika Nisi NT Di Inar-i-lakan ; Nagge Nag, Nag- Nina-sene Inar,//. Sinar mugigen Fali Fali Bafha Fali Ku Kiu Gilenyaro, Maimaidw, Noda Jasi Sa, Fiilo Gla BI, Till, Du- Tere, Dua Pal, Lipal Balde Bes, Fan se7egbwe Samakpwe Gofa Se Suetana Sua ... Titti (Sheitan) nia Greu Urini, Wuli JUta ss Tumoi Rawa, Dawa, Xagio, Kagi Kutu Swdwo Swluw Sofaini ... Dwsw Sofali Babba, //. Mbamsof Bamde Kpu Telela Ku Sa Bet-ufomfol Dambo, Bunt, Hubed Bunadara Bweilbwere Saengbwe Ufomfol Bafal Asa-gewo> GesiwMga Suw Ke-da-gbwin- Gwa Sou Koid Geent bwiri, Ken 1141 Liberia ENGLISH. J)E. BASA. KRU. SlKON. GkEliO. PADEBU, Drum Fu'.vr Dfi Dudu Tuo 1 )udu Bulu Ear Do Nfiddd Nukwi Nauu NSa XyoXu Egg ... Swg£ Swgc S\va-nye Suon-kek N< Suaki Elephant , . , -i ( rbwe Dyuwc Diuvc Duwainye Twdw€ Owe Excrement Enyfa! Xyinl Nyini Nini Nyinc Nyini Eye I >yide Dyidi Dyi Gidie Vc Nyi Face Madyiia Dyiiwa Dyibwc Dubau Yigbwa(Yibaj (aim a Fat Km a (N) Kinna Tyira Me Kende Nywfa Fear F3 Fcvyu Fanu Ampllo Xwano He does not fear anything ... ... Oropi-fano I fear Kpi „ Finger ( ibweyuwa Dyiyvva Dye Ki Dyie Gyika Fire Naf Inye Ne Nek Na Na Fish Zinuni Zumi S6a Simie Ne Iba Foot B6we Bwpe5 Bvve Bubo Bwpiiro Bo Forest Kuraku Kuraku Kuraide Klall Kulede Mai-aide, Kwra Fowl Su Su Soe Sun I labe Soil, //. Sue Ghost Sumii Sum" Tcerenyo Me-ku (Die- Siii Eglo-susu man) Goat Uri Wuri Bokro Bahwuru \Vudi Wrl; Wria = Alany goats God ( Jepn'i Gripo Nyeswa Musawa Nyeswa Ni-swa Gold Grass ... Pi Pi Piti Pell Pidi Kc/ra. Pidi Ground liuru Bin Bum Bru Boddw Brua Ground-nut Gende Blundi I )are ... Borro-te Koinati Guinea-fowl Bakiii Muia Circ5ki Mau,0r M\\au Kwra-kuka (///. Bush -fowl) Gun Bu Bu Pu Pume Pf. Pu Hair Mi Mi Nui Mi Luprimi 1 142 Vocabularies of Liberian and other West African Languages KPWESI (GBELE). Buzi. MANDINA. VAI. GORA. BULOM (for comparison). FULA (for comparison) WOLOF (for comparison). Sailwa Bade Sangbwa, Sangbwa Saiigwa Ibimbi Dandu Ndende Bala Ewuli Gwina Ndulw Turu Nu Niii Nofuru, //. Nop Nobi Tenalu Teile Sekri Chekeri Kutw Pil ; Tipel, Ojonde Nen pi. Sipel Sere Sena Sama Kama Nya Ipl Nyiwa Nyei Bw Pw-na Bw Gbw Hm Jilli, Bui Naigau Nai-na Nyade Dya Fe Fol Yitere, pi. Bot, or Bot Jite Inai Gazu Nyao Njaro Afen Fol Yeso, pi. Jese Kanam, Get Nakete Uro K^ Turu Nade Liya Neba, Haidai Duf, Dak, Du Naiyan Gilua Sia, Nene Miya Ju Wei Hull, Full Ragal Yegbwo Ze-beya Murukoni-ze Bw'doli Kie Usu Kulli, Kobe Baram Non Nobu Ta Ta Mo Dyom Yite, Jai Safara, Sa^ar Nie Nie Je7e Nie Kei Yii ; lyu, Lifigi, //. Gien, Jen pi. Sisu Lidi Kww KwSna, or Nze Ke Guru; Pen Koi Lahap-tank Kona Ula, or Wula Gwea, Gwea- Ura Ula Ngura Toi, Tofoi Bullure NXer, Hala na Te Te Sise Tie To Isok Gerto Ganar Gofe Gofe Dyina Nyana Nyiimfa Pomul, or Gine (?) Pamol Bull Bli, or Bull Bani Ba Di Ikulufi Je'e, Damd Mbei Xala, Tala Gara Allah Kamma, or Daya Foi Jomam Kanma Wale Sano Kani ... Nlofi Kane Wurus Turn W Tuma BT BT De Upue Genal, Hejo Nnyax Liieyi, or L'ei Zu Du Duma DI Gbum Ledi Siif Teyan Tena Tiya Genderi G6rl Ukantr Birio, Hols Haren Sofiw Su>ke Kami Kambi Diye ... [an Nat Gbwana, or Kpwade Mweifa Bu Gbwama Pinkar Fingari Fetal Bana Nundeya Undeya Guzi (often Kundi Didu Idirin Gasa, Suku, Kawar sounding Juku Gbuzi) "43 Liberia <*- ENGLISH. DK. BASA. KRU. SlKON. GREBO. 1'ADEHU. Hand Kuwa Kwa Kwa Kwida Kwa Kwlta Head Dru Dru Debw Dru Lu Dru Heart Fni-yiiwa Hruidyuwa Waka Polo Woddw Pwra. Pura Heel Buzi Bwkre Busta Bute Beyakle Hide ... Kmn Kru I )cku Sle K8 Kwa Hippopotamus ... C.hwOwc Clmcu, Nimwe NThurie Xiiima Honey Gbwgma Dwkera Dwkpwc Do Dtukera Dw Horn ( ;i>r> Ugmwe" MwO Mo Mwg Gmw Horse Sw Sw Sw Sw House Gbu Gbw Sera Bu Kfic Kasu My house Nagbw Ne-gbww Hunger Kr, Moyo Mw Mowe Kano Saro I am hungry ... ... ... Sana-nimo Hyena ... Buwi, or ... Bugbwi = Civet cat Iron Ure, SUre Nyekpwa Pre Kine Prrc^rPedde Prwda Island Tiiwkww Tokww Tremwe, Lewd Du-bwo Twkpww Ivory Gbwenye Dyueny'nfi Donye Dwwaini Donyc I) \\angi Knee Kodru Kodru Kvirudebw Kwadru Kura-lu Kwana Knife Za Dda Faka Faka Fa Fuka leg GbS Gbu Bo, Bo B& 1'wan Leopard Gbwi Dyi Dyi Gi Dyi K, Leopard's teeth Kc-ya Lion B'i • ... I«iPs Wekimvw I "nwakwwa Wotro Mwa Unakpubi ... Magic Gw« We* We ... W6J Kin Maize Bai Gbu Pamu Bad u we Yubwo Bwasu Man Gae (ia Nyimeyu Yunbye Nyimeyu Giba Meat Sae Scale S|), Nimle Minnc Nimi "44 rocabularies of Liberian and other West African Languages KPWESI (GBELE). Buzi. MANDINA. VAI. GORA. BULOM (for comparison). FULA (for comparison). WOLOF (for comparison). lyekwana Ze-wada Murokana Mbuijaro Kua Pia Jungo LoXw Xu Uiigi Gumbe Kfi Di Bui, or Bol ; Hore, pi. Bwp //. Tibol Koe Di, Ni MafSfo Fofo Vovo Fof5 Gbol, Ubol Berde Xol Kwopwdri Kwonlu Vasakoma Kinjama Gurwdi Tepe Tesdan Kiiro Koro Euro Gburo Fei ... Gurri. or Der Ngurru Yasiri Siaze Basamani Mali Nyake Ngabbe Kweiilo Kwenuro Lituru Kumuturii Gwei Silw Lem Mile, Mina MTna Bta Bina Si Luel, Waladu Begin Sw Sw Sw So> S(0 Sue, Kabalu Puju Fars (Arabic) {Portuguese^ Pele Pele Bu Keii Sa Kil Sudu Kor, Neg Pulu, or Puru Puluna K6 K6 Dyie Nrik Welo, Hege Xef Yaasuru Djala Djawa, Siru- ... ... ... }\.\ro(Slriped) Buki,Safandu ku, Djani Buro, Wasendu (Spotted} Kwali Kworrii Nend Kundu Kai Ntii Njandi Yen Piwi Tigi Ti Tin Ti Dunde Dun Serenyin Senyi Samagbwe KamanyT Sianya Rin Nyire, Alladi B6n-u-nyie Numbe Nubi Gumani Kume G6 Nlunk Hofuru, //. Horn Kopi Bwa Bwa Munu Mie Kwea Kin,//.Le-kin Labbi Paka, Gobad Saniino Koyo Ze Ken Guru Lunk, Ubefl Koi Tank Kwoli Kwe Soli Kuli Benana Ugbo, pi. Buturi, Ten, Seg, Tene Igbo, Igbel Suldu Ndyara Sulubu Djara Djara Sonla Nyabi Gaende Naiilu, Daiilu Daiilu Dagburu Uakpiiru Nyako Tondi Ulu Se Gbwaya,B'aya Sua Se Dom Gbai Gbwazi Nyo Nyoro Di Nkafi-ntol Butali, Kaba, Wende.Mbogi Masara Siino, sing. Zunu Ke, sing. Kai Fla Nw {Human Gor-ko, sing.. "iur and pi. and pi. being], Pw, Wor-be,//.; Pwkan, //. Mau Anw, Apw Sua Suw SO) Suye Yiri Vis, Nvis Ten Yap H45 Liberia l.NCI.ISH. 1)K. BASA. KRU. SlKON. GREBO. PADEIHJ. Monkey C-hri Girre ( iyt-ylre Kobe Yire Gidl Moon Sw Drc (N) Ted Ky5 I I., 1)1,0 Giox Mountain Smvo Trii Trw Tebc'hwe Mouth Nail (of finger or toe) K \\ 5 1 1 \\ o Jiekonc Konu JiekS Konu Name ... ... ... Nenne Nyenne Nyene Anvinea Nycnc Neck Brfi Bru Pru Punu Poddd Do Night Tiyc Ma Witie Wle To Witie Nose Muna Mia M'na Mela Mea(N) Mia Oil palm Gwesu Weityu Dyomya, Ywma Biisiinya Ox Rrri Bli, or Bl\i Bri, Blli Biirr? Bli-bao Palm wine Dy& Dyu Jiinumo Du-numo Yomo Nomo Parrot M£mbw Tya TcaCirebiiri Kea Kva Kia Penis Bollw Sire Sir! Keri Kire Kera Pig (Bush-pig) ... Be Bi (Gbi) Bwe Bea Bwtyw Bucu Pigeon Zw]w PtSpffl Pwpw Pabo Ilunube Unbwe Place Mamw Nino Abri Blewuro Tecliv, Ted(Ll ... Rain Nyiidobai Niyedoba Dyakfi, Ni NT Nu Nu Raphiapalm De-bongo Dyongd Debonya I )rnK- Rat ... Vc Bfie Pw? Kuwl I'rr.r' Pre Rhinoceros ... River ... ... ... Nigbww Niwa Niwa, Nibwa Nuwi Nii^ba Nr-foc (///. Bii,r-\vater) Road Nifu "Wiye \'iubwa,Wie ? Wla Tide Sunu Rubber Gbwsian Kenken Tan Sheep Bin. Bla B'rab'rfi Blable Blabfi Blabra Shield Nakuna, Diikura ... Urae, \Vurae ... Laktna Sister Nakfwi Xi-ma Dieju-yeneju Wurulgo Diayu Skin ... ... ... Nakhmu) Kmwwa Fw€ Neku ( ibwanic !•'<>,";- Fomotc Sky ... i)yac Dya Dya, Tiic ran \'\\ Vuu Sleep Mwamw Nylw Nyinnu Vino My tin 6 Nimo I am sleepy Momra-nlmo 1 146 ocabularies of Liberian and other West African Languages KPWESI (GBELE). Buzi. MANDINA. VAI. GORA. BUI.OM (for comparison). FULA (for comparison). WOLOF (for comparison). Kwara Kwea Swra Kpon Gange Kil Wandu, Golo; Badu, Kula Nalu I Am Kalw Kara Wa I pail Leuru,//.Leb Ver, Wiar Tie Gize Kuni K6 Tw Iron Wamle Tund ... ... ... Nyeii Hondu Geminy, Gemei Yenane Zeile Zoni Kenji Komw Sentaii Fede Ve, Wie Kofiam libe Two, Itwo It we Deu Ilil Inde Tur Ngoii Kwgi, Kw Nga Nkan Gbe Tumak Dande Bad Bwinni Widdi Su Diffi Dum Culn, Urtil Jema Gudi {Darkness) Sua ' Swkpwa Nu Sun Mia Min Kin Bakan Tulu Tu Te Kumale Suku Wa, Nsa Ten Tir, Ten Nina Twra, Nike Nisi ; Twra Ni ; Nikaema Diwwww, Nar, or Inar Nage, Deba, Nag, Lww Di = Cow Kolse Do D5 Ban, Gbwan Bankpwe Jumwa Mui, Mkalem Vabw Faliw Konnw Kunde Mambw Upal Sorwru, Ntkioi, Joi Mbonno Tuiyw Twwi Jakare Ikelle B& ... Soldo Boi Bin Bwi, or BuT Kwnia Nyiia Pyur, or Iper Lejo, Kose Mbam Yanwene ... Blini Pww, Puw Pwpw Pw Kambw,Tanta Katahet Bedele Ve Jano Nie Kia Yin Noku Twna Tiina Sa Swna Dyiri Porr Tober, Tabi Tao, Tou — // rains Ulukule? Gbazi ... Jwgarw Gbwrrie Ninna Nine Nyina Twra De Ubel Ndw, Yilifu Jenax Kowurii lya, or Ya Zie K8 Ji Kwet Sal Dabol, Mayo NdeX Pele Kpele Siya Kira Dwma Na Lawo You Kb wo Pwosen Pwosen Pwosen Pwosian Gbala Bala Saa Bawa Bawa Lonkobe Bali, Mbali NXar Bwata Gizo La Ka Neygbe Delu Made Jnywmw Ja™ Wantim Bandirao Mak, Jojigen Kollo, or Korro Gbiirrw Gbiirii Fei Korr Band, Der, Sedid Korro Ngurru Eyegbwana Tetia Abbe Agbwi Gbi Tuke, Foi Kamu Asaman Ni Nyi Siinw Ki Jawe Lul Nonre, Nelao Doifigo 1147 Liberia ENGLISH. Dfi, BASA. KRU. SIKOX. GREBO. PADEBU. Smoke Natru Nyesdw NasrO Diguro Naswnw Snake Se\\e Sre Sane Sire Son Najii Nfidyii Omwane Nlo Nyimayu Daughter Song fille Bile Ble Bli Brr6 Spear Zl Di Di Di Di Spoon Mma Star Dent- 1 )enejii Dyatene Kwoteni Neyo ; Toddu = Southern Cross Stick Su Tyu Tu Tu Tii Stone Sokpw S6 Sobw Sobo Sio Sia Sun Gu Dyirw Girffl Aguro Nwe Tear Xite Mitye Mit« M6 Testicles Bo-de De Muro Mminole Thief Glima Odyirri Giriw Vidiui Thigh F6 P6 Possw, Bwbe Pwo Thing Yekbfi D La Z6 So Sun Yerro, //. Yerre One Gbw Dw Dw (Due) Do Dw Dw Two So So So So s6 Safi Three Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta Four XnyS Xye NyG Xla m Ha Five Mhm Hm Mu, or \\m\\ Mui Urn 'M Six Mlegbww Mlenw Munyendw Melo Hmeledw Mbru Seven Mles8 M16s6 Mnyeso Meta Hmeleso M'sa Eight Mlela Mleta Miinyeta Mesa I'.rhalic'ha Xya Nine Mk-niiyO Mlennyd Sopadw Minya Siyedw Sirn Ten Yu Blabwe Pue Pui Pw Pu Eleven Vu-su/egbww Blabwesidw Piie-nyadw Pui-do Kunadw Puto-do> Twelve Vu-swesd Blabwesiso Puenynso Kunaso Fifteen Yusw-Oinhin Blabwewo- Puenyanni 1'unahm i^\ )\ve Sixteen ... I'unalniK'lcdo Twenty Blama Hrainyw Urn, Urn Tni-piii. or Woidoi Woro Wuro- kweda-so Thirty Blama-swefu Blainyw- Urdnyepue Pui-pui-j.ui- Wwrumapu blabwe k \veda-ta i 150 Vocabularies of Liberian and other West African Languages KPWESI (GBELE). Buzi. MANDINA. VAI. GORA. BULOM (for comparison). FULA (for comparison). WOI.OF (for comparison). Nu-kule Nu-wule Mo-gbwe Vloi-kwema Cwifwa, Putw-nw, Pu- Porto Tubab Nufwa twno \Tenu Naza Mwsw Musu Jon (O-jofi) La, Lakan, Gentu, Dekw Giabar Nwma Faila Faga Foye Fila Foe Hen Hendu Ngelao Ulu Gullu Gbaya Sua Se (Ese) Serainw Dom Nenu Naza VIwsw Musu on La, Lak, Debo, pi. Jigen Lakan Reube Kwae Kwoi Lo-koroma So M8 Utok Leclde Mat Bundiin Bwtw Kii [ambi Se Idi, Anei Daue, Kap Nyambi Kunan Kuna Sa Sa Dwa Nen Dubi At Ton 6 Gla Kirre.^rKeld Dondo Gun Bui Gw Ben Fera Felego Fla Fera, Fela Tie Tin Didi Nyar Sawa Saagw Sawa Sakpwa Tae Ra, Ninra Tati Nyet Nani Nane Nane Nane Tina Hyul,Ninhyii Nai Nyanent Dolu Dwliiw Lulu Sulu Nono Men Jwwi Giurom Maida Dwseta Woro, or Sunando Diegun Menbul Jego, Jwwego Giurom-ben W6116 Maifire Dwfera Wuruila Su-fera Detie Mentin Je-didi ,, nyar Maisawa Dwsawa S2 Su-sakpwa Detae Menra Je-tabi ,, nyet Main an Taja Konnw Su-nane Detina Menhyul Je-nai ,,nyanent Pu Pu Ta Ta Zia Wwan, Waii Sakpo, Sapo Fuk Sap, Jap Pugautono Pu-kae-gla Ta-ni-kiri Ta-nando Ziadia- \va-gun Wan-nebul Sakpo-egw ,, akben Bufira Pu-felego Mua Mwbande Gbeu Twn, or Utwr Japande-didi Nit Nwgai Busawa Pu-sagw Bwensawa Mwbande- Gbeu-wa-zia Twn-nuwan ... Fanver, or akojta Nyet-i-fuk Liberia ENGLISH. I)K. BASA. KRU, SlKON. C.RFI5O. PADEBU, Forty Blamaso Bla-so Pui-pui-pui- \V(,j(le-s6 pui-kweda- nia Fifty Blamasd- l.lal.w L'rcso-nye- Pui-pui-pui- \Vojdes6-mna su/efu pue pui-pui- pa kweda-mui Sixty lilamata Brala Ureta K \vccla-melo Wudeta Seventy Blamataswefu Blanta-bla- Kweda-meta Wudeta-nena bwe pu Eighty Blamahnye Blahnye Urenye Kweda-mesa Wude-he Ninety Blamahnye- Blahnye-bla- Kweda-minya WudehC- swefu bwe nena-pu Hundred Blamafu Hra-blahwe Uremii, K\veda-pui Wure-hm. (Honda) Urejiim Wure-pu Thousand ... Urepwete Kome I, Me, Mine Mo Mr, Mo Mr, Mo Moh Thou, Thee, Thine ... Mo M<> M5e ... Mr, Man He, Him, His Mawe Nyooa \youna, Nyo .' Nydnone We, Us, Our Amtu Amoj Amui Amw You, Your Amw Amw \in\vc- Amw They, Their Mi-, or Mt'fini' Nyw, X\'.'M Jniu Qnw ... 1152 •* Vocabularies of Liberian and other West African Languages KPWESI (GBELE). Buzi. MANDINA. VAI. GORA. BULOM (for comparison). FULA (for comparison). WOLOK (for comparison). Bunane Punane Bwe-nane Vlwfera- Gbeu-tie Tum-nutwn, ... Sfyanent-i-fuk bande or Titwn Bud5lu Pu-lwlu Bwe-lulu Mwfera- Gbeutie-dya- Twn-utwnu- jiurom-i-fuk akwta wa-zia wafi, or Ti- twn-uwan Bumenda Pulwseta Bwen-awoio Mwsakwa- Gbeu-ta bande Budolmai- Pulwfela Bweii-awu- ,, akota ,, fira ruya-awurua Budolmesawa Pulwsawa Bwen-a-sen Mwnane- ,, banda Budolmena Putawu iwen-a-konno> ,, akwta " Kerne Zegla Kline, Hondodando Hondo-agun Temedere, Temer Ulukele Wulure ... Tauzan (ENGLISH) Nya Na Ne, N', M- Nga, N', Na Mia Yafl, Ya-, Me, Mido, Mi-, Man, Ma ; Me Min, 'A, NaOr&z/), Am = J/y Suma (My) Ya Ya Ile, I-, Ya Ya, Iwa, I- Mua Mun, Moa, An, Mada, Yo,La,Le,Nga Moa 'Ade,Da; Ma, (verbal), Mada =They Sa=7^> Yiti Ni Ate Awa, A Nyungwi, Won, Woa, Kw, Makw,Q Mu, Le, No Mwawi Woa Mak« = JW (verbal), Kukere Gi Mu Muanu,Mura Yabi Hi, He Medon, Men Nun, Nu ; Mwa, Mu Meneil ; Nanu-sunu Meden = Our Kakelene Ami Wu Wuanu, Ywnyi Nga, Nw, Nw Onom, On ; Yen, Len ; Wura, Wru Mwoii = Ngen Your (verbal). Sen= Your Nuiti Ami Anu Anura, Anda Anyu Nga Be,Ben,Kam Nyu, Nyom Anu be; Mabe Sunyu = Their = Their VOL. 11 1153 41 Liberia <*- ENGLISH. D£. BASA. KRU. SlKON. GREBO. All S Mi- Se" NFwe (\"CMI\\ Kcri'lcwc J,V ^ Am we) This man Ma we Gaidyua Nyimejun6 Myona Xyi- be-no That man Ma-nycbc Gaiyu-niaye NyonyO ... Xyano-nide This tree Sugbfi Tyu-yuaru Tuna Tu-nono That tree ... Su-anyebe Tyu-nyaye Xu-nyr Tu-nonide My house Xagbw Xe-gbww Na-seni Xakae Thy house „ Na-sera Xakae His house " > j ( )-scni 0-kae Our town Abli-gu Abliiihiirw A-kr6 ... A-wurn Your country De-bli ? XTe-bli, or Na-blfi ... A-bri Mbli Their children Ma \ve-wii Nyue-adyu Wejurfi, Oayuru Ye-jiiru Bad Onyim Onyinekple- Enyinfdye, Waur, or Ku, nekwre, XyTnfdye Anenigidi Mnnyibe-kuu Onyinidye = Yon arc fad Female .. Xonno/ Nyenw DC Nu Xyinc Good Nomwni, Xomwji Sic, Onomigiri HS; N5ma Sie-bokrode Ha-k:ic, Ha- = Good fe- dyi-bade = male goaf Good /i i>n s,- Great Obwc Obwc Fwe Voiiklaba Hu.T:. Xye-hwa: = />','V man Little Onani Obieyi iwd, or I!:c. Xiate Tycnir. \\V or Gbe Male B16 Va, Beo 3rr6, Bco Cia GbS (Beo is !h< commoner) White pa Tt 'uru )plu Puru Here I )al)we )awe Vm;i Dyi Black Tni Gbwi, (ibi )eyirc, )l)wcnmu Irikbwww Edyirikpww, Dyirikpww, >eyirep ... Gere-ya-usw Nekore Nasa Geza Me-fara Na-fa Mia-kafa A, or Ya-wu ... Wu! Gere-za-ne Nenane Nanpuli Gedogbwerre Me-gbweme, Narni Mia-katia Ya-kulu M'mi Nenanone Nawelokpuli Gekbwerrea Meami Namia .Kakpweyatia Neyirona Nafukpeleni, KerekpwSeni M'ma ami, Na-mamia Fwtie Ya-ke kulu-re Nafugbeleni De-mi Netane Nalame Gemla Medo, Do, or Nadon Mia-jia Ya, or A-J5 Du ... Yamumi Nimi Mi -ado Gimi Nuado .... Ami Aluado ... Ami Aluado Ye-ta Nafelame Geremi Dedo, or Namadon Fwjie A-ke-jo M'mado Ne-nyine Na-ve Gefea . Medi . Nko Mia-namkia A-ka ... ... ...- Ka! Nafe-veniye, De-di Naik5 Nalie Nehlmune Na-veiya Gefeewe Me-adi-ma Kamkia A-kaen (I give thee] Neyimuhi . Gerefeniwe Me-madi-ma A-ka-mo (I give thee (Mo = Thee) not] "57 Liberia v ENGLISH. DK. BASA. KRU. SlKON. Give me ... Nyemu, o>- Nyem I gave him Egio-kwi ? Knydni Nenyumo, ... Neniumo I go, am going Nam we Neii me N 3,111 U M I go not Go! Mu ! Mu! Mu!0;-Mue! I went Namu Namu Nemuw I went not Nsedamfi Ensedamu Seremfi I kill them Ndabani Ndabani Nedub6 Kill! I know Ndyubwni Endyulni Nedyipwe I know not Njjcdyufow Ensldyu He does not know i yipw« Thou lovest ... Negyire We make Anu. Anvu Ainunwnu We make hox I make bread We say ... We sold not He stinks Amoani He stinks not ... He steals Obotridi He steals not They laugh . Okeni Okie You weep Nafiii NavT Why art thou sleeping? Where did he go? Who comes in? What do you say? How do you make palm wine? What shall we drink 1158 ^ Vocabularies of Liberian and other African Languages GREBO. KPWESI (GBELE). Buzi. MANDINA. VAX. i GORA. BULOM (for compai'ison). ... Namaiko Nehinone, Na-veme Gefea Me-adf Na-ako Gon-kia A-ka-re-wwa Ne-yi-nohi Ne-mine ... Gedi Nda, w-Mba Na-ta Kaka A-kon ra-ta ... Nafedine Gereria Mu! ... Kwa ! Ne-munone Nadi Na-ta, or Nta Kakpweya-ka A-kon-re ... Galizu Me-ta Ne-la-nwne Gepa Me-afara Nanufa Mamjiwa Na-ti-pa ! Ne-bwnone Nagollw | Gekwonni Me-alo (? 7 Kanyima knew), Ngalo Ne-yi-ne-yibw Nafegwlw Gerekwonni Delo Fwnyima Ke-me-malo Nuanene Nekadia Anune Mwka Anu-brau Ne-nu-foro Amutuni A-yikpuru Mwnafura O-p6n8 Mwmafw Oyipeno Asuma, Asumate O-yirini Asi O-yi-yiri O-tyane Mw-ve-dyerri Mwmw-a-ve- dyerre A-wini I-wekasi Da-ta-mwa? I-su-n6mmi ? Te-no-o-mue? Ke-mitato-me? Nyo5-diw? Dyiune-we? Ha-peya: ? Yaku di ? ... Igbwe-ke-la- mmi? Mwai-minde- mi? (Mwe- minderni ?) "59 Liberia ENGLISH. DE. BASA. MANDINA. When art thou coming? Gawe-ndyi? Dchla-ndyie? Enani-sa-min-dero ? Give me food Nyisic Xyi-dide X/n-dnniini-fina Cut me a small stick ... ... Tere-korr.ma-ni I want a little stone ... X:\gl in-sukpo-u Xetmvo-sobo-jvie Xgaka-\va-ni-dia Which (fowl) will you give me1? Sise-minde-dumuru ? He is inside the house... Onyie-gbwo Onyiegbwo dekiiri Ai-bu-ra The birds flew away ... Kono-\vc-ta He is taller than I ... Adyana-ni The parrot screams Mamu-agble Tca-ble Konno-awe-kumnia The rotten tree falls ... ... Kon".ina-tuini-\vel)L- Can you see me? Nsendyiebe ? Nscndyie-be? Inyc-nc-la ? No, I cannot Nse-odyie Ns6-b€ GbwCU I see you Enandye Xandyie 426. GKRMAN "FACTORY" AT IIAKI'KK, CAPK I'ALMAS, WHEUK MiMl. U|. THESE VOCABULARIES VVEKE WRITTEN DOWN I I 60 INDEX NOTE. — Pages numbered 521 and upwards are -in Vol. II. Abortion, a 't of procuring among natives, 1041 Acacia bark, 1024 Acacia gum, 70 Academy of Philosophy, Maryland, 390 Acanthodrilus worms, 812, 841 Achatina (snails), 839 Adams, J. (Liberian), 137 Adultery, 1045 et se(l- Aframomum (Malagueta pepper), 58, 546, 655, 993 AFRICA, see North, West, East Africa, etc. African languages, 1091 et seq. " African League," the, 392 African Methodist Episcopal Church, 376 '' African Redemption," Liberian Order of, 271, 274 " African Repository," 229 African Society (of London), xvii, 982 Agama lizards, 814-5 Agapornis, 779 Agelastes Guinea-fowl, 370, 758, 788 Agri (Aggry) beads, 22 et seq., 55 " Agricultural World," 392 Agriculture among Liberian peoples, in, 182, 424, 985, IOOO-2 Agriculture, Bureau of, 321 Albizzia, 451, 60 1 ALCOHOL in West Africa, 76, 82, 152, 173-4, 1060 Algarve (Southern Portugal), 37, 46 Allamanda, 540, 626 ALPHABET (or Syllabarium) of the Vai language, 1107, 1114, 1116 et seq. Alphabets, native, in Liberia, 1115 Alumina, aluminium, 516 Ambergris, 70 AMERICA and the Slave Trade, 106, 125 141, 182 ; and Liberia, 141, 157 AMERICAN COLONISATION SOCIETY, 126, 128, 134, 141 et seq., 150, 158, 184, 188, 195, 200-1, 221, 229 American Episcopal Church, 134, 434 American habit of misnaming animals, 366 American Negroes : destination of, 344 ; position of, 346 Americans (White), 126, 157, 179, 185 Amomum, see Aframomum Amphibians, 821 et seq. Amphibolite, 514 Amphisb&na lizard, 816 Amulets, 943-4, 960, 966 Anabas, 826-7 Ancestor- worship, 1062 Anchomanes, 554, 558-9, 560-1, 661 ANDERSON, BENJAMIN (Liberian traveller), 250 et seq., 254, 267, 288, 488, 490-2, 518 Anderson, W. S. (Liberian), 259, 266 Anglo-Saxon customs and prejudices in- herited by Liberia, 145, 356 Angrcecum, 545, 654 Angwantibo, the ( A rctoce bus), 684 Annatto seed, 400 Anomalunts (" Flying Squirrel "), 693-4 Anomma, 672, 856-7 Anona, Anonaceous plants, 526, 575 etseq., 992 Anopheles mosquito, 852 Ant-eater, see Manis ANTELOPES, 735 et seq., 1084-5 Ants, 672, 752, 855-8, 865 Aonyx (see Lutra), 708 1161 Index *- Af>(H-yiidcc(p, 539, 616 ct scq. Apprentices, apprenticeship, 1080 Arabic. 254 ARABS, 27, jS. 33, 35, 72, 104, 342 Arachis, 412, 594, U<>L Arachnida, 843 <•/ s^. Archa-an rocks, 513-4 Ardcd. 768-9 Aristolochid, 539, 542, ^4; Aristotle, 20 Aroids (" Arums "), 554, 550 ct seq., 661-2 Arrowroot, ^57, 990 Arrows, 1024 Art, Xegro, 75, 1014 Arthington, 371 Arthington, Mr. Robert, 276 Aryan languages, origin, phonology of, 1093-4 et seq. Aryan, the, Aryan mulatto, 342, 356 Ashanti country, language, people, 23, 34, 55 Ashland, Clay, 371 ASHMUN, JEHUDI (founder of Liberia), 129, 132 et seq. ; his piety, 132, 144 ; his orders to the garrison on August 3ist, 1822, 136, 137 ; founds Mon- rovia, 140 et seq. ; his first troubles, 141 ; goes to Cape Verde Islands, 142 ; proceeds to extend the Colony, 143, 146-8 ; fights the Slave Trade, 148 ; his library and studies, 149 ; du-s in America (1828), 150 ; his des- cription of a python at Monrovia, 813 Aslimun, Mrs., 134, 137 A they is viper, 808-9 Athi-rura porcupine, 697 Atlantic coast of Sahara, 20, 33 Atlantic Ocean, 32, 520, 0X0. See also Eot . 4tractds[>is, 807-9 '\troxima, 578-9 Attia (a Morocco Jew), 159, 428 Audad, the (Ovis hrvia), 916 Argust, the month of, 498, 50.2 August 22nd, 1847, 222 " Augusta " (American schooner), 141 Austria, 228 A i THOR, the, Preface; on the Americo- Liberian population, 340 ; his advice to them, 368-9 ; his census, 371-2 ; botanical exploration of Liberia, 571-2 ; mammals of Liberia, 754 ct seq. ; birds of Liberia, 787 et seq. Avres, Dr. Eli, 128-9, 130, 142 Azores, the, 135 Baboons, 677-8 Bacon, Rev. Ephraim, 126, 128 Bacon, Rev. Samuel, 126, 128, 141 Bafu Bay or Point, 51, 462 Bahr-al-Ghazal, 75, 890, 1097 Baker, Robert (a sixteenth-century Eng- lish adventurer in Liberia), 66, 67 Bale, Basel, 20, 84 Baltimore (U.S.A.), 132, 134, 142, 160, 188, 229 Bambara, the, 1096 Bamboo, the, 561-2, 668 Bambotus, the River (Senegal), 20 Banana, the, 60, 546, 658, 901, 992, 996-7 Bankson, J. P., 126 BANTU LANGUAGES and tribes, 1061, 1091, 1096-8, noi, 1105 Baptist Church, Baptists in Liberia, 184, 244- 376 Barba or Borgu, 1 10 j. Barca (sailing vessel), 39, 78 BARCLAY, ARTHUR (President), arrival in Liberia, 250 ; arranges loan difficulty, 265-6 ; becomes President, 300 et seq. ; his congress of kings and chiefs, 300-1 ; his attitude towards native questions, 301 et seq. ; deals witli the French boundary, 305-11; Presi- dential Address, December, 1904, 311 et seq. ; native policy, 315 ; maintains " African " character of Liberia, 333 ; re-elected second term, 378 ; pro- fessor, Liberia College, 384; opinion on the subject of the " Karou " people, 926 Barclay, Mrs. Arthur, 319 Barclay, Ernest, 250, 331 Barclay, Mount (plantation), 416, 452, 499, 502 Bark-cloth, 1015-6 Barracuda fish, 829-30 lidrtcria, 532, 536, 606 1 162 *+> Index BasA County, 158-9, 208, 357 BASA, GRAND, 30, 128, 146, 154 et seq., 185, 188, 193, 198, 208, 217, 232, 371, 392, 458 Basa language, 457, 1099, 1138 et aeq. BASA, LITTLE, 166, 169, 371, 457 BASA PEOPLE OR TRIBE, 457, 886, 948, 971-2 Baskets, basket-work, 1015 Bates, Mr. G. L., 90, 694, 718, 726 BATS of Liberia, 688 et seq. ; fruit-eating, 689-91 ; brush-tongued, 690 ; insect- eating, 691 et seq. ; Rhinolophine, 691 ; Nycterid, 691-2 Bats, origin of the, 686 Bay-thighed Diana Monkey, 680- 1 Beads, 22, 65, 77, 960 Beans, 992 Beasley, Professor C. P., 30, 77 Beast stories, 1083 et seq. Beds, native, 1006 Bee, bees in Liberia, 854, 865 Beef, 101, 999 BEETLES of Liberia, 851-2, 866 et seq.. 998 Beila people or country, 887 Belgium, Belgians, 226, 236, 280 Bells, 1026 Benedict, Samuel (Liberian), 199, 218 Benin, 50, 61, 75, 108 Benson, J. (Liberian), 137, 193 BENSON, S. A. (President), 230, 234-6, 238, 243 Benue, languages of the, 1103 Berbers, the, 714 Berlinia, 530, 600 Bethencourt, Jean de, 29 et seq., 34 Bible, the, 353, 1109. See also Testament Binger, Fort, 306, 478 BINGER, L. G., 30, 252, 932, 956, 970, 993, 1090 Bird lore, 90 BIRDS of Liberia, Errata, 758 et seq. Birds, origin of, 766 BIRTH CUSTOMS, 1048 et seq. Bisagos Archipelago, 38, 39, 52 Bishop of London, 226 Bishops of Liberia, 374 Bis5 (Bissaw) River, 30, 148, 458 Bitis, 807, 809 Bitterns, 772 " Black, White, and Yellow," 220-1 Blanco, Cape, 35, 38, 83 Blanco, Don Pedro, 151, 164 et seq., 170, 226 Blattidte, 847 Blomfield, Bishop of London, 226 Blood, ceremonial use of, 1076 BLYDEN, DR. E. W., 140, 190, 218, 229, 231, 256, 263, 277, 383, 1048 Bo, Mount, 459, 477, 480 Boa snakes, 812-3 " Boatswain " (or Bosan), a Kondo chief, 148, 151, 180, 252 Bojador, Cape, 35 Bombax tree, 528, 582, mi Bommi fish (Periophthalrmis), 827-8 Bondholders, Council of Foreign, 267 Bonds of the Liberian Loan (1871), 262, 336 Bongo Tragelaph (broad-horned antelope), 366, 728 et seq. " Boni " girl (a girl in the initiation school), 1033, 1087 Boocercus, 366, 728 BOPORO, 148, 180, 232, 252, 416, 488-90, 825, 886 Borassus (see Palm), 65, 400, 473 Bos, 902 et seq. ; taurus, 902—3, 907-8 ; cegyptiacus, 902-3, 907 ; indicus, 902,, 905 Bosnian's description of the coast of Guinea, 91, 92, 743 Boulenger, Mr. G. A., 675, 824, 831 Bracken fern, 567, 668 BRAHAM, MR. I. F., Preface, 22, 226, 306, 4/6, 739. 767, 831, 934, 944 Brander, C., 137, 155 Brandy, 74, 101, 154, 173 Brass (the metal), 74, 75 Brassey, Captain H., 138 Braun, Samuel (of Basel), 84 et seq. Brazil, 77, 161, 228 Bread-fruit tree, 554, 654, 992 Breakers, see Surf Bremen, 228 " Brer Rabbit " in Africa, 1084 Brewerville, 312, 371 Bridges, native, 480 Bristol and West Africa, 66, 176, 241 1163 Index BRITISH GOVERNMENT : and Slave Trade, 122, 165, 170-1, 176, 182; and Liberia, 131, 138-9, 170, 183-4, 193-5, 198, 22$, 230, 268 ct seq., 277 ct seq. British, the, 183 British trade with Liberia, 427 Bronze Brumley, Sultan of, 1 5 i Bubalis major (West African Hartebeest), 744-5 Jinbalns, 730 ct seq. Bubu, or voluminous garment worn by Mandingos, 462-4 BUCHANAN, THOMAS (Governor), 157, 175, 179 et seq., 182 ; death, 184-5 Buchanan, Upper and Lower, 156, 168, 185, 371, 459-6o, 462 Buffalo, the red, 370, 730, 731-4, 735 Bugs, 859, 866 Bula, Buley, 490 Bulama Island, 53, 115, 121 et seq. Bulom, country or language, 232, 1091 et seq., i TOO, 1105, ii 39 et seq. Bunbury, Sir E., " History of Ancient Geography," 18, 19, 21 Bunsen, Chevalier de, 226 Burial customs, 1058-9, 1060 Bushman type of Negro, 887-9, 930, 942 ; language family, noo, 1106 Bushrod Island, 101, 130, 143, 444 Bushrod, Washington, 126, 424 BUTTIKOFER, PROFESSOR J., ix, XV, 288-9, 300 ; his notes on the Liberian chimpanzee, 674 et seq. ; Liberian Cer^opithecus monkeys, 679 ; on Liberian bats, 683-690 ;. on shrews, 693 ; on squirrels, 695 ; mice, 696 ; hyraxes, ~:-rhn), 137 Carey, Rev. Lot (Liberian), 135-6, 150 Careysburg, 151, 371, 442, 454 . i 164 Index " Carlos," wreck of the, 270 Carnivora of Liberia, 699 et seq. Carthage, Carthaginians in West Africa, 1 8 et seq., 26, 104 Cassava, 400, 649, 901, 990, 1000 Cassell, the Rev. R. H. B. (Liberian), 392 Cassin (American naturalist), 780 Castor oil, 901 Cat (see Felis) Catalan sea rovers, 34 Catfish, 825 Cattle, 423, 902 et seq. CAUCASIAN species of man, mixture with the Negro, 18, 21, 28, 342, 356, 890-8, 1097-8 Causus viper, 807-9, 810-1 CAVALLA RIVER, 43, 51 et seq., 65, 84, 92, 282-3, 296, 300, 306 et seq., 311, 372, 470 et seq., 476 et seq., 484-5, 933 CENSUS: first Liberian, 157, 160, 191; second ditto of 1840, 183 ; third in 1843, 191, 209, 340; author's in 1906, 371-2 ; approximate census of natives, 886 Centipedes, 846 Cephalophus, 734, 736 et seq., 738. See also Duiker. Ceratogymna, 781-3, 798 Cercopithecus, 679 et seq. Cerne, see Kerne Cess, New, 148, 164, 166-70, 228, 460 Cess, Rock, 462 CESTOS, GRAND, River, Errata, 50, 61-2, 84, 88, 92, 102, 273, 371, 462-3, 1059 Ceuta, 37, 45, 46 Chad, Lake, 36, 900, 906-8 Chalmers Mitchell, Dr. P., 710 Chameleons, 813 Charles V., 106 Chartered Company (Liberian Develop- ment), 289, 300, 308 Chase, methods of the, among Liberian natives, 1024 Cheeseman, J. J. (President), 284-5 Cheetah, the, 707 CHEVROTAIN, the WATER (Dorcatherium), 721 et seq., 726-8, 1084 Chevrotains (Tragulina), 721 et seq. Chief Justice of Liberia, 209 Chiefs, native, 1072 et seq. Children, mortality of, 1037, 1048 ; age of weaning, 1048, 1051-2 ; treatment of, 1052-3 CHIMPANZEE, 90, 366, 674 et seq. Chinery, Mr., 259 et seq., 263-4 CHRISTIANITY, CHRISTIANS, 49, 81, no-i, 132, 203, 220, 356-8, 360, 376 ; versus paganism, 1036-7 ; and polygamy, 1048 Chubb, Mr. Charles, ix, Errata, 763, 787 et seq. Church of England, 113, 374 Churches (Liberia), 353, 374, 376 Cicatrisation, 970 et seq. Circumcision, 978, 1034 et seq. Citizenship in the Liberian State, restric- tions on, 216 Civet cat (and perfume), 71, 366, 703 Clarendon, Earl of, 234 Clay, Henry, 126 Cleanliness : of Europeans, 82 ; of Liberian natives, 952 Climate of Liberia, 497 et seq. Clitandra, 400, 621, 618-9 Clitoris, excision of the, 1035 Cloth, 74, 962 Clothes of Europeans in West Africa, 82, 89 ; of Mandingos, 962-4 Clothes worshipped by Liberians, 354 Coal, 519 Cobalt, 518 Cobra, 809, 810-1 ; tree cobra, 809, 811 Cobus antelopes, 743, 1085 Cockroaches, 847-8, 864 Coconut palm, 43, 901. See also Palm CceciliidcB (blind amphibians), 821-2, 850 Coffea liberica, 401, 539, 613 Coffee, 322, 394, 400, 402 et seq., 539, 613 Coinage, the Liberian, 234 Coker, Daniel, 126 Cola, see Kola nut Coleman, W. D. (President), 284, 298-9, 383 Colleges, see Education and Liberia College Colobus monkeys, 450, 68 1 et seq., 684 Colocasia arum, 901, 988 Colour prejudice, 228 Colours, National, of Liberia, 220 Columbus, Christopher, 45 1165 Index v , 53 ; Commerce, see Trade Companies in Liberia. 286 Congo Forest, Congo Basin, 890, 932, 1 101 Con>phary>r^it. 628-9, CONSTITUTIONS OF LIBERIA, 150, 158, 199 ct seq., 217, 260, 331-3 Consul, British, in Liberia, 2 30, 381 Consular representation in and by Liberia, 380-1 Copal gum, 402, 412, 6OO Copper. 74, ;;, ;iS Coral as an article of trade, 74, 77 " Corisco," wreck of, 272 Corundum, 5 16 Cnryt/urolc, 776, 794 Costus, 546-7 COTTON goods, 398, 400 Cotton growing, 322, 410, 1019 Cotton manufactures, 72 et seq., 398, 962, 1017 Cotton plant, cotton wool, 72, 402, 528, 901 Cotton spinning, weaving, etc., 1012-3, 1014-6 Cotton tree, see Bombax Coula edulis, 529, 531, 587, 992 Counties of Liberia, 158, 208 Cox, Lieutenant E. W., 309 Crabs, 842-3, 861 Crayfish, 843, 862 Cresson, Port, 155 Cricetomys rat, 696 . Crickets, 849, 864 Crinitm, 548, 550 Crocidura (shrews), 693 Crockery, 398 Crocodile, common or Nilotic, 452, 816-7 ; short-headed (Osteolcemus), 452, 819; slender-snouted (C. cataphractus), 817-8 Crocodiles (in general), 24, 26, 816, 1089 Crommelin, J.P., viii ; Illustrations, }<>X, 38l Cronise, Miss (African folk-lore), 1083 Crook, L. (Liberian), 137, 139 Crow, white-necked, 671, 783 ; Crozer, Dr. S., 126, 229 Crozerville, 371, 452 Crustacea, 842 et seq., 86 1 Crymophilus, 762. 790-1 Cuba, Cubans, 136, 151, 161-2, 226 Cuckoos, 794-5 Culcasin. 557, 563-4 " Cunnie Rabbit," 727 Currency, Liberian, 428 Currie, Mr. U. P., 775, 780, 787 et seq. Customs House in Liberia, 192-3, 242, 249, 350-2 Customs revenue, 259 Customs tariff in Liberia, 190, 249, 428 et seq. Cutlasses, 398 Cuttington (village or college), 372, 388 " Cyane " (the American brig), 141 Cyrtosperma arums, 476-8, 556-7, 562, 765 Dahome, 93, 346, 1004 Damaliscus antelopes, 744 Dances, 1032 Danish description of the Grain Coast in eighteenth century, 102-3 DAPPER, DR., 30, 32, 43, 77, 86 et seq., 716, 926 " Dash " (West Coast term for " present ") 92 Dashiell, Lieutenant, 141 Davidson, Captain, 193 Day, John (Liberian), 199 DE language, 1099, 1136, 1138 et seq. DE : people or tribe, 87, 88, 97-8, 128, 136, 138 et seq., 179, 886, 922, 926, 934-6, 948,978,983 De River, see St. Paul's River Death ceremonies and funeral rites, 1055 et seq. Declaration of Independence of Liberia, 199 et seq. Delafosse, M. Maurice, 460 Demery, A. T. (Liberian), 787 Denlraspis (tree cobra), 811 Denmark and the Slave Trade, 112 ; and Liberia, jjS Dennis, J. B. (Liberian), 378 Dciitex (fish), 829 Deputie, J. (Liberian), 390 Devil, native representations of, ideas of a, 1030 et seq., 1089 " Devil "-men, 1070 ct seq. 1166 Index >ewa River, 51, 270, 4* Diabolitos rocks, 462 Diamonds, 288, 516 Diana monkey, 680- 1 Diani River, see St. Paul's River Diaz, Dinis, 38 DIEPPE, PETIT, 30 et seq., 88-, 166, 187, 282, 460 ; GRAND, 30 et seq., 166 DIEPPE, the DIEPPOIS, 29 et seq., 45, 57, 59 Digbi (Vai coast), 166, 168, 436 Dinklage, Herr Max, 381, 571 Diorite, 514-5 Dipsadomorphus tree snake, 811-2 Diseases of Liberia, 81, 90, 980 et seq. Diugu, Duyu (Upper Cavalli), 477-80 Divination, methods of, 1004, io38 Divorce, 1-047 DOALU BUKERE, 230, i loS et seq., 1114 Dobli Zulu Id., 419 Doctors, native, 1070 et seq. Dog, the, 900-1, 1000 ; in Nidi country, 1000 Domestic animals, Negro's, 81, 720, 900 et seq. Dorcatherium, 721 et seq., 1084 Dormice, 695-6 Dorylus, 855-6 DOSSEN, J. J. (Liberian), 315, 379, 390 Dove, the, on the Liberian shield, 218, 221 Downing, George S., 236 Draa or Daradus River, 24 Draccena, 548, 551, 659 Drake, Sir Francis, in Liberia, 107 Draper, M. S., 137 Draper, Sarah, 145 Dravidian type of man, 342 Drayton, J. B. (Liberian), 234 Dress, see Clothes Dring, Captain, 193 Driver ants (Anomma, Dorylus), 672, 752. 855-7 Drugs, native, 986-8 Drums, 1012, 1017, 1026-7 Drunkenness in Liberia, 174, 948 DRUPLE, MOUNT, 6, 308, 477, 482-3 Du Chaillu, 729 Ducks, Muscovy, 479, 920 DUIKER ANTELOPES, 734 et seq. DUIKER, the Crowned, 736 ; the Black, 738, 998, 1090 ; Jentink's, 738-9 ; Maxwell's, 738 ; Ogilby's, 738 ; the Yellow-backed (sylvicultrix), 738, 740-2 Dukwia River (or people), 147, 308, 416, 454, 716, 731, 739, 1079 Dulce, Rio, 62 " Dumboy " (cassava balls), 990 Dunbar, C. B., 261 Dunbar, Rev. A., 389 Duobe, River, 306, 478, 480, 1000 DUTCH, the, 48, (in Liberia) 49, 82, 83 et seq., 89, 93, 96, 102, 290, 346, 427 Dysentery, 90, 980 Eagle, eagles, 773-4 Eagle owl, 779 Eann-s, Gil (Portuguese navigator), 37 Ear, earrings, 979 Earthworms, 841-2 East Africa, 55, 104 Eating, native customs connected with, 990 Ebony, 409, 410, 420, 597 " Edentates/' 747 et seq. Edina, 154, 179, 371, 459 Edinburgh (Scotland), 416 Edinburgh (U.S.A.), 154 Edmondson, A., 137 Education, 318 et seq., 381 et seq. ; native ideas of, 1032 et seq., 1036 etseq. EGYPT, ANCIENT, influence of, on Negro- land, 57, 75, 894, 902, 904-5,, 1018-9 Ela'is, see Palm, oil Elder, Dempster & Co., 293 Elections in Liberia, 205, 208, 214, 218 Electric fish, 824-6 ELEPHANTS, 66, 100, 425, 485, 492, 711-2, 1024, 1084 Elizabeth, Queen, 58-9 Elmina, 32, 102 ENGLISH in West Africa and Liberia, 48, 59, 60 et seq., 82, 88, 102, 107, 183 English language, 49, 363-4, 1107 Eocene Period, Eocene Bridge between West Africa and South America, 519- 20, 686, 698, 746, 775, 813, 823 Epiphany Hall College, 388-9 Episcopalians, Protestant Episcopalian Church, 353, 374 1167 Index Epomophori (group of bats), 688-9 Erinaceits, 693 Erythrophl(rnni (" sass " wood, tree with poisonous bark), 1065 Escravos River, 51 Euphorbias, 646, 1068 Europe and Liberia, 81, no, 159, 286 Kxec'.itive power in Liberia, 210, 378 Executive Mansion, Monrovia, JJJ Expenditure of Liberia (1904), 337-8 Export duties, 430 Exports of Liberia, 400 et seq., 427-8 Fan ha, 475 Farmington River, 147, 371, 417, 454, 457, 484, 486, 739 Fatoma (author's Vai teacher), 1126, 1135 Faulkner, R. J. R. (Liberian), 315, 347 February, the month of, 498, 502 et seq., 1000 Felis celidogaster (Golden Cat), 702-3 Ferbin, Captain, 145, 146 Ferguson, Bishop S. D., 374, 392 Ferns, 566-7, 668 Ferrer, Jac (the Majorcan), 32 Fetish, 1013, 1062-3; huts, 989 Fever in West Africa, 76, 82, 126, 140, 474.981 Ficus (rubber trees), 541, 650-3 " Field " newspaper, 717 Figs, 650 et seq. l:ilaria, 842, 982 et seq. Finfoot, the (Podicd), 764-7 Finley, Robert, 126, 458 Fire, the origin of use of, 892, 894 Fireflies, 851-2, 870 FIRMIX, MR. CECIL H., vii, 818, Lists of Illustrations Fischer & Lemcke case, 324, 329 Fish : in trade, 398-9, 422 ; in food, 997 Fisherman Lake, 432, 767 FISHES OF LIBERIA, 824 et seq., 834 et seq. Fish-traps, baskets, 1015, 1018 Flag of Great Britain, 219; of Liberia, 2l8, 219, 220 Flamingoes, 767 Flanders, Flemings, and the West African trade, 74, K>'> Fleas, 274, 853 ; burrowing, 853-4, 981 Flemish language, So Flies, 852-3, St.; Flonikerri, Chief, 91, 926 Flutes, 1026 Fodedugu-ba River, 283-4 Folgia people, the (of Dapper), 86 Folklore, 699, 701, 727 Food of the native Liberians, 988-92, 998 Forbes, Dr. J. Graham (on diseases of \Yest Africa), 982 Forbes, Lieutenant F. E., R.N., discoverer of the Vai alphabet, 1 107 Forest Negroes, 931 et seq. Forest pig (Hylochcerus, " Colossochcerus "), 90, 717-8 FOREST, the, 431, 450-1, 453, 484 et seq., 488, 490 et seq., 493, 521, 524 et seq. Forge for manufacturing iron, 1020, 1026 Fowl, domestic, 65, 72, 900 Fox, George, 1 1 1 FRANCE AND THE SLAVE TRADE, 171-2, 186 Franchise, exercise of, 205, 219 Franco-Liberian frontier, 3 1 1 Francolins (Francolinus), 759, 788 Franoux, Herr (Imperial German Consul), 38i " Freeman " (a Basa chief), 146 Freemasonry, 390 ; native, 1033 Freetown (Sierra Leone), 116 FRENCH IN LIBERIA, 32, 44 et seq., 48, 66, 84-5, 93 et seq., 101, 186 et seq., 237-8, 280-1, 311, 338, 472 Friendly societies, 390 Frieze cloth, 74 Frogs, 822 et seq. Fruits of Liberia, 421, 425 ; wild, 527, 539. 591-2, 609 FULA LANGUAGE, 18, 895, 1091 et seq., 1098, 1104, 1136, 1139 et seq. FULA RACE, PEOPLE, 14, 18, 173, 895-6 FUNTUMIA ELASTICA, 400, 412, 417, 522, 540, 630, 639 ; africana, 630, 637 Futa Jalon, 673, 895, 1136 " Gabbro " rock formation, 514 Gadflies, 853 Gadow, Dr., 819 " Gala people " of Dapper, 86-7, 926 168 Index Gala race of East Africa, 895, 905, 1098 Galago lemur, the, 685 et seq. Gall-bladder in antelopes, 737-8 Gallinhas country, 49, 72, 136, 162 et seq., 226, 232, 241 et seq., 244, ("Liberia Irredenta ") 454 Gambia River, 38, 48, 71 Game in Liberia, 670 Gamutro, Mount, 484 Garawe, 84, 187, 282, 471, 922 Gardiner, Joseph (Liberian), 137-9 GARDNER, A. W. (President), 199, 269, 274, 277, 279 Garnet, 518 Gatumba of Boporo, 180-1 " Gazelle " (German Government vessel), 571 Gb consonantal combination in West African languages, 1094-5 Gba River, see Bwe Gbalin people, 492, 887, 952, 955 Gbandi people, 886, 944, 978-9, 1023, 1096 Gbere or Gbele people or language, 887, 1138. See also Beila country and Kpwesi Geese, 767 Gelasimus, 842 Gender in African languages, 1097 Gene, 12, 1023 Genet, Pardine, 703 Genoa, Genoese, 29 et seq., 32-4, 38, 45, 80, 164 George, D. (an Americo-Liberian), 137 "' George," King, of Mamba country, 128, 136 Georgia, New, 144 GERMANS, GERMANY (and Liberia), 85, 226, 270-2, 290-1, 323-4, 436, 452, 570-1, 1160 Germenot, Monsieur (Consul de France), 38i Ghouls (corpse-eaters), 1059, 1089 Gibi country, people or language, 86, 91, 486, 886, 940, 972, 1099 GIBSON, G. W. (President), 297-9, 301, 305, 383 Gibson, J. T., 234 Gibson, N. H., 378 Gin, 173, 399, 986-8, 998 Ginger, 400, 412 Gizima people, 887 Glareole (Galactochrysea), 760, 791 Glossina, 853 Gneiss, 513, 516 GOAT, domestic, 65, 900, 909 et seq. GOD, 132 ; native ideas of, 1062, 1113 Gola, see Gora GOLD, 38, 54, 86, 95, 103, 267, 288, 437, 490, 496, 518-9 GOLD COAST, 22, 32, 48, 52, 83, 108, 119, 501, 730, 1051 Golden Cat, 702-3 Gomez, Diego, 38 Gon people, 928, 1034 Gonorrhea, 981 GORA LANGUAGE, 937, 1091 et seq., 1096 et seq., 1099-100, 104-5, 11390*^. GORA PEOPLE, 86-8, 179, 188, 442, 926, 935-7. 968-9, 972 Gordon, Midshipman, 139-40, 384 Goree Island, 83, 93, 187 Gorilla, the, 18, 1030 Gossypium, 72, 528, 581 Gotora, Chief, 180 Gourds, 1002, 1014 Government of Liberia, definition of, 206 Gow, JOHN, 404, 510, 716, 787 et seq., 831, 952, 976, 1059, 1066, 1079-82, 1136 Grain Coast, 44, 57, 83-4, 129, 135 Grains of Paradise, see Malagueta Granaries in native villages, 1003 Grando, Chief of Basa, 232 Grandpierre (eighteenth-century French traveller), 102 Granite, 514 Granville, Earl, 268 Graphiurns dormouse, 695-6 Graves of the natives, 1060-1 Gray, Chief Bob, 154, 192 Great Britain, 220, 233, 280 GREBO LANGUAGE, 364, 923, 1099, 1138 et seq. GREBO PEOPLE AND COUNTRY, 85, 154, 192, 234, 274, 286, 471-2, 886, 922-4, 950-1 ; houses of, 1 006-8 ; poison ordeals, 1067 ; medicine-men, 1068 et seq. ; witch doctors, 1070-2 ; con- stitution and laws of, 1074 et seq. ; folklore, 1085 et seq. Green monkey, 679-80 VOL, II 1169 42 Index v " Green " the national colour of Liberia, 220 Greenleaf, Simon, 382, ^84 Greenlof, Professor, 158 Greenstone (diorite), 515 Greenville, Sino, 157, 272, 372-3, 466-8 Grey parrot, 777-8 Gri-gri, see Fetish Gripon, J. B., 199 Ground nuts, 412, 594, 901, 992 Ground rat (Thrynomys), 697-700 Guinea, origin of the name, 34 Guinea, Portuguese, 52, 122, 890 Guinea-fowl, 370, 758-9, 788 Guinea-worm, 842, 981 et seq. Gum, 70 Gumbo, 227, 241 Gunpowder, 74, 173, 398 Guns, 129, 136, 233, 398, (native) 1019, 1024 GURLEY, REV. R. R., 132-3, 142-3, 226, 228-9 Gypohierax, 671 Habeas corpus, writ of, 207 " Hail ! Liberia, hail ! " 395 Hair on head and body, 941-2, 979 Haiti, 1 06, 228 HALL, DR. JAMES (founder of Maryland), 152, 154-5. 390 " Hall " Free School, 390 Hamburg, 228, 230, 290 Hamilic languages, Hamites, 1097-8, IIOI Hammock travelling, 484 HANNO THE CARTHAGINIAN, 2, 18 et seq., 20 et seq., 28 Hardware, 398 Hare, the, 727, 1084 Harmattan wind, 499 et seq. \ lannon, Mr. S., 426 Harnessed antelope, 366 HARPER (Cape Palmas), 143, 188, 274, 377, 388, 392, 474 ct set/., i ic>o Harper, R. G., 142, 188, 474 Harris, John Myers, 242 it sry., 244, 268, 277 Harris (name of chiefs at Grand Basa), M7-8, 155-6 Hartebeest, West African, 744-5 Hartford, R., 457 Hartzell, Bishop, 229, 375-6 Hat, tall, worship of the, 354 Hats, native, 959 Hausa language, 1103 Havelock, Sir Arthur, 277 Hawkins, D., 137 Hawkins, Sir John, and the Slave Trade, 187 Hawks, 774-5 Hayman, Mr. Henry (Consul-General in London), 264, 380 Headmen, council of, 1073 Heddington, 180 Hemp, 74, 994 ; hemp smoking, 994 Henry the Navigator, Prince, 36-7, 70, 105 Hermaphrodite fish, 829 Herons, 768—73 Herpestes, 704 Herring, Amos (Liberian), 199 Heteropoda spider, 846 Hibiscus, 580-1, 990 Hides, 70, 400, 998 Hippopotamus, the, 714, 1090; Pygmy (H. liberiensis), 714 et seq. Hippotragus antelopes, 743 " Hirondelle," the, 237 Hoe, the native, 1002 Holland (and the Dutch), 74, 83, 86, 93, 220, 264, 289, 427 Hollings, William (Liberian), 137 Hornbills, 780-3, 798 Hornblende, 514 Horses, 75, 253, 426, 714, 719, 1027 Hospital (St. Mark's), 239 Hostains, Monsieur, 306 et seq., 308, 478, 496 Hottentots, 889, 905, 1094, iioo, 1106 Houses: native, in Liberia, 91-2, 99, 492, 991, 1004; Liberian, 140, 373, 442 HOWARD, D.E. (Secretary to theTreasury), 378 Hulsius Levinus, 84, 89 " Hunter" (American brig), 143 Hy;ena, spotted, striped, 699, 704-7 Hylochacrus, 717-8 Hypsiitiiuthns (bat), 688 Hyrax (/Y«rm'm), 708-11 J I 70 Index is, ibises, Errata, 767-8 Ichneumon (mongoose, Herpestes), 704 Idols, 1062, 1077 " Iguanas," 815 Ilmenite, 518 Immorality, 1040 et seq., 1048 Implements, native agricultural, 1002 Import duties, 428-9 Imports into Liberia, 398-400, 427-8 Independence Day, 145, 199, 366 Independence of Liberia, 198 et seq,, 247 Indiarubber, see Rubber Indigo, 71 INITIATION CEREMONIES, 90, 1029 et seq. Insects, 672, 847 et seq., 859 Insestivores, 693 " Illustrated London News " and Liberia, 227 Ireland and West Africa, 66, 74 IRON, 74, 75, 492, 514, 518 ; manufacture of, 65, 1026 ISLAM, 33, 90, 192, 360-2, 899 Island cemeteries, 1059, 1077 Italy (Sardinia) and West Africa and Liberia, 74, 228 Ivory, 71, 86, 88, 400, 408-10 IVORY COAST, 32, 44, 71-2, 85, 92, 104, 187, 282, 932 Ivory nuts, 412 Jacana, the (leaf-walker), 761-2 Jackal, 707 Jackson, E. (Liberian), 137 James, A. (Liberian), 137 James, F. (Liberian), 136 Jentink, Dr.. 289, 738 Jentink's duiker, 366, 738-9 Jesuits, the, 81 Jews, the, 358 ; in Liberia, 159, 248 Jigger or burrowing flea, 274, 853-4, 981 John, River of St. (Hartford River), 50, 88, 371,459 " John Seyes " (ship), 193 JOHNSON, ELIJAH (Liberian), 126, 130 et seq., 132, 136, 152, 156, 199 JOHNSON, F. E. R. (Attorney-General), 378 JOHNSON, HILARY (President), 130, 260, 261, 279, 284 Johnson, W. H. (Liberian), 259 Johnson, W. R. (botanist), 538 Jones, Commander, his action against Liberia in 1845, X93 Jones, Sir Alfred, 399 Joseph, Edward (slave trader), 164 Judicial Department of State (Judiciary), 213, 323-4 et seq., 330 Julus, 846 Junk River, 39, 50, 88, 147, 188, 371, 454 Jur negroes (Bahr-al-Ghazal), 932 Kafa oil seeds, 400 Kaipa, son of the chief of " Brumley," 151 Kaitikpo, 417, 485 Kaka town or country (Dukwia River), 404, 416, 502 Kakulima, Mount, 21, 39 Kanga, Mr. Wilfrid, 1085 Kaolin, 976, 988 " Karou " (of Dapper), 86, 926 Kasr-al-Kabir (Morocco), battle of, 45, 47 " Kedibo," the (initiation school), of the Grebo country, 1029, 1078 Kelipo Mountains, 470, 480, 717 Kerne (Cerne) Island, 17-8, 20, 38 Keta or Keda, Mt., 480 Ketiebo country, 482, 997 Kettles in trade, 74, 398, 1003 Key, Francis, 126 Kickxia (rubber tree), 524 Kiki River, 80 King, Mrs. S. A., 383 Kingfishers, 779 " Kiii j a " (long hamper of native porters), 425, 1025, 1028 Kisi language, 1091, 1100 Kisi people, 304, 1034 KOELLE, DR. SlGISMUND, 123, 230, 944, 1083, noo, 1107-8 et seq., 1136 Kola nut, 89, 400, 410 et seq., 413, 530 Kondo people, 73, 87, 148, 1081, 1096 Kp consonantal combination in West African languages, 1094-5 KPWESI languages, 16, 1091 et seq., 1096 et seq., 1099-100, 1104, 1138 et seq. KPWESI people, 886-7, 926, 938, 940 KR.U coast or country, 84, 104, 195, 240, 372, 466, 468 KRU languages, 468, 922, 1091 et seq.f 1099-1100, 1104, 1 1 $% et seq. 1171 Index <+- KRU race, people, 86, 88, 188, 294-5, 886-7, 891 ; physical appearance of, 922, 925-6, 932 et seq. ; hairiness, 940, 942 ; disposition, 948 ; clothing, 957-60 ; skin decoration, 976-8, <;Sj ; the " Kru mark," 972-4, 976 ; muti- lations of the teeth, 978 ; dislike to circumcision, 978-9, 1034 ; diseases of, 981 ; houses, 1005 ; initiation ceremonies, 1029; marriage customs, 1042 j' adultery, 1046; death customs, 1056, 1058 ; dances of, 1057 ; burial customs, 1 06 1 ; poison ordeals, 1067 /. ; witch-doctors, 1072 ; clans and chiefs, 1073-4 Kru women, 834, 960 KRTBOYS, 68, (origin of name) 85, 88, (dislike of slavery) 104, no, 166, 174, 192, 238, 270-1, 294-7, 444-8, 466, 468 Kullo, Grand and Little, 462 Kusimanse (Crossarchus), 704 Kwara (Mandingo), 239 Kwia (or Kwoya) people, 86, 88, 926, 972 Labouchere, Right Hon. Henry, 224 Laing, Major, 140 Lancashire : cabin boy from, in the slave trade, 163 ; merchants, 241 Land crabs, 842 Landolphia, 400, 41."', 616 et seq., 669 Languages : of Liberia and Africa, 1091 et seq., noo; unclassified, 1105 Lankester, E. Ray, 766 Laterite, 2 i ; Lawrence, J., 137 Laws, administration of, among native tribes, 1073-5 Leeches, 842, 863 -LATL'RI: of Liberia, 207, 215, 311 Lemurs, 684 ct seq., 6X7, 711 Leopard, the, 90, 700-1, 998, 10X2, 10X4 et seq. Lecpard's tooth the sign of gentility, 1003, n>7'>, [0X2 Lchidnptct'ci, sec Butterllics Lewis. J. N. (I.ihcrian), 199 I eyden (I lollaml " Liberia " as a name, an idea, 130, 142, 202, 220 " Liberia " (the journal ; formerly " Afri- can Repository "), 229 LIBERIA : general description of, 1-12 ; coast-line, 6 ; ancient history of, 13 et seq., 28 ; Agri beads in L., 22 ; the Portuguese and L., 40-53, 228 ; L. and the pepper trade, 59 et seq. ; the English and L., 65-9, 102, 107 ; early civilisation of L., 71 et seq., 1 10 ; the Dutch and L., 83 et seq. (see Dutch) ; the French and L., 95- 102, 186-7, J94, 227, 237-8, 280-1, 311, 338, 472; America and L., 126, 192, 194, 228-9,245, 247, 275, 381 ; L. and the slave trade, 104 et seq., 107, 148-9, 151, 159 ; foundation of L. by United States, 126 et seq., 132, 158, 195 ; purchase-price of the nucleus of L. in 1821, 129 ; the dealings of the British with L., 131, 139, 140, 194, 226-9, 268 et seq., 277 et seq ; L. saved by " Prince Regent," 140 ; receives its name, 142 ; first constitution of L., 150; wars with natives, 152 et seq. ; extension of territory in 1835, 156; second constitution, 158; ex- clusion of non-Africans, 1 59 ; popula- tion in 1838, 1 60 ; extinction of slave trade, 173-6 ; population in 1840, 183 ; last white administrator of L,, 185 ; L. and interior chiefs and coast extensions, 187-8 ; first census, 191 ; population in 1843, 191 ; independence of L., 195 et seq. ; third constitution of 1847, 203 ; citizenship in L., 216 ; flag and national colours of L., 218-20 ; recognition as Sove- reign State, 223 ; acquisition of Gallinhas territories, 226-7 '< area and condition of L. in 1848, 228 ; L. annexes Maryland, 233-4 ; frontier difficulties with England, 240 et seq., 2oX 9; frontiers proposed in 1X70, 254; the loan of 1871, 250 et seq. ; the revolution of 1871, 261-2 ; last immigration (1877) in numbers from America, 274 ; L. joins Postal I'nion and creates Order of Chivalry, 274 ; 72 Im population in 1880, 274 ; attitude towards Great Britain, 275, 278 ; Sir Arthur Havelock's action, 278 ; Anglo-Liberian Treaty of 1885, 279- 80 ; French aggression, 282 ; treaty with France (1892), 283-4; L. and the Kruboy question, 294-7 > a plea for patience and consideration, 304 ; boundary with British possessions, 305 ; with France, 305-6 ; L. joins Convention for preservation of big game, etc., 310 ; position of indi- genous Negroes in L., 315 ; revenue and expenditure, 1904, 335-6 ; civi- lisation of, 346 ; racial composition of American settlers, 346-7 ; towns and population of L. (Americo- Liberian), 371-2 ; religious, educa- tional, political establishments, 374 et seq. ; national anthem, 394—6 ; commerce of L., 398-428 ; coffee plantations of, 402 ; rainfall, 500, 502 et seq. ; geology and minerals of L., 513 et seq. ; dense forests of L., 534-72 ; flora of L., 570 et seq. ; fauna of L., 670 et seq. ; characteristic features of, 673 ; mammals of, 754-7 ; birds of, 758 et seq., 785, 787 et seq. ; reptiles of, 807 et seq. ; poisonous snakes of, 807-12 ; fish of, 824 et seq. ; molluscs, 839 ; worms, 841 ; crustaceans, 842 ; spiders, insects, etc., 847 et seq., 849 ; anthropology and native tribes of, 884 et seq. ; folklore, 1083 et seq. ; languages, 1091 et seq., 1136 et seq. Liberia and West Africa, 392 Liberia College, 140, 236, 365, 368-9, 381-4 Liberian Consul-General, London, 259 Liberian Development Chartered Com- pany, 300, 518, 571 " Liberia Herald," 150, 160 Liberian Rubber Corporation, 412, 417, 420, 428, 452 LIBERIANS, AMERICO-, 7 ; struggle with natives on Nov. n, 1822, 138 et seq. ; relations with indigenous negroes, 219, 275, 298-9, 301, 315, 884; numbers in 1853, 233 ; explorations of, 238-9, 252-4 ; antiquated system of spelling, 253; numbers of: in 1880, 274; in. 1904, 340 ; in 1906, 371-2 ; character of early immigrants, 341 ; civilisation of Americo-Liberians, 346 ; racial composition of, 346-7 ; their virtues, 347 ; their faults, 347-8, 354-5 ; New England ideals, 363 ; advised to be- come Africans, 363 ; names for local birds, beasts, etc., 366, 677, 68 1, 685,. 702, 704, 734, 739, 747, 751, 776, 779, 812, 815 ; their coffee plantations,. 402 ; fondness for trade, 426 ; love of flowers, 444 ; neglect of sanitary re- gulations, 444-8 ; predilection for pig-keeping, 448 ; their growth of hair on head and face, 942 LIBERIANS (NATIVE), early intercourse of, with foreigners, 41 et seq., 68, 81, 91, 1 02 ; their present numbers and tribal divisions, 884-7 '> cleanliness, 952, 1008 ; habit of lice-eating, 954 ;. nudity, 954 ; clothing, 956-60 ; food,. 988-92, 994-1000 ; agriculture, 1000- 2 ; industries and manufactures, 1008" et seq. ; fishing, hunting, 1024 ; music, 1026; transport, 1027; initiation cere- monies, 1029 et seq. ; marriage cus- toms, 1038 et seq. ; immorality, 1040 et seq. ; children of, 1050 et seq. ; life of the natives, untouched by civilisa- tion, 1054 ; death customs, 1055 et seq. ; burial customs, 1058-9 ; religi- ous beliefs, 1061-3 '• medicine, witch- craft, 1064 et seq., ordeals, 1065 et seq.', kings and chiefs, 1072 et seq.', laws, 1073-5 I slavery, 1079 et seq.; folklore, 1083; belief in demons and spirits, 1089 ; totemism, 1090 ; lan- guages, 1091 et seq. Libyan race (Tamasheq, Tawareq), 28,. 33, 342, 892 Lighthouse, Cape Mesurado, 1 5 7, 446 Lime (for building), 840 Limes (Citrus), 423, 569, 584 Limonite, 518 Lion, the, 90, 699, 701, 1090 Lissochilus, 544 Listrostachys, 543-4 Literary Societies, 390 " Little Ben " (ship), 193 "73 Index Little Cape Mount River (also Lofa), 87, 312. 436 Liverpool. 115, 138, 176, 184 " Living Chronicle," the, 392 Lizards, 814 e! sea. LOAN, THE LIBERIAN, of 1871, 259 et seq., 262-3 Locusts, 848, 8(>4 Lofa River (Little Cape Mount), 436, 440, 519 Lok, Captain John, 60, 62 Looms, 1014-5, IOI7 Lonchocarpus, 451, 531 London, 113, 122 London, Bishop of, 226 Louis Philippe, King, 186 Louisiana, 346 Lovers permitted to brides and unmarried women, 1042, 1045-6 Lubeck, 228 Luca, Olmstead (Liberian composer), 395 Lutherans, 353, 376 Litt t-a, 708 Lycopodiuwi, 568, 669 Lydekker, Mr. R., 695 LYON, DR. ERNEST (U.S.A. Minister), ix, 381, 677, 700 Ma, the negative particle of the Sudan and \Yest Africa, 1097 Macarthy, Sir Charles, 126, 242 McConnell, Rev. Mr., 1042, 1045, IO72-3 McC.ill, S. M. (Liberian), 233 *' Macgregor-Laird," the SS., 184 Mackenzie, Mary, 143 Mackerel, 830 Madagascar, 685, 812-3 Madeira, 36, 37 Madi languages, 1 102 Mafa River, 26, 188, 268, 277, 431, 829 Magnetite, 518 Maize, 93, 665, 901, 988, 990 Majorca, sea rovers of, 32, 36 MAKONA or Moa River (Sulima), 4,309, 311, 438, 488 Malachite, 492 Malaga, 43, 164 .MALAGUETA pepper, 43 ct seq., 57-8, 546, 993 Malaysia, 524 Malocello, Lanciaroto, 29 Maloptcrurus, 825 Mamba people, language, 88, 128, 147,926, 1099 MdinmcB in men and beasts, 697 et si * Index Owls, 779 Ox, the, in Liberia, 93, 900, 902 et seq., 907 Ox-carts, 422, 424 OXEN, the breeds of domestic, of Africa, 902 et seq., 908-12 Oysters, 452, 840-1, 861 Padebu language, 1099, 1136, 1138 et seq. Padmore, J. S. (Liberian General), 380 PALM : Borassus, 43, 89, 454, 553-5, 660, 998 ; coconut, 43, 89, 553, 661, 901 ; oil (Eldis), 49, 89, 176, 241, 400, 404-5, 452, 492,553-4; Raphia (Pias- sava), 79, 89, 400, 452, 551, 660, 998 ; Calamus, 454, 550, 660; wild date, 548, 660 ; palms in general, 89, 660 Palm cabbage, 996 Palm civet, see Paradoxure Palm kernels, 405 Palm wine, 988, 998 Palma, Island of, 5 1 PALMAS, CAPE, i et seq., 35, 43, 62, 154, 148, 233, 472 et seq., 398, 501, 924, 963 Palmerston, Viscount, 224 Pandanus, 445, 450-1, 553, 661 Papaw, the, 423, 536, 568, 608, 901 Papyrus, 561 Paradoxure, two-spotted (Nandinia), 703-4, 705-6, 1090 Parinarium, 451, 531—3, 60 1 Paris, Grand et Petit, 32, 51 Parrots, grey parrot, 777 PAUL, ST., RIVER, 49, 94 et seq., 130, 143, 152, 180-2, 311, 438 et seq., 478, 486, 5i8 PAYNE, JAMES SPRIGG (President), 258, 269 PAYNE, RIGHT REV. J. S. (afterwards BISHOP), 192, 374, 381,11034, 1068,1074 " Peaceful Penetration," 310 Pearson, Captain H. D., 309 Pecora (the ruminating ungulates), 721 et seq., 728 Pedro, San, River, 188, 282, 296, 470 Pel, H. S. (Dutch naturalist), 730, 733, 735 Pennsylvania (and the Emigration Socie- ties), 155, 179 PEPPER, 36, 56 et seq., 59, 575, 901, 990, 1108 Periodicticus, 684 Periophthalmus, 827 Peripatus, 847 Periplus of Hanno, 19 et seq. Perseverance Island, see Providence Island Peter, " King" (of Des Marchais), 100-1 Peter, "King," of 1821, 128, 143 Petrology of Liberia, 5 1 3 et seq. Phalarope (the grey), Errata, 762-3, 790-1 Phallic worship, 1034 Phasmidce (stick insects), 849, 864 Phoenicians, the, 18, 27, 80 Phoenix (palm), 548 Phonology of West African languages, 1094-5 Phyllopezus (Jagana), 761, 789 Piassava (raphia) fibre, 400, 405-6, 553 Pig : Red bush (see Red river hog, Potamochaerus porous), 368, 716-8; forest, 717-8 Pigeons of Liberia, 759-60 Pigs, wild, 76, 89, 90 ; domestic, 76, 448 ,. 720 " Pilgrim Fathers " of Liberia, 136-7 Pineapple (fruit and fibre), 402, 421, 423, 568, 901, 988 Pinney, the Rev. J. B., 155 Pinteado, Antonio Anes de, 61 et seq. Piper (pepper), 59 Pirates on Liberian coast, 102, 161 Pisu, Lake (Fisherman), 87, 432 Pitta (ground thrush), 783 Plantain-eater, the Great blue (Cory- thceola), 368, 776-7 Plantain-eaters (Musophagida), 775-6 Pliny (the older), 19, 24, 26 Plover, the Spur-winged, 762-3 Plovers, 762 Plough on Liberian shield, 218-21 Po game (like backgammon), ion P6 hills (West Liberia), 436, 488 Poba River, 436 Podica, 763 et seq., 767 Poison ordeal, 1065 et seq., 1069-70 Polybius, 24 Polygamy, 98, 1047-8 Polypterus, 824 Pomponius Mela, 19 Pongo or Pongas River, 120, 162 Porcupines, 697 1177 Index Port of Entry, Law of 1865, 248 Porters, porterage, native, 425 Portolano, the Laurentian (old fourteenth- century map of Africa), 35 Ports of entry, list of, 248, 392-3 PORTUGAL : in Morocco, 37, 45 et seq. ; influence of, on West African history, 45-6 et seq., 52-3, 76, 81, 84, 900-1 PORTUGUESE, THE, 36, 37 et seq., 51-3, 61, 69, 76, 8 1, 342, 900-1 ; language, 49, 5$ ; names in West African and Liberian geography, 49 et seq. ; and the slave trade, 105 ct seq., 162, 171 Portnlaca spinach, 992, 996 Post Office, Liberian, 322-3 Postage stamps, 324-5, 327-9 Pntamochcerus pigs, 76, 717-8 Potatoes, sweet, 990 Pottery, native, 1003, 1008, 1010 Potto, the, 684-5 POWNEY, LlEUT.-COL. CECIL, 299, 392 Prawns, 843, 863 Prefix languages in \Vest Africa, 1092-4 Presbyterians, 353 PRESIDENT OF LIBERIA, 208 ; his powers, 210 ; term of office, 218, 331-2 Presidents of Liberia, 223, 376 Press in Liberia, 206, 358, 392 " Prince Regent" (British steamer), 139, 140 Printing presses, 160 Procavia, 708-9 Prognathism, 937-8 Protestant Christianity, 353 Protoptcrus, 826 Prout, Jacob W. (Liberian), 199 Prout, S. T. (Liberian), 378 Prout, William A. (Liberian), 233-4 PROVIDENCE ISLAND, 96, 130-1 Psettus, 829 Psittacus timneh, 777-9 Puff adder, Gaboon (Bitis gabonica), 807, horned (B. nasicornis), 807, 809 Pumpkins, 1002 Purchase-price of nucleus of Liberia in 1821, 129 Puritanism in Liberia, 353 PUTU country, language, and people, 22, 466, 499, 501-2, 510, 952, 1099, 1136, 1138 et seq. Pycnanthus, 542, 645 PYE-SMITH, MR. J. M., 90, 717, 763, 787, 790, 1136 Pygmy races, 13, 887 et seq. Pythons, 812-3, 1090 Quadroon, the, 344, 395 " Quail," the (gunboat), 227 Quakers and the slave trade, the, in, 155 " Qua-Qua " (Ivory Coast), 85 Quartz, 514, 516-7, 519 QUEEN VICTORIA, 227, 276 " Quoja " people (of Dapper), 86 ; see Kwia Railey, Colonel J. A. (Liberian), 380, 383 Rainfall : in Liberia, 500 et seq ; in West Africa, 500-1, 503 Rainy season in Liberia, 137-8, 497 Ramusio (Italian geographer), quoted, 41 Randall, Dr., 143, 146, 151 Raphia (see Palm and Piassava), 79, 1015 Rask, J. (Danish eighteenth-century traveller), 102-3 Rats, 696 Read, Mr. C. H., 22 Reade, Winwood, 256-7 Red River hog (Potamochocrus), 76, 368, 716-8, 720 " Regina Coeli," case of the, 238 Religion in Liberia, 204, 1061 et seq. Religion of the tall hat and frock coat, 356-7 Religiositv of the Americo-Liberians, 353-4 Remedies, native, 986-8 Repatriation schemes for Negro slaves, 1 1 4 et seq., 275 REPRESENTATIVES, HOUSE OF, 208, 261, 379, 382 REPTILES OF LIBERIA, 807 et seq. Krpublic of Liberia, 199 et seq. Revenue of Liberia, 335 Revolution, the only Liberian, 261 " Reynard the Fox," 1084 REYNOLDS, MR. HAROLD, 416, 438, 508, 531. 567, 572, 759, 777, 787, 872, et seq., 952 Rhcktop/iyllian, 559, 566 1178 Index Rhinoceros, the, 713 Rhopalocera, 872 et seq. RICE, 77, 398-9, 422, 492, 668, 900, 985-90, 994, 1000-2, 1061, 1077, 1088-9 Richardson, R. B. (Judge), 379, 383 Rings, finger, 960, 966-7 Rio de Oro (see Oro), 37-8 Roads in Liberia, 314, 357, 433, 440, 452, 475 ROBERTS, JOSEPH JENKINS (President), 1 80, 185 et seq. ; dealings with British authorities, 193 et seq. ; independence of Liberia, 198 et seq.; first President, 223 ; first visit to Europe, 224; second ditto, 232 ; arranges for annexation of Maryland, 233-6 ; third visit to Europe, 234 ; appointed Principal of Liberia College and Belgian Consul, 236 ; re-elected President, 264 ; dies, 264. Further references to President Roberts, 234, 236, 382 Roberts, Mrs. 224-5, 236 Roberts, Z. B. (Chief Justice), 379 Robertsport (Cape Mount), 228, 371, 434 Rock Cess, 464 Rock Town, 51, 472 Rollers (Eurystomits), 779 Rome, Romans, and West Africa, 21-2, 56, 80, 104 Rothschild, Hon. Walter, 676, 712, 717 Rouen and the pepper trade, 59 Roussettus (bats), 688, 690 Rowe, Sir Samuel, 268 Royal antelope, 727, 742-3, 1085 ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, ix, x, 239- H37 ROYE, EDWARD J. (President), 246, 258 et seq., 261 et seq. Royesville, 371, 436 RUBBER: of Liberia, 288-9, 412 et seq.; price, 414 ; sources of (trees, lianas, shrubs), 414, 616 et seq., 669 ; history of Rubber Corporation, 416 ; develop- ment of industry, 416 ; native me- thods of collecting, 418 ; pay of labourers, 420 ; confusion of names of rubber plants with those of Malay region, 524 Rubber Corporation, Liberian, 412, 417, 420, 428 Rum, 173, 398 Russell, A. F. (Vice-President), 279 Russwurm, J. B., 150, 190, 232, 472 Russwurm Island, 1059 Saddle Hill, 454, 516 Sailing ships, development of, 77 et seq. Sai]s versus oars, 79 St. John's River (see John, St.), 51, 457-8 St. Paul's River, see Paul, St. Salaries of Government officials, 379 SALT, 398-9, 1028 ; its influence on Negro migrations, 898-9 ; salt-sticks, ino Samori, 308-9, 1054, 1077 Sampson, R., 136 Sandals, 964 Sandflies, 852-3 Sanguin River, 51, 91, 188, 464-5 Sanitary arrangements amongst Liberian peoples, no, 422-6, 1008 Sapo country and people, 417, 938, 1003 Sapphires, 516 Sarcophrynium, 546, 549 Sass Town, 470 Satro Mountains, 462, 477, 480, 484 Schieffelin, Henry, 254 Schieffelin township, 371 Schoenlein, Dr. Philipp, 570 Schweitzer, Herr, 787 Sclater, Captain B. L., 728 Sclater, Dr. P. L., 739 Scodra, 844 Scorpions, 844-5, 862 Scotophilus bats, 692 Scott, Bishop L, 376 Seal hunting along the Sahara coast, 70 Seal of Liberia, 218, 221-2 Seaton. Richard (American), 141 Secretary of State, 378 Secretary of the Treasury, 212, 378 SENATE OF LIBERIA, 208, 211, 261, 278, 378-9 Senegal Company, the Royal, 93, 96, 101 SENEGAL RIVER, 20, 38, 48, 70, 93, 900 Senegambia, 93, 187, 1105 September, month of, 502, 508 Serekhule people, 1096 Serranidce, 827 Serval cat, 701 1179 Index Sesters or Sestro, Grain 1, 51, iSS, 195, 283, 468, 470 Setra Kru, 51, 195, 468 Sewa River. 241-2, 246 Sexual intercourse, 1040 <7 .<«/., 1048, [051 Sexual mysteries, initiations, 1032 et seq. Seyes, the Rev. Mr., 184 Seymore ami Ash (Liberian explorers), 239 Shaftesbury, the great Earl of (Lord Ashley), 226 Sharks, 100. 747, 830-1 Sharpe, Miss 1C. M., ix, 872 et seq. Shaw, J. (Liberian), 137 Sheep, domestic, 900, 913-20; origin of, 918-20 Shelford, Mr. Frederick, 501 Sheppard Lake (disaster), 233, 476 Sherbro Island and country, 18, 40, 126, 242 SHERMAN, C,i-:x. R. A. (Liberian), 261, 263, 273, 286 Shields, 1024-6 Ship on Liberian shield, 220 Ships : of the early West African navi- gators, 77 et seq. ; slave, 176 Shipwreck on the Kru Coast, 240, 249, 2/«-3- 350-2 Shrews (Insectivores), 693 Shufeldt, Commodore, 245 SIERRA LEONE, 30, 38-9, 48, 57, 114^ seq., 122, 126 et seq., 168, 193, 234, 241 et seq., 427, 432, 500-1, 1079 Sierra Leone Company, 115 et seq., 122 Sikon (Sikombe) country, language, or people, 462, 498, 502, 509 et seq., 976, 1042, 1056, 1061, 1066-8, 1081, 1099, 1136, 1138 et seq. Sino, River and County, 51, 63, 84, 156 et seq., 208, 217, 372, 464 et seq., 467-9, 57i Sintra, Pedro de (or Cintra), 39 ct seq., 43 Sir. iiia, the, 744 ; origin of, 74^ " Siruku," the (a terrible unknown carnivore), 706 7 " Sisters of tin- Mysterious Ten," 390 Six children at a birth, 1051 Skin-colour, 938 et seq. Skin decoration, practice of, 976-8 Skinner, Dr., : I Skins used for clothing, 956, 1016 SLAVERY, SLAVES, 62, 104 et seq. ; com- parative merits of European nations as slave-holders, 1 1 1 ; repatriation of slaves, 114 et seq., 158 ; demand for slaves in tropical America in early nineteenth century, 161 ; maltreat- ment of, 172 et seq. ; slavery abolished by Liberian Constitution, 204; slavery and the condition of slaves amongst the indigenes, 1056, 1079 et seq. ; slave towns, 1 08 1 SLAVE TRADE, 62, 105 et seq. ; denounced, 112 ; slave ships, 115, 161 ; cruelty of, 115 et seq., 147, 161, 172 et seq. ; with the United States, 171 ; with Sierra Leone at the present day, 1081-2 Sleeping sickness, the, 230, 981, 986, 1114 Slings, 1015, 1024 Smallpox, 90, 172, 274 Smeathman, Dr. Henry, 114 Smeathmannia, 536, 606 Smith, E. (Liberian), 137 Smith, Miss Matilda, ix, 351 Smith, William (eighteenth century travel- ler), 108 Smuggling, 339, 350 Snails, 839-40, 86 1 Snake worship, 1064 SNAKES : poisonous, 807 et seq. ; burrow- ing, 812 ; boine, 812-3 Snelgrave (eighteenth-century English slave-trader), 102, 108 Snoek, John (Dutch traveller), 91 Soap, 952 Societies, secret, among the Grebo, 1077 et seq. Sokwalla, Chief, 91 Somerset, James, 112 Sorghum (Holcus, Durrha), 492, 666, 900, 990 Sour sop, the, 527, 992 SPAIN, SPANIARDS, 34, 48, 77, 102, 106, 148, 169 171 Sparidce, 829 Sparmann (naturalist), 115 Spencer, Thomas (Liberian), 137 Spider, the, in African folklore, 1084 et seq. Spiders, 844-6, 8^3 Spinach, 996 1 80 <+> Index Spirits of the departed, belief in, 1063, 1068 Spondias lutea fruit, 591, 992 Spoons, 990, 1010 Squirrels, 695 et seq. Stachytarpheta, 542, 642, 988 Stampfli, F. X., xvi, 290, 738, 787 STAFF, DR. OTTO, title-page, vii, 521, 570 et seq. Starlings, metallic, 783 Steamers on the West African Coast, 184, 240, 293 Stevens, Mr. J. C. (Liberian), 266 Stick insects (Phasmidce], 849, 862 Sting rays (Trygon), 831 Stockfish (fish for trade), 398 Stockton, Captain R. F., 128, 441 Stockton Creek, 128, 143, 441 Stone Age, 888, 892, 900 Storks, 768 Storms, 500 Strophanthus, 402, 537, 540, 528, 988 Stuart, Sir Simeon, 298-9, Lists of Illus- trations Sudan, general characteristics of the, 493 Sudanese Negro type, 937 Suetonius Paulinus (the Roman invader of the Moroccan Sahara), 24 Sugar, sugar-cane, 60, 76, 103, 412, 666, 900 Sulima River (see also Makona), 197, 242, 268, 437, 486 Sunsets on the West African Coast, 229 Superintendents of counties, 234 Supreme Court, the, 2 1 3 Surf on the coast, 7, 166-7, l%5> 5°4 Susu people, 941, 1096 Swedes and Liberia, 102, 114, 228 Swine, 716 et seq. Switzerland, Swiss, and Liberia, 84, 288-9 Swords, noi Sylvisorex (shrews), 693 Syphilis, 980 Tamasheq, Tawareq (see Libyan), 33 Tattooing, 970 et seq., 980-2 Teage, H. (Liberian), 199 Teeth, mutilations of the, 978 Tembi-Kunda, town of, 284, 305 Temne people and language, 1083, 1092, 1105 Temperance (abstinence from alcohol), 152 Ten, the numeral : word roots for, in African language families, 1098 Termites ("White Ants"), 672, 751-2, 849-50, 858, 864 Testament, the Old, 356-8 ; the New, 362 Thelphusa, 842 Thomas, Mr. Oldfield, 717-8, 739 Thrushes, 783 Thrynomys rodent, 697-9 Thunbergia, 540, 638 Tige or Nipwe River, 478 Tiger cat. See Golden cat Timber in Liberia, 422, 542 Tin, 514 Tines, T. (Liberian), 137, 139 Titanodamen, 844 Titler, Ephraim (Liberian), 199 Toads, 822 et seq. Toasts drunk at dinner of July 4th, 1825, 145 Tobacco in Liberia, 100, 398, 412, 993 Tobakoni, 460 Toma or Tuma River or people, 440, 488, 490, 1 020 Tomato, 901, 990 Tortoises, 820 Totems, totemism, 1089-90 Totokwali, 490 Tourmaline, 518 Towerson, Captain William, 63, 65-6 Townships, 312-4 Trade goods in the sixteenth century, 74 et seq., 77 ; in the eighteenth cen- tury, IOI--2 TRADE in Liberia, 192, 398 et seq., 424, 427-8 Trade of West African Coast, 65, 70 et seq., 102 Tragelaphs, Tragelaphus, 728 et seq., 737-40 Transport, means of, 424 et seq. Traveller's tree (Urania], 443~4 TRAVIS, H. W., 378 TREATIES: with Great Britain, (1848)224, (1885) 275 ; with France (1892), 283-4 Tristam, Nuno, 38 Trumpets, 1013, 1023, 1026 1181 Index Tsetse fly, S ; 3 Tnbitlidentata, 74; Turks, the, 80, 86, 105 Turner Peninsula. 2.42 Turtle: hawksbill, green, 819; leathery, 819, 820 Twins, customs regard ing. 1050 Typhlops (burrowing snakes), 812 Uganda, 776-7, 781 Ungulates, primitive markings of, 719-20, 733 ; toes of, 722 <7 scq. Union Mining Company, 286, 299, 300 " United Brothers of Friendship," 390-2 United States of America : and the slave trade, 113, 125, 171; and Liberia, 126 et seq., 143, 154, 183, 192, 194, 200, 228-9, 245. 247> 275> 3&1 Urobotrya, 587, 589 Qso di Mare (Genoese captain), 38 VAI alphabet, 230 VAI country, 89, 90, 441 VAI language, 89, 727, 1096, 1107; alphabet, 1107 et seq., 1115, 1116 et seq. ; writing, 1126 et seq. VAI people, 42, 86, 87, 91, no, 727, 886, 893, 921 ; skin colour, 940 ; dis- position, 944 et seq. ; resemble the Baganda, 947 ; clothes, 962 ; Vai women and silver ornaments, 970, 975 ; skin decoration and tattooing, 972, 976, 980 ; cultivation of maize, 1 002 ; houses, 1006 ; initiation schools, 1029-30 et seq., 1033, IO36 ; and circumcision, 1034 ; death and burial customs, 1058; magic, 1064; folklore, 1085 ; history, 1096 ; the Vai a branch of the Mandingo race, 1096 ; their alphabet described by Lieut. Forbes, 1107 et seq.; their character according to Koelle, 1112 ; devotion to their own alphabet and letter-writing, 1114 Varanns, 815 Vaya people, 886 Velvet, 970 VENICE, VENETIAN, 22, 27, 38, 55, 77 Verde, Cape, 35, 38, 71 Verde, Cape, Islands. 142-3 Vice-president of Liberia, 211 VICTORIA, Qn:i:x, 227, 276 " Victoria" (German gunboat), 272 Villages, native, 995-7, 999-1001, 1003 Viner, Mr. Conrad, x, 1079, 1082 Vipers in Liberia, 807 et seq. Virginia, U.S.A., 185 Vogel, Dr. Theodor, 570 Vukka Hills, 494 Vulture, fishing (Gypohierax), 452, 670-1, 773-4 Vultures, 784 WADSTROM, CARL BERNS (Swedish writer), 114, 115 et seq., 170 WALLIS, CAPTAIN BRAITHWAITE (British . Consul), 381 Wappo, Wapi, Kru Coast, 84, 468 WARNER, D. B. (President), 248, 258, 395 Washington, Bushrod, see Bushrod Washington City, U.S.A., 126 Washington, General, 125 Washington, George (Liberian), 137 Wasps, 854-5 Water chevrotain. See Chevrotain Water lilies, 468, 528, 576 Water tree, the (Tetracera), 256, 273 WAUWERMANS, Colonel (Belgian writer on Liberia), xv, 143, 280, 289 Weapons, native, 68, 1024, 1026 Weaver birds (" Palm birds "), 783-4 Weaving, the art of, 1016-7 et seq., 1022 Webster, Josiah (Liberian), 137 Wesley, John (the great preacher), 113 Wesleyans, the, 112-3 WEST AFRICA, 22, 59, 70 ; commerce with, sixteenth century, 74 et seq. ; alcohol in, 76, 173-4; and the slave trade, [06 ct seq., 161 et seq. ; steamers and West Africa, 184 ; rainfall, 501-3 ; forest region of, 521 et seq. ; flora of, 522 ; domestic animals and history of, 900-20, 931 et seq. West African College (Methodist Episco- pal), 384-8 West African Gold Concessions, Limited, 300 1182 Index West African languages, 1092 et seq. West African Negro, the, 21, 106, no West Indies, 106, 113, 161, 346; Danish, 190, 231, 346 West, Messrs. J., 427 WHICKER, F. J., 505, 508, 825, 831, 860, 872 et seq. "Whigs," in Liberian politics, 230, 248 258 Whip carried by Mandingo, 967 Whiskey, 173 White ants. See Termites White Plains, 371, 440, 452 Whittlesey, Elisha, 159 WHYTE, MR. ALEXANDER, 300, 416, 501, 571-2 et seq., 787, 1052 Widows, 1044 Wiechers & Helm, Messrs., 290, 427 Wife, purchase of, 398, 1044 Wiltberger, Christian, 128, 130 Wing, the origin of, in birds, 764, 766, 775-6 Winn, J. B., 128 Witches, wizards, witchcraft, 1064 et seq., 1069 et seq. WOELFFEL, CAPTAIN (French explorer), 308, 478, 482-3, 496 WOERMANN, THE HOUSE OF, 230, 240, 290, 292-4 WOLOF LANGUAGE, 896, 1092 et seq., noo, 1104, 1139 et seq. Wolof people, 896 WOMEN, NATIVE, matters connected with, 1032, 1035 et seq., 1056 Wooden implements (hoes, spoons, plates, mortars, etc.), 1003, IOI° Woodin, Messrs., 427 Worms (see Earthworms), 841-2, 863 Xerus (ground squirrel), 695 Xiphidopterus, 762-3, 789 Xylophone, 1013, 1026 Xylopia pepper, 59, 527, 575 Yams, 992 Yoda, " King " (Gora tribe), 128, 143, 187 Yubu River (Upper Cavalla), 476 Zanga (chief and town), 485 Zanzibar, 682 Zebra antelope (Cephalophus dories), 366, 739 Zebra, the, 706, 714 Zicron, 518 Zigapora Zue, 490 Zinc, 518 Zionists, 353 Zolu, 490 Zoological Society, 739 THE END Printed by Hazell, Watson &> Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. 1183 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY Acme Library Card Pocket Under Pat. "Ref. Index File." Made by LIBRARY BUREAU