f9 LIBERIA A iMandingo u"' ■i^ LIBERIA A»V<* 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 Drawings 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., 1835 IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I London: HUTCHINSON & oster Row ^ ^ R«t«r|o 6 2-^ I ry I. SURF OFF LIBERIAN COAST PREFACE THE Republic of Liberia is an attempt and an atonement in which the author of this book takes a great interest. It is an attempt to estabhsh a civilised Negro State in the West African forest ; and a somewhat paltry atonement which has been made by Britain and her Daughter in America, for the wrong-doing of the slave trade. As France shared to some extent this traffic in negro bondsmen, we may claim her sympathy and participation also in the Liberian experiment. She holds back her mighty forces and the tidal wave of her African Empire from the skirts of this small African republic, wherein the descendants of slaves impressed with European culture may try to devise a new and appropriate civilisation Preface ^ for Negro West Africa : preserving all that is good and practical of America's teaching, shedding what is inappropriate, and inventing additional precepts suited to the Negro's mind and body. Personally, the author thinks the main future of those negroes in the United States who cannot be absorbed into the American community without risk of civil war lies in the West Indies and in portions of Tropical South America. He believes they have become too widely separated in physical constitution, in political and commercial ideals from Africa to resume with ease the African citizenship of their forefathers. For good or for ill, they must populate some portion of America, as partners with the white man or as a race by themselves. But amongst their millions some few thousands, now and again^ may choose to try an African career. There is plenty of room for such adventurers within the 43,000 square miles of the Liberian Republic, room and to spare ; for this country, properly tilled and drained, cleared and cultivated, might easily sustain a population of twenty millions. The author classes Liberia as an attempt as well as an atonement. It is but a tiny portion of the African continent, soon to be (with the exception of Abyssinia, perhaps) the only truly independent African State which we have set apart for the unfettered development of the black race. We have allowed them to take — which means that we have given them — a little garden in which to show what their husbandry can do. To this careless gift we should at least add Time. We should not -^ Preface flurry them or worry them by expecting fifteen thousand, twenty thousand, twenty-five thousand Americanised Negroes to effect in a hundred years as much as France and England could do in other portions of Negro Africa with unlimited resources in arms, men, and money, during the same period of tin'iC. Let us claim for Liberia at least another half-century of trial before the world in congress pronounces decisively upon the success or failure of the experiment. The author of this book first visited the coast of Liberia in 1882; again in 1885 and 1888 he landed at one place and another on its shores, collected in its forests, and took sketches or photographs of its people, animals, or plants. After a consider- able interval of time, he re-visited Liberia in the summer of 1904 and the winter of 1905-6, and during these visits took a considerable proportion of the photographs which illustrate this book, besides painting numerous studies in colour. On these last occasions the author compiled most of the vocabu- laries printed in this work, and acquired a good deal of the information — such as it is— which is here given. For portions of this book he is greatly indebted to the help of other people. In the first place. Dr. Otto Stapf of the Botanical staff at the Royal Gardens, Kew, has, with the consent of Sir WilHam Thiselton Dyer, prepared a most valuable annotated list of the known flora of Liberia. A good deal of his information is acquired from the collections made on behalf of the Liberian Development Chartered Company and the Liberian Rubber Preface ^ Corporation by Mr. Alexander Whyte, M.A., F.L.S. Mr. Whyte was the first European, or indeed collector of any kind, to botanise in the Liberian hinterland. His work as a collector in African botany may not unfitly be classed with that of Adanson, Hooker, Vogel, Mann, Schweinfurth, and Kirk. After thirteen years' service in the East and Central African protectorates he visited Liberia in 1903-4 to report on the flora of the country for the information of the two companies above men- tioned. Dr. Stapf has also derived much material for his treatise from the collections of Herr Dinklage (of Messrs. Woermann), and from those made by the foresters in the employ of the Liberian Rubber Corporation — Messrs. David Sim, Harold Reynolds, J. Cosh, and F. J. Whicker. The author has to thank the Directors of the Liberian Chartered and Monrovian Rubber Companies for the information derived from the botanical and zoological collections made by their employes which are now in the national collections at Kew and the British Museum. He has also used in this book a number of interesting photographs taken for the Liberian Development Company by Sir Simeon Stuart, Bart., Mr. T. H. Myring, the Due de Morny, Mr. J. P. Crommelin, and others. The Liberian Government or the Liberian Consul-General in London (Mr. Henry Hayman) has also placed photographs at the author's disposal, and he owes the use of others to Mr. G. W. Ellis, Secretary to the American Legation at Monrovia. Mr. C. H. Firmin, of the Sierra Leone Railway, has most kindly lent -•5 Prefate the author a number of photographs illustrating the native industries, fauna, and scenery of the Western Liberian border- land. The botanical drawings for the book have been done by Miss Matilda Smith of the Kew Herbarium. In regard to the nomenclature of the mammals and birds, the author is indebted to Mr. Oldfield Thomas and Mr. C. Chubb, of the British Museum, for much assistance, and also to Mr. G. A. Boulenger for information regarding the reptiles and fish. Miss E. M. Rowdier Sharpe has examined and classified the butterflies. Mr, R. I. Pococlc has contributed some notes on the spiders. In compiling the lists of fauna, the author has to acknow- ledge his indebtedness to the work of Professor J. Buttikofer, who has laid the foundations of our biological knowledge of this interesting part of Africa. The author has received much information on Liberian commerce, history, and peoples from the American Minister to Liberia, Dr. Ernest Lyon, and from the General Manager of the Chartered and Rubber Companies, Mr. I. F. Braham. He has also to acknowledge assistance from the Liberian Rubber Corporation's foresters, Messrs. Harold Reynolds, D. Sim, F. J. Whicker, Maitland Pye-Smith, John Gow, and Percy Newman. Dr. E. W. Blyden, Liberian Minister to France, has been of great help in checking the historical account of modern Liberia^ a country of which he is a citizen, and with which he has been intimately connected since 1851. The Royal Geographical Society and Captain H. D. Preface <«- Pearson, R.E., and Lieut. E. W. Cox, R.E., have permitted the reproduction in this book of their map of the Sierra Leone- Liberia Boundary region. The rest of the maps have been compiled and drawn specially for this book by Mr. J. W. Addison, of the Royal Geographical Society, from the Admiralty charts, the work of Dr. Biittikofer, the French, British, and Liberian frontier surveys, and from information supplied by Messrs. L F. Braham, Maitland Pye-Smith, P. Newman, Conrad Viner, Harold Reynolds, and the author. So far as labour and expenditure go, the author's own share in this work has been considerable. He cannot pretend that the book will be of general interest : Liberia may seem to many, in the words of R. L. Stevenson, " a footnote to history" ; although to the author it appears from many points of view the most interesting portion of the West African coast- lands. Its area is trivial — 43,000 square miles, more or less — but within these limits are locked up, he believes, some of the great undiscovered secrets of Africa, besides an enormous wealth of vegetable products, and perhaps some surprises in minerals. Here, also, is being tried the most serious and cautious ex- periment in Negro self-government. This book is an advance on the few works which have preceded it, merely because it is written sixteen to twenty years later, and in the meantime our knowledge of the country has increased. But Liberia, like Ihe Uganda Protectorate, is only an attempt to put before the reading world some information about a little-known part ^ Preface ■of Africa. Perhaps the author may be enabled in subsequent ■editions to extend the scope and usefulness of this present study of Liberia by corrections and additions. Lastly, he feels he owes some explanation to his readers outside the limits of Liberia. If in his description of the country and its productions he has stated obvious facts or has illustrated types familiar to men of science or to people who are widely read, he has done so, not with British readers in his thoughts, but in the desire to produce a book which may be primarily useful to untravelled Liberians, especially to those who are as yet unacquainted with the history, the fauna, flora, and anthropology of their own country. H. H. Johnston. London, 1906. 2. MESURADO LAGOON XI BIBLIOGRAPHY THE following list of books will be of use to students of Liberia, and some of them constitute the principal authorities for statements made by the author when not writing from his own experience or researches : I. History of Liberia down to 1822 A History of Ancient Geography, 2 vols., by Sir E. H. Bunbury, 2nd edition, 1883. Prince Henry the Navigator, by Charles Raymond Beazley, 1895. The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guifiea. Translated from the Portuguese by Gomez Eannes de Azurara, by C. R. Beazley and Edgar Prestage. (Hakluyt Society : with a very valuable introduction on the history of early African exploration, etc., by C. R. Beazley.) 2 vols. 1899. Chronica do Descobrimento e Conquista de Guine, pelo chronista Gomez Eannes de Azurara (edition Visconde de Santarem, 1 841).— It is useful to scan the Portuguese version as well as the English translation in regard to the spelling of place names. Relation des Voyages a la Cote accident ale d''Afrique d'Aloise de Ca' da Mosto, 1455-7. Publiee par M. Charles Schefer, 1895. Paris. — The cele- brated Italian geographer, Ramusio, published several sumptuous works at Venice about 1550 on the voyages of Ca' da Mosto and others. All or nearly all the editions of this Italian work may be seen at the British Museum Library. As in the case of the above-mentioned Portuguese works, it is interesting to see the Italian version for the checking of place names. Conside'ration sur la Priorite des Decouvertes maritimes sur la Cote occidetttale d'Afrique aux XIV' et XV' Siecles, par L. G. Binger (published by the Comite de I'Afrique fran^~aise, Nos. 4, 5, and 6 oi Kenseignenients coloniaux for April, May, and June, 1904). — This is a most valuable summary of all the evidence dealing with the Norman voyages to Liberia. It also contains a subsidiary bibliography of the fullest description. Memoria Sobre a Prioridade dos Descobrimentos Portuguezes na Costa d'' Africa Occidental, pelo Visconde de Santarem, 1841. Revista Portugiieza Colonial e Maritima, Lisbon, May 20th, 1898. Les derniers Jours de la Marine a Rames, by Admiral Jurien de la Graviere, Paris, 1885. Les Marins du XV et du XVP Siecles, 2 vols,, by Admiral Jurien de la Graviere, Paris, 1879. Bibliography <«- Levinus ffulsius, Theil VII., Siebende Schtffari, etc., Frankfurt, 1606. Levinus Hulsius, Theil XIX., Brauit's Voyages to Gtiinea, Frankfurt, 1626. Hakluyfs Voyages, especially that portion dealing with the coast of Guinea in the sixteenth century. Description de VAfrique, Traduite du Flamand d'O. Dapper, Amsterdam, 1686. — The celebrated work by Dr. Olivier Dapper, a Dutch surgeon who visited the Guinea coast in the latter half of the seventeenth century. Remarqiies sur les Cotes d'Afrique, et Notaminent siir la Cote d' Or, pour jiistifier que les Francais y ont cte longtemps auparavant les autres Nations, by Villault de Bellefonds (1666-7). Description of the Coast of Gui?iea, etc. — Written originally in Dutch by William Bosman, etc., London, 1721. A Nezv Voyage to Guinea, etc., by William Smith, London, 1745. — Much of this is borrowed from Bosman, but the notices of the Grain Coast are original. Essay on Colonisation, Particularly applied to the Western Coast of Africa, etc., by C. B. Wadstrom, in two parts, London, 1795. — ^ copy of this work in the possession of the Royal Geographical Society contains some rather amusing marginal notes by " William Dickson, LL.D." According to Dickson's story, this work was " Really compiled by W. Dickson, Mr. Wadstrom having furnished only a small part of the material, namely, the contents of his voyage to the coast of Africa. Commercial queries, and certain Swedenborgian doctrines (namely, such as W. D. could not get excluded), claim Mr. Wadstrom as their author, the language haying been corrected where possible by W. D." Dickson, according to his own account, was a sort of " ghost " who did literary work for Wadstrom, and whose salary remained much in arrears and unpaid at the time of Wadstrom's death. Dickson seems rather to have resented the mixture of commercial enterprise with philanthropy which inspired the work of Wadstrom and his supporters in England, and he pencils at the bottom of the title-page : For the pale fiend, cold-hearted Commerce, there Breathes his gold-gendered pestilence afar, And calls to share the prey his kindred demon War. — Soiithey. Wadstrom's book, though it contains many fantastic notions about colonisation, nevertheless throws an interesting light on the condition of West Africa at the end of the eighteenth century. A History of the Colo?ty of Sierra Leone, Western Africa, by Major J. J. Crooks (formerly Colonial Secretary), London, 1903 (Simpkin, Marshall & Co.). — An excellent compilation. A Historical Account of Discoveries arid Travels in Africa, by the late John Leyden, M.D., etc., Edinburgh, 181 7. — This is a compilation remark- ably accurate for the time at which it was written, completed and added to xiv -#5 Bibliography by Hugh Murray. It is an interesting resum^ of what was known about Western and Central Africa at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Article on " Slavery " in EncyclopcBdia Bn'tajtnica, 9th edition. — An admirable review, containing allusions to an exhaustive bibliography. II. History of the State of Liberia since its Foundation in 1822 The Life of Jehudi Ashmun, by the Rev. Ralph Randolph Gurley,. Washington, 1835. — Describes the foundation of Liberia. Report of the Rev. R. R. Giirley on Liberia (United States State Paper), Washington, 1850. The African Liepository, 1S25 to 1892. — From 1892 onwards the organ of the American Colonisation Society was named Liberia. The African Repository and Liberia together constitute a kind of quarterly chronicle of events in and connected with Liberia for a period of something like eighty years. Twenty Years of an African Slave-trader, by Captain Theodore Canot, London, 1854. — This work, which was published by George Routledge at eighteen-pence, is one of quite extraordinary interest, and it is surprising that it has not been republished for those who like tales of adventure. Some proportion of it may be fiction, but much of that which relates to Liberia is substantially true, except the story of Governor Findlay's death,^ which is untrue. Wanderings in West Africa by an F.R.G.S. (the late Sir Richard Burton, K.C.M.G.), London, 1862. The African Sketch-book, by Winwood Reade, London, 1873. Liberia : Histoire de la Fondation d'un Etat negre libre, by Colonel Wauwermans, Brussels, 1885. — An excellent compilation of the history of Liberia as a Negro republic, with a good deal of interesting matter regarding the frontier dispute with Great Britain. LListory of the Colofiisation of Africa by Alien Liaces, by Sir Harry Johnston, 3rd edition, Cambridge, 1905. — This little work gives a general history of European enterprise in West Africa. The Story of Africa and its Explorers, vols. i. and iv. by the late Dr. Robert Brown, M.A., London, 1892 (Cassell & Co.). — An excellent history of African discovery. The Map of Africa by Treaty, by Sir Edward Hertslet, K.C.B. (Librarian to the Foreign Office), London, 1894. III. Biology, Anthropology, etc. Lieisebilder aus LJberia, 2 vols., by J. Biittikofer, Leyden, 1890. — -This- is the great work on Liberia, gathering up all the knowledge of the country which existed in 1890. A good deal of the book is of permanent value. Bibliography ^ Professor Biittikofer was not able to penetrate far into the interior of Liberia ; with the exception of a journey of a hundred miles up the St. Paul's River, he travelled no more than thirty miles from the coast. But he has given a correct and impartial sketch of Liberian history, and his services to biology in that country cannot be too highly praised, since before his explorations and those of the other Swiss collectors who acted with him practically nothing was known of the zoology of this country. To Dr. Biittikofer, Stampfli, and their companions (who were nearly all sent out to this country by Dr. Jentink of Leyden Museum, Holland) we owe the revelation of the more interesting features of the Liberian fauna. For some reason not explained Dr. Biittikofer made practically no botanical -collections. At the commencement of the first volume of his work he gives a bibliography dealing with Liberia, and many of the works he quotes the present writer does not cite over again, as no one who wishes to study Liberian questions can do so without direct application to Biittikofer's work. j4 Grammar of the Vei ( Vai) Language, by the Rev. S. W. Koelle, London, 1854. — This work, I believe, was subsequently republished by Messrs. Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., and is now on sale. It is a most interesting treatise on the Vai language, and is very necessary to persons exploring Western Liberia, where that language, apart from English, is the chief means of communicating with the natives. Polyglotta Africana, by the Rev. S. W. Koelle, London, 1854. — This is Koelle's colossal work, compiled at Sierra Leone from slaves landed there by the British cruisers. These short vocabularies are on the whole wonderfully accurate in transcription. The languages represented range as far afield from Sierra Leone as Lake Chad, the Egyptian Sudan, Nyasa- land, Angola, and the western Sahara. He gives examples of most of the Kru and Mandingo dialects, of the Gora language, the Kisi speech, and two or three dialects of Kpwesi, The Revds. J. L. Wilson and J. S. Payne both published works (at Boston, U.S.A., and also locally printed at Cape Palmas in Liberia) on the ■Grebo language in the middle of the nineteenth century. Copies of their works exist in the British Museum Library, and may be looked for under those names. Les Peuplades de la Senegambie, by L. J. B. Beranger-Feraud, Paris, 1879. The Modern Languages of Africa, by Robert Needham Cust, London, 1883, vol. i. — Mr. Cust in his well-known work summarises very ably all that was known about Liberian languages down to the year 1883, and gives useful hints as to where to obtain the works then existing on the subject. Christiatiity, Lslam, and the Negro Race, by Dr. Edward Wilmot Blyden, London, 1887. — This works deals incidentally with Liberian problems. It xvi -•» Bibliography- is one of great interest, and has gone through two or more editions. Its author, though born in the Danish West Indies, became a Liberian subject as far back as 185 1, and has written many other works on or deahng. with Liberia which will be found under his name in the British Museum Catalogue. He is Director of Muhammadan Education at Sierra Leone, and has several times been sent to Europe on diplomatic missions by the Liberian Government. De la Cote (Tlvoire au Soudan et a la Guinie, par le Capitaine- d'OUone, Paris, 1901. — This is a work of primary importance on Eastern and Northern Liberia. The author, together with M. Hostains, first delineated with more or less accuracy on the map of Africa the eastern regions of Liberia. His book is not by any means fair to the Liberian Government,, as apparently one of its objects was to decry the results achieved by the Negro Republic so as to prepare the mind of his readers for a possible ex- tension of French influence over these regions. But if the writer of the book had these intentions they were not carried into effect by his Govern- ment, and we owe to him and to his collaborator, M. Hostains, a great deal of valuable information on the geography, peoples, and fauna of Eastern Liberia. The book is well illustrated, chiefly from photographs. Le Boucle du Niger, etc., par la Colonel L. G. Binger, Paris, 1890. — A. description of Binger's great journey, useful for understanding the Mandingo question. Notre Colonic de la Cote dlvoire, by MM. Villamur et Richard, with, a preface by L. G. Binger. — This is an excellent description of the French colony of the Ivory Coast which adjoins Liberia. It commences with a historical summary of the connection of France with the regions immediately to the east of Liberia. Journal of the African Society (London), 1902-5 (Macmillan). HON. ARTHUR BARCLAY, PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITERATURE, LIBERIA COLLEGE xvu ERRATA AND ADDENDA On pages 462 and 463 the alternative (native) name of the River Cestos should be Nifnve. The phrase should read, not "Cess or Cestos," but "Cestos or Nipwe." On pages 762-3 the bird referred to as the "Red" Phalarope should be styled "Grey" (according to Mr. Chubb). The same correction should be made in the further description of this bird on page 790. On page 790 "Butler" should be read as " ^?///^;-," and (on bottom line) " tertiaries feathers" as "tertiary feathers." On the top line of page 791 the word "margins" should be inserted after "brown"; on the third line of the same page the phrase " becoming grey towards their tips " should read " becoming darker \.o\i?aA?, the tips." In the eighth and ninth lines, "becoming streaked with grey and white" should read "becoming streaked with white." On page 792 the record of the bird '' Lampribis splendida, Salvadori Ibis ; 1903, p. 184 (Liberia) '' should be inserted next to Hagedashia hagedash, etc." On the same page " Blitlikofer" and not " Du Bus" should be given as the authority for Ibis olivacea. "On page 799 " Hengl." should be corrected to " Heugl." and "Cub." to "Cab." On page 800 " Campephagid.i^" should read " Campophagid^." 'On page 802 the Vol. of the British Museum Catalogue quoted in reference to Cisticola should be VII., and not XII. On page 804, in line 10, "Coliopasser" should read "Coliuspasser." Throughout these lists of birds " Rupp.'" stands for " Riipp.'" and " Mull." for " Miill." CONTENTS OF VOL. I CHAP. PAGE I. Liberia . . . . i II. Ancient History 13 III. Normans and Genoese 29 IV. Portuguese 37 V. Pepper and Gold 54 VI. The Guinea Trade in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 70 VII. A Dutch Account of Liberia in the Seventeenth Century 83 VIII. The Slave Trade 104 IX. The Founding of Liberia 125 X. The Last Phase of the Slave Trade . . . . 161 XL Governors of Liberia 179 XII. Independence . . . 198 XIIL President Roberts 224 XIV. Frontier Questions 241 XV. The Loan and its Consequences 258 XVI. Recent History 277 XVIL The Americo-Liberians 340 Appendix I. Americo-Liberian Population . . -371 „ II. Statistical information as to Government, Religion, Education, etc 374 „ III. The Liberian National Anthem . . . 394 XVIII. Commerce 39^ XIX. Geography of Liberia 432 XX. Climate and Rainfall 497 XXL Geology and Minerals 5 '3 xix COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOL. I FROM THE AUTHOR'S PAINTINGS NO. TITLE. 1. A Mandingo Frontispiece 2. Malagueta pepper: leaves, seed-pod, and flowers {A/ramomitm mclegueta) ........... To face p. 58 3. The Shield, Emblems, and Motto of Liberia as established in 1847 . ,, 218 4. The Flag of Liberia .......... „ 220 5. The Shield and Emblem of Liberia as they might be ... . „ 222 6. President J. J. Roberts (painted from a photograph taken about 1871) „ 264 7. A Liberian homestead .......... „ 346 8. A Mandingo in blue cotton robe ........ „ 356 .9. The Red-headed Guinea-fowl {Agelastes nteleagroides) ... „ 370 10. A Liberian stream in the short dry season ...... „ 436 11. The Ytllow-flowered Musssenda with white sepals, so common in the Liberian bush (Musswnda conopharyngijolia) .... ,, 45^ 12. The Hoffmann River, Cape Palmas ....... ,, 472 BLACK AND WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOL. I NO. TITLE. 1. Surf off Liberian coast 2. Mesurado Lagoon . 3. Hon. Arthur Barclay, Professor of English Literature, Liberia College 4. On the St. Paul's River . 5. River Cavalla . 6. Promontory of Cape Palmas 7. On a Liberian river. 8. On the Liberian coast 9. Surf off the Liberian coast 10. Houses in Monrovia 11. In the forest 12. Arums on the borders of a stream 13. On the beach, Monrovia : Bombax cotton tree in background .... 14. The British village of Gene (River Mano from the Liberian shore 15. Mandingos ...... 16. The coast of Liberia near Cape Mount . 17. Agri bead from Putu, Eastern Liberia (pro- bably Venetian) ..... 18. Agri beads from West Africa and elsewhere 19. "Nivaria": a view of the peak of Tenerife from a distance of forty miles . 20. A Barca, early type of Portuguese sailing ship, fifteenth century 21. The mountainous piomontory of Sierra Leone from the lighthouse .... 22. Canoes coming off from the Liberian coast 23. Palms (Borassus, oil and coconut) at Cape Palmas ...... 24. Cavalla River near its mouth . 25. Portuguese warrior in Africa on horseback early sixteenth century. Drawn from ; Benin carving in the British Museum SOURCE. Photograph by the Author Photograph by Mr. Crommelin II >» t> Photograph by the Author Photograph by Mr. Cronitnelin Photograph by the Author 1; )» f» »» M »l Photograph by Mr. T. H. Myring (Photograph by Mr. Cecil HA \ Firmin j Drawing by the Author. Photograph by Mr. T. H. Myring Drawing by the Author. Drawn by the Author in 1882 Sketched by the Author in 1882 Photograph by the Author Photograph by the Due de Morny Drawing by the Author . 4 5 7 8 9 10 '5 19 22 23 25 39 40 42 44 50 53 Black and White Illustrations in Vol. I NO. 26. 27. 28. 29. 31- 32. 33- 34- . ^""- SOURCE. A Portuguese sea captain of the sixteenth century. Drawn from a Benin carving in the British Museum Drawing by the Author . A native of Sine . . . ^Photograph by the late Mr ~\ ' ' ' \ Sam. Hall. ' \ Borassus Jlabellifer . . o/ . ., , , • • • Photograph by the Author Kru canoes . . r>; <.Tu i>^ J- . ' ■ ■ • ^'^^*°S^'<^phbyMr.T.H.Mvrini' "The Mandjngorobeof stoutly woven cotton"- { •^•'<)"-^«^ group of Kondo people from behind Vai J P'^oiograph taken by order of ^"""'•■y • • . . . . .1 Liberian Governntent The Caravela redonda or round caravel (from Revista Colonial of Lisbon) . . . A Caravel A Caravel (? of Genoa), fifteenth ceniury • After Junen de la Graviere ^ ' ..^^y^i^yii iitKnn uy ora Liberian Government Drawing by the Author. 35- 36. 38. 39- 40. 41. 42. 43- 44- 45- 46. 47. M^um' ^r""/^"'"^ - ^he Britis^h Dutch sailing vessel of seventeenth centurv After Levinus Hulsius . ^^"tury. Dutch seamen of the early seventeenth centurv and.ng on the West African coast. After Levinus Hulsius. . , ^^ Mermaid Island on the St. Paul's River re' ( eSeent^h an^'d n^"T''". ''^^'''^ in the \ Photograph by Sir Simeon] i-ignteentJi and nineteenth centuries . 1 Stuart \ A De man aboriginal native of Mesurado -' district, described by Des MarchS pa . A (native) D, kitchen near Monrov as de" P '""'' '' '"' ^'''''' ' Stlt^h^ce^-.^-^^^^ ^n S^^^X\^'^-f:y^ ^y Sir SimeoA eighteenth century) A mangrove thicket A native of the Kru coast A street in Sierra Leone (1905) Fura Bay Road, Freetown '"r:Sra;ol'^^^^^'^^^"- ^^>-^ - Mesu. I Stuart J ^Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.\ y Ftrmin \ ^Photograph by the late Mr 1 I Sam. Hall \ ■ Photograph by the Author (Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.^ \ J'trmtn \ Photograph by the Author Vicini.y of .i,c of fi„, '^ °i '^''"""»' '''""'••S h the Autko. PAGE 61 64 67 69 73 78 79 80 87 Photograph by the Author Photograph by Mr. T. H. Myrin^ 49- Va. Town," on Mesurado I a^.. , " ^^"^"SraphbyMr.T.H.Myrim opposite Monrovia, once a ki'i^^^^'^fp/, . , C for shipping slaves ^"°"' locality J ^^//«^-''«M taken by order oA «t. Paul's River abnv. I ". ' ' ' " ^''^^''''«« Government { "miey . Photograph by Mr. T. H. Myring XXll 95 97 99 103 109 123 124 '31 139 144 147 153 -^ Black and White Illustrations in Vol. I NO. 50. 51- 52- 53- 54- 55- 56. 57- 58. 59- 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71- 72. 73- 74. 75- 76. 77. 78. 79- 80. 81. 82. SOURCE. PAGE Photograph by the Author 165 >> M M 167 Photograph by Herr Dinklage 169 Photograph by the Author '75 I) It n 177 A "Kruman " from near Basa, Basa tribe Surf on the Liberian beach .... Liberian Settlement at Cape Mount (supposed site of Canot's establishment in 1847) A Mandingo of Western Liberia Oil palms [Ela'is guineensis) .... A Boporo man visiting Government House, Monrovia .....■• Governor Joseph J. Roberts (afterwards Pre- sident). From an oil painting executed about 1849 • ■ • • • Harper (Cape Palmas) and Hoffmann River . Old mango trees in Monrovia, near Roberts's house . . . . ... . Photograph by the Author Drawing by the Author . Photograph by the DucdeMorny Bandasuma on the River Sulima , _ . Executive Mansion, Monrovia, the official i Photograph by Mr. Cecil //. " \ Firmin 181 186 190 196 197 Photograph by the Author . 222 President \ Photograph by Mr. Henry . \ Irving '} residence of the President Mrs. Jane Roberts (widow of Roberts) .... Dr. E. W. Blyden in 1894 Liberia College in 1900 . President's House, Monrovia . River Sewa, once claimed as the Liberian ^Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.\ western frontier (Gallinhas country) . . \_ Firmin j President Barclay in 1896 .......... Mandingos from Boporo ... . . Photograph by Mr. T.H.Myring A Mandingo horse (in Sierra Leone) . .. Photograph by the Author Ashmun Street, Monrovia .... ,, ,, ,, Mano River, Liberian frontier, from Dia, j Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.\ looking up-stream . ... . ^ Firmin j General R. A. Sherman ........... Memorial to President J. J. Roberts Kruman of Nana Kru Liberian Order of Afiican Redemption A Liberian household Hilary R. W. Johnson, President of Liberia 1884-92 President James Cheeseman and Cabinet, 1894 ...... Group of European consuls and merchants, f Photograph by Sir Simcon\ in Monrovia, 1901 . ... . . \^ Stuart / Photograph by Mr. T. H. Myring Photograph by the Author j Photograph by Sir Sinieon\ \ Stuart J A Kruboy .... Kru headman on steamer In Kru Town, Monrovia . President Gibson and his Cabinet (Photograph by the late Mr. \ \ Sam. Hall / Photograph by the Author Photo by Mr. Downing 225 231 237 239 246 249 251 253 256 257 263 265 269 271 273 281 285 291 292 293 295 297 Black and White Illustrationsjn_VoL^ <«^ NO. 26. TITLE. A Portuguese sea captain of the sixteenth century. Drawn from a Benin carving in the British Museum . 61 27. A native of Sino 28. Borasstis flabellifer . 29. Kru canoes Drawing by the Author . (Photograph by the late Mr.\ . • y Sam. Hall. J ^ Photograph by the Author Photograph by Mr. T. H. Myring 31- 32- 33- 34- 35- 36. 37- 38. 39- 40. 41- 42. 43- 44- Drawing by the Author. " The Mandingo robe of stoutly woven cotton ' : ( photograph taken by order of group of Kondo people from behind Vai - uberian Government country I The Caravela redonda or round caravel (from Revista Colonial of Lisbon) .... A Caravel ....... A Caravel (? of Genoa), fifteenth century : After Jurien de la Graviere A Portuguese warrior, sixteenth century. From a Benin carving in the British Museum ....... Dutch sailing vessel of seventeenth century. After Levinus Hulsius .... Dutch seamen of the early seventeenth century landing on the West African coast. After Levinus Hulsius. .... Mermaid Island on the St. Paul's River, re sorted to by European traders in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries A De man, aboriginal native of Mesurado district, described by Des Marchais . A (native) De kitchen near Monrovia (as de scribed by Des Marchais in the early eighteenth century) A mangrove thicket A native of the Kru coast A street in Sierra Leone (1905) Fura Bay Road, Freetown Photograph by Sir Simeon I Stuart j Photograph by the Author J Photograph by Sir Simeon [^ I Stuart I (Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.\ \^ Firmin J (Photograph by the late Mr.^ y Sam. Hall j Photograph by the Author f Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.\ \ Firmin j Photograph by the Author Providence or Perseverance Island in Mesu rado Lagoon Jehudi Ashmun, the founder of Liberia (from the portrait in Gurley's Life of Ashmun) Drawing by the Author . 46. Vicinity of site of first stockade on Cape Mesu- rado (town of Monrovia in the distance) . Photograph by the Author Last rapids of St. Paul's River twenty miles from its mouth Photograph by Mr.T.H. Myring "Vai Town," on Mesurado Lagoon, nearly f _, , , , , r\ opposite Monrovia, once a famous locality \ Photograph taken by order of\ for shipping slaves . . Ltberian Government j 45- 47- 48. [ 67 69 73 78 79 80 81 87 89 95 97 99 103 109 123 124 >3i 133 139 144 147 49- St. Paul's River above last rapids, near site of Elijah Johnson's fight with Chief Brumley . Photograph by Mr. T.H. Myring 1 53 I Black and White Illustrations in Vol. I NO. 50- 51- 52. 53- 54- 55- 56. 57- 58. 59- 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. £6. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71- 72. 73- 74- 75- 76. 77. 78. 79- 80. 81. 82. SOURCE. PAGE Photograph by the Author 165 l» M 1) 167 Photograph by Herr Dinklage 169 Photograph by the Author 175 )i »» i> 177 TITLE. A "Kruman" from near Basa, Basa tribe Surf on the Liberian beach .... Liberian Settlement at Cape Mount (supposed site of Canot's establishment in 1847) A Mandingo of Western Liberia Oil palms (Eldis guineensis) .... A Boporo man visiting Government House, Monrovia .....•• u n m Governor Joseph J. Roberts (afterwards Pre- sident). From an oil painting executed about 1849 . . . . . • • Drawing by the Author . Harper (Cape Palmas) and Hoffmann River . Photograph by the Due deMorny Old mango trees in Monrovia, near Roberts's house . . . . ... • Photograph by the Author (Photograph by Mr. Cecil H. \ Firmin Photograph by the Author . 222 President ^Photograph by Mr. Henry\ . \ Irving f Bandasuma on the River Sulima Executive Mansion, Monrovia, the official residence of the President Mrs. Jane Roberts (wldowr of Roberts) .... Dr. E. W. Blyden in 1894 Liberia College in 1900 . President's House, Monrovia . River Sewa, once claimed as the Liberian (Photograph by Mr. Cecil //.) western frontier (Gallinhas country) . . ( Firmin / President Barclay in 1896 .... . . . ... Mandingos from Boporo ..... Photograph by Mr. T.H.Myring A Mandingo horse (in Sierra Leone) . . Photograph by the Author Ashmun Street, Monrovia .... ,, „ ,, Mano River, Liberian frontier, from Dia, (Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.\ looking up-stream . . . . . \ Firmin f General R. A. Sherman ........... Memorial to President J. J. Roberts . . Photograph by Mr. T.H.Myring Kruman of Nana Kru . . . . . Photograph by the Author Liberian Order of Afiican Redemption . . ,, ,, ,, j Photograph by Sir Simeon \ \ Stuart j Hilary R. W. Johnson, President of Liberia , , 1884-92 ...... President James Cheeseman and Cabinet, 1894 ...... Group of European consuls and merchants, f Photograph by Sir Simeon} \ Stuart J 181 186 190 196 197 A Liberian household in Monrovia, 1901 A Kruboy .... Kru headman on steamer In Kru Town, Monrovia . President Gibson and his Cabinet (Photograph by the late Mr.\ [ Sam. Hall j Photograph by the Author ti II II Photo by Mr. Downing . 225 231 237 239 246 249 251 253 256 257 263 265 269 271 273 281 285 291 292 293 295 297 XXIU Black and White Illustrations in Vol. I «*- SOURCE. PAGE NO. TITLE. 83 Sir Simeon Stuart in a Liberian village 298 84. Chartered Company's headquarters in Mon- |P/^to5r«/.A by Sir Smieon\ ^^^ rovia ..•••••■ ^ 85. President G, W. Gibson Photograph by Mr.T.H.Myring 301 86. A Vai chief, his wives and interpreter . . „ .» .. 302 87. Mandingos from the Franco-Liberian frontier Photograph by the Author . 303 .88. A Mandingo headman from the Dukwia River „ „ ,, 305 89. Natives of the Grebe country near the Lower Cavalla River " " " 307 {Photograph by the Liberian'\ o 90. Natives of Padibo, Duobe River . . .| Government / ^ 91. Natives of the Kelipo country, central Cavalla region ....•••• n " " 3'-'9 92. Liberians and European visitors . . . Photographby Mr.I.F.Braham 310 r Photograph by Sir Simeon '\ 93. In Monrovia: firing a salute . . . . -; Stuart f "^ ^ . (Photograph by the Liberian\ . 94. A Gora chief and his wives at Sinko . .| Government ] ^'^ 95. A Liberian schoolhouse Photograph by the Author . 318 96. Hon. Mrs. Barclay (wife of the President) and /P/?o/o^ra/)A by Sir Simeon\ the pupils of a girls' school . . . \ Stuart j 97. Pupils of a school for indigenous Negroes . Photograph by Mr.T.H.Myring 320 o » A • T -I. • 1 i ,.• ( Photograph by Lieut.-Colonel\ .^, 98. An Americo-Libenan plantation . . . \ Pownev f 3^1 99. Americo-Liberian coffee plantation . . . Photograph by Mr. Crommelin 322 100. Liberian postage stamps (issued prior to 1906) ...... 324 101. Liberian stamps (issued prior to 1906) ........ 325 102. Liberian stamps, new issue, 1906 ......... 327 103. Liberian judges and lawyers .......... 329 104. The late Hon. E. J. Barclay, a most respected Liberian Secretary of State ... . . . . . .331 IC5. A Liberian family group (Photograph by Sir Simeon\ ^^^ 106. Liberian silver and copper coins ......... 335 107. Hon. Arthur Barclay, President of Liberia 1906 Photograph by the Author . 337 108. Looking towards the Customs House, Monrovia „ ,, „ 339 109. A Liberian planter (Mr. Solomon Hill) and his family Photographby Mr.T.H.Myring 341 110. Mandingo woman of Western Liberia . . Photograph by the Author . 343 111. A Mandingo from Western Liberia . . . „ . » 345 112. Telephone poles in Monrovia, erected by Mr. Faulkner, a Liberian. This tele"- phone extends to the St. Paul's River settlements .... ia'; It 11 M o'f/ 113. In a Liberian general store at Buchanan, Grand Basa. . . 1^0 1/ )) II o'fy 114. "Civiliied" Krumen of Monrovia . -icx II I) )i Oj * xxiv "^ Black and White Illustrations in Vol. I NO. ii6. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. 131- 132. 133- 134- 135- 136. 137- 138. 139- 140. 141. 142. 143- 144. TITLE. Methodist Church, Monrovia . The " religion of the tall hat "' . A Liberian lady The "religion of the tall hat and frock coat " : a masonic procession A municipal brass band, Liberia A wedding at Government House, Monrovia A wedding procession, Monrovia A review of troops in Monrovia Review of troops : " Quick march ! " A funeral procession, Monrovia Independence Day, July 26th . Waiting for the President to be sworn into office, January 1st ... . Teaching staff and some of the students of Liberia College (1900) A Mende girl from the Sierra Leone frontier of Liberia, wearing silver ornaments . A Liberian house of wooden shingles. Green ville, Sino ...... Right Rev. J. C. Hartzell, Methodist Bishop of Africa ...... Methodist Church, Harper, Cape Palmas Protestant Episcopal Church at Harper, Cape Palmas ...... Baptist Church, Monrovia In the House of Representatives, Monrovia J. A. Railey, a Colonel of Liberian Militia Liberian Militia : a march past Liberian Militia in review order (white uni form, blue sashes) .... The Armoury, Monrovia .... Unfinished Masonic Lodge, Monrovia A house and garden, Monrovia "Green be her fame" — Liberian native coffee trees ....... Sir Alfred Jones's agency in Monrovia (Elder, Dempster & Co.) .... Coffea liberica in flower .... A Liberian coflee plantation at White Plains on the St. Paul's River . . 145. Oil palms SOURCE. Photograph by the Atithor / Photograph by Sir Simeon \ y Stuart f Photograph by Mr. T. H. My ring II II II (Photograph by Lieut. -Colonel\ y Powney / Photograph by the Author ^Photograph by Lieut. -Colonel^ \ Powney J Photograph by Mr. T. H. Myring f Photograph by Mr. Cecil H. \ \ Firm in J page: 353 354 355 357 359 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 369 370 Photograph by the Author . 373 Photograph by the Author Photograph by the Author Photograph by Mr. Downing . (Photograph by Sir Simeon'X \ Stuart j f Photograph by Lieut.-Colonel\ y Powney j Photograph by Mr. T. H. Myring Photograph by Mr. Cromwelin Photograph by the Author Photograph by Mr. I. F. Brahant Photograph by Mr. Crornnielitt Photograph by Mr. T. H. Myring Photograph by Mr. Crommelin 375 377 377 381 382 383 385 387 389 391 393 394 399 401 403 404 XXV Black and White Illustrations in Vol. I 146. Native women manufacturing palm oil Note \ pf^^^ p^ by Mr. Cecil H^ the wooden trough like a canoe full ot - jr{y„„„ f 405 palm oil V / M )> I) 406-7 Drawing by the Author . . 408 Photograph by the Author . 409 Dratviiig by Miss Matilda Smith 411 413 415 Photograph by the Author . 417 (Photograph by Mi: Harold\ „ \ Reynolds / 4i» Photograph by the Author . 419 Photograph by Mr. Crommelin 421 147-9. Native ascending the trunk of oil palm in order to collect palm kernels 150. Young or small Raphia vinifera palm, to show inflorescence ...... 151. Raphia vinifera — Piassava palms. Rice is growing below the palms . 152. Dalbergia melanoxylon (producing ebony) 153. Flowers and leaves of Cola acuminata (Kola nut) 154. Fruit of the Cola acuminata (Kola nut) 155. Weighing rubber at Greenville (Sino): Liberian Rubber Corporation .... 156. Forester's house in interior (Rubber Corpora tion) 157. Headquarters of the Liberian Rubber Cor^ poration, Monrovia .... 158. A forester's camp ..... 159. A dish of fruit from Liberia : pineapples, papaw, avocado pear, mangoes, orange, coconuts, and bananas . . . . Drawing by the Author . . 423 160. 0.x-cart on Liberian road .... {^^^ti^'if^ ^^ ^"^ ^'""°"} 424 161. " In the wet season these paths become canals" Photograph by the Author . 425 162. A porter, Liberia (Photograph by Lieut. -Colonel^ ^ ' \ Powney j 4^7 163. Women porters Photograph by Mr. Crommelin 428 164. Canoe-travelling : stopped by rapids . . ,, ,, ^^ 429 165. A bush road near the Mano River . . (Photograph by Mr. Cecil H.'\ y Firmttt f ^-^J 166. The shore of Fisherman Lake (Cape Mount) . Photograph by Herr Dinklage 435 167. At Robertsport, Cape Mount .... .,3 168. River scene on an affluent of the St. Paul's . Photograph by the Author . 439 169. On the Poba River Photograph by Mr. I.E. Braham 440 170. The St. Paul's River about seventy miles from the coast, in the region of its rapids and falls Photograph by the Author . 442 171. The " Traveller's Tree " . ' ■ ■ " " " 443 172. Mangrove and pandanus swamp . ^^^ ^ • (I (I )i 445 173. The turfy streets and cattle of Monrovia 174. A street in Monrovia 175. Waterside vegetation : pandanus, mangrove, palms 447 449 450 176. Mangrove swamp: mangrove trees, showing (Photograph bv' Mr. Cecil H.\ ^^"^I'-oots 1 Firmin " ) 451 177. Forest on the landward edge of the Mesurado ^^"'"^"'^ Photograph by the Author . 453 ^»J Black and White Illustrations in Vol. I KO. TITLE. SOURCE. PAGE 178. Mangrove trees on the borders of the Mesurado Lagoon Drawing by the Author . -457 179. Dense bush with white-leaved Mtisscenda, wild coffee, etc Photograph by the Author . 458 180. A road near the St. Paul's River ... ,, ,» >» 459 181. Waterside, Monrovia Photograph by Herr Dinklage 460 182. On the outskirts of Monrovia .... Photograph by Mr. T.H.Myrifig 461 183. In Lower Buchanan (Grand Basa) . . . Photograph by the Author . 462 184. Vegetation in Sino County : Cyrtosperma arums, palms, etc „ ,, ,, 467 „ , ,. .,, ^, , (Photograph by Sir Simeott\ ,„, 185. In a Kru village on the coast . . . . < Stuart ( 47' ,,. „ i 11 • • • T -u • (Photograph by Lieut.- Co lonely 186. European travellers crossing a river in Liberia •! p I- 472 187. In a Kru village ...... Photograph by the Author . 473 188. Missionary College, Harper, Cape Palmas . Photograph by Mr. Crommelin 474 189. '• Oleanders fill most of the front gardens" . ,, „ ,, 475 190. Cape Palmas : " the promontory . , . girdled with a ring of foam " Photograph by the Author . 476 191. A road in Maryland Photograph by the Due de Monty ^"j"] 192. "Half Cavalla": the beach near the mouth of the Cavalla River ,, „ ,, 478 193. Interior of Maryland County : marshy country Photograph by the Author . 479 194. The Gba or Bwe River, flowing into the f n, , .j, ^1 t i ■ \ Cavalla from the west (note the Raphia K^^'^-S'''^^^ *;>'/^ Ltbenan\ g^ palms on the bank and the Muscovy ducks) [ Government Commissioner j 195. Village in Ketiebo country, about a hundred { p, ^ -^.u h ih T 1 ' 1 miles from the coast : Arrival of Liberian \ ^°° ^ -^ ' \ 482 -^ • • Government ^ Commissioners ...... \ J 196. Kiki River, an affluent of the Lower Cavalla . Photograph by Mr. Crommelitt 483 197. Cavalla River ....... Photograph by the DucdeMorny 484 198. Cavalla River, about eighty miles from its mouth „ „ „ 485 199. Travelling through the forest clearings in a hammock . , . . . . . Photograph by Mr. Crommeh'n 486 200. A forest clearing „ „ ,, 487 201. A forest clearing : washing clothes in a brook „ „ ,, 489 202. A pool in the forest Photograph by the Author . 491 203. Evening in the forest „ „ „ 493 204. The St. Paul's River above the rapids . . {^^^^llds ^^ ^''" "''''°^'^) 49 + 205. The Mano River from Mina .... [P^p^groph by Mr. Ceeil //.| \^ rirmtn J ^^-^ 206. A dug-out canoe ...... „ ,, „ 496 207. Quartz outcrop near the Lower Sf. Paul's River Photograph by Mr. Crommelin 515 208. Sinking a shaft in a quartz reef near the St. (Photograph by Sir Simeon\ ^ Paul's River \ Stuart j ^ SEPARATE MAPS IN VOL. I .j-jl-LE. SOURCE. OPPOSITE PAGE General map of Liberia Drmvn by Mr. J. W. Addison 12 (Drawn by Captain H. D. Pearson , R.E., and Lieu- tenant E. W. Cox, R.E.^ (Reproduced by permission ' of the Royal Geographical Society. ) Map of western half of Liberia Drawn by Mr. J. VV. Addison 434 Map of eastern half of Liberia ,. .. ■• 49^ 279 MAPS IN TEXT IN VOL. I NO. TITLE. SOURCE. PAGE 1. Kerne Island, or Rio de Oro Drawn by Mr. J. VV. Addison 17 2. Grand Basa Settlements >> .. .. 3^ 3. Monrovia District ,, .. .. 127 4. Sketch-map of West Africa. (Showing approximate ^ Drawn by Air. J. IV.Addi-] ^g boundaries of Liberia and Maryland in 1846.) .\ son and the Author / 5. Cape Palmas and Maryland Drawn by Mr. J. W. Addisott 235 6. Sketch-map of West Africa. (Showing frontiers f ri i nr t ijt/ t ^^v ^ claime/by Liberia in X876. alL French counter- j^—j*^,^^^-^;,,^/'^'^- } ^55 7. Ditto, showing supposed frontiers of Liberia in 1892 . ,, „ >> 287 8. Ditto, to show area and frontier of Liberia as pro- posed by Liberian Minister in Paris, 1905 . . . ,, ,, ,, 313 9. Ditto, to show frontier of Liberia proposed in 1906 , ,, ,, ,, 317 10. Cape Mount District Drawn by Mr. J. W.Addison 437 11. Junk and Dukwia Rivers ,, ,, ,, 455 12. River Cestos ,, ,, ,, 463 13. Sangwin River ,, ,, ,, 465 14. Sino .......... , ,, ,, 469 15. Sketch-map showing comparative Rainfall of West \ Drawn by Mr. J. W. AddiA - _ Africa . . .\ son and the Author ) ^ ■^ xxviii 4- ON THE ST. PAUL'S RIVER LIBERIA CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY LIBERIA is a portion of the West African coast-lands between Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast, which may be styled the end of Northern Guinea. Its most easterly point on the coast, the mouth of the Cavalla River, just beyond Cape Palmas, is in longitude 7°33' W. of Greenwich. The western- most point of Liberia (at the mouth of the River Mano) lies in about N. latitude 6°55', and in W. longitude ii°32'. In the interior, Liberian territory extends northwards to about 8°5o' N. latitude. The trend of the coast from the mouth of the River Mano is in a south-easterly direction, and at the entrance to the Cavalla, near Cape Palmas, reaches to within 4°2 2' of the Equator. VOL. I. I Liberia ^ From this point the Guinea coast curves to the north-east, and does not again approach near to the Equator till the delta ot the Niger is reached. The southernmost extremity of Liberia, generally associated with the striking promontory of Cape 5. RIVER CAVALLA Palmas rather than with the mouth of the Cavalla, has been, in fact, one of the stages in African exploration, just as the northern extremity of Liberia on the coast (the River Mano) very nearly represents the extreme limit reached Jby the Carthaginian ex- plorer Hanno in his celebrated voyage of discovery along the north-west coast of Africa about five hundred years before the Christian era. The political geography of Liberia^ at the present day makes it out to be a territory of approximately forty-three thousand ' On the bases of the Franco-Liberian Treaty of 1892 and the Anglo-Liberian delimitation of 1903. ^ Introductory square miles in extent, bounded on the west by the British colony of Sierra Leone, on the north and east by the French possessions in the Niger Basin and on the Ivory Coast. The southern boundary, of course, is the Atlantic Ocean. By this coast-line Liberia occupies an important strategic position. The general trend of its scarcely indented littoral is from north- west to south-east, so that it is nearly parallel to the course taken by steamers plying between Europe and South Africa. 6. PROMONTORY OF CAPE PALMAS In its physical geography Liberia does not at first sight seem specially marked off from the rest of West Africa ; and yet to a certain extent in its fauna and flora it is a peculiar country, almost rising to the dignity of a distinct sub-district of the West African sub-region. Its characteristic features in plants and animals are naturally not confined strictly within the actual political boundaries, but overlap into the eastern part of Sierra Leone and the western part of the Ivory Coast. 3 Liberia ^ So far as conditions of physical geography go, Liberia may further be defined as the basin of the St. Paul's River and the western half of the basin of the Cavalla, together with the hill 7. ON A I.IBKKIAN RIVKK country (part of the Mandingo Plateau) lying about the head- waters of the Moa or Makona River. ^ Politically speaking, ' An important stream known as the Sulima in its lower course, which enters the sea within the Colony of Sierra Leone. 4 Liberia ^ Liberia is not taken to include any portion of the Niger water- shed, the northern frontier being so drawn by France as to exclude any portion of the basin of the Upper Niger from Liberian Hmits. This country, therefore, is the most southern portion of the land which slopes to the Atlantic from the knot of highlands, plateaux, and mountains that gives rise to the Niger, Senegal, and Gambia. On the north-east frontier of Liberia are situated the highest mountains as yet discovered in West Africa.^ Altitudes of nearly ten thousand feet are reported by the French in connection with the Druple Range, which, together with the Nimba Mountains close by, may be the kernel of truth in the old stories of the " Kong Mountains." North-westwards, nearly parallel with the Atlantic coast-line, at a distance of two to three hundred miles, this range of highlands, mountains, and plateaux is prolonged to the vicinity of the Upper Senegal. It condenses the tremendous rainfall which creates the Niger River, and sends it like a western Nile on a long, long journey through the desert before it once more reaches in its lower course the rainy lands of the Gulf of Guinea. Liberia has a coast-line of three hundred and fifty miles,^ but little indented, and possessing no natural harbour or sheltered anchorage, while the mouth of each one of its rivers is defended by a bar that no vessel of any considerable draught could cross with safety ; though, unlike the pitiless Guinea coast from Cape Palmas eastward to the Niger Delta, the Liberian littoral offers several fairly safe landing-places where even at the height of the rainy season, when the surf is at its worst, a disem- ' That is to say, westwards of the Canieroons. * About three hundred geographical miles. Measured in a straight line from the Cavalla Kiver to the Mano River, without regard to indentations, about three hundred and thirty English miles represent Liberia's section of the West African littoral. -^ Introductory barkation can be efi-ected with little or no danger. One of the easiest landing-places, which, with the construction of break- waters, might be made a good port, is Monrovia, the capital, on Cape Mesurado. Monrovia is only ten days' journey from Southampton or Liverpool by the thirteen-knots-an-hour steamers of the English and German lines which once or twice in every month make a direct run from England to Liberia. 9. SURF OFF THE LIBERIAN COAST As a sovereign State, Liberia — " the Land of the Free "— has existed since 1847, ^t which date it received formal recognition as an independent Negro Republic from England, France, and Prussia. The governing class in this country con- sists of approximately twelve thousand Negroes and Mulattos of American origin, to whom may be added, as the remainder of the Christian voting community, about thirty thousand "civilised" Liberians of local origin. The indigenous uncivilised 7 Liberia ^ Negro population is guessed at something under two millions. The Americo-Liberian settlers are limited as residents to portions of the coast districts and the lower courses of the St. Paul's and Cavalla Rivers. A narrow belt all along the coast is land more or less cleared of tall forest, except in the vicinity of rivers, or in a few patches of uninhabited country. At a distance of from ten to forty miles inland dense forests begin, which (except for native lO. HOUSES IN MONROVIA clearings) cover nearly the whole ot Liberia except a small portion in the extreme north, which is a grassy, park-like country. Liberia, in fact, is the culmination of the forest region of West Africa. Nowhere else are the forests so thick and luxuriant and so unsubdued by man, perhaps not even in the north- eastern portion of the Congo Free State. The interior of Liberia is still the least known part of Africa. The surface of the land is nearly everywhere hilly, and II, IN THE FOREST Liberia ^ in parts very mountainous. No fresh-water lake has as yet been discovered, nor has any traveller yet lighted on a large area of marsh. The coast belt is a Httle broken up by lagoons, but it does not degenerate into those extensive mangrove swamps intersected by countless creeks which are so characteristic of the Ivory and Slave Coasts. The rainfall is very heavy, perhaps an average hundred inches per annum, rising in some districts 12. ARUMS ON THE BORDERS OF A STREAM to one hundred and fifty inches, and in the northern plateau country decreasing to seventy inches. Rain falls in every month of the year, but the true rainy season begins in May and ends in November. The coolest month is possibly August, in the middle of the rainy season ; the hottest, December. Except no doubt on those lofty mountains scarcely as yet explored by Europeans, the temperature throughout Liberia is high 13- ON THK UKACll, MU,NKO\lA: LUMliAX COTTON TREE IN THE BACKGKOLNU Liberia "^ and fairly uniform, generally ranging between 75° at night and 100° at noon, occasionally sinking as low as 56° and rising as high as 105°. With these preliminary details, sufficient to give a general idea of the situation of this little-known part of Africa and its geographical conditions, we will now pass on to a consideration of its history, which from several points of view is of great interest in connection with the development of Tropical Africa. 14. BRITISH GENE, ON THE MANO RIVKK, SIKN I KuM LIBERIAN SHORE {LIBERIAN FKO.NTIKK) CHAPTER II THE HISTORY OF LIBERIA PRIOR TO THE MIDDLE AGES IN some respects it is scarcely an exaggeration to say that Liberia is still within the Miocene Period so far as its vegetation and its fauna are concerned. There are beasts, birds, and reptiles living to-day within its limits which (or near representatives of which) are found fossil in Miocene formations of France and Southern Germany, The mighty forests of Liberia, while they sheltered these ancient types, long kept the country from being overrun by man, so that Liberia, like parts of the Congo Basin and of forested West Africa, is in a far more backward condition (in respect of human develop- ment) than the rest of Africa. As yet, however, no traces have been found of any Pygmy race (such as is associated with the Congo Basin) either in Liberia or in any other part of the West African projection. The Pygmies of the Congo, who perhaps represent the lowest and most simian type of Negro existing at the present day, have not hitherto been found westwards of the Cameroons. It is just possible that they may never have reached the western extremity of Africa, though it would be premature to make any statement to that effect, considering how very little West Africa has been explored as regards its present or its past conditions.^ ' Since this was written, reports of a Pygmy people have been transmitted from Central Liberia. 13 Liberia ^ Liberia was at some unknown period peopled, chiefly from the Niger Plateau on the north, by that black West African type of Negro which is so characteristic of Equatorial Africa, from Uganda westwards to the mouth of the Congo and the mouth of the Gambia. These Negroes are of the same general type as those of the whole West African littoral, from the regions south of the Gambia to Angola. After the big black Negroes had occupied the Equatorial belt of Africa, the African types of Caucasian man began to press westwards from the Nile and southwards from Mauritania, till they had reached the Niger and the Senegal. Many hybrids and intermixtures with the northern fringe of Negroes took place through the ages, forming different types and degrees in physical beauty of yellow men and brown men. Remarkable amongst the earliest of those semi-Caucasian races who colonised purely Negro Africa were the Fulas,^ who were probably the result of one of the first invasions of the Western Sahara by the Libyans (Moors) of Northern Africa. The element of Caucasian blood in the Fula people impelled them towards high lands with a relatively cool climate, and these they found on that mountain range and knot of plateaux already alluded to as the head-waters of the Niger. The Fulas (of whom more will be said in this book), though proud of their light colour, did not hesitate to interbreed with Negro women as well as with the carefully guarded females of their own stock. So they gave rise to many further hybrids with the Negro, of dark complexion, but with features showing the intermingling of Caucasian blood. Of such possibly were the Mandingo, the Wolof, the Tukulor. The Mandingo is the most notable of these Negroids, though this race is of ' It is most convenient to call by this term the Ful, Fulbe, Fellata, Fulani, or Peulh people of Senegambia, Central and Eastern Nigeria. 14 15- MANDINGOS Liberia <«- very mixed origin, often no doubt due to direct intermixtures between the Tawareq and Arabs from north of the Niger and the Western Sudan Negroes, as well as through descent from the Fulas. At some time or other, however, the Mandingos developed a very distinct group of languages, which is nowadays the dominant speech (in a great many different tongues and dialects) of inner West Africa, all about the sources of the Niger, and along the main Niger nearly as far north as Lake Debo ; on the Upper Senegal and Gambia, and in the northern hinterland of Liberia. At a distant period in the unwritten history of West Africa this vigorous Mandingo Negroid race was impelled to push its way to the sea-coast, and it must have thus found an outlet in the north-western part of Liberia and the eastern part of Sierra Leone. ^ The Mandingos seem to have been shut out from the Atlantic coast farther north by the savage and warlike Negroes that are still the main stock of western and southern Sierra Leone, FVench and Portuguese Guinea, and the Lower Gambia — peoples speaking a peculiar West African type of prefix-governed language. The Moors of the desert, the Fulas and the Wolofs, prevented the Mandingos reaching the sea-coast in Senegal. Consequently, at an early date they were compelled to force their way through the dense forests of Sierra Leone and Liberia, and there they have left traces of their former incursions in the existing Vai and Mende peoples, whose languages are members of the Mandingo group. In a general way it may also be said that the other tongues of Liberia, belonging chiefly to the Kpwesi and Kru families, offer faint and distant resemblances to the Mandingo languages. Perhaps these peoples also sprang from the original Mandingo stock. Through the Mandingo, at any rate, a small proportion 1 Through the Mende and Vai countries. i6 MAP 1 '^c OPcl^t 16* Trevor P.* ss' Galerco KERNE ISLAND OR RIO DE ORO SPANISH PROTECTORATE English Miles Ws' VOL. I •7 Liberia ^ of Caucasian blood and a still smaller degree of Caucasian civilisation reached the unadulterated Negroes of prehistoric Liberia. So far as the pure-blooded Caucasian is concerned, his first historical appearance in these latitudes was in the persons of Hanno the Carthaginian and his crews of Phoenicians and Moors. Hanno left Carthage in perhaps 520 b.c. ;^ and after visiting and reinforcing the Carthaginian trading colonies along the north ajid west coast of Morocco, he founded the settlement on Kerne Island in the Rio de Oro inlet, passed the mouth of the River Senegal, Cape Verde, and the Highlands of French Guinea and of Sierra Leone, and apparently got as far as the swampy island of Sherbro — possibly even as far as Cape Mount and the very beginning of modern Liberian territory. On Sherbro Island " his sailors captured wild, hairy men, whom they called (in the Greek rendering of the Punic word) gorilla. This term they are said to have derived from their " interpreters," showing that these may possibly have been men of the Fula or Wolof race.^ If they did not capture specimens of a low and savage type of real wild man (which might have still been lingering in Africa), then in all probability the story or the legend refers to nothing more than the chimpanzees, which are still common in the forest-covered coast region of Western Liberia and Eastern Sierra Leone. Hanno's voyage took place about five hundred years before ' Vide Bimbury, History of Ancient Geography, p. 332, vol. i. The date of the " Periplus," or voyage of Hanno, is very uncertain. It may have occurred as late as 470 b.c. or as early as 520 B.C., according as the "Hanno" in question was the father or the son of the "dated" General Hamilcar. ^ Or on an island in a lake on Sherbro ? Macaulay Island ? ^ Gor- is the root for "man" in both Fula and Wolof. With one of the suffixes added it would make a combination not unlike " Gorilla." History Prior to the Middle A^es the Christian era if the story is a true one. Written first in Punic, and inscribed on a tablet dedicated by Hanno to a Carthaginian deity probably equivalent to Moloch, it is thought to have been placed in the temple of that deity at Carthage. This at least is the account given in the Greek version of the original record of Hanno's voyage. So far as authentic history is concerned, the record only exists in a Greek translation. It is possible that this translation was made in the fifth century before Christ by some Greek of Sicily who became ac- quainted with the original at Carthage. The first recorded publication of this "Periplus" of Hanno in its Greek form appeared, according to Sir E. H. Bun- bury,^ in Aristotle's work of marvellous narratives published in the third century b.c, but it is also reproduced in Latin by Pomponius Mela (though in a garbled form) about a.d. 43. A still more corrupt version was given by the Elder Pliny (Caius Plinius Secundus) a few years later. Apparently the actual version of the Periplus of Hanno, which has been the ^ History of Ancient Geography, vol. i., p. 332. ^9 16. THE COAST OF LIBERIA NEAR CAPE MOUNT Liberia <^ foundation of all translations and commentaries since the six- teenth century, goes back to the Periplus of Arrian, published in Greek at Bale in 1533 from a Greek MS. then in the Heidelberg Library. The authenticity of this interesting frag- ment has been once or twice disputed, but is apparently established beyond reasonable doubt, at any rate in its main features, though one or two geographical names differ in the Greek and Latin versions. But it was a voyage which, although overlooked by Herodotus (who wrote at a subsequent period), made a deep impression on the Mediterranean world in the centuries which immediately preceded and followed the Christian era, and considerable tradition of this exploring trip along the West Coast of Africa seems to have survived even the ignorance of the dark ages (perhaps kept alive and handed on by the Byzantines and the Spanish Arabs), and to have been currently discussed by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century, a hundred years before the publication of the Bale version. Apparently in the original Greek version of the narrative the River Senegal is styled the Chretes or the Chremetes.^ In Pliny's garbled version of Hanno's journey the river equivalent to the Senegal is called the Bambotus, a word which has a very African sound and may even be connected with the name of the existing Bambuk country on the Upper Senegal. The Island of Kerne so repeatedly mentioned in Hanno's journey is undoubtedly the little Island of Heme which is situated at the head of the bay or gulf known as the Rio de Oro, in the present Spanish Protectorate of that name on the Atlantic coast of the Sahara (see p. 17). There is much that might lead us to suppose that Hanno was not the first Caucasian adventurer who emerged from the Mediterranean ' The Chremetes is mentioned by Aristotle as a large river on the West Coast of Africa. 20 V -•» History Prior to the Middle Ages and found his way on a trading voyage to tropical West Africa. In the first place, if there be any truth in Hanno's story, he merely started with a small fleet of ships, colonists, soldiers, traders, and women, to revictual as well as to found Carthaginian posts along the north and north-west coasts of Africa.^ From the Morocco coast district round about the town of Al-Arish (the ancient Lixus) Hanno took Moorish interpreters, who of course at that period, one thousand two hundred years before the Arab invasion, would have spoken Berber dialects like those that are still to be heard in Western Morocco. These Berber interpreters might have been able to link on with the less savage Fula and Wolof people about the Lower Senegal and Cape Verde ; and these latter peoples perhaps acted as interpreters during the third and southernmost voyage from Kerne to Sherbro. Such brief glimpses as we get of the West African Negroes in Hanno's narrative show them to have been sufficiently advanced in human development to know the use of fire, since at that period, two thousand five hundred years distant from the present day, they were burning up the dry grass and bush at the end of the rainy season, just as they do at the present time ; and the sheets of flame on the grass plains and the fires that climbed Mount Kakulima filled the Carthaginian explorers with terror. Was this first recorded intercourse between the civilised Caucasian and the black savages of Western Africa the commencement of a more or less unrestricted intercourse which has continued down to the present day .'' Did the Carthagin- ians or Phoenicians repeat and extend Hanno's experiments ? And when Rome took the place of Carthage, how far did 1 Bunbury states that in the extant Greek version Hanno is credited with having conveyed thirty thousand people in a fleet of sixty ships, but this was no dgubt a great exaggeration. 21 Liberia Roman energy carry Roman commerce beyond the southern Hmits of modern Morocco ? How did the Agri beads reach Liberia ^ and the Gold Coast ? The Agri beads are undoubtedly of Mediterranean origin. In appearance they are most diverse. Some are of the chevron pattern, in layers of blue, v^hite, red glass ; others are round, four-sided, or cylindrical beads of blue, red, or amber glass, or are of a mixture of glass and porcelain (or clay), with spots or dashes of different colours. With one notable exception, no bead has yet been discovered on the West African coast which need be older than the thirteenth century a.d., or which might not be of Italian manufacture. This exception is the component beads of a necklace long buried in the grave of a Gold Coast chief, about forty miles inland from Elmina (on the road to Kumasi). The glass beads of this necklace are undoubtedly of " classical " times (^i.e. antecedent to the Renaissance), and resemble very closely beads of the Greek Islands of perhaps five hundred years before Christ {vide article and illustration by Mr. C. H. Read in Man of January, 1905). So far as native tradition goes, these Agri beads are declared to be much older than the glass beads manufactured at Venice 17. AGRI BEAD FROM PUTU, EASTERN LIBERIA (PROBABLY VENETIAN) ^ Writers of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries mention Agri beads as being found on the Kru coast of Liberia. Mr. Braham has recently discovered them to exist in the Putu country behind the Kru coast. Here they are of dull blue glass, long, and four-sided. The illustration given is of a Putu Agri bead now in the British Museum. This Putu bead is pronounced by Mr. C. H. Read to be of no earlier date than five hundred years ago, and to be of Venetian make. It may of course be much later in origin. 33 . AGRI BEADS _FROM WEST AFRICA AND ELSEWHERE 1. Roman bead dredged up from mouth of Thames 2. Beads from Hausaland (Nigeria) : possibly Roman 3. 4, 5, 6. 7, and 8. Agri beads from Ashanti and Gold Coast Liberia <♦- and in England for the last two hundred years. Chevron beads are found on the Central Niger and in Hausaland. These may have travelled thither from mediaeval Egypt. Did the Agri beads of West Africa likewise come across the Sahara and the Niger from Egypt or Carthage, or were they carried along the north coast of the Mediterranean from trading station to trading station, and so down the north-west and west coasts of Africa .? Both routes may have been followed, especially after the rise of Islam. It may be that once Hanno had shown Mediterranean sailors the way to Negro West Africa, that way may have been followed by Carthaginians and Greeks, and by Romanised Moors for some time afterwards. As to the Romans, they had conquered most of the Berber tribes of North Africa by the beginning of the Christian era (modern Morocco was incorporated in the Empire about a.d. 42), and during the first century a.d. Suetonius Paulinus led a Roman expedition across the Atlas and Anti-Atlas ranges, and apparently reached as far south as the River Draa. This is the river — so far as resemblance of name goes — which is indicated by Pliny and other classical writers of that period as the Daradus ; but it is also mixed up in their descriptions with a supposititious River Gir or Nigir. From this confusion some writers in the eighteenth century asserted that Suetonius Paulinus had actually marched across the Sahara Desert to the River Niger, an impossibility with the means and time at his command. He probably got no farther than the River Draa, and between the Draa and the Senegal there is not, so far as we know, even a trace of an ancient or modern watercourse. The Nigir or Daradus (River Draa) was said by Polybius and Pliny to contain crocodiles ; but it is distinctly stated that the Bambotus or Chretes contained not only crocodiles, but river-horses. Of course, it is quite possible that nineteen 24 •,.'^ ■ -."i. ' ,#. >>. A' ■^ - "^w . 1?^'- ^\ '/"/'/,. III. "NIVAKIA" -A Vll-AV OF THE I PEAK OF TENERIFE FROM A DISTANCE OF FORTY MILES Liberia «♦- hundred years ago crocodiles may still have lingered in the Draa River, just as they are still to be found in a Syrian river, and until recently were present in the lakes of the Isthmus of Suez. But the Gir or Nigir of classical writers, though con- founded by them with the geographical position of the River Draa, was undoubtedly the reflex of stories circulated by the Moors or Carthaginians of the tropical River Senegal and also of the Upper Niger ; and so much did this description linger in the minds of the Western Mediterranean people, that when the Portuguese first brought back the story of a great Nile-like river flowing from west to east beyond the coast- lands of Guinea, it was at once identified as Pliny's Nigir or Niger, and this is the origin of the name which that river bears in European languages at the present day. The islands of Madeira and Porto Santo seem first to have been discovered by Carthaginian or Phoenician seafarers of Cadiz. Some such agency, no doubt, revealed to the Mediterranean world the existence of the Canary Archipelago.^ In the earliest allusions to the Canary Islands no mention is made of their being inhabited ; but this may be due to a confusion with the Madeira Archipelago, which certainly had never been inhabited by man until rediscovered and colonised by the Portuguese. But the Canary Islands were already populated by a race of Berber (Libyan) origin when the rule of Rome was finally established over North Africa. The nearest of the Canary Islands to the mainland is Fuerteventura, which is only about sixty (English) miles distant from the Morocco coast. There is, however, nothing to show that the Libyan people of North Africa before the coming of the Carthaginians possessed any sea-going boats, and it ' These islands were named by Pliny Nivmia, the Snowy (Tenerife); Canaria, the Doggy (Grand Canary), from its big shepherd dogs, 26 •^ History Prior to the Middle Ages is just possible, therefore, that the Canary Islands may only have been peopled by Moors about two or three thousand years ago, with the aid of Carthaginian or Phoenician vessels. If, however, the case was otherwise, and the Moors of prehistoric periods possessed vessels in which they could at any rate cross the strait of sixty miles between the Morocco coast and the Canary Islands, they might have managed to journey in the same way along the north-west coast of Africa. Probably they travelled overland along the Atlantic fringe of the Sahara Desert to the Senegal even in prehistoric times. The Fula race is an ancient relic of Berber advance in this direction. After the destruction of the Roman Empire in North Africa at the hands of the Arabs and Arabised Berbers, all exploration of West Africa by Mediterranean peoples came to an end for a hundred and fifty years, yet afterwards developed in a more surprising way than ever. The first Arab invaders of Morocco possessed no means of sea-transport, and all communication between Morocco and the Canary Islands seems utterly to have ceased ; so that the Berber inhabitants of the Canary Islands, when they were rediscovered by Normans, Portuguese, Italians, and Spaniards, were absolutely untouched by Muhammadanism, and showed but little aflinity in customs with the people of Morocco, though they spoke a Berber language and were apparently Libyan in their physical features. It is an interesting fact to be noted that Ca' da Mosto, a Venetian sea-captain in the service of the Portuguese, who visited the Canary Islands early in the fifteenth century, describes the natives (afterwards called Guanches by the Spaniards) as being much given to nudity, the adults sometimes appearing without a vestige of clothing. This trait — nudity — is absolutely unlike anything recorded of the inhabitants of North Africa in historic times, 27 Liberia ^ The Arab invasion of North and North Central Africa, bringing with it the religion of Islam, was not to affect the country of Liberia for many centuries, so that it can be passed over for the present. Assuming Liberia to have been peopled by something nearer to the genus Homo than the chimpanzee two thousand five hundred years ago, the Negro inhabitants of her jungles then may just have derived from their neighbours on the west rumours of this wonderful visit of the white men in their great winged boats ; and if, as I imagine, Carthaginian enterprises of this description did not cease with the return of Hanno, the Liberian savages of those distant days may have traded directly or indirectly with the men of the Mediterranean down to the beginning of the Christian era. But with the absence of all information on the subject in the writings of Roman or Greek geographers after the second century of the Christian era, we are obliged to assume that a complete break occurred in the intercourse between the Mediterranean peoples and the Negroes of tropical West Africa from the second century of the Christian era to about the twelfth century. By this time the Libyan races (Tamasheq) of the northern bend of the Niger had been Muhammadanised, and had begun to break up and destroy the Negro or Negroid kingdoms along the course of the Upper Niger. Some faint, faint wave of the turmoil they created, some tiny infiltration of their commerce, may have reached the northern and western regions of Liberia ; but assuming Hanno's expedition to have reached the confines of this country about two thousand five hundred years ago, we have no distinct record of its having any further contact with the Caucasian (Aryan, Mediterranean, Libyan) until the traditional journeys of the Norman adventurers from Dieppe in the fourteenth century of our present era. 38 CHAPTER III THE NORMANS AND THE GENOESE THE name of Dieppe is apparently but a Frenchification of the Scandinavian word Diep (deep), meaning a narrow inlet. It early became a point of settlement for the Normans, who fastened on the decaying power of the Franks in the ninth and tenth centuries. From ports such as this their princely rovers sailed round the coasts of Spain and Portugal into the Mediterranean to found kingdoms in Naples and Sicily and to attack the Saracens on the North Coast of Africa.^ Even after the Duchy of Normandy had been fused once more into the empire of France, the Norman adventurers continued their explorations of the Atlantic coasts. The Canary Islands were accidentally visited about 1334 by a Norman vessel driven off the African coast by a storm. This shows, therefore, that as early as 1334 the Normans were feeling their way down the West Coast of Africa,^ • As early as 814 a.d., according to the Moorish historian Al Bakri, the Normans or Norse rovers were pillaging the Morocco coast, and these attacks continued during the ninth century. The Norse rovers were known to the Spanish and North African Arabs as Maju. - In 1270 Lanciaroto (Lancelot) Malocello, a Genoese captain searching vaguely for the Guinea Coast and the " River of Gold,'' discovered the easternmost Canary Islands, probably Lanzarote (named after him) and Fuerteventura. It is asserted that this Genoese captain was really of Norman descent from the French family of Maloisel. In 1341 a Portuguese expedition spent four months among the Canary Islands. Various Spanish expeditions between 1344 and 1395 attempted with ill success to effect a permanent settlement. In 1402 Jehan de Bethencourt, a Norman gentleman-adventurer, sailed from La Rochelle in the west of France, and 29 Liberia «*> Other unrecorded Norman adventurers may have sailed past the Canary Islands along the Sahara Coast to Cape Verde and the Land of the Blacks, probably trading with the natives in spices. It is asserted by Villault de Bellefonds^ that as early as 1339 (the year in which Dieppe was taken and plundered by the English) the Dieppois adventurers had sailed along the North-West African coast, and that in 1364-5 two of their ships reached the " Grain " Coast, which is now known as Liberia. They started in November, reached Cape Verde at Christmas, visited " Boulombel " (Sierra Leone), Cap Moute (Cape Mount), and extended their voyage to Petit Dieppe (Grand Basa). In 1365 and 1367^ the Norman adventurers founded this Petit Dieppe, which might be identified with Basa Cove, near the modern town of Lower Buchanan at the mouth of the Biso River (Grand Basa). " Grand Dieppe " was effected a landing at Lanzarote and Fiierteventura. This first expedition of Jehan de Bethencourt's was repulsed by the natives ; but four years after, having obtained a grant of the islands from Henry III. of Castille, De Bethencourt mastered four of the smaller among the Canary Islands, and proclaimed himself king. He was unsuccessful, however, in his attempts on Grand Canary and Tenerife, and died in France in 1408. His nephew disposed of the De Bethencourt claim to a Spaniard and afterwards to the Crown of Portugal. After some dispute as to ownership between private individuals and the Crowns of Spain and Portugal — disputes which dragged on for nearly eighty years — and after violent and effective opposition on the part of the warlike indigenes of Grand Canary, Tenerife, and Palma, the whole archipelago was finally conquered and occupied by Spain at the close of the fifteenth century. During the next hundred years the indigenous Berber inhabitants were either exterminated or became fused in the mass of Spanish settlers, to whom physically they were not very dissimilar. ' A Relation of the Coasts of Africa called Guinea, a book published in London in 1670, apparently a translation of an earlier work in French. Villault was a supercargo or controller of the Europa^ a trading vessel sent from Amsterdam to the Guinea Coast by the French West Indian Company. The Dutch writer, Dr. Dapper, also alludes to these traditions of pre-Portuguese settlements by the French in his work published at Amsterdam in 1686 (p. 230). 2 For an admirable summary of all the traditions and evidences regarding these Norman voyages, see Beasley and Prestage, Discovery and Conquest of Guinea (Hakluyt Society), p. Ixvi. These authors consider the case "non proven." 30 MAP 2 10*5' Wedjerho G^BajiaPoint^ MTScott'sPlc^,,, Woa erhousePP Sno pperJieef . xCreeJc ^iGrand Basa /LKrvuTowrv . "^^J^ssihLe site of Petit Dieppe GRAND BASA SETTLEMENTS English Miles I — i— 1 I i_ 0 12 3 4- Soundings inFeet Beyil'sR^ 7 ft!" Liberia ^ possibly a station at or near the mouth of the River Cestos. " Grand Buteau" and " Petit Buteau " were placed, it is suggested, at Great and Little Butu (Bootoo), a few miles north of Greenville (Sino). Great and Little Paris are identified with Grand and Picaninny ( = little) Sesters (places in the western part of Maryland County). They are also thought to have had a calling-place at Fresco, on the Ivory Coast (near Lahou), stations at Cape Mount (1375) and Sierra Leone. By 1382 their ships are alleged to have reached the Gold Coast, and in 1382 and 1383 they built a fort at the modern Elmina, on a bastion of which (long called the French bastion) it is said (by Dr. Dapper) that two figures indicating the first part of " thirteen hundred " were still visible at the close of the eighteenth century.^ All these Norman- French settlements, however, seem to have been completely abandoned by about 141 3, at which time Normandy was involved in the internal internecine wars which raged in France after the death of Charles VI. Very soon after the Normans commenced their adventurous voyages in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, the seamen of Genoa, Majorca, and Barcelona (the Moorish power in south- eastern Spain having abated) took to adventurous voyages for trading purposes along the North Coast of Africa and out into the Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar.^ During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries there was a lull in the ferocious conflict between Christians and Muhammadans in the Mediterranean ^ MCCCLXXXIII would represent 1383 in Roman numerals. It is almost certain that at that date Arabic figures would not be employed in inscriptions ; consequently, as it would require fo?(r Roman numerals (MCCC) to indicate 1300, Dapper's story is not quite credible. Colonel Binger, however, thinks that Norman seamen used Arabic figures, as did the English, in the thirteenth century. ^ Noteworthy among these adventures is the story of Jac Ferrer, a Majorcan captain who sailed for the River of Gold in 1346, and perhaps reached the Senegal River. In the French traditions about the Norman voyages to the Grain Coast there is one pointing to Catalan ships frequenting this coast in 1375. 32 -^ The Normans and the Genoese basin, and something like friendly intercourse arose between the polished Berber kingdoms of North Africa and the Italians and Catalans. The Crusades were over ; the bitter persecutions of the Moors by the fanatical Flemish kings of Spain had not begun. Constantinople was still a Christian city, and the awful infliction of the OsmanU Turks had not as yet paralysed the Arab world and sharpened its hatred of European civilisation. Islam, which had destroyed the Roman Empire in North Africa, Nearer Asia, and Eastern Europe, had nevertheless delivered a counter-stroke for the Caucasian's civilisation in Africa. The deserts which had baulked the Roman, the Greek, and the Persian in their attempts to reach the Sudan were no obstacle to the natives of Arabia. The invasion of Egypt in 640 A.D. was soon followed by the conquest of Tripoli and Mauritania. By 711 a.d. the Arabs had not only overrun and Islamised Morocco, but had begun to penetrate southwards the Atlantic coast of the Sahara. By 950 (approximately) their influence had reached the mouth of the Senegal, and they had commenced travelling eastwards up the course of that river, thus reaching the Niger. Simultaneously,^ through Egypt, they had invaded Nubia and Darfur, and thence attained Lake Chad and the Upper Niger ; and before actual Arabs made this journey they sent in front of them a great religious movement of Islamised Nubians, Songhais, and Libyan Tawareq (the Berber- speaking indigenes of the Sahara). These same Tawareq," or desert Moors, had also been ' The movement began in the tenth century, but v\as most marked at the beginning of the eleventh. ^ Tawareq is the plural of Tarqi, an Arab name given to the Tamasheq or Imoshagh, the Berber tribes of the Sahara. These people are absolutely the same in race and language as the Berber inhabitants that form the bulk of the indigenous population in Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco. VOL. I 33 3 Liberia ^ Islamised and generally stirred up to adventure by the Arab invasion of Mauritania. They surged backwards and forwards across the Western Sahara during the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries, rushing in a few years from the banks of the Niger to Spain, or back again from Morocco to the Niger. Thus in about four hundred years after the Arab invasion of Egypt some of the most notable features of the Northern Sudan, from Senegal to Abyssinia, had reached the Arabs and Berbers of North Africa, and had been communicated by them to the Sicilians, the Normans, and Genoese. By the middle of the thirteenth century the Genoese and the Catalans had derived a very correct impression of the main geographical features of the Niger Basin, and even of the North-West African coast.^ More than this, the rapidly growing Moslem civilisation of Jenne and of Timbuktu, had got into touch southwards and north-westwards with the gold-bearing regions of Ashanti or of Bambuk. From such place-names as Jenne or Ghana arose a vague geographical designation — Ghine, Ghinoa, Ghinoia, which was mentioned by Arab and Italian geographers two hundred years before it was actually applied by the Portuguese to West Africa. In fact, the Portuguese had the word Guinea (Guine, Guinala) in their minds when they set out to discover these regions. They did not invent the word Guinea as an original term. The Genoese, either coming independently or as the captains or pilots of Spanish and Portuguese vessels, discovered the Canary Islands, as we have already seen, and two of their * In 1402 the priests or missionaries attending De Bethencourt's expe- dition to the Canary Islands revived and recorded the accounts of a wonderful journey made about 1230 by a Spanish mendicant friar of the Franciscan Order to Morocco, and from Morocco overland to the Senegal, the " River of Gold," the Kingdom of Melli, and perhaps to the Mandingo hinterland of Liberia. 34 ^ The Normans and the Genoese ships passed beyond the dreaded Cape Bojador ^ in 1291, but were not known to return. Other Catalan or Genoese ad- venturers, however, may have been more fortunate in their attempts to reach the Guinea Coast, the " Land of Gold." There is certainly a very remarkable map of the continent of Africa painted in 1351,^ and known as the Laurentian Portolano in the Medician Library at Florence. This map, of which a copy is reproduced in The Discovery and Conquest of Guinea^ published by the Hakluyt Society,^ gives a remarkably true indication (for that period) of the bend of the West Coast of Africa, though of course the extent of this great bight is proportionately exaggerated at the expense of the rest of the continent. But this indication of the coast-line shows firstly the projection of Cape Blanco ; secondly, gives some idea of Cape Verde and Cape Palmas (Cape Palmas being not much out in longitude), the northward trend of the coast between Cape Palmas and the Bight of Benin ; and, thirdly, it suggests the sharp southward turn after the Niger Delta is passed. The situation of the Bight of Biafra is of course much too far to the east. It is curious, however, that the photograph of this painting shows an alternative line of coast much farther to the west and much more in the true position of the southern projection of Africa. Off this coast lie two islands which might be Sao Thome and Principe ; while there is the in- dication of a river that may be intended for the Congo. It is quite possible, however, that this alternative line may be a sketch by some traveller or geographer a century or two later, 1 This name meant in Portuguese " Jutting out " (Bojar = to bulge, jut out). The Cape does not appear particularly prominent on the coast of Africa to modern travellers, but it seems to have been a turning-point of winds and currents, and was for many years the obstacle at which Portuguese explorers turned back. ^ Nearly a century before the Portuguese discoveries. » Vol. i. (1896). 35 Liberia <*- who, in consulting this Portolano, chose to add a correction of his own. In any case this map is a very remarkable guess at the real configuration of the West African coast-line, drawn as it was in 1351, at least a century before the Portuguese had published the positive results of their West African discoveries. No doubt much in this map is due to the information given by Moors and Arabs to Italian geographers. To this source is obviously due the delineation of the upper course of the Niger and the outline of Lake Chad. Nevertheless, if we could turn back the leaves of the book of time, and see the West African coast as it was in the fourteenth century, we might descry Norman, Majorcan, and Genoese sailors trafficking with the blacks of Senegambia and Liberia for ivory and Guinea pepper, possibly even for gold on the Gold Coast. There can be little doubt (although it is hotly denied by Portuguese historians — who indeed have endeavoured to relegate the Norman adventurers on the West Coast of Africa to the region of myth) that the trade in gold, ivory, and pepper started by those Norman adventurers (whose attempts to seize the Canary Islands had already excited Portuguese ambitions) had come to the knowledge of Prince Henry the Navigator, and had, with other influences, created in him the desire to send forth the Portuguese on similar voyages of discovery. His desire in its accomplishment led to the turning of the Cape of Good Hope and the revelation of the sea-route to Arabia, Persia, India, the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, China, Japan, and Korea.^ 1 The very citation of these East Asiatic names shows us that we first received our existing versions from the Portuguese. 36 CHAPTER IV PORTUGUESE EXPLORATIONS HENRY, the third son of Joao (John) I. of Portugal, was born \w 1394. When he was only about twenty-one (in 141 5) he took part in a Portuguese expedition sent to capture Ceuta, on the north coast of Morocco.^ At Ceuta he gathered information from Moorish prisoners and merchants as to the fertile and gold-bearing countries beyond the Great Desert, on the Western Coast of Africa. He also desired to find for Portugal lands to colonise, and possibly the discovery of a short sea-route round Africa to the Indies. After his return from Ceuta the Prince was made Governor of the southern province of Portugal, the Algarve.^ From the year 141 8, at any rate, if not a little earlier, the ships dispatched by him on southern voyages of exploration rediscovered Porto Santo and Madeira, and later on visited the Canary Islands on a series of profitable raids. But in 1434 one of his captains, Gil Eannes, stuck more closely to the Morocco coast and rounded Cape Bojador. By 1435 ^^e Portuguese had reached the narrow inlet which they named the Rio do Ouro, or River of Gold (see p. 17). At the head of this gulf, as already mentioned, is situated the ^ It is interesting to note that English and German merchant vessels assisted the Portuguese in the siege of Ceuta. 2 Algarve was simply the Portuguese softening of the Arab Algharb — the (Land of) Sunset, the Extreme West. 37 Liberia ^*- little Island of Heme or Kerne, which was such an important rendezvous for the Carthaginians. Why the Portuguese named this place the River of Gold is not very clear, except that they were convinced from the out- set of their journeys that they were going to find the mysterious River or Coast of Gold reported by the Catalan and Norman adventurers, and most of all by the Moors and Arabs. It is possible also that in their intercourse with the Moors in this little inlet, known now as the Rio de Oro (the headquarters of a Spanish Protectorate), they may have met Moors returning from the Sudan to Morocco with gold-dust in their possession. In 1 44 1 a Portuguese ship brought back from the Sahara coast near Cape Blanco several Moorish captives and some gold-dust. In the next year Nuno Tristam reached the Bay of Arguim inside Cape Blanco. In 1444 several Portuguese ships reached the mouth of the Senegal River, where they are said to have found remains of the Norman forts. Cape Verde, " the Green," was rounded by Dinis Diaz either in 1445 or in 1447, and about the same time another Portuguese captain discovered the mouth of the River Gambia. In 1 45 5 and 1456 Luigi Ca' da Mosto,^ a Venetian sea- captain in the service of Prince Henry, visited the River Senegal, discovered the Cape Verde Islands, and reached in his explorations as far as the Bisagos Archipelago. Sierra Leone was perhaps first attained-by the Portuguese Diego Gomez in 1460. Ca' da Mosto,^ the Venetian, was certainly the first notable explorer of the West Coast of Africa. Besides discovering the Cape Verde Islands (in which feat he was joined by a Genoese captain, Uso di Mare, who with other ships accompanied him on both these ' His name is variously spelt Alvise, Aloysius. Ca or Ca', in the Venetian dialect, is short for Casa, " house." ^ Only twenty-two years old when he started from Venice in 1454. 38 Portuguese Explorations 20. A BARCA. EARLY TYPE OF PORTUGUESE SAILING-SHIP (fifteenth CENTURY) voyages), he was the first of these captains to give a clear and accurate account of the people and geography of North- West Africa. Pedro de Sintra, or Cintra (an account of whose voyages was written by Ca' da Mosto), was the first Portuguese to reach the coast of modern Liberia, part of which in the vicinity of the modern Marshall (River Junk) he de- scribes as " a great green forest." He set out from Portugal in 1461, shortly after the death of that great prince, Henry the Navigator. De Sintra was dispatched by King Alfonso V. to survey the coast of Guinea beyond Ca' da Mosto's farthest point (Cape Roxo, Casamance River). He passed the Bisagos Archipelago, Cape Verga, and the high mountain of Kakulima (near Konakri), which he named Mount Sagres, after the place of residence of Prince Henry in the Algarve. (This mountain was evidently the Theon Ochema in the Greek translation of Hanno's voyage.) He also first gave the name " Serra Leoa " (Sierra Leone) to the mountainous promontory which the natives at that period seemingly called Bulom-bel (by which name it was even quoted by the French and Dutch travellers^). The western ' We are distinctly told by Ca' da Mosto that this name — The Lion-like Mountain Range — was given to Sierra Leone because of the loud noises coming from its echoing hollows to the ships out at sea, these noises being caused, he says, by the beating of the surf on the coast, or more probably by the constant thunderstorms. It is highly improbable that lions were ever found in the forest region of Sierra Leone. " Leo^," moreover, in conjunction with " Serra," is an adjective meaning lion-lik(. ^9 Liberia WM wmlmmHKmmmmmmsr 21. THE MOUNTAINOUS PROMONToi V 1 1 RRA LEONE FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE (drawn by the AUTHOR IN 1882) promontory of Sherbro Island was called Cape St. Anne, a name it still bears. Then Pedro de Sintra reached the coast of what is now called Liberia in the autumn of the year 1461 — certainly an important date in the history of that country, as, if the legends of the Dieppe adventurers are untrue, it was possibly the first time in which the Negroes of Liberia ever beheld a white man. Pedro de Sintra noticed and named the remarkable promontory of Cape Mount (Cabo do Monte), and beyond that. Cape Mesurado.^ Llereabouts the natives were lighting ^ Mesurado in Portuguese does no/ mean " measured " (as several writers have assured us), neither does it mean "miserable" (another explanation). The correct translation is "moderated," " diminished," " quiet," and in this sense Pedro de Sintra may have intended to refer to the lessened surf (it is nearly always a safe place for landing) or an improvement in the weather. But Ca' da Mosto in his Italian version of De Sintra's narrative calls it alternatively " Capo Cortese '' (in the French translation, " Cap Courtois "), and one is led to infer that the name was given on account of the placable and quiet demeanour of the natives. As 40 ^ Portuguese Explorations fires, apparently to announce with their smoke that something very unusual had occurred, and they seem to have conveyed to him in some way the intelligence that no European ship had ever come to their country before. But as in the same narrative it is distinctly stated that it was impossible to under- stand a word the people said, and as by their actions they appear to have been neither hostile nor timid, there is not much evidence in this to rebut the story of the earlier Norman settlements farther down the coast. Beyond this cape De Sintra's ships travelled " about sixteen miles," till they reached on the shore a wood formed of splendid green trees which extended itself almost to the water. This they called Bosque (or " Arvoredo ") Santa Maria. Here the ships were brought to an anchor, and immediately several canoes ^ came off to them. In each canoe were two or three men, " quite naked," carrying pointed spears, darts, javelins, bows, and here and there a shield of leather. Their ears were pierced in several places, and apparently also the septum of their noses, while their teeth were sharpened to a point. Not a single word of their language could be understood, and consequently when three of them boldly came on board one the first definite record of Liberian exploration is interesting for the purposes of this book, it may be well to give Ca' da Mosto's actual words as recorded by Ramusio in 1564: "Per la spiaggia si trova un capo che si mette molto al mare, et sopra di questo capo pare un monte alto, et a questo capo hanno messo nome il Capo del Monte. Ite77i oltra questo capo di Monte per la spiaggia andando avanti circa miglia sessanta si trova un altro capo piccolo et non alto, il quale anche mostra sopra d' esso haver un monticello, et a questo hanno messo nome, il Capo Cortese 6 Misurado, et oltra questo capo a miglia sedici pur per la spiaggia e un bosco grande con molti arbori verdissimi che beono fina su 1' acqua del mare, al qual messono nome il Bosco overo Arboredo di Santa Maria, et drieto di quello sorgetteno le caravelle," etc. ' "Almadia" is the word used. This term, which is Arabo-Portuguese, was employed from the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and English to indicate "canoe," until it was replaced by the American words canoa and pirogo. 41 Liberia <*- of the caravels the Portuguese detained a specimen of these Negroes as a prisoner, " thereby accomplishing the command of their king," who had " expressly ordered them on their return to bring a man of the last country they had visited " (provided they could not make themselves understood in seeking for information) ; they were to bring him " by force or by Jove," in order that on arriving in Portugal he might, by meeting with other Negroes of possibly the same race, be able to give an account of his country. In this instance, the first " Liberian " who was forcibly brought to Europe actually did 22. CANOES COMING OFF FROM THE LIBERIAN COAST (SKETCHED BY THE AUTHOR IN 1882) meet a woman slave in the service of a citizen of Lisbon, possibly a Vai woman who had come from an adjoining region and could make herself understood in a tongue which the native of " Bosque Santa Maria " could understand ; but appar- ently the only item of interest that his Portuguese majesty could extract from the conversation which resulted was that " unicorns " were found in Liberia ! Consequently, after the Portuguese king had shown this Liberian all the sights of Lisbon, he loaded him with presents and sent him back to Liberia in 1462. 42 ■^ Portuguese Explorations Probably this Negro returned with the second voyage of De Sintra in that year (1462). De Sintra travelled with another captain, Sueiro da Costa, and together these explorers seem to have extended their voyage along the Liberian coast as far as Cape Palmas, though this promontory did not receive its present Portuguese name till a later date.^ The Cavalla River was perhaps the limit of De Sintra's explorations in 1462, and after this there came a pause of nine years before further progress was made. Then, in 1471, the Portuguese captains, grown bold by familiarity with the smooth seas of the Atlantic coast of Africa, sailed eastwards from Cape Palmas to that Gold Coast of two hundred years' tradition, and farther on across the Bight of Biafra to the southward bend of the African continent. They had already named what we now know as Liberia the " Malagueta " coast. The Malagueta pepper being ' It was very soon noticed that this headland near the River Cavalia was covered with a remarkable and striking form of palm tree. At the present day Cape Palmas is very notable for its growths of coconut palms, which crowd its rocky promontories and islets. But in all probability when the first Portuguese explored these coasts there were no coconut palms growing on Cape Palmas, but the stately fan palm (Borassus) which I have photographed myself on this spot, still lingering in the scrub. As will be seen later in the book, the first British explorer of this coast notices the considerable numbers of Fan palms in the close vicinity of Cape Palmas. When I asked the Grebo people at Cape Palmas if the coconut was in- digenous to their country, they replied positively that according to their traditions this tree was introduced by the Portuguese. Yet Dapper in the seventeenth century alludes indirectly to the Coco palm and its fruit as one of the products of the Grain Coast. The Coco palm is indigenous to the islands and shoresi of the Pacific and perhaps of the Indian Ocean. Apparently by the agency of man it was transported across the Central American isthmus to the Atlantic coast of that continent, and the far-sighted Portuguese planted it on the West African littoral : bringing it no doubt from Northern Brazil at the same time that they brought the pineapple. This last grows everywhere in the coast regions of Liberia, as though it was a native, and its presence there is noted by Dutch and English voyagers a hundred and fifty years after the Portuguese discovery of Liberia. 43 Liberia styled in Europe " Grains of Paradise," the Dutch and English soon applied the shorter designation of " Grain Coast " to all the country between Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast (which 23. PALMS — BORASSUS, OI )NUT— AT CAPE PALM AS last was called by the Portuguese the Coast of Ma gente — Bad people). Between 1462 and 151 5 the Portuguese had practically the monopoly of trade with the Liberian coast and Guinea generally. After that date the French (usually 44 -* Portuguese Explorations Dieppois) again frequented the West Coast of Africa. They had, indeed, commenced in 1483 — perhaps earlier — to renew the Atlantic voyages interrupted seventy years before. But the Portuguese kept for nearly a hundred years a pretty tight grip on the Gulf of Guinea. They did not object, however, to engaging Genoese captains or officers for their vessels, and it was in this service that Columbus made several voyages to Guinea a few years before his great adventure. The Discoverer of America, therefore, in all probability landed on the Liberian coast when the Portuguese ships called there for fresh water or commerce in pepper. When Creasy was writing on the decisive battles of the world, it is curious that he did not include amongst them the battle of Kasr-al-Kablr, which occurred on August 4th, 1578; for the results of this conflict in Northern Morocco on the banks of the River Aulkus were felt in a remarkable series of events all over the habitable globe — just as when some obscure volcanic outburst or earthquake occurs at the bottom of the sea in the Pacific, or in the Indian Ocean, tidal wave after tidal wave ravages the coasts and islands of some unwitting land a thousand miles or so from the scene of the scarcely noticed outbreak of natural forces. Portugal, ever since the capture of Ceuta in 141 5 (the event which had set Prince Henry of Portugal thinking on West African discovery), had been striving to conquer for herself an empire over Morocco. Spain — that is to say, Castille — was shut off from any such ambition in the first half of the fifteenth century because the Moorish kingdom of Granada still stood between the territories of the kingdom of Castille and the nearest part of the Morocco coast. Portugal by degrees laid hands on most of the principal ports, pro- montories, and islets along the coast of Morocco from Ceuta 45 Liberia <^ (the Roman Septa ^) to Mogador. By the middle of the fifteenth century the Portuguese were masters of the northern horn of Morocco, that peninsular projection towards Europe which extends from Tangier and Ceuta, on the north, to the River Aulkus on the south. This intrusion of the Portuguese was singularly disconcerting to the Arabised Moors of Morocco, who, reinforced from time to time by fresh bands of Arabs coming right across Northern Africa from Egypt, or by some northward rush of Muhammadan Berbers from the Niger, had renewed over and over again the invasion of Spain, if not of Portugal,^ This solid block of Portuguese dominion, there- fore, in the northern promontory of Morocco threatened to be a wedge which would completely separate the Moors (not then a bold seafaring people) from the Moorish kingdom of Granada across the Straits of Gibraltar. Consequently the Moorish hosts threw themselves with fanaticism again and again on the barrier of Portuguese fortresses and armies. The intrusion of the Portuguese in the fifteenth century had assisted to break up the Moorish dynasty of the Beni- Marln. Moorish opinion was in disarray. That portion of it which was founded on the less fanatical coast population de- scended from the Romans, Spaniards, Goths, Byzantines, and Christian Berbers, was half inclined to waver in its allegiance to the Crescent, and join the Empire of the Cross under Portugal. This reactionary feeling provoked another Mahdi in one of the Sharifs of Sijilmassa in Southern Morocco. This man finally led the Moorish armies against the Portuguese. The young King Sebastia?) had just succeeded to the crown of ' The Portuguese generally pronounced this name Septa or Sevta, and spelt it Cepta ; it was the Spaniards that turned v into u, and made it Ceuta. The Moors call it Sebta. ^ The Moors had been finally expelled from their last foothold on Portuguese soil (Algarve) about 1254. 46 -^ Portuguese Explorations Portugal, and was full of crusading ardour. He dashed to the front in Morocco, and lost the battle of Kasr-al-Kablr against the Moorish forces under the last prince of the Marinide dynasty, Abd-al-Malek, and the first of the Sharifian, Abu'l Abbas Ahmad al-Mansur. Realising that he had not only lost the battle, but the Portuguese empire in Morocco, he rushed on death. He died unmarried. The house of Avis was left with but one royal representative, the Cardinal Henry, who assumed the royal power, and died two years afterwards. Philip II. of Spain, taking advantage of the dis- puted claim to the Portuguese crown, forced on the notables of the country his own rights through his wife, and by dint of cajolery, bribes, and threats he was chosen as King of Portugal. This union of the crowns of Spain and Portugal gave rise to many results, and even affected the future of Liberia ! The merchants of England, France, and the Low Countries had long been envious of the Portuguese monopoly on the West Coast of Africa, in Brazil and the Guianas, the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago, China and Japan. The Turks of Egypt and the Arabs of Western and Southern Arabia were furious at the way in which the Portuguese had ousted them from the strong places of Eastern Africa and Zanzibar, of the Red Sea, Aden, and the Straits of Ormuz in the Persian Gulf But England, France, and the Low Countries were ostensibly at peace with Portugal, and Portuguese valour and marvellous resourcefulness in the Eastern seas imposed submission on the Turks and Arabs. The act of Philip 11. in uniting the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal put an end to this check on the greed and ambition of other Powers. In the first place, the same fatal paralysis which the rule of Madrid had exercised over Spanish operations in America was to numb much of the enterprise carried 47 Liberia «•-■ on during the next seventy years in the Portuguese settlements of Asia, Africa, and America. The Portuguese were enraged and disgusted at their " captivity " (as the Spanish rule was called), and worked with less heart at their defence of a magnificent empire no longer their own. But England, being intermittently at war with Spain, and in her hatred of Spain allowing piracy on the part of British subjects when ostensibly at peace with the cold Flemish Philip, seized with avidity an excuse for ousting Portugal from her gains. France followed precisely the same course, and the bitterest foe of the Portu- guese was Holland. The Dutch, affecting to consider all that was Portuguese as belonging to Spain (against whom they were in revolt), made descents on the Guianas and Brazil, ousted the Portuguese from the Gold Coast in West Africa and from Angola, replaced their fugitive settlements in South Africa by a Dutch colony, and took from them Mozambique in East Africa, the islands of Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, Flores, and Celebes. The French also attempted to secure a foothold in Brazil, of which French Guiana is the only vestige at the present day. But so far as the purpose of this book is concerned, it is more to the point to notice that at the beginning of the seven- teenth century the French replaced the Portuguese (as a ruling power) on the Senegal River and at Cape Verde, and as traders on the Liberian coast and elsewhere. The English under Elizabeth now deemed the time opportune for gaining a foot- hold in West Africa. Forts were built at the mouth of the River Gambia in 1588, and towards the close of the sixteenth century English trading-settlements were erected at or near Sierra Leone, and during the seventeenth century Great Britain became one of the leading Powers on the Gold Goast. At the beginning of the seventeenth century travellers record that the natives along the Liberian Coast were becoming tri-lingual ; 48 -* Portuguese Explorations that is to say, in addition to their native language they could speak Portuguese and English/ Dutch, French, and English adventurers who visited the Liberian coast in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries noted the extraordinary hold that the Portuguese language had acquired over natives of the littoral, especially in the Vai country. The early Portuguese visitors or settlers had intermarried much with native women, and hundreds of Mulattos, still speaking Portuguese, and resolutely firm in their Christianity, were dwelling on the Senegal River, on the Gambia, and on most of the rivers of Guinea as far as Sierra Leone, perhaps as far as the River Gallinhas on the borders of Liberia, down to the beginning of the nineteenth century. During the first hundred years of their adventures (1445 to 1525) the Portuguese had named nearly every cape, inlet, river, and mountain on the west, south, and east coasts of Africa, from Morocco past the Cape of Good Hope to the Red Sea. Their nomenclature in West Africa has been more lasting. If we look at the coast of Liberia we may begin with the River Gallinhas, near the Liberian frontier, so named by the Portuguese from the abundance of domestic fowls in the possession of the natives. Inland of the Gallinhas, which is really little else than a lagoon, there is a considerable lake of brackish water named by the Portuguese " Palma," from the abundance of oil palms in its vicinity. Tracing the coast eastwards, we next come to Cape Mount, styled by the Portuguese Cabo do Monte, from the lofty hill of 1,066 feet which rises up from the shore. The biggest river of Liberia they named the St. Paul, and the cape • The Dutch travellers state that at Cape Mount there were chiefs who could speak Portuguese fluently, and in addition a little Dutch, French, and English. Between Cape Verde and Cape Palmas there arose a medium of intercommunication in the form of a " pidgin " Portuguese, which only gave way to "pidgin" Enghsh in the eighteenth century. VOL. I 49 4 Liberia <^ which is near its mouth, Mesurado, a Portuguese name of which the true translation is given on p. 40. Then we come to the River Junk, which was named by the Portuguese " Junco " (reed, the Reedy River). The next river of importance entering the sea at Grand Basa was called the " River of St. John," because discovered on the feast of that saint. The succeeding river eastwards (of any size) is still known as the Cestos or Cess River. (Cestos in Portuguese does not mean a girdle^ as a few 24. CAVALI.A RIVER, NEAR ITS MOUTH writers on Africa have translated it, but a basket, a hamper. It was probably applied to this river because of the fish-weirs or fish-baskets which are placed in such streams of Liberia at the present day.) ' The promontory now known as Rock Cess was called by the Portuguese Cabo Baixo, the Low Cape. The next ' This name Cestos has been subsequently misspelt Sestos or Sextos, and is therefore confused with a totally different locality in Liberia, nowadays called Sesters. 50 -•i Portuguese Explorations big river eastwards of the Cestos is the Sanguin. This is from the Portuguese Sanguinho ( = sanguine, bloody, blood-red). The origin of this name is supposed not to have had any lugubrious signification, but to express the blood-red colour of the stream after floods, when it is deeply loaded with ferruginous clay. The promontory eastwards of this river, which is now called Bafu Bay, was called by the Portuguese Cabo Formoso — the Beautiful Cape. The Island of Palma, named by the Portuguese because of its groves of palm trees, and situated near the mouth of the Sanguin River, is apparently represented at the present day by the Baiya rock, about sixty feet high, or by one of the other rocky islets in this vicinity. The Sino settlements the Portuguese called by their existing native name ; ^ but the Sino River is on some early maps the Sao Vicente or the Rio Dulce. The Dewa River near Setra Kru was called by the Portuguese Rio dos Escravos, the River of Slaves. Grand Sesters (which is supposed to have been the site of Grand Paris of the Dieppe adventurers), together with Piccaninny - Sesters, derives its name from the Portuguese word Sestro — sinister^ or suspicious ^ perverse^ an adjective which apparently applied to the people of the locality. The promontory of Rock Town was called Cabo Sao Clernente. Cape Palmas was so named, as I have already related, from the abundance of palms, and the Cavalla River or point is from the Portuguese word Cavalla, meaning mackerel (Cava/a means a big fish like a tunny), a name given to it, no doubt, be- cause of the abundance of horse-mackerel on the bar of its mouth.^ 1 I spell this name as it was spelt by the Portuguese. It is pronounced Sino, more like the English word snow. There is no reason whatever for adding an "e" to this name, except the desire of all English and Americans and all Negroes under English or An.erican influence to misspell every African name they come across. * The Portuguese Pequeninho, " very little." ^ Several writers on African geography have informed us that the transla- tion of Cavalla (corrupted quite recently into Cavally) is "mare"; and as in the 51 Liberia ^ The fate of the Portuguese kingdom after the battle of Kasr- al-Kablr determined, as has been siid, much of th^ subsequent history of Africa, Asia, and South America. But for this crushing blow, it is quite possible that the Portuguese might have stuck as resolutely to the coast of Liberia as they did to that of Angola and the Congo, and there might have been no Liberia to-day in the sense of a free Negro republic inde- pendent of European control. But although they made an indelible impression on the Grain Coast, although they named most of its striking features and taught the Portuguese language to the Vais and the Kruboys, and in their hundred years of trade monopoly introduced to Liberia the orange tree, lime, coconut palm, pineapple, papaw, chili pepper, and tobacco plant, the European domestic ox (possibly), the hog, and the Muscovy duck, they did not succeed in effecting a per- manent hold. In the seventeenth century they were driven away from the Gold Coast. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they were forced to relinquish their hold over Benin and Dahome. All that remains to them at the present day of their " Lordship of Guinea " (which once stretched nearly uninterruptedly from the Senegal to Old Calabar) is the small territory they have at diff^erent times disputed with England and France, round about the River Jeba and the Bisagos Archipelago ; this is now known by the restricted name of Portuguese Guinea. days of early Portuguese discovery there were no horses on that coast, it is supposed that the Portuguese explorers sighted a hornless female of the Kob water-buck, and mistook it for a mare ! But they argued from a false analogy in etymology Cavallo means horse in Portuguese ; but the word for mare is "egua," "jumenta,' " poldra." The recent form of this name — Cavally — is an Anglo-American corruption thoughtlessly adopted by the French, which should be at once discarded for the correct form — Cavalla. This is used in all the older documents connected with the Liberian Republic. 52 ^ Portuguese Explorations The capital town is on the island of Bulama, and this is slightly- interwoven with the more modern history of Liberia, because an attempt was made by the British at the close of the eighteenth century to found a precursor of Liberia on this large deserted island in the estuary of the River Jeba. But for a series of accidents and the great unhealthiness of the site, it is possible that " Liberia," the colony of free blacks, might have had its centre here. 25. PORTUGUESE WARRIOR IN AFRICA, ON HORSEBACK : EARLY SIXTEENTH CENTURY. DRAWN FROM A BENIN CARVING IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM 53 CHAPTER V PEPPER AND GOLD WHAT were the first great inducements of gain which led to West African maritime discovery on the part of these Normans, Catalans, Genoese, Portuguese, and, as will be shown later, English, Dutch, French, Swedes, Danes, Germans, Flemings, and Spaniards ? Firstly, the search was for gold, then for pepper, and finally for slaves. To the gold quest they were spurred by the discoveries of the Arabs in the centuries that followed the outbreak of Islam. The ancient, like the modern, Semites seem to have had a kind of sixth sense, a "nose," a flair for gold. It was probably amongst the Semiticised Hamites of Lower Egypt and the pure Semites of Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia (in the Old World) that the admiration for and use of gold as a precious metal first arose ; though it may also have become a precious metal in the eyes of man in Eastern or Central Asia. At any rate, from the rising civilisations of Asia there spread to the nations of Northern and Western and Mediterranean Europe an appreciation of gold perhaps not longer ago than four or five thousand years. In the rocks of Egypt sufficient gold was found at first to content the cupidity of the Semitic world ; but later on the adventurous Arabs of Southern Arabia sought for it in South-East Africa, while their Phoenician kindred no doubt carried on a search in the Mediterranean world and 54 ^ Pepper and Gold In Spain. It is truly marvellous to think of the instinct, the sixth sense that must have led these Minasans, Saba^ans, and Himyarites to coast along the savage shores of Eastern Africa some two thousand to one thousand years ago, at a time when the navigation of the high seas by sailing vessels was only just beginning ; and that this instinct should have led them on and on, not merely along the coast of East Africa to the regions south of the Zambezi, but have prompted them to ascend that river and to make great journeys inland on foot from swampy landing-places like the present Beira, through countries which so far as we can tell do not in their coast regions offer any signs of gold. It is as yet one of the unexplained mysteries in the history of the human race how the Arabs learnt that gold was to be found alluvial and in the rock at distances of from one to five hundred miles from the coast of South-east Africa. Moreover, from the little we know of the conditions of Africa at that period, the Arabs were exploring a country sparsely inhabited by Negro races of low development, Bechuana and Makaranga Bantu, and others, practically identical with the modern Hottentots, Bushmen, or Berg Damara — a population caring little for gold or any other metal. Did these same pre-Islamic Arabs or kindred Semites or Hamites explore the regions west of Egypt, say, through Darfur towards the Niger Basin } Were the gold-bearing rocks of the Fula and Mandingo Highlands and of the interior of Ashanti known in any way to the Semitic world before the Christian era and before the birth of the Muhammadan religion sent wave after wave of Semitic conquest over North Central Africa .? That is also a problem as yet unsolved, and one which again reverts for solution to the Agri (Aggry) beads. These Agri beads, as already stated, offer types which might be traceable equally to Egypt and 55 Liberia <;*- Syria as to Rome and Carthage. But these patterns of beads also seem to have been continuously manufactured in Italy (at Venice) and perhaps also in Egypt down to the close of the Middle Ages. One or two ornaments, and some beads possibly of Ancient Egyptian origin, have been found in the possession of Negroes of the Bahr-al-Ghazal and the north- eastern part of the Uganda Protectorate, and Agri beads of a very Roman appearance have been obtained from the Central Niger (see p. 23). But certainly two or three centuries after the death of Muhammad the Semitic world had got into touch with the gold-bearing regions of West Africa by way of Lake Chad and the Niger, and later through direct trans-Saharan journeys from Tripoli, Tunis, and Morocco. Guinea gold therefore first inspired the European adventurers of the four- teenth and fifteenth centuries in their exploration of West Africa. The next most potent inducement was pepper. Pepper is a word derived through the Greek or Latin from an Indian root — pipli. The spice had become popular even amongst the Greeks in the Classical period ; still more amongst the Romans of the Empire. The taste for it reached the northern barbarians, and when Alaric the Goth put Rome up to ransom in 408 he demanded three thousand librae of pepper. India sup- plied the condiment exclusively, and down to the eleventh century the trade was almost entirely carried on through Greeks and Arabs by way of India, the Rea Sea, and Egypt. In the eleventh century the Venetians took up the trade, owing to the increasing warfare between the Byzantine Greeks and Turks. Venice, in fact, soon obtained the monopoly of the pepper trade, created a '* Trust " in pepper, and made the price of this condiment so high that " peppercorn rents " in the Middle Ages were 56 -#» Pepper and Gold by no means the joke that they now seem to us.^ The Normans, the Genoese, and - the Portuguese successively felt after some sea-route to India round Africa which should enable them to obtain pepper in defiance of the Venetians and Turks. The invention in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries of the mariner's compass came as an aid to maritime exploration ; though without this help the bold Norsemen had already dis- covered North America and had in their Norman descendants explored the Eastern Atlantic. The first object, therefore, of European research along the Atlantic coast of Africa was gold, and, secondly, a route to India along that coast which might lead to a trade in pepper. Judge, therefore (if we may believe French traditions), of the delight of the Dieppois when in their tentative explorations of the Guinea coast they discovered pepper, apparently of two kinds, in use by the Negroes. The first of these spices which they brought to light was the "grains of Paradise." These were obtained from Sierra Leone, and notably the coast of Liberia, which is the reason why that part of Guinea has been known on the maps for several centuries as the " Grain " Coast. These grains of Paradise are sometimes called cardamoms (cardamom is really the name of a kindred species from Eastern Asia), and sometimes Malagueta or Maniguette pepper. The origin of the word Malagueta is uncertain, but it may be that in the days of Moorish Spain, Malaga was an emporium for this new spice ; for it is known that these grains of Paradise were first introduced into the Mediterranean world by the Moors, who obtained them through the overland trade already existing between Mauritania and West Africa. The grains are ' A peppercorn rent generally iipplied an obligation to supply at least one pound of pepper, a tax amounting possibly to as much as ^5 to /lo in our money. 57 Liberia ^ the seed of a species of Amomuni, now called AframomuM melegueta, a plant distantly related to the banana, and belonging to the Zingiberaceous (Ginger) order. This Amomum is a most famUiar object all through the forest region of West Africa, and it, or similar species of the same genus, extends right across Africa to the East Coast, wherever the rainfall is sufficient. The leaves are long and light glossy green, and the fronds rise on long stalks from horizontal-growing roots. The flowers grow quite close to the ground, also striking upwards from the concealed horizontal roots, in such a way that they seem to be quite independent of the leaves, and might be thought to be growing like crocuses, which, indeed, in a far-ofF way they much resemble. The flowers are white, tinged with pink and lemon yellow. Some varieties tend towards pale mauve in colour. They are succeeded by a flattish, oblong fruit which is yellow, russet, or scarlet when ripe. It is as much as five inches long. Inside this brightly coloured rind is a sweet white pulp, in which are embedded the very aromatic seeds. It is said that the gorilla is particularly fond of Amomum fruits on account of their sweet pulp. The seeds, which are larger than very large hemp seeds, are shiny dark brown outwardly, with a white kernel. This kernel is intensely aromatic and hot to the taste, but is much too " spicy " to suit the European palate at the present day. These grains of Paradise created a kind of rage in Europe from the tenth to the eighteenth century, and formed the founda- tion of most spices and the flavouring of drinks and viands. Queen Elizabeth was passionately fond of their taste, and in the early part of the eighteenth century the use of this spice in British- brewed beer became so excessive that in the reign of George III. an Act of Parliament ^ was passed to forbid the use of ' 56 Georgii III. cap 38. 58 Malagueta Pepper : Leaves, Seed-pod and Flowers [Afrantonuim melegiieta) -^ f*epper and Gold grains of Paradise in malt liquor, strong waters, and cordials. The other pepper ^ that was found on the West Coast of Africa was closely akin to the Indian kind. It was a true pepper and of two species — Piper subpeltatum and Piper guineense. The first named, and perhaps the other as well, is still found growing wild in the Liberian coast forests and in most other parts of West Africa as far east as the Bahr-al-Ghazal region of the Nile. These kinds in the trade are known as " Ashanti " pepper. It is said to have been brought back by the Norman adventurers to Dieppe and Rouen in 1364. The Portuguese also pushed a trade in it, especially in the country of Benin, until towards the middle of the sixteenth century. When the route to India had been discovered, the importation of this African pepper was forbidden in Portugal, in order that it might not compete with the Indian trade. After gold, it was perhaps pepper that made the adven- turous spirits of Europe more anxious to explore the West Coast of Africa than any other motive down to the end of the fifteenth century. I have already described what led to the abrupt end of the Norman trade with West Africa. From the middle of the fifteenth to the middle of the sixteenth century the Portuguese had the Guinea trade entirely in their own hands, and they imitated the Venetians in trying to control the pepper trade and run up the price of these spices. With the same result, that the English under Mary I. and Elizabeth, and a little later the Dutch and the Flemings, resolved to follow the tracks of the Portuguese and find out where the pepper came from. The first Englishman that (so far as we know) found his way to West Africa travelled more or less in disguise as a sea- ' Pepper is also made in Liberia from the fruits of Xylopia (sthiopica. 59 Liberia ^ man on one of the Portuguese ships, and fetched up In Benin. He discovered that pepper at any rate came from Benin. This discovery nearly cost him his hfe ; but he showed the way to other adventurers, and by 1553 Englishmen were trading with the Guinea Coast in their own ships. As early as 1482 King John II. of Portugal sent an embassy to Edward IV. of England, asking him to restrain by his orders two Englishmen, John Tintam and William Fabian, from making a voyage to Guinea, in defiance of the Portuguese restrictions, which forbade persons not subjects of Portugal to trade with that " lordship." These two English adventurers were to have gone out in the pay, and possibly commanding the ships of, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, a great Spanish nobleman. A vigorous English trade with the Canary Islands had sprung up at the end of the fifteenth century, and even at the beginning of the sixteenth century English merchant captains sent back the most copious notes about the indigenes (Guanches) and natural productions of the Canary Islands.^ Already at the beginning of the sixteenth century sugar-cane was grown there, and sugar was manufactured in twelve bakeries. Also, even at this early date the Spaniards, with the help of the Portuguese, had orange trees, lemons, and bananas^ growing in Grand Canary and Tenerife. Probably the first Englishmen to see the coast of Liberia were the officers and crew of the Primrose and the Lion, two goodly ships accompanied by a pinnace called the Moon which sailed from Portsmouth on August 12th, 1553. (Prior • "Tenerifa is a high land with a great pike like a sugar loaf, and upon the said pike is snow throughout all the yeere, and by reason of that pike it may be knowen above all other islands. . . ." — Captain John Lok, 1554. ^ The banana was introduced from Senegambia. The word "banana" comes from the languages of the Sieira Leone Coast, such as Bullom. 60 Pepper and Gold to this it is said that two or three young Englishmen shipped as sailors on board vessels in order to find out the way to Guinea and the land of pepper and gold. They reached as far as Benin, but very nearly lost their lives at the hands of the enraged Portuguese.) About 1550 a Portuguese sea-captain called Antonio Anes Pinteado of Oporto, after holding high rank in the Portuguese naval service and defending the coasts of Portugal and Guinea against the French, got into trouble on his own account, and lost favour at Court. He came to South- ampton in anger, and resolved to show the English the way to Guinea. It was arranged to send him out in joint command of these two ships, the "Primrose and the Lion^ with a certain Captain Windham. Touching at the Canary and Cape Verde Islands by the way, they made a pretty straight course for the Grain Coast (Liberia), and fetched up at the Cestos River, " the great river of Sesto," as it is called in the English chronicle. Here Pinteado proposed that they should fill up part of their cargo space with large quantities of grains of Paradise, the Amomum pepper already described. But Captain Windham thirsted to reach the land of gold, and so hurried on. This date may be fixed approximately at October 15th, 1553. Afterwards Windham's voyage met with something like disaster. The ships entered the Benin River, and Pinteado escorted a party of the officers and men to see the King of Benin, a monarch who was found to be speaking Portuguese perfectly. He promised them a great cargo of pepper ; but Pinteado delayed so long over his commercial 61 26. A PORTUGUESE SEA - CAPTAIN OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. DRAWN FROM A BENIN CARVING IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM Liberia ^ transactions that the rest of the men in the two ships began to die four or five a day from all sorts of maladies, con- tracted generally through their imprudence. The result was that Windham lost his head completely. He smashed up Pinteado's cabin, broke open his chests, and when he came on board he deprived him of his rank and treated him like a felon, so that on the return voyage he died of a broken heart. Tn the following year (1554) the Trinity^ the Bartholomew^ and the John Evangelist (the first and the last of one hundred and forty tons burden) sailed from London for Guinea on October nth. The captain of this expedition was Mr. John Lok, and there went with him Sir George Barn and Sir John York and other gentlemen. On December 21st they found themselves close to Cape Mesurado, which is described as *' like a porpoise head." The latitude of it was fixed fairly correctly. The next day they came to the Cestos River, where they collected a ton of grains of Paradise. Then on to the " Rio Dulce." The mouth of the River Cestos is described as " a good harborow, but very narrow in the entrance into the river. There is also a rock in the haven's mouth right as you enter." The high land which lay between the Cestos River and the River Dulce was called Cakeado, and in this land were two notable places of call for fresh water, Shawgro and Shyawe or Shavo. They called at the St. Vincent or Dulce River (.'' Sino), and experienced the dangers from submerged rocks. Cape Palmas is described as " a fair high land, but some low places thereof by the waterside look like red cliffs with white streaks like highways." These two ships went on to the Gold Coast, and traded very advantageously in gold, ivory, and pepper, and apparently returned without misadventure to England, bringing back with them five black slaves. 62 -#> Pepper and Gold In the year 1555 Master William Towerson organised an expedition to the " Guinea Grain Coast " (Liberia), the same River Cestos being his principal objective. Two ships, called the Hart and the Hinde^ started from Newport in the Isle of Wight on September 30th. They slightly overshot their mark.^ Captain Towerson describes very vividly his first sight of the (Liberian) coast : *' The land . . . full of woods and great rocks hard aboard the shore, and the billows beating so sore that the seas brake upon the shore as white as snow, and the water mounted so high that a man might easily discern it four leagues off." On nearing the River St. Vincent (evidently that which is now known as the Sino), they " met with divers boats of the country, small, long, and narrow, and in every boat one man and no more. We gave them bread which they did eat and were very glad." The description given is very similar to the present approach to the river and port of Sino : " Directly before the mouth of it there lieth a ledge of rocks ... so that a boat must run in along the shore a good way between the rocks and the shore before it come to the mouth of the river ; and being within it, it is a great river, and divers other rivers fall into it : the going into it is somewhat ill, because that at the entering the seas do go somewhat high ; but being once within, it is as calm as the Thames," As to the inhabitants on this coast, '* They are mighty big men, and go all naked except something before their privy parts, which is like a clout about a quarter of a yard ' It will be noticed repeatedly in these early voyages to West Africa that most of the ships — Portuguese, English, Dutch, and French — seem to have made Liberia their first objective after rounding Cape Verde. No doubt this was a good deal connected with the currents and wind, but also the desire to avoid the treacherous shoals and the intricate archipelagos of islands which lie off the intdrvening coast of Northern Guinea. 63 i /ik Liberia <♦- long, made of the bark of trees, and yet it is like cloth. Some of them also wear the like upon their heads, being painted with divers colours ; but the most part of them go bare-headed, and their heads are clipped and shorn of divers -7- A NATIVE OF SIn6 sorts, and the most part of them have the skin of their bodies traced with divers works in the manner of a leather jerkin. The men and women go so alike that one cannot know a man from a woman but by their breasts, which in the most part 64 ^ Pepper and Gold be very foul and long, hanging down low like the udder of a goat." ■ Here the mariners bought grains of Paradise and tusks of ivory in exchange for basins, iron manillas, and '* margarits " (beads). After a time the headman of the place seems to have made a corner in grains of Paradise, and tried to raise the selling price, with the result that they suspended trade for a bit, and went off to visit a village in the interior and see something of the Hfe of the country. Captain Towerson noticed the iron work which was being carried on, the making of arrow-heads, for example. The only domestic animals were goats, fowls, and dogs. He comments on the unending forest and the mangroves, which he compares to enormous pea-stalks. He even collected a few words and sentences of the language ; but these are no longer recognisable, except that they seem to be tinged with a Portuguese jargon. After buying more grains of Paradise along the coast, and passing Cape Palmas, he stopped at the River Cavalla (which he does not name), and this river was entered in boats in order to obtain fresh water. The bar at its mouth seems to have been fully as bad then as it is at the present day. It is interesting to note that although the actual palm trees on Cape Palmas are not described, other palm trees are, near the mouth of the Cavalla, and the description of these given by Captain Towerson is such as to identify them with the Borassus, and not with the coconut : " Their stems are very high and white-bodied, straight, and biggest in the midst. ^ They have a round bush at the top of them." From these palms he says that the natives get their principal supply of palm wine. After going on to the Gold Coast, the two ships turned ^ The ventricose swelling which occurs near the middle of the stems of most Borassus palms. It is met with also in some Hyphaene palms— never in the coconut. VOL. I 65 5 Liberia ^ back from a most successful trade. The Hart reached the south coast of Ireland on May yth, 1556, The Hinde parted company with her consort on March ist, in a tornado off the Guinea Coast, and was apparently never seen again, though there was no record of whether she was completely lost. Undaunted by these dangers, however, Master William Towerson (who, after landing on the south coast of Ireland and buying two sheep from " the wild Kerns," had brought up his good ship the Hart to Bristol) started off again on September 14th, in the same year, from Harwich to Bristol, and from Bristol sailed to Sierra Leone. Near the Cestos River they fell in with some French ships, who told them that they, the French, had just had a little battle with the Portuguese, who were now determining to bar the way on the part of foreign ships to the Gold Coast. The French had sunk one of the Portuguese ships, and they proposed to Master Towerson that he should join in his fortunes with them. They obtained water from one of the Liberian rivers, and bought ivory from the natives. They also landed their men with *' harquebuses, pikes, long bows, crossbows, partisans, long swords, and swords and daggers," in pursuit of two elephants, whom they " stroke divers times with harquebuses and long bows," without apparently doing them much harm. Their subsequent adventures in fighting the Portuguese do not come within the scope of this book. Captain Towerson visited the coast of Liberia a third time in 1577. A voyage in 1562 was made by a number of English adventurers, one of whom, Robert Baker, afterwards a prisoner for ransom (salvage) in France, solaced his captivity by re- counting his adventures in doggerel rhyme {Hakluyt^ vol. ii. p. 518). These occurred, to begin with, on the coast of Liberia. He seems to have found the Kruboys of that period stark naked, though this may only have been due to facetious 66 ^ ■A. 28. BORASSUS FLABELLIFER Liberia <•- exaggeration on the part of the rhymester. He describes how the headman of some Kru village comes off to their big boat in a canoe (Almadie) .... made of a log The very same, wherein you know We used to serve a hog. Aloof he stayed at first, Put water to his cheek, A sign that he would not us trust Unless we did the like. During the night the natives, however, deftly robbed the pinnace of the big boat of the trade goods that were stored in it. The result was that the Englishmen landed with their men and had a great fight. The Kruboys came with a hundred canoes, in each two men with long shields and darts. Many of their darts had light strings attached to them, so that they could be recovered after they had been shot away ; but " the hail shot of the arquebus, the arrows of the long-bow men, and the pikes of the halberdeers " killed and wounded some of the Kruboys. Nevertheless, they redoubled their attacks. The English had long since taken to their boats, and were rowing hard down the river out into the sea, being followed by this flotilla of a hundred canoes. The Kruboys' darts did consider- able execution. Seven out of nine Englishmen were badly wounded, one lying for dead, having been so pierced with a spear that his viscera were torn out. The writer describes with a certain amount of pathos his own pain and fever from his wounds, and how he passed into a delirium delicious by contrast with the misery of his surround- ings on board ship, and, when he regains his senses onge more, the almost painful joy with which he learns from one of the seamen that they have got " a right merry wind " and are sailing for old England, which is safely reached at last. 68 ^ Pepper and Gold They again visited the coast of Liberia, hut fared better as regards trade, and were well treated by the natives. The voyage commenced with a fight against a French pirate which endc^d in a British victory ; but when they reached the coast of Liberia, as usual nine of them quitted the big ships and entered the Liberian rivers to trade in their boats. Somehow the big ships were lost sight of and never seen again. The mariners went through the most terrible sufferings from hunger and thirst (though they constantly touched at the coast and 29. KRU CANOES obtained wild food from the natives). After extraordinary adventures they reached the Gold Coast. Here the Portuguese received them with outrageous cruelty. After a desperate fight for their lives, they passed along the coast, and then in despair landed through the surf on the shore of some Negro kingdom, where they were received with far greater kindness. After long and dreary waiting, during which six out of the nine died of fever, the remaining three were picked up by a French vessel, which conveyed them back to France, where they had to lie in captivity until they were ransomed. 69 ^m. CHAPTER VI 7'NE GUINEA TRADE IN THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES OTHER West African products in those early days, besides gold, pepper, and Negro slaves, more especially from Senegambia, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, consisted of hides, ivory, civet perfume, indigo, ostrich feathers, gum, and ambergris. Most of these articles are enumerated in Azurara's History of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea by the Portuguese during the First Half of the Fifteenth Century. The hides so often mentioned were firstly the skins of seals, possibly Monachus albiventcr^ which the Portuguese found existing in large numbers along the Sahara coast between Cape Bojador and the Senegal River. They killed these, often fifty at a time, and used triumphantly to bring back their skins and the oil they produced to Prince Henry, who at last got so vexed at the way in which their exploring journeys were stopped by these seal-hunts that he forbade the practice. Then in the Senegal and Gambia Rivers they purchased the hides of oxen, goats, and sheep. Acacia gum and ostrich feathers, of course, came from the Sahara coast between the Rio de Oro, Cape Blanco, and the Senegal River, and in a lesser degree from Cape Verde and the Gambia. Ambergris, which is an intestinal product of the Sperm Whale, cast up on the ^ The Monk seal of the Mediterranean and Eastern Atlantic. 70 -^ The Guinea Trade shores of the Atlantic and other oceans, seems to have been obtained from the Cape Verde Peninsula. It was much valued in the Middle Ages as the component part of perfumes, and most of all because of its supposed aphrodisiac qualities. Ijidigo came from the Gambia and the rivers of Guinea, and the scent- bags of the civet cat from all points on the coast between the mouth of the Senegal and Liberia, in which latter country the civet cat is extremely common at the present day. There was a great demand for the civet perfume during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and besides the dried pods or pouches cut from the dead animal, live civet cats were esteemed a very choice present, a gift made from time to time by the chiefs of the coast regions to the Portuguese captains. Ivory was obtained in large quantities from the Senegal River, the Gambia, Sierra Leone, the Liberian coast, and from that less known region between Liberia and the Gold Coast which to this day is called " the Ivory Coast." But in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it was chiefly Sierra Leone and Northern Liberia that furnished ivory. It seems to have been a common incident for chiefs or native traders in the Vai and Gallinhas countries near the coast to produce a hundred tusks of considerable size and weight at one deal. Camwood {Baphia r.itida)^ which produces a crimson dye, was much sought after from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. ' The traditions of the Norman traders who visited Liberia in the fourteenth century (if they be founded on fact), and the authentic records of the Portuguese commerce with that country before 1460 and 1560, reveal a condition of civilisa- tion and well-being amongst the untutored natives which is somewhat in contrast to what one finds on the same coast at the present day ; still more in contrast with the condition of the Liberian coast-lands in the early part of the nineteenth 71 Liberia ^ century, suggesting that the rapacity of the Europeans, com- bined with the slave trade, did much to brutalise and impoverish the coastal tribes of Liberia during the two hundred years between 1670 and 1870. They seem to have been well furnished with cattle (in Northern, perhaps not in Southern Liberia), with sheep, goats, and fowls,^ to have carried on a good deal of agriculture, and not to have been such complete savages as were the natives of the still little-known parts of Portuguese Guinea or the people of the Ivory Coast, who were wild cannibals. Having cast a glance at the principal commercial products of these countries when they were first discovered by Europeans, it may be interesting to note the trade goods which Europe was able to offer to the Blacks from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century. To begin with a negative statement, there were no cotton goods, no calicoes in the holds of these vessels such as there would be nowadays. Strange to say, it was the natives of the Gambia and other rivers of Northern Guinea, and of Cape Mount in Liberia, that impressed the Europeans with the excellence of their cotton fabrics, and actually sent some cotton goods to Portugal ! Two or three species of cotton grow in almost all parts of Tropical Africa,^ and it was the Arabs who had brought to Africa from India a knowledge of spinning cotton and ' The domestic fowl, in fact, was so abundant amongst the tribes of Liberia and the borderlands of Sierra Leone, that the Portuguese named one of the streams of this country '' GalHnhas," " the River of Hens." * There are many different species of the genus Gossypiuni (cotton) yielding a vegetable fleece which varies in length of staple, in colour, and in quality. One species only (it is said) is actually indigenous to West Africa, Gossypium punctatum. The cultivated forms seem to be of either Indian or American origin. Divers species are indigenous to America, where the civilised natives of the tropical regions spun and wove the cotton into fabrics long before the Europeans discovered America. Columbus, in returning from Hispaniola in 1493, brought back with him pods of cotton-wool as curiosities. 72 ■■^ The Guinea Trade weaving It Into cloth, and this art had spread rapidly during the first few centuries of Islam to the banks of the Niger, and thence had reached not only to the countries bordering on the sources of that great river, but the adjoining regions of Senegal and Guinea. Even as early as the sixteenth century it was remarked by the Portuguese that the kings, • 30. "the mandingo robe of stoutly woven cotton": groups of kondo people from behind vai country chiefs, and headmen of Northern Liberia round about Cape Mount wore the now familiar Mandingo robe of stoutly woven cotton in alternate stripes of blue and white. It is possible that no cotton goods were exported from Europe to West Africa till the end of the seventeenth and the beginning of the eighteenth centuries. Since that time the cotton goods of Lancashire, of Germany, and of Barcelona have almost killed the local industries of weaving and dyeing. 73 Liberia ^*- But the Europeans probably brought linen with them even in the fifteenth century, and they certainly from the beginning of their journeys imported woollen cloth. In fact, garments made of wool were for long a subject of interest and astonishment to the Negroes, It is curious that the Arabs and Berbers who spread everywhere the knowledge of cotton- spinning and weaving should never have introduced breeds of wool-bearing sheep, or taught the Negroes any idea of textile fabrics to be made with the hair or wool of other animals, or the similar use of hemp fibre ; though hemp is widespread throughout Negro Africa as a cultivated plant, its dried leaves having been burnt and smoked (a practice derived from India) long before tobacco was introduced from America. The linen of Flanders and of Normandy, therefore, the cloth and frieze coming from the same regions and also from England, Ireland, Holland, Spain, Portugal, and Italy, were brought out for trading by the caravels that sailed from the Atlantic and Mediterranean ports. As early as the time of Ca' da Mosto (middle of the fifteenth century) cannon were taken on the ships, and gunpowder was fired to astonish and frighten the Negroes ; but there seems to have been no sale of gun- powder till the close of the fifteenth century. Mirrors, beads, daggers, swords, basins of pottery and tin, iron bars and manillas,^ and manillas of brass and of lead, tin pots (quart measure), iron saucers and pails, Dutch kettles, basins, and jugs of pewter and brass, caskets (small boxes), chests, pins of large size, blankets, red caps, axe-heads, hammers, bells, gloves (!), rosin, aqua vitae (brandy), cheese, and blue and red coral were used as presents or for barter. Perhaps next to cloth the most important of the trade goods were coral ornaments and glass beads. We also find specially mentioned bars of iron, copper, ' Made in the shape of bracelets. Manilla means bracelet in Spanish. 74 1 -^ The Guinea Trade bronze, and brass.^ Bronze, which is an amalgam of copper and thi, seems to owe its introduction into West Africa entirely to the Portuguese. To many this proposition seems to be difficult of belief, owing to the extraordinarily rapid way in which the bronze art of Benin developed. Some writers therefore have ventured to imagine an Egyptian commerce in bronze, carrying with it a sculptural art which found its way from Egypt two or three thousand years ago across Central Africa to the Lower Niger and Benin. But there seems to be absolutely no evidence to support such a theory. The art of Benin is entirely Negro, without any hint of Egyptian influence. This is not altogether the case, for example, with the Negroes or Negroids of the Bahr-al-Ghazal, who possess ornaments of brass showing dis- tinct signs of Ancient Egyptian influence, if indeed they are not trade goods that came from Ancient Egypt. Absolutely nothing of this kind, however, has as yet been discovered in Benin, and the earliest Benin bronze work seems to consist chiefly of portraits of the Portuguese soldiers. As early as the first Portuguese voyages to Guinea horses were brought from Portugal and from the Moorish coast and sold to the natives of the Gambia, even though it was remarked by Ca' da Mosto that these people had an indigenous breed of ' Brass, which is an amalgam of copper and zinc, seems to have been brought to the regions of the Niger and Guinea by Arabs and Moors quite independently of its introduction along the coast by Europeans. Copper is found in the rocks of Liberia (copper pyrites) at the present day, and no doubt in other parts of West Africa, but it has never been worked there by the natives so far as is known. Iron of the best and most workable kinds is singularly abundant in Liberia and in all the inner regions of West Africa, and was worked by the natives when Europeans first came on the scene, though perhaps not so much as at the present day by the unmixed Negroes, who still seem to have been using weapons of wood, bone, horn, and stone in the fifteenth century, concurrently with the iron introduced from the north It is possible that at that period they did not smelt iron to any great extent (in the purely Negro countries), and so it was a particularly acceptable article of commerce, as it is even at the present day. 75 Liberia ^^ their own. Pigs also were introduced into these countries by the Portuguese.^ Wine was carried in the Portuguese vessels as a beverage absolutely necessary for their use ; but at first the Negroes do not appear to have greatly appreciated it, preferring their own native alcoholic drinks, the fermented sap of various palm trees or a mead made from honey. Not much notice in these earlier days of African trade seems to have been taken of European alcohol until the seventeenth century, when the fatal development of distillation created such strong waters as gin and rum, which were to prove the curse of the coast regions of West Africa, as they have been the curse of Northern Europe. Perhaps one reason why less is recorded in the chronicles of the African trade from the middle of the fifteenth to the middle of the seventeenth century of violent fevers and deadly epidemics amongst the European traders and explorers was the relative sobriety of the latter, whose strong drink was for the most part the natural, unbrandied wines of Spain and Portugal. Moreover, in spite of the slave trade, their relations with the natives seem to have been easier on the whole, and less marked by murders on both sides than they were from the middle of the seventeenth to the middle of the nineteenth century. The sugar-cane had apparently reached North-west Africa, ' In all Tropical Africa, with the exception of Sennar and the outskirts of Northern Abyssinia, there is no indigenous wild swine of the genus Sus. The nearest form to this genus would be Potamochoetus, the bush or river pigs of Tropical Africa and Madagascar. Potamochoerus in its structure is so very nearly related to the genus Sus that by some it is fused with that genus. The wild Potamochoerus will interbreed with our domestic pigs. The handsome red river hogs of West Africa {Potaniochcerus porcus) are very easily tamed and domesticated ; but although they are sometimes found as pets in West African villages, there has never been any determined attempt on the part of the Negro to domesticate this animal. Consequently the domestic pigs which were introduced by the Portuguese in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were eagerly received, 76 -»> The Guinea Trade coming along the Niger by the same Muhammadan agency as had introduced rice and horses into the same regions. But the Portuguese seem to have brought over the sugar-cane and sugar from Brazil before their trade with West Africa had been much more than a hundred years old, though, on the other hand, the sugar- cane did not exist in the New World when first discovered in the fifteenth century. The Spaniards introduced the sugar-cane from West Africa to Hispaniola (Hayti) in the early part of the sixteenth century. Perhaps the most effective European trade goods of these days were beads from Venice and red coral from the Medi- terranean. It is curious that in contradistinction to North- I east Africa and Asia, coined money, silver especially (assuming the African had as much gold in his own country as he wanted), should have taken so little hold in the West African trade even down to the present day. Silks and velvets began to be introduced from the middle of the seventeenth century.^ And what were the ships in which these early discoveries of West Africa were made .? Mr. Charles Raymond Beazley, quoting Ca' da Mosto,^ Osorio, and Candido Correa, describes the average exploring ship of the fifteenth century as follows : *' They were usually twenty to thirty metres long and six to eight metres in breadth ; were equipped with three masts ^ Dapper gives a list of the trade goods of the Dutch on the Sierra Leone- Liberia coast in the middle of the seventeenth century ; — Iron bars, hempen cloth, earthenware basins and pots, buttons, beads, copper medals, bracelets, ear-rings, axes, sailors' knives, collars (!), coarse lace, glassware, Indian cotton goods, mostly of red patterns, Spanish wines, olive oil, brandy, and silk kerchiefs or waist-belts for the women. To this list we may extract from Andrew Battel's sixteenth- century experiences " long glass beads, round blue beads, seed beads, looking- glasses, red and blue coarse woollen cloth, and Irish rugs " (frieze). ^ In his introduction to his joint translation with iMr. Prestage of the Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea by Azurara, published by the Hakluyt Society. 77 Liberia ^ without rigging tops or yards ; and had lateen sails stretched upon long, oblique poles, hanging suspended from the mast- head. These winged arms, when their triangular sails were once spread, grazed the gunwale, the points bending with the air according to the direction of the wind. They usually ran with all their sail, turning by means of it, and saiHng straight upon a bow line, driving before the wind. When they wished to change their course it was enough to trim the sails." In the Revista Portugueza Colonial ^ the Navios de 31. THE "CAKAVELA REDONDA," OR ROUND CARAVEL descobrimentos, or exploring ships, are divided into the following named classes : — ^The Barca, the Barinel, the Caravel, and the Nau ; while the Navios de conquistas, or war vessels, are styled the Fusta, the Catur, the Almadir de Cathuri, the GaU^ the Galiota, the Brigantim, the Gallea^a, the Taforea, the Galeao, and the Carraca. (The author has copied from the pictures in this article the accompanying illustrations of the commonest type of exploring ship in the fifteenth century — the Caravel^ The 1 May 20th, 1898. 78 -•5 The Guinea Trade navigation of these African waters by such vessels meant the victory of the sail over the oar. This Wcis a movement which had been long developing in the Mediterranean world and in the Baltic and North Sea, as also contemporaneously in the Indian Ocean and the Sea of China. Man's first means of locomotion over the surface of the water was punting, urging forward his raft or hollowed log by the leverage of a pole pushed into the river bed or the 32. A CARAVEL bank. Next came the use of a shorter, broader stick as a paddle, and so developed the oar. On the estuary of the Cameroons River in West Africa I have seen the natives fasten a tall, bushy frond from the Raphia palm into the prow of their canoe, and this possibly, or some such idea, was the commencement of the sail. A skin, a stretch of bark-cloth, a sheet of matting (as in the Far East) attached to an upright punting-pole, gradually transformed itself into the simple lateen sail which existed concurrently with oars as a means of pro- 79 Liberia <*- pulsion in the ships of the Arabs, Phoenicians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Norwegians, Portuguese, Itahans, and other Mediterranean peoples down to the thirteenth century. Then oars were less and less used, were chiefly retained as sweeps to aid the vessel when the wind dropped, or in negotiating some intricate port, while the sail and the masts became more 33. A CARAVEL (? OF GENOA), FIFTEENTH CENTURY: AFTER JURIEN DE LA GRAVIERE and more important. But many of us do not realise that sailing as a fine art and the differentiated forms and complicated use of sails really only began as a maritime practice amongst the European nations (including the North African Moors) in the sixteenth century. The Arabs and Turks of North Africa did a great deal in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to abolish the use of oars, to elaborate sails and masts, and 80 The Guinea Trade to construct sailing vessels of a modern type. The Sailing ship did not arrive at perfection till it was becoming superseded by the Steamer. And the traders, sailors, soldiers, captains who travelled in these vessels, the early European visitors to Liberia ? They were very religious in their speech, literally very God-fear- ing, but for the most part utterly wanting in the practice of real Christian principles. Their dread of " God's providence " and its wayward blows never restrained them from kidnap- ping, cheating, alcohol ising, or otherwise corrupting the blacks, towards whom they had not yet developed a conscience. They introduced to this and other parts of West Africa all the diseases of Europe, shameful as well as unavoidable ; they brought, it is true, cultivated plants of the greatest value to the Negro, and they reinforced his stock of domestic animals. He learnt from them little or nothing in the industrial arts ; and though there were Christian missionaries (mostly Jesuits) at work during all the one and a half centuries of Portuguese domination, they made but few — and no lasting — converts, and apparently spread no knowledge of reading and writing, though they used their influence (in vain) against the slave trade and VOL. 1 8i 6 34. A PORTUGUESE WAKKIOK, SIXTEENTH CENTURY. FROM A BENIN CARVING IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM Liberia <•- cannibalism. These earlier European adventurers wore the same stufFy clothes in the hot-house climate of West Africa as they did in Northern and Western Europe. They often slept in their clothes on board ship, and seldom or never washed. (The frequent ablutions with native soap and water of the Kruboys and the Gold Coast natives are subjects of amused comment to the, no doubt, smelly Hollanders, Englishmen, or Portuguese who have left us records of their African experiences.) These clothes were mostly of wool and linen. Ruffs were worn during the Elizabethan period, and, when on expeditions of a more or less martial character, steel hauberks or breastplates, which must have been well adapted for causing sunstrokes. The Europeans of the fifteenth to the first half of the seventeenth century, however, seem to have suffered less markedly from African fevers than occurred subsequently with their successors. Perhaps this may have been due to their small consumption of distilled spirits or to their being already inoculated with the malarial bacillus in their own aguish countries. The clothes worn by the Dutch and English on the African coast during the seventeenth century were simpler and better adapted to the climate than any costume in vogue until the last quarter of the nineteenth century : a broad-brimmed felt hat (usually), linen shirt, close-fitting coat, or jerkin of stout cloth, loose breeches, stockings, and stout, comfortable shoes. Unless sea-boots were worn, however, this left their ankles and calves exposed to mosquito-bites ; but protection against the mosquito was not understood or effected till about five years ago. I 82 CHAPTER VII A DUTCH ACCOUNT OF LIBERIA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY THE Dutch had followed up the Portuguese on the West Coast of Africa nearly concurrently with the English ; that is to say, at the close of the sixteenth century, when both these Northern maritime nations could give themselves the excuse of the Spanish absorption of Portugal for wresting from the Portuguese such of their possessions in Africa, Asia, and America as could be torn from them. About 1600 the Dutch captured from the French Arguin Island near Cape Blanco, and the little Island of Ber near Dakar (Cape Verde), which they called Goree, after an islet off the coast of Holland.^ Of course, the main objective in West Africa at that period was the Gold Coast, the demand for slaves not having as yet become so important as to oust gold from its first place as a bait in African commerce. They therefore visited the coast of Liberia on their journeys to and from the Gold Coast, though occasionally a special voyage was made to the " Grain " Coast for pepper and ivory. " Grain " was apparently as much a Dutch as an English word (from the Latin granum)^ and was first applied by the Dutch in succession to the Portuguese name Malagueta. 1 These places were taken from Holland by the French in 1677-8. Portugal was usually stripped of her colonies or forts in this order : first by the Dutch ; then the French plundered the Dutch in the seventeenth century, and the British snatched or bought from France and Holland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 83 Liberia ««- The first definite account of the Grain Coast derived through the Dutch was compiled by a great German geographer, Levinus Hulsius, who published from the beginning to the middle of the seventeenth century all the records of navigation to Africa, the East Indies, and America which he could collect, chiefly from the captains of Dutch vessels. In the map of Africa which Hulsius printed in 1606 the following place or tribal names occur : Cabo do Monte, " Nesurada " (Mesurado), Rio de S. Biante (Vicente), Cabo de S, Clemente (near Garawe), C. das Palmas, and Ponta de Cavallas (at the mouth of the Cavalla). " Crou " is written along the Kru Coast. Cestos is misspelt Chostes. Sino appears as " Synno," a spelling very like its present pronunciation. Wappo (at present spelt on the maps Wapi) was a frequent place of call on the Kru Coast. The far interior of the Grain Coast was described as being: the " Bitornin province of the Kingdom of Melli." ^ Hulsius, in gathering up the early Dutch impressions in 1606, writes that " the natives of the Grain Coast interlarded their conversation with French words, just as the Gold Coast people did with Portuguese." In 1626 Hulsius published at Frankfurt-am-Main an account of the voyages of Samuel Braun to the Guinea Coast (among other parts of West Africa), which v/ere undertaken in 161 1 and 1 6 14. Samuel Braun was a Swiss (though in those days he reckoned himself as a German generically), a citizen and dentist (" Burger und Mund Artzt ") of Basel. He first navigated vessels on the Rhine, and thus came -into contact with Dutch merchants and seamen. He was offered the command (apparently) of two Dutch ships for an adventure in the Guinea trade. In 161 1 he proceeded almost direct to the Cameroons, the ' i.e. Mandingo. 84 ^ A Dutch Account of Liberia Congo, and Angola, touching at the Grain Coast only on his return ; but in 1 6 14 he visited the " Qua Qua " (Ivory) Coast, and before or afterwards made a somewhat lengthy stay in Liberian waters. He called at Cape Mount, the River Cestos, and the Kru Coast. He calls the people near Cape Palmas " Gruvo." ^ Of the (Liberian) people generally he records : " Die Eynwohner sind grawsame und bose leute doch an einem Ort besser als am andern gedrucken stetigs wie sie die fremde Nationen so dahin kommen zu handthieren," etc. (Which may be freely rendered : " The natives are cruel and bad people, though in some places better than others, according to the way in which foreign nations coming there to trade have treated them.") " Doch ist ihnen ein Nation angenemmer und lieber als die ander nemblich die Franzosen, so dess Orts lang gereiset und gefahren haben, aber die Portugaleser kommen jetziger Zeit gar selten dahin. Unser Teutsche Nation ist an einem Ort angenemmer als an andern und dasselbe daher dass sie es biszweilen da selbst gar grob gemacht und sehr verderbet haben derhalben dann die Mohren offt versuchs ob sie sich an ihnen rechen mochten." (" Yet one nation is agreeable to them and beloved more than others — the French — who for such a long time have frequented and travelled in this district. The Portuguese in these present times come here but seldom. Our German nation is at one place more agreeable than another ; but from time to time we have made ourselves disliked by our rough ways, so that the Moors often try to take their revenge on us.") In 161 1 Braun called at the Grain Coast chiefly to buy rice. In 1 6 14 he traded for pepper with iron bars and for rice with ' Grebo. This corruption " Grubo " of a tribal, name may be the origin of " Kruboy." 85 Liberia <4- coral beads (" glaserne corallen ") : from his first Guinea voyage he brought back to Holland about two tons of ivory and a thousand pounds of gold. All these journeys bristled with perils from Spanish pirates, with whom sea-fights were of constant occurrence, so that one is quite relieved at the end to know that this honest mariner landed his cargoes safely in Holland and lived to make interesting voyages to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, then a Turkish Lake. The results of Dutch exploration of the Grain Coast in the seventeenth century are summed up by the learned Dr. O. Dapper in his great work on African geography, which was published at Amsterdam in both Flemish and French in 1686. Dapper devotes a good many interesting pages to the description of the coast tribes of what is now called Liberia. The northern coast region of Liberia between the Mano River and Cape Mesurado is described as the kingdom of Quoja (? Kwoya or Kwia). The Quoja is said to be the name of the language ; but it would seem to be that of the dominant caste at the time, for all these people, Dapper is careful to tell us, belonged to the Vey (Vai) tribe. Dapper writes much of a warlike people called the Folgia, who are much mixed up in their history with the Kru tribes. One of the provinces of the Folgia kingdom was called " Karou," and it is a question whether this word can be in any way connected with the name of the Kru people. It is stated by Dapper that the most widely spread language of all this part of the Liberian coast was that of the " Folgia " people, of which he describes the Quoja, Gebbe (Gibi), and the Gala (Gora) as being merely dialects. The Folgia appear to have repeatedly attacked and decimated the Vai tribes. The Mano River is mentioned under the name of Magwibba. The Mafa bears its 86 -#> A Dutch Account of Liberia present name, and the lake and creeks behind Cape Mount, which are nowadays known as Pisu,^ are referred to as Plizoge. The Little Cape Mount River is called the Menoch or Rio Aguado. The interior people immediately behind the Kwoya or Vai are styled the " Galavey." The tribal name of Hondo, still farther in the interior, is probably the modern Kondo. The De tribe is not referred to by name, but is evidently included under the generic term of Carou, by which seems to be indicated 35. DUTCH SAILING VESSEL OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. AFTER LEVINUS HULSIUS the Kru race in general. (Reference to my vocabularies will show that the De language is only one of the dialects of the Kru family.) The Folgia (^ Fulja) may be a people belonging to the Gora stock. They seem to have inhabited the coast district now occupied by the De people ; but they were at that time — the middle of the seventeenth century — a powerful and warlike race which, under the name of Kwoya or Kwia, had partially conquered the coast Vai. Dapper's " Gala " are evidently the ^ Merely " lake " or " river " in Vai. 87 Liberia 54^ Gora of to-day and the " Golahs " of writers in the first half of the last century.^ The St. Paul's River is referred to by Dapper, but is evidently regarded as a much more insignificant stream than the rivers farther north. According to Dapper, the true Grain Coast does not begin till the mouth of the River Cestos is reached, and extends thence to the mouth of the Cavalla. Dapper constantly refers to the French settlement of Petit Dieppe at the mouth of a river. (J Bis5 River, near Grand Basa.) The tribal name for the Kru people is spelt Krouw, which would be pronounced in Dutch *' Krau." The Kru people behind Cape Palmas were classed by Dapper as cannibals, no doubt correctly. Besides the Dutch, both the English and the French were very active on this coast. The River Cestos appears to have been the most frequented trading station, and during this century it exported large quantities of ivory. It was, as well, the headquarters of the pepper trade. According to Dapper, the English at this time frequently ascended the St. Paul River, and were always active on the Junk and St. John Rivers, searching for ivory and camwood. The Dutch were shy of this river exploration, because they disliked travelling in canoes. Dapper and the Dutch traders from whom he derives his stories seem to have concentrated their researches chiefly on the northern coast of Liberia, the Vai country, generally mentioned as Quoja. A very detailed description is given of the forest trees and ' Benjamin Anderson's researches (1868) show that even at that late date there were De settlements fifty miles west of the middle St. Paul's River, behind the Vai peoples and west of the Gora. So the Folgia and possibly Kvvoya conquerors may have been akin to the Kru peoples. The Gora, by their language, are the indigenes. The Mamba people who inhabit the country east of the Lower St. Paul are allied to the De and Basa. 88 A Dutch Account of Liberia their uses : The Soap tree, the Kola nut, the Bombax, Parlnarium, the Borassus, Oil, Raphia, and Coconut palms are all to be identified in Dapper's descriptions. He is somewhat more vague about the fauna. A large species of Pangolin or Scaly Ant-eater (^Mams gigantea) is described and illustrated, with the 36. DUTCH SKAMEN OF THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY LANDING ON THE WEST AFRICAN COAST. AFTER LEVINUS HULSIUS suggestion that it is a relation of the crocodile. Its native name is given as quoguelo. In describing the wild pigs it is rather remarkable that Dapper distinguishes carefully between the red bush swine (which he calls Couja^) and a gigantic species of ' If, as is so common, the " u " in this word is a misprint for " n," and the "j" lias its Dutch pronunciation, this word might read as Koriia, its actual form in Va at the present time. 89 Liberia «4- black pig which is described as being very dangerous, and with teeth so sharp that they snap through everything they bite. It may be that an allusion here is made to the Forest Pig or Equatorial Africa, the existence of which in Liberia has been already reported from native accounts by Mr. M. Pye-Smith, while a skull collected by Mr. G. L. Bates serves to prove its existence in the Cameroons. The chimpanzee is described accurately, and the leopard is called a " royal " animal, being regarded by the natives as the king of beasts. Dapper mentions that there is a tiger in the country which does no harm to mankind. The description given of the " tiger " is very vague, and may be due really to stories of lions brought to the coast by the Mandingo people. A good deal is said about the native beliefs in bird-oracles. This bird-lore, of which Dapper gives many instances, is another proof of the homogeneity of the Negro race, as they might be capped by similar stories from East, South, and Central Africa. According to Dapper, the natives of this part of Liberia knew nothing of dysentery, which was apparently introduced into West Africa by a Dutch trading ship that called at Sierra Leone in 1626. It spread to Northern Liberia as a terrible plague soon afterwards, so that the plantations were left untilled for three years, and many people died or fled into the interior in panic. Smallpox was already established in the country. The great monarch of the country appears to have been the King of Manu, referred to occasionally as " Mendi Manou," possibly a Mandingo chieftain. No direct statement is made by Dapper of the advance of Muhammadanism, but it is pro- bable, from one or two of his allusions that Islam had already reached the interior of the Vai country. Dapper gives an admirable description of the various initiation ceremonies of boys and girls nearly identical with those of the present day. 90 -^ A Dutch Account of Liberia As to the Karou, who at one time conquered the Vai, they are described as having lived recently in the country of the Folgia, which is located by Dapper in the vicinity of the present town of Monrovia. The first general of this conquering tribe was known as Sokwalla, who was succeeded by his son Flonikerri. Under these leaders the Karou first conquered the Folgia round about the River Junk, and then made friends with them. The united peoples of the Folgia and Karou conquered the tribes about the River Cestos on the one hand and the Gala (Gora), Vai, and Kwoya on the other, even carrying their victorious arms as far west as Sierra Leone, also bringing under their control the interior people called Dogo and the Gibi tribe. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, according to the letter of John Snoek/ who visited the Grain Coast in the yacht Jofianna Jaba^ ivory was becoming less abundant in Liberia as a trade product. Snoek describes the natives round about Cape Mount as wearing the voluminous Mandingo garments, but adds that the women are nearly and sometimes quite naked. In the country where the town of Monrovia is now situated he writes that the natives live in large houses con- taining two or three apartments, in one of which buildings as many as fifty or sixty men, women, and children were sleeping promiscuously. For the most part the people all along the coast were very hospitable and friendly to Europeans. The chiefs were already beginning to bear European names, and the slave trade had commenced, owing to the excessive warfare between the people of the coast and those of the interior, each party, when victorious, being ready to sell their prisoners of war to foreign traders. A chief amongst the Kruboys at Sanguin called himself James. " He spoke a confused sort of language, a mixed jargon of English and ^ In Bosnian's Description of the Coast of Guinea. 91 Liberia «4- Portuguese. He seemed a great lover of the female sex, which was the whole subject with which he entertained us." Snoek describes the River Cestos ^ as being the port of an agreeable and friendly country. His sailing ship anchored first before a village called Corra, three miles west of the river mouth. The sea off this part of the coast was more than usually phosphorescent. The people along the banks of a little stream near the sea were much occupied in boiling water to produce salt. The water over the very rocky bar of the Cestos River appears to have had a depth of at least six feet, but even this amount of water would seem to have been too little for the sailing ships of earlier days. These, therefore, must have anchored off the coast outside the river, into which they sent their merchandise in boats. The principal village at the mouth of the River Cestos contained about sixty houses, " very neatly built, and so high that some of them appear three miles out at sea." They differ from those of Cape Mesurado, " only that there are here more Stories " (^i.e. that the houses were built with three or four platforms or stories). The now familiar West Coast "dash" (meaning a tip, a pourboire, a present) makes its appear- ance in Snoek's writings under the form of "dasje." Apparently in trading with the Negroes of the Liberian coast at this time it was necessary to commence operations by giving a dash or present. (Dasje, diminutive of Das in Dutch means a little strip of cloth.) The Cavalla River in these times seems to have been the boundary between the fiercely cannibal tribes of what is now the Ivory Coast and the more sophisticated Krumen, on the hither side of Cape Palmas. All the people to the east of the Cavalla River at this period had their front teeth sharpened to a point, and were very wild. ' Under the mistaken term of Sestre ; but the geographical definition in his contribution to Bosman's work shows it to have been the Cestos. -^ A Dutch Account of Liberia After the wars of Louis XIV. were over, France and Holland somewhat drew together in their common policy ; so much so, that in the middle of the eighteenth century the informal alliance between them at the Cape of Good Hope became a danger to the British East India Company, and led to abortive attempts on the part of the British to seize the Cape of Good Hope. Under the Orleans Regency, advantage was taken of this friendlier feeling with the Dutch to call at the Dutch settlements on the Gold Coast, and the French began to think of creating depots for trade in slaves and even for colonisation far to the east of their establishments in Senegambia.^ In tropical South America, as well as in Africa, the Dutch and the French were in friendly relations, and in 1725 and subse- quent years the Chevalier des Marchais was sent by the French Government to visit the West Coast of Africa and the South American settlement of Cayenne (Guiana), and report on the trading prospects of both regions. The following is an abridgment of Chevalier des Marchais' description of his visit to Cape Mesurado (the modern Monrovia). " Almost every vessel, after leaving Cape Mount, touches at Cape Mesurado, They are obliged to call at this last cape for wood and water, to serve them while they remain at the factory at Fida (Hwida -), where the water is indifferent and difficult of access. Another reason is that the natives of Fida, looking upon trees of every kind as species of divinities, will neither cut them down themselves nor allow other people to do so. In the third place, rice, maize, or Indian corn, fowls, sheep, goats, and even oxen are in greater plenty at Mesurado than at Fida. ^ Which had been commenced (perhaps) in 1360 by the Dieppe adventurers, recommenced in 1637, and definitely established by the building of Fort St. Louis du Senegal in 1662. In 1677-8 the French captured from the Dutch the forts of Beguin (South-west Sahara coast) and Goree (Dakar). ^ Otherwise " Whydah " in Dahome. 93 Liberia <«- " The course from Cape Mount to Cape Mesurado is south- east ; the distance eighteen leagues. The coast is clear, and the anchorage is everywhere good. If the wind be contrary it will be proper to anchor ; if there be a calm, for security against the currents, you must also put out your anchors." Chevalier des Marchais, owing to contrary winds, took six days to make this short passage of fifty-four miles. On December 9th, 1724, he anchored a mile and a half from Cape Mesurado. A canoe immediately came off to him. He was heartily welcomed by the natives, whom he had visited on a previous occasion on the affairs of the Royal Senegal Company. The '* king," being informed of his arrival, sent his Prime Minister to invite him on shore, and accordingly he landed the next morning. " Cape Mesurado is a detached mountain, steep and high towards the sea, but less so on the land side. The summit forms a level plain, the soil of which is better than what is generally found in such situations. On the east is an extensive bay, bordered by a good and uniform soil, which is bounded by hills of a moderate elevation, covered with trees. On the west is another great bay, which receives the River Mesurado." ^ " The cape points to the south-east. Its latitude is 6°32' N. and its longitude 5°37' from the meridian of Tenerife. On the east a long spit of land separates the sea from a basin [flaque (Teau) formed by the River Mesurado and a smaller one which joins it. They navigate this last in their canoes, six or seven leagues at low water, and double the distance at high water. The water is always salt, or at least brackish ; and it is full of filth. The course of the River Mesurado is north-west for seventeen 1 Des Marchais means by this the St. Paul's. •^^ 94 «*% "% ■^ A Dutch Account of Liberia or eighteen leagues, afterwards north-east ; but its length is unknown." One of the people assured the Chevalier des Marchais that he had gone up this river in his canoe for three moons, when he came to a great river, whence it proceeded, which ran from east to west, on which there were rich and powerful nations, who drove a great trade in gold, ivory, and 37. MERMAID ISLAND ON THE ST. PAUL'S RIVER, RESORTED TO BY EUROPEAN TRADERS IN THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES slaves (.? the Makona River). " The Mesurado runs through fine countries, but is so rapid that those who have laboured three months in ascending it may return in eighteen days. The Negroes call the rich country where their river originates JiaWj that is, the country of gold." '* In the lagoon just mentioned are two islands, a small one 95 Liberia «*- at the mouth of the little river,^ and a large at that of the great river. This last is called ' the king's island,' though he never resides there. But some of his slaves raise cattle and poultry on it for his use. [The king gave this island to the Chevalier, and very much pressed him to settle on it.] It is never overflowed, even by the great annual inundations, which, as in the Niger, take place in July, August, and September. This island is two leagues long and three-quarters of a league broad. Its soil is excellent, as appears from the size and height of the trees, which also evince its depth. The winds, which blow without intermission, render it very temperate. The only inconvenience it labours under is the want of fresh water, which must be brought from springs on the continent. But these are at no great distance, and are very abundant." " The tide flows twenty leagues [a great exaggeration] up the Mesurado, at the equinoxes, and eight or nine during the rest of the year. In July, August, and September the water is brackish only three leagues up, owing to the rapidity of the stream in these months ; four or five leagues up the water is perfectly sweet." The king who reigned in 1727 was called Captain Peter, a name which had long been common to the kings of Mesurado. When dealing with the Dutch and English, both parties took every precaution against roguery. They were armed, hostages were exchanged, and mutual caution observed. The French, - on the contrary, traded there without the least suspicion. The natives put themselves in their power, went on board French ships without fear, and on all occasions manifested the most 1 This " little " river is now called the Mesurado River or lagoon. It is a tidal creek. The " large Island " would be Bushrod Island, and the " small," Providence Island."— H. H. J. ^ The French, through the Senegal Company, began a renewed intercourse with Northern Liberia at the close of the seventeenth century. 96 38. A DE MAN, A\ ABORIGINAL Nx\TIVE OF THE MESURADO DISTRICT DESCRIBED BY DES MARCHAIS VOL. I Liberia «4- friendly disposition towards them. The French dealt with them as with old and faithful friends, went on shore unarmed, committed their persons and effects to the safeguard of the natives, and never had any reason to repent of this confidence. " The rehgion of the natives of Mesurado is a kind of idolatry, ill understood, and blended with a number of. super- stitions, to which, however, few of them are bigoted. They easily change the object of their worship, and consider their fetishes only as a kind of household furniture. The sun is the most general object of their adoration ; but it is a voluntary worship, and attended with no magnificent ceremonies." " In the space of a few leagues are many villages swarming with children. They practise polygamy, and their women are very prolific. Besides, as those people deal no further in slaves than by selling their convicted criminals to the Europeans, the country is not depopulated like those in which the princes continually traffic in their subjects. The purity of the air, the goodness of the water, and the abundance of every necessary of life all contribute to people this country. " The natives are of large size, strong, and well proportioned. Their mien is bold and martial, and their neighbours have often experienced their intrepidity, as well as those Europeans who attempted to injure them. They possess genius, think justly, speak correctly, perfectly know their own interests, and, like their ancient friends the Normans, recommend themselves with address and even with politeness. Their lands are carefully cultivated, they do everything with order and regularity, and they labour vigorously when they choose, which, unfortunately, is not so often as could be wished. Interest stimulates them strongly, and they are fond of gain without appearing so. Their friendship is constant ; yet their friends must beware of making free with their wives, of whom they are very jealous. 98 ^ A Dutch Account of Liberia But they are not so jealous with respect to their daughters, who have an unbounded liberty, which is so far from impeding their marriage that a man is pleased at finding that a woman has given proofs of fertility, especially as the presents of her lovers make some amends for that which he is obliged to 39. A UE (native) kitchen NEAR MONROVIA (AS DESCRIBED BY DES MARCHAIS IN THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY) give her parents when he marries her. They tenderly love their children, and a sure and quick way to gain their friendship is to caress their little ones and to make them trifling presents." "Their houses are very neat. Their kitchens are some- what elevated above the ground, and of a square or oblong figure ; three sides are walled up, and the fourth side is left open, being that from which the wind does not commonly 99 Liberia <4- blow. They place their posts in a row, and cement them together with a kind of fat, red clay, which, without any mixture of lime, makes a strong and durable mortar. Their bedchambers are raised three feet above the ground. This would seem to indicate that the country is marshy or sometimes inundated. But this is by no means the case. The soil is dry, and they take care to build their houses beyond the reach of the greatest floods. But experience has taught them that this elevation contributes to health, by securing them from the damps caused by the copious dews, " The women work in the fields, and kindly assist one another. They bring up their children with great care, and have no other object but to please their husbands, " The extent of King Peter's dominions towards the north and north-east is not well known ; but from the number of his soldiers, there is reason to believe it considerable. The eastern boundary is the River Junco, about twenty leagues from Cape Mesurado, and the western is a little river, about half way from Cape Mount. " The whole country is extremely fertile. The natives have gold among them ; but whether found in this country or brought thither in the course of trade is not precisely known. The country produces fine redwood, and a quantity of other beautiful and valuable woods. Sugar-canes, indigo, and cotton grow without cultivation. The tobacco would be excellent if the Negroes were skilful in curing it. Elephants, and con- sequently ivory, are more numerous than the natives wish ; for those cumbrous animals very much injure their cornfields, notwithstanding the hedges and ditches with which they so carefully fence them. The frequent attacks of lions and tigers^ hinder not their cattle from multiplying rapidly ; and their ' Leopards of course are meant. ■^ A Dutch Account of Liberia trees are laden with fruit, in spite of the mischief done to them by the monkey tribes. In a word, it is a rich and plentiful country, and well situated for commerce, which might be carried on here to any extent by a nation beloved like the French ; for no nation must think of establishing themselves here by force." ^ The result of King Peter having given Bushrod Island, in the estuary of the St. Paul's, to the Chevalier des Marchais was that he formulated a scheme for the establishment of a French colony at Cape Mesurado. This was laid before the Senegal Company, and if it had been carried out a French settlement might have completely anticipated Liberia. The Chevalier, after careful consideration of the best sites for the capital of this colony, finally selected the actual plateau on which Monrovia is now built. He wrote : " Clay fit for bricks abounds everywhere, and even stone proper for ashlar work. Building timber grows on the spot, and the common country provisions are extremely cheap. Except wine, brandy, and wheat flour, which the Company must supply, everything else is to be had on the spot. Beef, mutton, goats, and hogs cost little, and game abounds. Antelopes and deer graze quietly with the tame cattle in the meadows. There are many species of birds. The basin {i.e. the lagoon), the rivers, and the sea afford plenty of fish and turtles. No river on the coast is as much frequented by sea-horses as the Mesurado. The flesh of these animals is good ; and their teeth, whiter and harder than those of the elephant, are scarce and dear." Among the goods which he recommends should be sent from France for trade in such a colony are brandy, gunpowder, > The foregoing abstract is mainly taken from C. B. Wadstrom's translation in 1792. Pere Labal published Des Marchais' and other French explorers' work? op West Africa about 1744. 191 Liberia ^4h- trade guns, swords, knives, striped linen, Indian cottons, glass ware of all sorts, beads, kauri shells, brass rods, pewter plates and pots, gunflints, iron bars, and coral. The Director of the colony was to have the munificent salary of ^150 a year, with a chaplain at ^54 a year. Another French traveller, Grandpierre, who visited the River Cestos in 1726, wrote in his book of travels about this place : " My ambition is to be powerful and rich enough to fit out a large fleet, filled with able and intelligent people, to make a conquest of this fine country, and change its nature by introducing the best social laws and religious knowledge." Captain Snelgrave, an English slave-trader who visited the Liberian Coast in or about 1730, reported that on the windward or northern part of the coast there was not a European trader left, owing to the hostility of the natives, caused by kidnapping on the part of Dutch and English. English and Spanish pirates infested the northern littoral of Liberia from 1720 to 1740, "the Spanish being the worst offenders." The Dutch frequented the Liberian Coast at first, mainly for the pepper and ivory. When they took up the trade in slaves they seem to have preferred dealing with their settlements on the Gold Coast — Elmina especially — leaving the Grain Coast to the attentions of the EngHsh, French, and Spaniards. Yet in the nineteenth century, soon after Liberia was formed, the Dutch traders came back, and the Dutch House (the Oost Afrikaansche Compagnie) is now one of the oldest established and most respected commercial agencies in the country. A Swede named Ulrik Nordenskiold in 1776 proposed Cape Mesurado and Cape Mount as suitable places for colonies which should start sugar plantations. A Dane — J. Rask — who wrote a description of Guinea in 1754, states on page 46 that a sugar plantation was established in 1 707 by the IQ2 -»5 A Dutch Account of Liberia Dutch " about nine miles from the Fort of Boutra*" Nor- denskiold also alludes to this sugar planting by the Dutch on the coast of Guinea. " Boutra " may have been on the coast of Liberia or on the Ivory Coast/ at Great or Little Butu. Rask states that " there is plenty of gold in the country above Cape Mount and Cape Mesurado.'' ' From Nordenskiold's allusion it is more likely to have been on the Gold Coast. 40. A MANGROVE THICKET 103 CHAPTER VIII THE SLAVE TRADE DURING the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the great inducement that brought Europeans to the West Coast of Africa was not merely the trade in gold, ivory, camwood, and pepper, but it was, first and foremost, slaves. Liberia, however, for reasons which will be shown, suffered perhaps less than most parts of the West African Coast, the adjoining district of the Ivory Coast having even greater immunity.^ Nevertheless, it was the slave trade that indirectly gave birth to Liberia as a recognised state, and it is therefore necessary to treat of it to some extent as a part of Liberian history. Negro slaves were used bv the Ancient Egyptians, and from Egypt in later days they were sent to Rome and to the Byzantine Empire. Carthage also procured Negroes for the Roman galleys, possibly from Tripoli. Under Islam, however, the modern trade in Negro slaves as we know it really began. The Arab wars of conquest in the Egyptian Sudan and along the East African Coast, and Arab and Berber raids across the Sahara Desert from North Africa to the regions of the Niger, • The northern coast districts of Liberia were mnch infested by slavers ; but the natives of the Kru Coast utterly disliked existence in slavery, and, refusing to work under such conditions, were ordinarily left alone. The Ivory Coast people \vere, in those days, fierce cannibals and inaccessible. -^ The Slave Trade rapidly led to the dispatch of Negro slaves to Southern Persia, Western India, the coasts of Arabia, Egypt, the whole of North Africa, and most parts of the Turkish Empire. Negro slaves were occasionally imported into Italy as curiosities during the Middle Ages. The early Portuguese explorers sent out by Prince Henry at first took every opportunity of kidnapping the Moors whom they met on the coast of the Sahara, and these people were dispatched as slaves to Portugal. Prince Henry, however, came in time to realise the iniquity of this proceeding and its bad policy on the part of a nation which at that time was aspiring to colonise and rule Morocco. He therefore ordered that they should be given a chance of ransoming themselves. One of these Moors explained that he was a nobleman by birth, and stated that he could give five or six Negroes for his own ransom and another five for the freedom of those amongst his fellow captives who were also men of position. The result was that Antao Gon^alvez, their captor, on returning to the Rio de Oro, received ten Negroes, a little gold-dust, a shield of ox-hide, and a number of ostrich eggs as ransom. The Portuguese learnt in this way that by pursuing their journeys farther south they might come to a land where it was possible to obtain "black Moors " as slaves. It was already appreciated that the Negro as a captive was a far more tractable and manageable person than any one akin to the white man in race. Consequently, during the first hundred years of their African exploration, the Portuguese picked up Negroes by purchase from the Fula and Mandingo chiefs of Senegambia, and also by kidnapping them occasionally on the peninsula of Sierra Leone and on the Liberian Coast. They traded for them on the Gold Coast, in the Congo and Angola countries. These slaves were mostly sent to Portugal as curiosities, quite ^°5 Liberia ^^ as much as for domestic service. Care was generally taken to have them baptized and even to a certain extent educated. Meantime, North and South America had been discovered and the West India Islands settled by Spaniards. As early as 1 50 1, only nine years since the West India Islands had been discovered by Christopher Columbus, it was found that the wretched inhabitants of the Antilles were dying out under the treatment of the colonising Spaniards. In 1502, therefore, it was decided to export from Spain and Portugal to the West Indies some of the Negro slaves who had reached the Iberian Peninsula from West Africa and had been converted to Christianity (!). By 1503 there were already quite a number of Negroes in Hispaniola (Haiti — San Domingo). In 15 10 the King of Spain (Ferdinand) dispatched more Negro slaves, obtained through the Portuguese ^ from West Africa, to the mines in that island. The celebrated Bartolomeo de las Casas, Bishop of Chiapa in Hispaniola, came to Spain in 151 7, to the court of the young King-Emperor Charles V., to protest against the wicked treatment which the West Indian indigenes were enduring at the hands of the Spaniards. As a remedy he proposed that the hardier Negroes of West Africa should be imported direct into the West Indies, to furnish the unskilled labour for which the native Americans were unsuited by their constitution, Charles V. had, however, already anticipated this idea, and a year or two previously had granted licences to Flemish courtiers to recruit Negroes in W^est Africa for dispatch to the West Indies. One of these patents issued by Charles gave the ' The Spaniards were prevented by the Papal Bnll of Demarcation — an anticipation by Pope Alexander VI. in 1493 of our modern term " spheres of influence " — from trespassing on the Portuguese sphere, which included the West Coast of Africa. This, therefore, was the reason why they had to contract with the Portuguese directly or indirectly for the supply of Negro slaves, -^ The Slave Trade exclusive right to a Flemish courtier named Lebrassa to supply four thousand Negroes annually to Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. This Fleming sold his patent to a group of Genoese merchants, who then struck a bargain with the Portuguese to supply the slaves. But the trade did not get into full swing till after the middle of the sixteenth century, when, amongst others, the English seaman John Hawkins took up a concession for the supply of Negroes from Guinea to the West Indies. He made in all three voyages, the first of which was undertaken in 1562. He obtained his slaves first from the rivers between the Gambia and the confines of Liberia, visiting Sierra Leone amongst other places. On the last of these journeys he was accompanied by Drake ^ (afterwards Sir Francis), then a mere youth. They probably touched at the Liberian coast for water on their way to Elmina, where two hundred slaves were obtained by joining a native king in a slave raid. The coasts of Liberia were not so much ravaged by the slave trade as were the regions between the Gambia and Sierra Leone, the Dahome or Slave Coast, the Niger Delta, Old Calabar, Loango, and Congo. Perhaps in all the ravages which the over-sea slave trade brought about, the Niger Delta and the Lower Congo sufi^ered the worst. What damage was done to the coast of Liberia seems to be chiefly attributed to the English, who had already begun to visit that coast at the close of the sixteenth century, and were very busy there all through the seventeenth. The French traveller Villault de Bellefonds mentions repeatedly in his writings the damage that the English did on the Grain Coast (Liberia) in attacking the ' Drake was a kinsman of Sir Jolin Hawkins, who practically adopted and educated him. He was twenty years old when he started on this slave-trading voyage to Guinea. 107 Liberia ^ natives for little or no cause, and in carrying them off as slaves. In fact, a slang term, " Panyar " (from the Portuguese Apanhar, to seize, catch, kidnap), had sprung up in the coast jargon to illustrate the English methods. Even English travellers such as William Smith (who went out as a surveyor to the Gold Coast early in the eighteenth century) admit that the English had become very unpopular on the Gold Coast, owing to these aggressions on the natives ; and William Smith and his companions endeavoured to pass as Frenchmen when they visited Eastern Liberia and the Ivory Coast, '" because of the bad name the English had acquired." The Chevalier des Marchais, the French traveller who visited Cape Mesurado in 1724-5 (vide p. 94), wrote that the natives of this part of the Grain Coast were much addicted to human sacrifices, until they found that their captives were marketable commodities which could be sold with profit to the foreigner. He estimated that the region round about Cape Mesurado might yield two thousand slaves annually. Captain Snelgrave, who traded in slaves to the West Indies, had already reported in 1730 that all Europeans were through the hostility of the natives banished from the " Windward Coast " of Liberia ; for even if the chiefs and headmen profited by the slave trade, the common folk loathed it as the cause of all their wars and village troubles. Snelgrave asserted that he had witnessed human sacrifices, and apparently suggested, like many other writers during that century, that the slave trade was really a preservative of human life, in that it offered an inducement to the savage conquerors to spare the lives of their prisoners, in order to sell them into a Christian captivity wherein (to quote a much later apologist) they might "enjoy all Church privileges." These and other writers forget that even the worst excesses of barbarous kingdoms like B^nin or 108 -^ The Slave Trade Dahome, in offering human sacrifices at religious ceremonies, did not approach anywhere near the loss of life and the destruction of homes caused by wars undertaken to supply the slave market. Moreover, it is very probable that much of the 41. A NATIVE OF THK KRU COAST ceremonial bloodshed of Benin, etc., did not come into existence until slave-raiding had accumulated large stocks of serfs, and made the human body a cheaper article of sacrifice than a domestic animal. 109 Liberia ^ English and Spanish pirates paid flying visits to the northern rivers of Liberia during the early part of the eighteenth century, but were not very successful in their search for slaves, and so left the Grain Coast pretty much to the Dutch and French traders in pepper and ivory. It was not until the early nineteenth century that the slave trade revived in the northern half of Liberia.^ During the seventeenth century French, Portuguese, and English writers dilate unctuously on the opportunity which the slave trade gives to the savage blacks of embracing the Chris- tian religion. It is amusing indeed, in reading the old travellers' tales of these earlier centuries, to note the scorn with which they described the nakedness, the ugliness of the Negroes, their '* beastly " habits, their wicked idolatry, their brutish lives, laziness, etc., etc. Yet perhaps on the next page to these objurgations there might be unconsciously contradictory accounts, showing that the civilisation among all these Negro tribes on the West Coast of Africa in, let us say, the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was not so very far inferior to that of their white visitors. Indeed, the whole impression one derives after reading many books on West Africa, written in Portuguese, Italian, French, Dutch, Elizabethan and Miltonlan English, is that the native culture and social well-being of the Negroes of West Africa from Cape Verde to the Niger Delta three and four hundred years ago were superior in degree to the condition of the same peoples in the nineteenth century. The sanitary arrangements in their towns were quite up to the level of sixteenth-century Europe. Their cookery was as appetising ' The Coast peoples of Liberia were never much valued in the slave market. The Muhammadan Vais were too proud, the Des and Basas were not of strong constitution, and the Kru tribes, though quite willing to enslave their neighbours or to look on at other tribes being raided, were so averse to slavery in their own persons that they would commit suicide if they could not escape. no ^ The Slave Trade (or unappetising). Their nakedness showed their good sense, and such spun and woven clothes they might wear, their inherent good taste. Agriculture seems to have been much more advanced than in present times, and the quantities of live-stock superior to their present resources. But to return to Christianity : the Portuguese, though they were ruthless man-catchers, and very often preferred kid- napping to fair trading, were really scrupulous about their self-imposed duties in this respect. Once the Negroes reached Portuguese America, they were well treated, had no ignominious servitude, and were certainly made into convinced Roman CathoHc Christians. Those Negroes who reached the Spanish Main or Spanish West Indies found a sterner master in the Spaniard, but a fanatical proselytiser. The Dutch dealt with their slaves much better as regards the condition of their transport overseas, but do not seem to have worried themselves much with religious propaganda. Throughout they treated the whole transaction in the most prosaic, businesslike way, and did not seek to clothe their eager prosecution of this traffic with any sickening protestations of zeal for Christianity such as pro- foundly affected most of the English and French writers of that period.^ On the other hand, it was amongst English-speaking people first of all that the revolt against slavery and the slave trade began. The Quakers — to their honour be it said — led the way from 1670 (George Fox preached in that year against slavery in Barbados) ; they lighted a candle which, though it flickered uncertainly for a hundred years, could not be put out. The great body of Nonconformists in England and America came ' Opinions collected from intelligent travellers during the eighteenth century seem to have resulted in the slave-holding nations being placed thus in order of kindliness : Portuguese, Spaniards, Danes, French, English, Dutch, Liberia ^ to their aid, especially the Wesleyans. Somehow the enthusiasm spread to the Lutherans of Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. The first country which as a nation denounced the slave trade not only in principle, but in practice, amongst its subjects on the West Coast of Africa was Denmark (1792),^ followed by the United States in 1794, by Great Britain in 1807, Sweden in 1 813, Holland in 18 14, and France in 1815-18. In England the anti-slavery movement began about 1772 by the trial of a Negro named Somerset before the bench of judges, presided over by Lord Mansfield. James Somerset was a slave who had accompanied his master to England, and there declared himself to be free ; but the majority of the judges decided against him, though the Lord Chief Justice dissented from the opinion of the majority and pronounced a famous decision which really fixed the law, namely, that every one was free who took refuge on British soil. The loss of the United States brought the question of slavery before the British public. A number of Negroes had fought with their Loyalist masters on the British side, and after the war received their freedom and were settled in Nova Scotia, where, as in Canada, many awkward questions regarding the validity of slavery began to arise. Not a few of these liberated Africans drifted to England, especially from Nova Scotia ; and to England also had come a number of ex-slaves from the West Indies, who, after the decision in the case of Somerset (for which Granville Sharp had struggled), found themselves in the status of free men. It would take up space unduly in this book to dilate on the efforts of Granville Sharp, Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, William Dillwyn, and others to bring about the abolition of slavery and the slave trade. This great movement finally ' Ten years' grace, however, was allowed for total cessation of the trade in 1802. ^ The Slave Trade resulted in the prohibition of the slave trade in 1 807-11, and in the abolition of slavery throughout all the British dominions in the year 1833-40. Before this, however, many good people in the United States and in the British West Indies had been granting freedom to their slaves. Some of these were discontented with their position, and either drifted to England or vaguely desired to return to Africa. As free men they felt themselves out of touch with their environment in America. The Church of England (which in a great measure only really awoke to a true sense of its duties and responsibilities in the nineteenth century) was rather on the side of the white people and the masters than on that of the blacks. It condoned or approved of slavery, and when it preached to the slaves at all, counselled contentment with the condition in which God had been pleased to place them. Nearly all the Negroes in America who could obtain education and choose their own reHgious sect became Baptists or Wesleyans. As an unconscious tribute to John Wesley, it may be stated that his name is one of the commonest even at the present day amongst West African or West Indian Negroes who are descended from freed slaves. Those who felt that vagrant Negroes were out of place in the English polity, in the streets of London and in Lancashire towns, and those who in the West Indies or in Canada realised the difficulty of a free black man living alongside a white colonist, began to entertain the idea of repatriating Negroes freed from slavery, of sending them back to Africa. The somewhat fanatical " philanthropy " of those who promoted this scheme in both hemispheres to a great extent spoilt the immediate results of their well-meant efforts. If the repatriation movement had been conducted in a more deliberate and scientific manner, ex-slaves would have been interrogated as to the tribe VOL. 1 113 8 Liberia ««- from which they sprang. In very few cases would the Negro or Negress have been unable to give some indication as to his or her racial origin. Then those who had come from the Niger Delta would have been sent back to the Niger Delta ; those from the Congo to the Congo ; those from Old Calabar to Old Calabar ; the Senegambian slaves to Senegambia ; the people from Little Popo, Hwida, and Lagos to those parts of the Slave Coast, and so on. Thus they would still have had some chance of returning to their own people and of re-uniting their life without too much break to the condition from which they or their parents had been torn.^ But the first care of the promoters of these repatriation schemes was that the Negro should be preserved in the Christian tenets learnt by him in his captivity. It was their desire to create a new Negro nation, as it were, from out of a heterogeneous gathering of Negroes derived from many different African races. In an informal way, as merchants and slave traders, the EngHsh had during the seventeenth century (if not earlier) ousted the Portuguese from the occupation of Sierra Leone ; and that mountainous peninsula and bay had become a good deal Anglicised in the eighteenth century, most of the native chiefs being able to talk broken English. It was decided to make the first attempt at repatriating these North American Negroes in the territory of Sierra Leone. This idea sprang first in 1783 from the brain of Dr. Henry Smeathman, an English surgeon who had spent four years on the West African Coast, but was later supported by the advocacy of a Swede, Carl Berns Wadstrom, who had travelled a good deal about the world. Wadstrom had developed from book theories rather 1 On the other hand, it might have been urged against this argument that the condition of all these parts of Africa was so uncertain that repatriated Negroes might be enslaved and sold again, whereas planted in a solid colony they could defend themselves. 114 ^ The Slave Trade than from practical experience somewhat wild ideas on the subject of colonising the tropics. Accompanied by the naturalists Sparmann and Arrhenius, Wadstrom in 1787 visited the coast of Guinea, and finally recommended Sierra Leone and the Island of Bulama (in Portuguese Guinea) as suitable sites for commencing these colonies of freed slaves. One reason why Sierra Leone had been selected as the most suitable site for the commencement of a New Africa, a home of free Negroes, was its previous condition as a strong- hold or central depot of European and Mulatto slave traders and raiders. During the middle of the eighteenth century Liverpool had established a great trade between West Africa and the West Indies. Not a few mates or supercargoes of vessels had settled on the coast between the Gambia and Sierra Leone, had married native women, made large fortunes in the slave trade, and left their mulatto sons and daughters to carry on this commerce. The Directors of the Sierra Leone Company hoped that their colony of liberated Africans might influence the native chiefs to stop the slave trade. They collected through their agents much information concerning this traffic, which is published in the second part of Wadstrom's Essay on Colonisation. A few extracts of this evidence may be of interest, because they will enable the reader to realise some of the misery which the slave trade inflicted. The dates of these reports or incidents range between 1787 and 1792 : *' I have been to-day on board a slave ship in the river, with two hundred and fifty slaves. The men were chained in pairs ; the women were kept apart. The young slaves were cheerful, but the old ones were much cast down. At meals they were obliged to shout and clap their hands for exercise before they began to eat. I could then see shame and indigna- i'5 Liberia <4- tion in the faces of those more advanced in years. One woman, who spoke a little English, begged me to carry her home. She said she was from the opposite shore of the river to Freetown,^ that her husband had sold her for debt, and that she had left a child behind her. At the mention of the child she wept." *' I was this morning on board a slave ship, where I saw a woman who had been newly sold, and who seemed to have been weeping. On asking her the reason, she pointed to the milk flowing from her breasts, and intimated that she had been torn from her unweaned infant, which the captain confirmed. She was from one of the towns nearest us, and said she had been sold for being saucy to the queen of it." " In the neighbouring slave yard I saw a man about thirty- five years old in irons. He was a Muhammadan, and could read Arabic. He was occasionally noisy ; sometimes he would sing a melancholy song, then he would utter an earnest prayer, and then he would observe a dead silence. This strange conduct, I was told, was from his strong feelings, on having been put, for the first time, in irons the day before. As we passed, he cried aloud to us, and endeavoured to hold up his irons to our view, which he struck very expressively with his hand, the tear starting in his eye. He seemed, by his manner, to be demanding the cause of his confinement." " An American slave captain has been telling us that he lost a very fine slave a few days ago by the sulks. ' The man,' said he, ' was a Muhammadan, uncommonly well made, and seemed to be a person of consequence. When he first came on board he was very much cast down, but, finding that I allowed him to walk at large, he grew more easy. When my 1 Freetown was established in 1792. It is the capital of the Sierra Leone Colony. -^ The Slave Trade slaves became more numerous, I put him in irons, like the rest, on which he lost his spirits irrevocably. He complained of a pain at his heart, and would not eat. The usual means ^ was tried, but in vain ; for he rejected food altogether, except when I stood by and made him eat. I offered him the best things in the ship, and left nothing untried ; for I had set my heart on saving him. I am sure he would have brought me three hundred dollars in the West Indies ; but nothing would do. He said from the first he was determined to die, and he did, after lingering nine days." "I shall give the substance of a conversation with an English slave factor who has lived some years a little way to the south, and is well acquainted with all the practices of the slave trade. The factor, having mentioned the Mulatto- trader ^ (of whose ravages the proprietors ^ have heard so much) as a very gentleman- like, well educated and respectable kind of man, I was induced to ask whether he had not been guilty of many excesses all round. " ' Excesses ! No. He would make war sometimes on the head-men that owed him just debts, and sell some of their people, if he could catch them ; or he might perhaps carry off the inhabitants of a town when the king or father of it gave him express permission. He was a good man on the whole, and a man of humanity ; for he did not shed all the blood he might, nor sell every one he had a right to sell. For instance, the chief now living near Freetown, and all his generation, were adjudged to be his property ; but the chief himself has never yet been sold, which is a mere act of forbearance in the Mulatto-trader. But I consider the sentence still in force against him.' ' The " cat," it is elsewhere explained. ^ Possibly Ormond. See p. 163. ^ i,e. the Directors of the Sierra Leone Company. 117 Liberia ^ " ' Did not the Mulatto- trader order an attack on the neighbouring island when the proprietor (a native chief) was killed in defending himself, and do not the friends of the proprietor consider this as an act of great injustice ? ' " ' The proprietor well deserved to be attacked, for there is reason to think he was then intending to attack the Mulatto- trader,' " ' I understand this affair is not over, and that the successors of this proprietor intend to retaliate on the successors of the Mulatto chief, when they have an opportunity ? ' " ' I believe they do ; but it ill becomes them to question the Mulatto chief's conduct, for they should consider how much worse things their own father (the deceased chief or proprietor) did. For example, the old man has been known to sail up a river with some large craft, to land at a town under a great show of friendship. He has then made a speech to the head-men and people, remarking how shamefully all former traders had used them, and that he was come to trade fairly with them, as friends and brothers. He has then opened a puncheon or two of rum, and invited them to sit round and drink. At night, when he had got them thoroughly drunk, he has given the signal to his people in the craft, who have secured all the party in fetters, and sold every one worth purchasing to some slave ship all the while waiting at the river's mouth. This old proprietor did many such things. But the Mulatto-trader never used treachery, nor attacked a town without reason ; but the other plundered without distinction.' " ' Does the Mulatto-trader's successor recover debts by the same means that he used ? ' " ' No^ he is too easy' " ' Is it not unpleasant to carry on a trade so full ot enormities as you describe the slave trade to be ? ' ■^ The Slave Trade '* * It is no doubt a bad trade, but it is very profitable. I hate it, and would get out of it to-morrow if I knew of one in which I could get the same money. . , .' " " A slave vessel which has awaited some time in the neighbouring river arrived here. The captain complains bitterly of this detention, observing that if he had been well manned he would not have allowed the trader he dealt with to detain him thus ; for he would have carried off some of the people from a large town near which his vessel lay. I asked him if this was common. " * Oh, not at all uncommon,' said he ; 'we do it every day on the Gold Coast. We call it panyaring} If a native there does not pay speedily, you man your boat towards evening, and bid your sailors go to any town, no matter whether your debtor's town or not, and catch as many people as they can. If your debt be large, it may be necessary to " catch " two towns. After this your debtor will soon complete his number of slaves.' '* ' But what if he should not } ' '* ' Why, then we carry our prisoners away, to be sure.' "*But is this proper .f* ' " ' Necessity has no law ; besides, panyaring is country law.' *' ' Did you ever recover debts in this way "^ ' " ' Aye, many a time, and I hope to do so again. I wish we had the same law here that we have on the Gold Coast, or that the old Mulatto-trader was alive. He was a fine fellow for business : he never caused any delay. But the present man is afraid to make a haul of the people : he wants a proper spirit.' " ' How do you contrive to guard your slaves with your slender crew } ' ' From the Portuguese Apanhar, to catch, kidnap, "9 Liberia ^ " ' I put them in leg-irons ; and if these be not enough, why, I handcuff them ; if handcuffs be too Httle, I put a collar round their neck, with a chain locked to a ringbolt on the deck ; if one chain won't do, I put two, and if two won't do, I put three — you may trust me for that.' " He afterwards very gravely assured me that he never knew any cruelties committed. " * But are not these cruelties ? ' " * Oh no ! these are not cruelties ; they are matters of course ; there's no carrying on the trade without them.' " The following is a sketch of the origin, progress, and end of a European slave trader who lately died at an island near Sierra Leone, and who seems to have attained to a degree of 'ferocity and hardness of heart proportionate to his success in that bloody traffic. As he appears to have neither friend nor connection left, the Directors [of the Sierra Leone Company] need not conceal his name, which was Ormond. " He went from England about thirty-five years ago (i.e. about 1758) as a cabin boy to a slave ship, and was retained as an assistant at a slave factory at Sierra Leone River. There he acquired a knowledge which qualified him for setting up a slave factory afterwards for himself in a neighbouring part towards the north [Rio Pongo], and, though unable to write or read, he became an expert slave trader, so much so that he realised about ^30,000. His cruelties were almost incredible. Two persons who seem to have had good means of information give the following account of them. One of them, who lived for some time near Ormond, said he knew it to be a fact that he used to tie stones to the necks of his unsaleable slaves, and drown them in the river during the night ; and that his cruelty was not confined to blacks, for, being offended by a white agent one Christmas day, when drinking freely with sorrje i?9 -^ The Slave Trade ompany, he made his slaves tie up the European, and gave him, with his own hands, four hundred lashes, from which he died in a few days. The other person allowed his general haracter for barbarity, and added that he was told by a black witness that Ormond, having caught a black wife of his in a criminal conversation with one of his slaves, he burnt them both to death with a tar barrel. " This savage had attained to the same trust with the Africans in witchcraft and grigris or charms, and was subject to silly, superstitious fears. Providence, having permitted this man to become an abandoned and successful slave trader, was pleased also to allow him to experience a reverse of fortune. A few years ago, having lose his health, he went to the Isle de Los for the sake of sea air and medical help, leaving his affairs under the care of a Mulatto who was his son. Happening to have recently destroyed one of the towns of the Bagos, which surround his factory, they took this opportunity to retaliate. Ormond's slaves having been little attached to him, favoured the Bagos, and, the place being taken, they shared the plunder. The buildings were all burnt, and the goods in them, amounting, it is said, to a value of ^^30,000, were either destroyed or carried away. Young Ormond and his adherents were put to death. Old Ormond lived to hear the news, but died about a month after." ^ The British philanthropists who had created Sierra Leone decided, after thinking more than once about Capes Mount and Mesurado, to establish another colony on Bulama Island (off the mouth of the River Grande). This place had been recom- mended for a European settlement by the Sieur Andre de Briie in 1710. Bulama Island was accordingly occupied by the Bulama * ^ee a continuation of tills story in Chapter %. Liberia «*- Association in 1792, but was abandoned in 1793, owing to the determined hostility of the Negroes on the mainland and the sickness which prevailed amongst the repatriated Africans/ The first recruits for the Sierra Colony in 1786 were obtained in an extraordinary way ; for besides sweeping together and sending out all the Nova Scotian and West Indian blacks that were then to be found in England, there was added thereto a company of sixty irreclaimable London prostitutes, who were to be landed at Sierra Leone and begin a new life under different conditions, as the spouses of some of these repatriated Africans. About four hundred Nova Scotian Negro ex-slaves were sent (with the prostitutes) in 1787, and 1,131 more Nova Scotians in 1792. All these proceedings at Sierra Leone were at first conducted under the British Sierra Leone Company, whose prospectuses were a mixture of pure philanthropy and shrewd commercial propositions. In 1794 the settlement was much damaged by a French squadron, and in 1807 Sierra Leone became a Crown Colony under a Governor, the British in the interval having begun to appreciate the strategic value of Sierra Leone harbour.^ When the British Government after 1833 began to take severe repressive measures against the slave trade, and captured slaver after slaver, the liberated slaves were landed usually at Sierra Leone, independently of their place of origin. The most extraordinary and heterogeneous collection of Negroes that could be imagined were got together on this little promon- tory of the Guinea Coast. The wonderful linguistic researches ' On account of this attempt, sovereignty over Bnlama Island was afterwards claimed by the British. The Portuguese, who, amid all their dynastic troubles, had somehow managed to retain a hold over the rivers of what is now styled Portuguese Guinea, disputed the British claim in 1870. It went to arbitration, and the case was decided against the British. The capital of Portuguese Guinea is on Bulama Island. * The best harbour along the whole West African Coast, T?2 ^ The Slave Trade of Dr. S. Koelle, of the Church Missionary Society, revealed the existence at Sierra Leone, amongst the freed slaves, of natives of East and South-east Africa, of Nyasaland, of the Lualaba or Upper Congo, Tanganyika, and the greater part of the Congo Basin ; of Bornu, Wadai, the Shari, the Benue, 42. STREET IN SIERRA LEONE (1905) all parts of the Niger, and nearly every country on the West Coast of Africa from Cape Blanco to Angola. Negroes among Negroes are very clannish. So far as each Negro could pick up a fellow-tribesman, these Negro colonists at Sierra Leone banded together, Congos with Congos, Ibos with Ibos, and so forth, hating each other far more than they may have disliked the white men. Then of course there was the abundant native population of what is now the Colony and 123 Liberia ^ Protectorate of Sierra Leone. Our wars and troubles in this colony may be said to have lasted a hundred years. It is only within the last eight years, especially in connection with railway construction, that this African state has made good progress and that its Negro inhabitants have shown some sign of fusing in defence of their common interests. 43. FUKA BAY ROAU, FREETOWN (SIERRA LEONE) 24 CHAPTER IX THE FOUNDING OF LIBERIA THE experiments made at Sierra Leone between 1786 and 1794 by an association of British philanthropists (growing as they did in 1807 into the establishment of a Crown Colony) aroused some enthusiasm and much interest in America, so that to no small extent Sierra Leone has been the elder sister, the forerunner of Liberia. From the very beginning of American independence the northern states of the American Union were opposed to the idea of slavery. Vermont abolished slavery in 1777 ; most of the northern states had followed suit by 1804. Only the English-speaking south-east held out, and these states were supported by the French and Spanish states (slave-holding), which joined the Union between 1782 and 1845. ^^ ^794 Congress forbade the participation of American subjects in the slave trade. In 1 808 the importation of African slaves into the states of the Union was prohibited. Meantime free black men were growing as an element in the American polity. Washington had freed his slaves at his death. Many followed his example. But the black citizen did not live on easy terms of equality with the white. Some philanthropists in the United States felt that giving freedom to the slave was not enough as reparation : he should be restored to the land of his fathers and resume an existence in Africa as a Christian and an enlightened propagator of civilisation. 125 Liberia <4- In 1816 philanthropists of the northern and southern states united their efforts in founding the American Colonisation Society. By this time there were some two million Negro slaves living in the United States, and about two hundred thousand free people of colour. These last at any moment might want a home in Africa, for at that period the West Indies were scarcely open to the immigration of free settlers. Elijah Caldwell and Robert Finley' proposed the Colonisa- tion Society at a meeting held at the Capitol in Washington on December 4th, 1816, under the presidency of Henry Clay. On January ist, 1817, the Society was constituted, with Bushrod ^ Washington as President, Robert Finley and Francis Key as Vice-presidents, and Elijah Caldwell as Secretary. At first it was suggested that the Negro emigrants from the United States should be sent to Sierra Leone, and a com- mission to this British colony under Mill and Burgess in 1818 reported favourably on this project. Accordingly in 1820 the Rev. Samuel Bacon, John P. Bankson, and Dr. S. Crozer (all white Americans) started for Sierra Leone on the Elizabeth with eighty eight Negroes. But Charles Macarthy, the Governor (afterwards of Ashanti fame), became suspicious of political motives at the back of this enterprise, and could find no room in the Sierra Leone peninsula for Bacon's Negro colonists ; so the Elizabeth moved southwards to Sherbro Island, and attempted to start the colony there. But in a few weeks fever of a virulent type killed all the whites and twenty-two of the black passengers ; the remainder, under the leadership of Daniel Coker and Elijah Johnson, returned sadly to Sierra Leone (Fura Bay) to await events. In 1 82 1 the Rev. Ephraim Bacon, brother of Samuel ' After wliom the Finley Mountains of Basa county are named. ^ Bushrod Island was called after him. 126 ■ONROYfA DISTRICT I ,- -^ £t.^: £T i^ - * i tt' « CMC Liberia <*- Bacon, came out (with his wife) on the U.S.A. brig Nautilus^ commanded by Captain R. F. Stockton,^ with Messrs. Joseph Andrus, J. B. Winn, and Christian Wiltberger. They brought a few more Negro colonists, and came especially to relieve the unhappy band of pioneers remaining over from the 1820 voyage, who were temporarily settled at Fura Bay, Sierra Leone. The first impulse of the party was to proceed to Cape Mesurado and negotiate there for a site of land. But their reception was unfriendly, so the ships passed on to Grand Basa, where a contract was entered into with the local chiefs. Here a beginning in colonisation might have been made but for an outbreak of fever which laid low Ephraim Bacon (whose brother Samuel had already died), Winn, and Andrus. These three returned at once to America, leaving Wiltberger in sole charge of the emigrants. The returning ships brought back with Captain Stockton a Dr. Eli Ay res to take joint charge of the expedition with Wiltberger. Ayres and Stockton returned on December nth, 1821, to Cape Mesurado^ six months after Bacon and Joseph Andrus had failed in their negotiations with the De chiefs. Through the intercession of an English Mulatto trader, John Mill, who had a trading licence on Cape Mesurado, Ayres and Stockton were more fortunate. On December 15th, 1821, not only was the future site of Monrovia bought, but, in addition, the chiefs or " kings " Peter, George, Yoda, and Long Peter (of the De and Mamba tribes) made over to the American Colonisation Society (represented by Ayres and Stockton) a strip of coastland one hundred and thirty miles long and forty broad, which might be reserved for ever for ' Commemorated in Stockton Creek. ^ The early expeditions to Liberia misspelt this cape as " Montserrado." This led to the county being called Montserrado. Subsequently the correct spelling for the cape — Mesurado — was restored. 128 -#» The Founding of Liberia the settlement of American freed slaves.^ P'or this cession of land Ayres paid to the chiefs the following goods : — Six muskets, one small barrel of powder, six iron bars, ten iron pots, one barrel of beads, two casks of tobacco, twelve knives, twelve forks and twelve spoons, one small barrel of nails, one box of tobacco pipes, three looking-glasses, four umbrellas, three walking-sticks, one box of soap, one barrel of rum, four hats, three pairs of shoes, six pieces of blue baft, three pieces of white calico. In addition, the purchasers bound themselves to pay when they could : six iron bars, twelve guns (probably long Danes), three barrels of powder, twelve plates, twelve knives, twelve forks, twenty hats, five barrels of salt beef, five barrels of salt pork, twelve barrels of ships' biscuit, twelve glass decanters, twelve wineglasses, and fifty pairs of boots. The native chiefs, after their fashion, recked little of the consequences which might follow the signing of this deed and the acceptance of the part payment. They probably thought, if they looked at all to the future, that these eccentric persons — enthusiastic, thin, fever-stricken white men, who loathed drink, debauchery, and the slave trade,^ and English-speaking Christian Negroes dressed in European fashion— merely wished to settle here and there along the coast and start some novel commerce no doubt profitable to one or other party. They certainly did not realise that they were " selling their country." On the other hand, the colonists as implicitly believed they had purchased a section of the Grain Coast. Possibly they excused themselves for the modest value of the purchase price ^ by the belief that they would never have occasion to turn the indigenes ' This very unreal concession was afterwards made actual by Ashman's agreements in 1825. ^ At that date a very new type in West Africa. * The chiefs of Mesurado afterwards complained that the supplementary goods mentioned in the above list were not paid in full, VOL. I 129 9 Liberia ^#- out of their holdings on the soil, and that they were bringing Christianity and true civilisation to a country still ravaged by the slave trade. The first disillusionment began over Bushrod Island (as the colonists named it, after the President of their Society, Bushrod Washington), a considerable tract of low-lying but fertile land between the St. Paul's River, Stockton Creek, and Mesurado Bay, Here the colonists were opposed by the local Negroes, who forcibly prevented their settlement. The colonists — some eighty Negroes in all and two white men — moved over to Perseverance (or Providence) Island, a low, rocky, tree-crested islet in Mesurado lagoon, only two or three furlongs in length. Here the mulatto trader, John Mill, had his establishment.^ Dr. Ayres proposed a final return to Sierra Leone. Wiltberger, on the other hand, declared for remaining and for securing a site on the high land of Mesurado promontory (where Monrovia is now built). He met with strong support from a Negro, Elijah Johnson,^ a survivor of Samuel Bacon's Sherbro expedition. Johnson exclaimed, when pressed by Ayres, " Two years long have I sought a home ; here I have found one, here I remain." He probably decided thus the fate of " Liberia." After Ayres had left for Sierra Leone, Christian Wiltberger in June, 1822, set himself to lead the colonists to the inland aspect of the Mesurado promontory, and to the great astonish- ment of the natives trees were felled and slight fortifications were erected on this plateau. But fever prostrated Wiltberger, who was forced to return to America with Dr. Ayres. He ' This was called Kingstown. Mill seems always to have befriended the Liberians, and his help is justly commemorated in the name of Millsburg, a settlement on the St. Paul's River. * Johnson's son was the celebrated Hilary Johnson, President of Liberia from 1884 to 1891. 130 ^ The Founding of Liberia left the poor bewildered colonists under Elijah Johnson's leadership. Only twenty-one among them (and they were scarcely eighty in number) were capable of bearing arms as fighting men. Yet Elijah Johnson was a host in himself. Determined not to pass the rainy season on the unhealthy little "Persever- ance " Island in the lagoon, he carried on Wiltberger's idea, -*.- mm^mmm^m 44. I'kOVIDllNCK OR PERSEVERANCE ISLAND ON MESURADO LAGOON (THE ISLET WITH TREES AND A HOUSE JUST BEYOND THE ROOFS. FARTHER AWAY IS BUSHROD ISLAND) and in spite of the natives' opposition, he with his band of soldier workers cleared the site of the future Monrovia. The natives " sniped " the labourers from the shelter of the dense forest, and their attacks grew fiercer and more determined, when suddenly a British gun-vessel appeared off Cape Mesurado. The commander inquired into the troubles, and ofl^sred to punish the natives if Johnson would cede a small piece of land to the British Government and hoist the British 131 Liberia ^*- flag on the same. Johnson refused point-blank,^, the British vessel sailed away, and a resolute turning of the maddened colonists on their native enemies produced a lull in the attempts. Fortunately this trying position was not unduly prolonged. On August 8th, 1822, arrived at Cape Mesurado the American brig Strong from Baltimore, with fifty-three new colonists, new supplies of stores, and a white American as the Director of the colony. This was Jehudi Ashmun, a native of Champlain in New York State and the practical founder of Liberia. Jehudi Ashmun came of New England Puritan stock. His father was Samuel Ashmun, a well-to-do settler. Jehudi was the third son out of ten children, and was born April 21st, 1794. He grew up at a time and in surroundings when Methodist Christianity in the United States was in its most enthusiastic, dominant, and yet almost repellent form. He seems to have been naturally a bright-spirited, happy boy ; but he was constrained by the feeling of those around him to ex- perience that sudden call to religion at an emotional age which during the last century impressed so many lives in the middle classes of England and America with good and bad results. The bad results in the case of Ashmun (as evidenced by his copious written diaries, prayers, meditations, and so forth) was the gradual evolution of a God of Terrors, before whom he was perpetually accusing himself in exaggerated language of awful sin." The life of Jehudi Ashmun^ was written in 1835 by ^ Johnson was no warm friend of the British, as he had fought on the American side in the war of 181 2. * One of his characteristic prayers, written down in his diary, begins: "Oh heart-searching and rein-trying God ! who requirest ... a broken heart of all who worship Thee, . . ." p. 388 in the Rev. K. R. Gurley's Life of Ashmun. ^ The accompanying portrait of Ashmun has been carefully reproduced by the author from an engraving in Mr. Gurley's book. Ashmun is described as being a good-looking man, with refined features, tall, slender, in later life rather ascetic, at all times an impressive personage. 132 ^ The Founding of Liberia the Rev. Ralph R. Gurley, who himself visited Liberia at a subsequent date to report on the conditions of the settlement, 45. JEHUDI ASHMUN, THE FOUNDER OF LIBERIA (FROM THE PORTRAIT IN GURLEY'S "life OF ASHMUN" ) and to him alone we owe a most interesting account of the man who made Liberia and of that man's character. After his conversion at the age of seventeen, Ashmun, by inclination and by the wishes of his 'parents, trained himself 133 Liberia «#^ for ministry in the American Episcopal Church. But when not much over twenty he accepted the position of professor at a college. About this time he made the acquaintance of a young woman, also a teacher, for whom he conceived a certain attachment ; but his proposal of marriage was received rather ambiguously. He met her once or twice at intervals during the next few years, but (so far as the very involved language of his biographer can be understood) she was of the Early Victorian type, and preferred her sentiments to be divined rather than to express them herself in a simple Yes or No. At last Ashmun made her a decided proposal of marriage. While she shillyshalHed, he accidentally crossed the path of a " Being " unwillingly described by his biographer as "a person of radiant beauty," but apparently no precisian. What took place — whether Ashmun merely kissed her and fled and was only momentarily unfaithful to his first love, or whether the case was a less innocent flirtation, it is impossible to divine from the inflated language and mysterious hints of Ashmun's biographer. It may quite well have been a blameless love conceived too late ; but having already made this unanswered proposal, Ashmun felt himself in duty bound to press for a reply. At last the object of his earlier attachment said Yes, and they were soon afterwards married. Owing, however, to the gossip which had arisen over the incident (which only merits description because of its important bearing on Ashmun's life), the latter felt obliged to give up his professorship and travel "a thousand miles by sea " to Baltimore.^ Here, later on, he was ordained, and offered himself as a missionary. At this juncture, in 1821, the American Colonisation Society was in want of a capable man to take charge of their derelict settlements at Cape Mesurado. ' This journey was undertaken apparently from Portland, Maine, to Baltimore in Maryland. -^ The Founding of Liberia Ashmun offered himself, and was appointed, and together with his wife left for the Grain Coast in an American sailing ship which took eighty-one days to reach Cape Mount by way of the Azores. Ashmun took with him, among fifty-two other Negro settlers, the Rev. Lot Carey. This man also deserves some description. Carey was a pure-blooded Negro, short, broad, thick-set, ugly of features, but a man of remarkable natural ability and dogged determination. He was a slave employed by his owner in the southern states to manage a large store where the tobacco of the plantation was kept for sale. He married early, like most slaves, and had several children. He also contrived, somehow or other, in between his hours of work, to get a little elementary education, so that he could read and write. He possessed extraordinary business ability and a remarkable memory, and was so clever and upright in his commercial transactions that his master again and again rewarded him with gratuities in the form of five-dollar bills, or allowed him, when off duty, to do a little work for payment on his own account. Gradually in this way he accumulated a sum of money with which to purchase his freedom and that of his wife and children. Learning that he had nearly reached the required amount, some of the merchants who. had dealings with his master clubbed together out of respect and liking for Carey, and enabled him to tender eight hundred and fifty dollars for his redemption and that of his family. He became a freeman, therefore, in 1813. He then studied eagerly, and qualified himself for the ministry. He took an ardent interest in this repatriation scheme, and was selected as one of Ashmun's principal assistants. Ashmun infused from the moment of his arrival new energy and hope into the minds of the Liberian pioneers. He brought to the Mesurado promontory, apparently from Bushrod 135 Liberia ^ Island, where they had been landed from the " American ships," five guns (four of cast iron, one of brass). Besides the cannon, the settlement possessed only forty muskets. The cannon were mounted in a martello tower constructed of rubble and timber near the point of the peninsula ; for it was realised that the lull in the native attacks was only likely to last until the rains were over. The De chief George was particularly bitter against the new colonists, and he and other De and Mamba chiefs were urged against them (and supplied with munitions of war) by the Cuban slave traders who had settled in the adjoining Gallinhas country and realised that the definite establishment of this colony of free Negroes would be a great blow to the slave trade. A strong palisade was erected round the martello tower, near the site of the modern lighthouse. Those of the colonists able to bear arms (only thirty-five in number, even with Ashmun's new recruits — and of these, six were mere boys under sixteen years of age) were daily drilled by Carey and Elijah Johnson.^ For months twenty of these warriors out of the thirty-five had to remain on guard every night. On August 31st, a fortnight after Ashmun's arrival, he issued the following proclamation organising the available force of the settlement. It may be interesting to reproduce this in detail, as it gives us the names of the more notable among the Negro colonists, the " pilgrim fathers," some of whom have left descendants who are living in twentieth-century Liberia. " I. The Settlement is under military law. " 2. Elijah Johnson is Commissary of Stores. "3. R. Sampson is Commissary of Ordinance. " 4. Lot Carey is Health Officer and Government Inspector. "5. F. James is Captain of the brass mounted fieldpiece, ' Johnson had fought on the American side against the British in 18 12, and knew something about soldiering. 136 ^ The Founding of Liberia and has assigned to his command R. Newport, M. S. Draper, William Meade, and J. Adams. " 6. A. James is Captain of the Long i8, and has under his command J. Benson, E. Smith, William Hollings, D. Hawkins, John and Thomas Spencer. *' 7. J. Shaw is Captain of the Southern Picket Station, mounting two iron guns. To his command are attached S. Campbell, E. Jackson, J. Lawrence, L. Crook, and George Washington. "8. D. George is Captain of the Eastern Picket Station, mounting two iron guns. Attached to him are A. Edmondson, Joseph Gardiner, Josiah Webster, and J. Carey. " 9. C. Brander is Captain of a carriage mounting two swivels to act in concert with brass piece, and move from station to station as the occasion may require ; attached are T. Tines, L. Butler. " 10. Every man to have his musket and ammunition with him, even when at the large guns. "11. Every officer is responsible for the conduct of the men placed under him, who are to obey him at their peril. "12. The guns are all to be got ready for action immedi- ately, and every effective man is to be employed at the pickets. "13. Five stations to be occupied by guards at night till other orders shall be given. " 14. No useless firing permitted. " 15. In case of alarm, every man is to repair instantly to his post and do his duty." On September 15th, 1822, Mrs. Ashmun died of fever after days of terrible suffering, during which the floods of rain pene- trated her miserable hut and soaked her bed. Some Negro colonists also died. The worst of the rainy season was on, and the condition of these unfortunate creatures, cooped up on a 137 Liberia ^♦- narrow piece of cleared rocky ground, with dense, gloomy forest on all sides but that which looked towards the sea, was dismal in the extreme. For two months they were exposed to a downpour of rain day after day. On November iith, at daybreak, the struggle with the natives began. The settlement was attacked by the De, the Mamba, and the Vai. The assault was at first so overwhelming that many of the colonists fled in panic into the woods. Women were wounded in their huts, and children killed or kidnapped. If the enemy had been resolute they would have pushed on to the palisade and overwhelmed the small band of resolute fighters under Ashmun, Carey, and Johnson. But they stopped and scattered to plunder the goods of the colonists. This gave Ashmun his chance, and under his directions "common shot" was fired from the five guns into the serried masses of the marauders.^ Great execution was done, and the De fled precipitately down the slopes of Mesurado promontory and away to their canoes. Ashmun ordered a day of thanksgiving ; but this first defeat of the natives was not decisive. Soon the little colony found itself living in a state of siege, and gradually they withdrew from the larger area of the settlement to the restricted limits of the palisade. Their case seemed desperate, for their supplies of provisions and gunpowder were running out. Fortunately a British trading ship from Liverpool arrived in the anchorage on November 29th. Its commander, Captain H. Brassey, most generously gave the colonists all the supplies he could spare, and probably saved the situation for the time. ' Ashmun writes in his diary : " Eight hundred men were here pressed shoulder to shoulder in so compact a force that a child might easily walk upon their heads from one end of the mass to the other. They presented in their rear a breadth of rank equal to twenty or thirty men, and all exposed to a gun of great power, raised on a platform at only thirty to sixty yards' distance. Every shot literally spent its force in a solid mass of human flesh." 138 ^ The Founding of Liberia On November 30th the Des once more began to assemble large forces in the woods round the apex of the peninsula, and on December ist about a thousand of them attacked the stockade. The thirty-five warriors within kept them at b?,y for hours; T. Tines was killed, Gardiner and Crook very badly wounded, and Ashmun received three bullets through his clothes. Towards evening the enemy withdrew, and some one in or outside the 46. VICINITY OF SITE OF FIRST STOCKADE ON CAPE MESURADO (town OF MONROVIA IN DISTANCE) palisade discovered the cause by sighting the approach of a British war vessel. This was the Prince Regent, a colonial schooner on its way from Sierra Leone to Cape Coast Castle. Hearing the noise of gun-firing, the Captain of the Prince Regent sent to inquire the reason, and soon afterwards dispatched a midshipman named Gordon, with eleven seamen (who were the crew of a prize travelling under Gordon's command), to the assistance of the beleaguered colonists. Gordon conveyed 139 Liberia **- to them most welcome supplies of food and munitions of war, and offered to remain with them till other relief came. The arrival of the Prince Regent^ in fact, occurred at a most critical moment in the history of Liberia. On board this colonial schooner was the celebrated African traveller Major Laing, who was afterwards to lose his life at or near Timbuktu. He came on shore to see Ashmun, and gave the colonists great assistance. The gallant little midshipman Gordon, who had volunteered to remain with his eleven stalwart bluejackets, brought for a brief period a breath of cheerfulness into the sad and disenchanted band of colonists. On December 4th, 1822, through the efforts of Major Laing, peace was made between the Americans and the De and Mamba chiefs. The Prince Regent went on its way to the Gold Coast with Major Laing, and Ashmun recommenced the work of building which had been interrupted by the war with the natives. Gordon, the midshipman, lived with them for one month. Just before he and his men could be relieved he died of a virulent fever, and this disease carried off eight of the eleven bluejackets. He was wept for with unfeigned regret by Ashmun and the Negro colonists. His memory lingers in Liberia to this day, and Dr. E. W. Blyden has proposed to found a Gordon Scholarship at Liberia College. As soon as a respite had been obtained by the victories over the native chiefs, Ashmun set to work with vigour to get the houses re-built in the space outside the palisade. We read that these houses were very much like those in the poorer quarters of modern Monrovia, raised from the ground on wooden or stone supports, built of planks and roofed with wooden shingles. This evidently was a style of architecture brought direct from America. It is nowhere else seen in Africa. A market was established where the natives could bring their food products for sale. X40 -♦> The Founding of Liberia In the spring of 1823 the American war vessel Cyane visited the settlement on Cape Mesurado, and in place of the old palisade with the wooden tower built a strong little fort of stones, on which six cannon were mounted. About the same time Lieutenant Dashiell, of the Cyane, went to Sierra Leone, and had the schooner Augusta, which had been used by Samuel Bacon, put into proper seaworthy condition and rmanned by twelve seamen. Dashiell gave much assistance to the iberian community, and then, like so many who helped in this isk, died of fever. This also was the fate of Richard Seaton, :lerk to the Cyane, who also volunteered for service in Liberia, and also died after having done excellent work on the Kru Coast. During the first part of 1823 the task of Ashmun was one of peculiar difficulty. Relieved of the dread of attack from the natives, the Negro colonists became unruly. Several of them took to dissolute or drunken habits, others were lazy, and a good many disliked agricultural work. Ashmun for his firmness and courage was detested by the slave-trading chiefs in the vicinity, who called him the "white American devil" of Cape Mesurado. An intrigue was started within the colony against him, and news of it reached the American Colonisation Society. In this body there were some who disapproved of Ashmun's vigorous attacks on the slave trade : it is hard to say from what point of view ; but several of these philan- thropists, though easily moved to tears over the woes of the Negro slaves in America, seem to have had very little sympathy for the indigenous natives of Africa, who might or might not be despoiled by American slave traders, under the eyes of the freed slaves whom the Society was repatriating. Their sympathies apparently were restricted to those Negroes who had embraced the Christian faith, wore the white man's clothes, and talked his language. 141 Liberia ^ On May 24th, 1823, Dr. Eli Ayres came back as agent for the Colonisation Society. Soon after his arrival he attempted to appease local dissensions by allotting to each colonist a definite share of the land on the Mesurado peninsula. His allotment, however, did not give satisfaction, and led to further bickerings. Ayres soon left Liberia, and returned for the last time to America, while Ashmun resumed work as Director of the Colony. In February, 1 824, the Cyrus brought one hundred and five fresh colonists from Virginia. Soon after this Ashmun, whose health had suffered most severely, went away for a rest and change of scene to the Cape Verde Islands. Here he met the Rev. Robert Gurley, after- wards his biographer, who had been entrusted both by the Colonisation Society and by the American Government with the task of drawing up for the little colony at Mesurado a provisional constitution. He was proceeding to the Grain Coast on the American warship Porpoise. At his request Ashmun accompanied him. Gurley had the wisdom to ap- preciate the full merits of Ashmun's work, and he succeeded in bringing home to the grumbling colonists their indebtedness to this man's talents and devotion. He definitely installed him as the principal agent of the American Colonisation Society, in fact, as the practical Governor of the settlement. With Ashmun, Gurley drew up a kind of constitution, and about the middle of August he endowed the little colony with its name, " Liberia," at the same time christening the settlement on the Mesurado plateau with the name of Monrovia, after Monroe, then President of the United States.^ Both these names, it is said, were the invention and suggestion of Robert Goodlowe Harper of Baltimore, who had interested ' Ashmun had at first called the settlement on Cape Mesurado " Christopolis," but afterwards felt the name to be a little unsuitable. 142 s#- The Founding of Liberia himself greatly in the colonisation project, and had suggested them, both in the councils of the Colonisation Society and in the Senate of the United States.^ Gurley returned to America August 2lnd, 1824. So good were the reports that followed from Liberia that his measures were not long in receiving the ratification both of the American Colonisation Society and of the United States Government, and this ratification of the constitution and the name of Liberia was conveyed to Monrovia March 14th, 1825, by the U.S.A. ship Hunter, this vessel also bringing at the same time about sixty-six fresh colonists. Ashmun had at the advice of Mr. Gurley resumed his holiday at the Cape Verde Islands, leaving the direction of the colony during his absence to Dr. Randall ; but he soon returned to Liberia, and busied himself with increasing the lawful bounds of the settlement ; that is to say, not wishing to lock up the colonists within the limits of the township of Monrovia, he proceeded to find strips of country where they could be scattered to their own advantage. Bushrod Island (of which, however, the Liberians have made very little use down to the present day) was definitely taken over from the natives,^ and Ashmun secured a right to plant colonists along the St. Paul's River, up to about twenty miles from its mouth, where the last rapids closed navigability seaward. To this end he concluded a treaty or alliance on May nth, 1825, with the chiefs Peter, Long Peter, Gouverneur, Yoda, and Jimmy. Near the spot where the Stockton Creek branches off from the St. Paul's * After Harper has been named the principal settlement in Maryland, on Cape Palmas. ^ Ashmun distinctly writes that this took place by an agreement concluded with "old King Peter" on May nth, 1825. Wauwermans, writing in 1885, states that it was purchased from " its native owner, Mary Mackenzie, on December 15th, 1827." I cannot find any other mention of Mary Mackenzie, who, if she existed, was possibly the mulatto daughter of a British trader. 143 Liberia <^ River a new town or settlement was founded, to which Ashmurt gave the name of Caldwell in honour of Elijah Caldwell, the Secretary of the Colonisation Society. A station called New 47. LAST RAPIDS OF THE ST. PAUL S RIVER, TWENTY MILES FROM ITS MOUTH Georgia was made near the Stockton Creek as a depot for the receiving and planting out of freed slaves who might come as refugees. Ashmun's health was better in 1825. He had begun to receive proper appreciation of his work in the United States, and had won the affection and respect in Liberia of the Negro colonists. Something approaching gaiety in this year tinges 144 -♦> The Founding of Liberia his sombre diary, modifying the deep religious gloom which earlier and later made his outlook one of great melancholy. On July 4th, 1825, the Monrovian volunteers gave a dinner to celebrate United States Independence Day and also to entertain certain American and British guests, among whom was a Captain Ferbin, apparently the master of a trading vessel on the West Coast (who afterwards got into some trouble by his alleged participation in the slave trade). The dinner began at 3 p.m., and the repast consisted chiefly of the products of the country — (a fact recorded by Ashmun with justifiable pride in his diary). ^ It is mentioned somewhat grimly that two cases of drunken- ness occurred among the fifty diners, " of which the Justices took cognisance the next morning." After the terrible fashion then prevailing in Anglo-Saxon America and Britain, the toast list was portentously long, a condition which it is to be hoped caused the justices to temper with mercy their sentences on the inebriate volunteers. It was as follows : " I. The present President of the United States : the Champion of the People's rights, he deserves the people's honour. "2. The Day we commemorate. '*3. The Colony of Liberia : may the history of the nation which has founded it become its own. " 4. Africa : may it outstrip its oppressors in the race for liberty, intelligence, and piety. " 5. The Heroes and Statesmen of American Independence. ^ Under Ashmun's vigorous management the little settlement had in three years developed a very good local food supply. Ashmun records in his diary the industrious horticulture of a certain Sarah Draper, an American Negress, '• the first woman for whom land deeds were issued in Monrovia." Sarah Draper pro- vided vegetables from her garden all the year round, "generally three kinds." VOL. I 145 10 Liberia <•- They fought and legislated for the Human race — even the people of England are freer and happier for their labours. " 6. The Monrovian Independent Volunteers : armed for the defence of rights which it is the trade of war to destroy. May they never forget their character ! " 7. General Lafayette in America. We honour him not because we are Americans, but because we are men. " 8. (In politeness to our guest, Captain Ferbin) His Britannic Majesty, the Constitutional King of England. " 9. Success to Agriculture. " 10. (by Captain Ferbin) Health of the President of the United States, and Prosperity to the Colony of Liberia." During 1825 and the succeeding years vigorous action was taken against the slave trade, which by 1820 had acquired a very firm hold over the Lower St. Paul's River. Even as late as the year 1825, two hundred slaves were shipped from the mouth of the St. Paul's River to America by an American ship. Dr. Randall explored the St. Paul's River with some success, and in 1827 a Liberian settlement was made at the limit of tidal navigation called Millsburg, after John Mill, the Mulatto- trader. This, together with later measures taken along the banks of the river, practically abolished the slave trade in these regions. At the same time, Ashmun took still more vigorous measures against this traffic in other parts of the Grain Coast. So that he might proceed with a show of right, he was careful to con- clude arrangements or treaties with the various native chiefs in the coast regions, by which he purchased or acquired rights over definite pieces of land, so that he might from the mere trespass plea object to the presence thereon of slave traders or their agents. On October 27th, 1825, he made such a contract with the chief Freeman for a piece of ground to the south of Grand Basa Point, round and about a little stream called New 146 -^ The Founding of Liberia Cess or Poor River, a district, oddly enough, which some years later, through the temporary lapse of power on the part of the Liberian Government, was to become the headquarters of Theodore Canot's slave trade. He also bought land round the promontory of Cape Mount, where powerful Spanish slave- trading stations were established. This was done by a treaty signed on April 12th, 1826, to which was attached a condition 48. " VAI town" ox MKSUKADO J.ACiOOX, NKAKLV OPPOSITE MONROVIA, ON' !:. A FAMOUS LOCALITY FOR SHIPPING SLAVES by the natives that the said Cape Mount territory should riever be sold by the Liberians to any foreigners. On October nth, 1826, the Mamba chiefs, Will, Tom, and Peter Harris, sold or ceded to the Liberian colony the territory about the Junk River and that which lies between the rivers Dukwia and Farmington.^ On October 17th in the same year, the "king," 1 At the mouth of the Junk Kiverjin 1827 was founded the town of Marshall, named after the Chief Justice of the United States. 147 Liberia <«- Joe Harris, of Grand Basa, with the approval of the headmen of his country, ceded to the Liberian colonists a strip of territory at the mouth of the St. John River, as far south as the Bis5 (Bissaw) stream, near Basa Point. By this and by the preceding agreements entered into by Ayres, the Liberian colony now possessed some sort of political rights to all that part of the Grain Coast between Cape Mount on the north and Grand Basa Point on the south, besides territory up the St. Paul's River, While Ashmun was still in the colony, a (.? Mandingo) chief known on the coast as King "Boatswain" (said to have served in that capacity in British ships) wished to enter into friendly relations with these American strangers. This chief or his father had established a Mandingo colony in the Kondo country at or near the site of the modern town of Boporo.^ The envoys of " King " Boatswain made a treaty with Ashmun on March 14th, 1828. It is by no means certain that the envoys who put their marks to this piece of paper realised its import, or that King Boatswain ratified their action ; but at any rate this treaty conferred on the young colony of Liberia considerable rights over the interior to the north of Cape Mount. Not content with mere treaty-making, however, Ashmun obtained the help of three American warships, and conducted an expedition to Trade Town, a slave settlement near the mouth of the New Cess River. Here the Spanish slave traders made a very determined resistance, but without avail. Their " factories " (as these trading estabHshments are called throughout West Africa) were completely destroyed. Ashmun landed on the beach with the armed parties of marines ; the first of the towns ' Bosan or " Boatswain " was not a chief by descent or inheritance, but an astute trader — probably Mandingo — who gathered around him at Boporo a mixed following of Mandingo, Buzi, Fula, Mamba, Kpwesi, Band!, Gora, Vai, and Gbwalin people. This confederacy went by the name of Kondo. I ^ The Founding of Liberia was set on fire ; the fire reached a great store or magazine of powder, and a terrific explosion occurred, fiUing the air with debrisy thatch, splinters, and fragments of human beings. Nevertheless, in a few years the slaving stations were built up again, and lasted till the British and Liberians destroyed them finally in 1842. In spite of constant ill-health, Ashmun worked unceasingly to lay the foundations of an agricultural prosperity for Liberia. He incessantly urged on the ofttimes lazy colonists the im- portance of field work. He would devote rare moments of leisure, for example, to drawing up instructions how to obtain manure and how to apply it to the plantations so as to obtain the best crops. He introduced fresh breeds of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, ducks, and fowls. He encouraged the plandng of cotton, cofl^ee, indigo, sugar-cane, rice, maize, and sorghum. In spite of fever, floods of rain, peevish interruptions of grumbling settlers, Ashmun managed to get through a great deal of study in his Liberian exile. He tells us in his diary that in 1825 he beguiled the worst months of the rainy season by reading through the whole of Blackstone's Commentaries^ 'The Letters of Junius^ The History of England by Aquitel, Robertson's America, Marshall's Life of Washington^ Hamilton's Political Writings, Robertson's Scotland, Voltaire's Essays and Henriade, Madame de Stael's Delphine, etc., etc. In 1827 a fresh invitation had been sent to America to free Negroes that they should seek their homes and independence in Liberia. By 1828 the total American population of the colony had risen to over twelve hundred, some of whom were Mulattos. To these had been added a number of freed slaves and natives of the country, who had left their own homes to associate with their civilised brethren. It really seemed as though the enter- prise was marching rapidly towards a great success. In 1824 149 Liberia -^ a code of laws had been drawn up, and about the same time a, printing press had started, and the first newspaper, the Liberia Herald, edited by John Baptist Russwurm, a mulatto, was born. Four companies of militia, raised from among the twelve hundred colonists, kept the peace. Churches and schools were built. But in the spring of 1828 Ashmun's health, never very strong, gave way completely, and in an almost dying condition he left Liberia for America on the ship Doris. Ashmun sailed towards America, but was so ill that he had to be landed at St. Bartholomew Island in the British West Indies to endeavour to attain convalescence. On August 4th, 1828, he returned to the United States, and died on the 25th of that month at Newhaven (Connecticut). Before his death he had induced the American Colonisation Society to accord a greater measure of independence and self-government to this little colony on the West Coast of Africa. By this new arrangement, which practically came into force on October 28th, 1828, the direction of the Colony of Liberia was entrusted to an agent and vice-agent, who were to be appointed direct by the American Colonisation Society. All the other officials were to be elected by the colonists themselves, and then to receive their appointment at the hands of the agent, provided he approved of the selection. Every adult black or coloured man in Liberia was to have the vote who had taken an oath to the constitution. When Ashmun left Liberia no other white man existed in the colony. He had chosen Lot Carey to succeed him as agent ; but Carey was killed by an explosion of gunpowder in a fight which the colonists undertook against a chief called Bristol in December, 1828. The American Colonisation Society, however, appointed 150 k -^ The Founding of Liberia another white American, Dr. Richard Randall (who had been in Liberia before) to succeed Ashmun as agent. He arrived at the end of 1828, and in 1829 he founded the station of Careysburg in remembrance of Lot Carey. This place is situated some distance to the east of Milisburg, and originally was intended to be a settlement for freed slaves rescued from captured slave traders. Unhappily, Dr. Randall died of fever in April, 1829, just as he was conducting important negotiations with the powerful King Boatswain of Boporo. He was succeeded by a young doctor, Mechlin, who had accompanied him to Liberia in 1828. Mechlin's first endeavour was to strengthen the hold of the Liberian colonists along the banks of the St. Paul's River. In his dealings with the chiefs he gave much evidence of ability, and thus attracted the attention amongst others of Long Peter, chief over Cape Mount, and Bob Gray, the principal Chief of Grand Basa. Mechlin founded the settlement of Marshall, at the mouth of the Junk River (which is the common estuary of the Dukwia and Farmington streams). He continued with vigour Ashmun's policy against the slave traders, and took special pains to keep in good repair the fort which Ashmun had caused to be built to control the peninsula of Cape Mount. In 1832 a number of slaves who were being sent down by a petty chief (called the Sultan of " Brumley ") on the St. Paul's River, above the falls, escaped from their guards and took refuge in Monrovia. They were on their way via Cape Mount to the Gallinhas territory, where they were to be handed over to the Cuban slave trader Pedro Blanco. Shortly afterwards Kaipa, the son of the Sultan of "Brumley,"^ arrived at Monrovia, and in very insulting language demanded 1 No doubt a Muhammadan Mandingo. He is generally referred to in the records as the Sultan of Brumley. 151 Liberia The Last Phase of the Slave Trade Pedro Blanco lost in this way a hundred slaves while trying to send them off in a hurry through the terrible breakers. Canot seems to have had a very engaging address, and could speak equally fluently English, French, ItaHan, and Spanish. He had about him such an English manner that he often impressed favourably British naval officers or Colonial officials, who should have viewed him with suspicion. Unlike most of his colleagues (if one may believe his asseverations), he led a clean, gentlemanly life, even though he was a slave trader. Of course, when he willingly permitted inspection of his depots on the Liberian coast, there were no slaves en evidence^ and 51. SURF ON THE LIBERIAN BEACH everything was arranged to convey the impression of lawful trading in the ordinary products of the country. He had a good cook, and gave excellent dinners, and had at all times an eye for a trim-built sailing vessel. On board one of these vessels travelling up the Eiberian coast he met " Governor " Finley of the American settlements at Sino (a white man), who had been to Monrovia for change of air and recovery from fever. Canot offered to take him on a cruise, and the Governor accepted, but afterwards seemed very impatient to be landed, possibly suspecting the true nature of his host. Such was his impatience, in fact, that he insisted on going through the surf to land at what is now Upper Buchanan (Grand Basa). It is 167 Liberia ^ stated by Canot that as soon as he reached the beach he was murdered by the Basa boatmen for the money that he carried with him. Canot writes that his body was discovered seriously mutilated on the beach, and that in consequence of this outrage he co-operated with the forces of the Liberian Colony just established at Upper Buchanan, and with the crews of several vessels, in a punitive attack on the people of Grand Basa. This fight was little more than a drawn battle, Canot himself retiring with a wound which disabled him for some time.^ After this he paid a visit to his sub-station at Digbi, where an attempt to set up a second store with a rival chief was the cause of a furious native civil war. The chief, whose jealousy was stirred, called in the interior people to his aid, and Canot's new friends not only lost their town but their lives. The scene of frightful barbarity that followed is given in his own words : " Each female leaped on the body of a wounded prisoner. They passed from body to body, digging out eyes, wrenching off" lips, and slicing the flesh from the quivering bones, while the queen of the harpies crept amid the butchery, gathering the brains of each severed skull as a bonne-bouche for the ap- proaching feast. After the last victim had yielded his life, it did not require long to kindle a fire and fill the air with the odour of human flesh. A pole was borne into the apartment on which was impaled the living body of the conquered chieftain's wife. A hole was dug, the staff" planted, and fagots supplied. . . . The bushmen packed in plantain leaves whatever flesh was ' By an odd coincidence the contemporaneous Governor of Sierra Leone was named Findiay ! Canot, deceived by this similarity of names, asserts in his memoirs that his unwilHng guest, afterwards murdered by the Basa. Negroes, was the British Governor of Sierra Leone. This was not so : General Findiay was for long Governor of Sierra Leone, and died in England in 1853. Canot's guest was the American "governor'' of a small Liberian settlement at Sino. 168 ^ The Last Phase of the Slave Trade left from the orgie, to be conveyed to their friends in the forest. . . ." ^ Canot and his companions managed with great difficulty to escape from the scene of this massacre of which he was the indirect cause, and eventually reached Sierra Leone, where he was imprisoned on board ship. Getting away from here, however, he returned to New Cess. Hearing in 1839 that Pedro 52. LIBERIAN SETTLEMENT AT CAPE MOUNT (SUPPOSED SITE OF CANOT'S ESTABLISHMENT IN 1847) Blanco had retired for ever from Gallinhas with a large fortune, Canot came to terms with the British cruisers at New Cess, and gave a solemn pledge that he would for ever abandon the slave trade. On this occasion he released the remainder of his slaves in store. ^ He then proceeded to England in ^ The whole of this episode may be mere sensational fiction. The Vai people at Digbi have never been cannibals. 2 This is his own story. But other Spanish slave traders seem to have lingered on the Basa coast even if Canot retired, for in 1840 they induced the Fish men of Basa Cove and the chiefs of New Cess and Little Basa to attack the Liberian settlers. 169 Liberia «*^ 1839, ^^^^ induced an important merchant to interest himself in the establishment of a kind of colony and trading station at Cape Mount, a site to which Canot had taken a great liking. He endeavoured at this time to free himself entirely from all connection with Pedro Blanco, but for monetary reasons this seems to have been not altogether possible. He revisited New Cess in 1842, but found that Governor Buchanan had destroyed all the slave-trading stations. There is no doubt, therefore, that after his return to Liberia he gave some slight assistance to the slave trade from his settlement at Cape Mount, although affecting the greatest friendship and community of interests with the young state of Liberia. He purchased the promontory of Cape Mount ^ and offered it to the British Government, who, however, coldly declined. At Cape Mount he seems to have done great things in the way of planting, but in 1847 his whole establishment was burnt and utterly destroyed (including the plantations, which was a pity) by a force of British sailors and marines landed from one of the gunboats. Canot then left the coast of West Africa and settled at New York. His experiences as related and transcribed by Mr. Brantz Mayer are of thrilling interest, and it is surprising that they attained but little vogue, though they were published at New York and in London (Routledge) at the modest cost of eighteenpence. Whether his story is all true or whether Canot was an earlier De Rougemont, is impossible to determine. There seems, as already shown, to be some discrepancy between Canot's account of Ormond, the mulatto slave trader on the River Pongo (if one compares dates) and the information given of Ormond's Liverpool father in Wadstrom's compilation.- ' Of course ignoring the previous purchase by Ashmun. - An Essay on Colonisation applied to the West Coast of Africa, by C. B. Wadstrom. London, 1795, pp. 87, 88, 2nd part. 170 -»i The Last Phase of the Slave Trade But this may be explained by slight errors having occurred in both stories. In Wadstrom's book, published in 1795, old Ormond's (only) mulatto son is represented as having been killed by the natives in 1792, but he may have escaped and reached Liverpool, or Ormond the elder may have had several sons by his native wife. It is probable that by the year 1847 ^H ^^^ Spanish slave-trading depots on the coast of Liberia or in the debatable land between Liberia and Sierra Leone had been destroyed partly by the British cruisers on the coast, and partly by the vigorous action of the American Agents or Governors of Liberia — Ashmun, Mechlin, Buchanan, and Roberts. The United States, though it created Liberia and generously lent the infant colony the support of its ships, did nothing — or very little — until after 1842 to interfere with the oversea slave traffic. Frequently it occurred that within a few miles of where an American war-ship was landing Liberian colonists pledged to abolish the slave trade, an American sailing vessel would be cramming the slaves between her decks, preparatory to starting to dispose of several hundred captive Negroes in the markets of Cuba or even of the Southern United States, wherein, despite musty prohibitions of 1792, 1807, and 1808, fresh slaves from West Africa, Madagascar, and Mozambique were constantly being admitted. Even the British West Indies and British Guiana offered a surreptitious market for the slave trader until the abolition of slavery in 1833. The Spaniards, Portuguese, and Brazilians were the worst offenders after 1808, Great Britain had to pay Spain ^400,000 and Portugal ^300,000 to induce them to declare the slave trade illegal to their subjects and agree to a right of search. France and Scandinavia behaved much better. Frenchmen indeed were less connected with the slave trade in the nineteenth century 171 Liberia ^ than the subjects of Britain, the United States, or Spain and Portugal, The only power which besides Great Britain took any effective naval measures against the West African slave trade was France/ The reign of Louis Philippe was dis- tinguished by a noble activity in this respect. "Libreville" in the Gaboon was the French analogue to P'reetown at Sierra Leone. The accounts of Liberia and the writings of Canot and others give vivid pictures of the horrors of the nineteenth-century slave trade. It is probable that during the last thirty years of its existence (1815-35) the oversea slave trade caused more misery than in the previous centuries, because, being illegal, the risks were greater and the inconveniences much increased. Reference has already been made to the difficulties of shipping slaves through the surf. In terror of the arrival of some British or French cruiser, the slave merchants dared not wait for a change of tide or wind. Thus many slaves were drowned by the swamping of canoes ; still more were devoured by sharks. The herding in the barracoons provoked or intensified epidemics. If smallpox broke out, the infected Negroes were often murdered, drowned, poisoned, to prevent the disease spreading. Canot himself admits poisoning a Negro boy on board ship because he had contracted smallpox ; the body was then thrown overboard. The slaves were also " medicated " by the native dealers, so as to deceive even astute European purchasers at the coast markets. The application of drugs internally and externally swelled out the muscles and gave a glossy look to the dry skin. Before the slaves were shipped they were — men and women alike — reduced to absolute nudity, in case rags might harbour ' Nevertheless, between 18 18 and 1830 there were French slavers on the Liberian coast, especially at Cape Mount and the St. Paul's River. French war vessels assisted Ashmun, the de facto Governor of Liberia (1822-8), to punish their compatriots and destroy their ships. 172 I -^ The Last Phase of the Slave Trade parasites or infection. They were branded by a hot iron with their owner's marks, usually under the breasts. A continual warfare raged in West Africa during the first half of the nineteenth century, provoked and sustained by the slave trade with America and the Mediterranean. Tribe fought against tribe, nation against nation, and within each tribe were scenes of bloodshed and civil war (similar to that described by Canot at Digbi) caused solely by the demand for slaves. The Fulas and Mandingos were distinguished beyond all other West African peoples for the zeal they threw into this commerce. P'ula merchants visiting Sierra Leone or Cape Mount might the year previously have travelled to Morocco, Algeria, or Tunis. Morocco Jews were established at Timbuktu by 1827, solely as brokers in the slave trade. Jews from Northern Europe and the Mediterranean settled at Sierra Leone soon after the colony was founded, and enabled Canot and other slave traders to carry on their business by giving them advances of goods and cash, and by sending timely information as to the movements of British cruisers. Alcohol was the main inducement to the Negro chief to become a slave trader. From the middle of the seventeenth to the end of the nineteenth century West Africa lay under the curse of this poison — not the mild fermented liquors made by the natives from palm sap, honey, or grain, but the distilled spirits invented by the European. First, brandy (Aqua vitae, Brantwein, distilled grape juice) ; then rum, the product of the sugar cane ; then gin, made from malted rye or potatoes and juniper berries ; last and worst, whiskey. Gunpowder and guns, of course, figured largely in the white man's trade goods ; but these were necessary to the Negro chief or slave trader for slave-catching expeditions, or to support an authority under which the punishment for all offences was 173 Liberia ««- slavery. Silks and velvet, beads, cloth, calico, iron bars were all appreciated by Negroes of high or low degree ; but the one article for which the black potentate or trader was ready to sell his soul (be he Muhammadan ^ or pagan), his wife, child, brother, or unoffending subjects and friends was distilled spirit. The natives of the Kru coast of Liberia strongly objected to the first American colonists because they were pledged to temperance and were likely to discourage the trade in brandy, rum, and gin. To some extent the curse of alcohol has affected the Americo-Liberians themselves. The early records contain but infrequent allusions to drunkenness amongst the colonists. This vice became very prominent in the sixties and seventies of the last century, and is only recently on the wane, thanks to fashion having veered round towards temperance or abstinence as the characteristic of a civilised community. On the march from the interior to the coast the slaves were usually fastened in this manner, writes Canot : " Hoops of bamboo were clasped round their waists, while their hands were tied b)Pstout ropes to the hoops. A long tether was then passed with a slip-knot through each rattan belt, so that the slaves were firmly secured to each other, while a small coil was employed to link them more securely in a banci by their necks." The prices paid on the Liberian coast for adult slaves in good condition were only about ten dollars (^^2) each. Children or inferior slaves were bought at from three to eight dollars. Slaves of Mandingo or Fula race were more valuable, owing to their lighter skin and handsomer appearance. Man- dingos were very much in request in Cuba, as the smartest type of domestic servant. But speed and economy of space in the ' For the drunkenness of tlie Fulas read Canot. 174 53. A MANDINGO OF WESTERN LIBERIA Liberia <«^ oversea transport being essential considerations, after the British interference with the slave trade had commenced, not so much attention was paid as in the eighteenth century to the comfort of the slaves on board. "Sometimes on slave ships the height between the decks where the slaves were chained was only eighteen inches, so that the slaves could not turn round, the space being less than the breadth of their shoulders. They were chained by the neck and the legs. They frequently died of thirst, for the fresh water would often run short." ^ The establishment of the Liberian colony contributed remarkably to the driving out of the slave trade from the regions east of Sierra Leone ; but the real hard work in the suppression of this traffic in Negro slaves in West Africa was done by Great Britain sending her cruisers to patrol the Atlantic and the Gulf of Guinea, and abolishing slavery in the West Indies (as in South Africa) at a cost of something like ^30,000,000. When the British West Indian market was closed, half the inducements were removed. Moreover, it became apparent to the men of Liverpool and Bristol that there were other pursuits in West Africa as profitable as slave trading and far less perilous. The invention and growth of railways had stimulated the search for lubricants. Palm oil in consequence succeeded slaves, gold, and pepper as the attraction to West Africa. The oil in the pericarp of the nuts of Eldis guineensis^ the handsome palm tree of the West African forest region, had been used as a food by the natives from a remote period, but its value only became realised in Europe and America in the twenties and thirties of the nineteenth century, and some of the earliest exportations of palm oil (and later of palm ^ Governor Buchanan writes in his Journal, 1840 : "The space between slave deck and upper deck is only ten inches." This must be a clerical error. 176 VOL, I 54. OIL PALMS (ELAIS GUINEENSIS) J77 12 Liberia -^ kernels, which produce a still more valuable oil) were made from Liberia. The place of the slave traders in the Gallinhas region was taken by traders in palm oil, who were in turn to prove the source of much trouble and anxiety to the little Negro republic. 178 CHAPTER XI GOVERNORS OF LIBERIA IN January, 1836, as related in the last chapter, Thomas Buchanan, a citizen of Philadelphia, a white American, and a cousin of James Buchanan, afterwards President of the United States, came out as an envoy of the Colonisation Societies of New York and Pennsylvania to Monrovia, and amongst other things built the first lighthouse on Cape Mesurado. He went on to Grand Basa, and spent the year 1837 as administrator of the little group of settlements of Edina, Port Cresson, and Basa Cove. In 1B39 he was sent to Monrovia as the first '* Governor " of Liberia under the new constitution, relieving from his post of agent Mr. Anthony D. Williams. From 1838 to 1840 the country at the back of Monrovia was convulsed by constant warfare between the Gora and De tribes, in which the Gora people were eventually victorious, the Des ever since having taken an inferior position and become a dwindling tribe. This warfare was not at first especially directed against the American settlers, though it did considerable damage to their little colonies, and under Williams's timid rule they were powerless to impose peace by force of arms. But when Buchanan took up the reins of government, he resolved to put an end to this disorder, the more so as the chieftain of Boporo had constituted himself the champion of the Gora people, and in his defeat of the Des had glanced aside to attack those Liberians who were settled along the St. Paul's River. These settlers had, 179 Liberia ^ no doubt, assisted the Des to defend themselves. The Boporo chieftain, Gatumba, was the successor of " King " Boatswain or Bosan, who, as already related, had built up a heterogeneous confederacy of peoples in the hilly country round Boporo, Boatswain had been a steady friend of the young Liberian Government, but his successor Gatumba disliked them because of their interference with the slave traffic. Buchanan had been suffering from a violent attack of fever towards the close of 1839 when he heard of Gatumba's advance down the St. Paul's River. He dispatched a message to this chief, warning him that he would be held answerable for any attack on Liberian settlements. Gatumba sent an insulting reply. The destruction of Millsburg decided Buchanan (though still very ill) that the time for energetic action had arrived. He therefore organised a force of three hundred Liberian Militia with several field guns, and appointed a young octoroon trader, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, to command the expedition. Gatumba had a ferocious ally named Gotora, supposed, like many other natives of the interior, to be a professing cannibal. With seven hundred men Gotora attacked the little Liberian mission station of Heddington on the St. Paul's River ; but although Hedding- ton was only inhabited by a handful of American settlers, they were well armed, and offered such a determined resistance that Gotora was killed and his men desisted from attack. Buchanan accompanied the little army which he had placed under General Roberts's command. He resolved to carry the war into the enemy's country, and so the three hundred Liberians marched through the dense forest on Gatumba's stronghold, which is said to have been a walled town about twenty miles from Millsburg. They were obliged to leave their cannons behind, owing to the great difficulty of transporting heavy loads through the forest and occasional swamps. But they made up for the lack of 180 -^ Governors of Liberia artillery by well-directed volleys, which so impressed Gatumba's soldiers that after the first fierce conflict they abandoned their stronghold and chief. The Liberians occupied Gatumba's town for twenty-four hours and then burnt it to the ground. Gatumba became a wanderer, and this determined action 55. A BOPORO MAN VISITING GOVERNMENT HOUSE, MONROVIA acquired for the Liberian Government considerable prestige in the eyes of the natives. A fresh treaty of peace and friendship was made with the chiefs at Boporo ; but although Gatumba had lost all power, the country on both banks of the St. Paul's River remained in an unsettled state for some time, and its agricultural development, which had been proceeding so satis- Liberia ^«- factorily during the 'thirties, received a check from which it took a long time to recover. Writing in May, 1839, Buchanan states that "the right bank of the River St. Paul presents an almost continuous line of cultivated farms." Some of the recent colonists derived from America were not by any means suited to the Liberian life. They were townsmen, and not agriculturists, and it is to be feared that from 1840 onwards nothing like the same propor- tionate advance in Liberian agriculture has been made such as occurred during the 'thirties of the nineteenth century. Buchanan took advantage of the prestige acquired by the Liberian forces in the war against Gatumba^ to conclude treaties of friendship with several native chiefs and bring all his influence to bear in suppressing internecine warfare amongst the tribes, in putting down barbarous customs such as the poison ordeal, and, above all, in attacking the slave trade, which had been again reorganised and had at its command a powerful confederacy of chiefs. Unfortunately, this slave trade was actually (at that period) encouraged and maintained by American ships under the Stars and Stripes. American slaving ships bore off their cargoes of wretched men and women unmolested, because at that period the British Government had not acquired the right to search American vessels, while the United States Government would not (until about 1842) take any measures of its own to stop this traffic. But for the British cruisers, Buchanan must have looked on impotently whilst the vicinity of the Basa settlements and Cape Mount was turned into slave-exporting stations.^ ' -As the result of this war, he himself received the nickname of Big Cannon, a very easy corruption of " Buchanan." ^Writing of the British naval officers, Buclianan says, "Whilst making various complaints against English traders, I cannot forbear placing in distinguished contrast the honourable and gentlemanly conduct of the naval officers of that nation. They invariably manifest a warm interest in the prosperity of the colony, ^nd often lay me under obligations by their kind offers of service." 18? -»i Governors of Liberia But the co-operation of British ships was not without its danger for the independence of Liberia. The palm-oil trade was ousting the commerce in slaves as an inducement for European enterprise on the West Coast of Africa ; and Great Britain at this time, and for many years to come, was the principal purchaser of palm oil, a commodity to which Liverpool and British shipping owe not a little of their development during the last sixty years. Liberia was found to be well endowed with the oil palm, and British traders from Sierra Leone began to settle on the Liberian coast, very anxious to carry their flag with them, and very scornful of a Government conducted by civilised Negroes. In 1840 Buchanan decided to send an agent to England to obtain assurances that English colonisation societies would not encroach on the limits of Liberia. The Liberians viewed with suspicion the motives of the British Anti-Slavery Society even under the direction of philanthropists hke Fowell Buxton. It was thought that under the guise of philanthropy Great Britain would extend her rule eastwards from Sierra Leone until she linked it with the Gold Coast Colony. Americans interested in the future of Liberia at this time urged the United States to purchase the Dutch and Danish settlements on the Gold Coast,^ in the hope that this action might intensify United States' interest in Liberia, which Buchanan was desirous of turning into a regular American colony for American Negroes. In 1840 it was calculated that Liberia (excluding Maryland) had a population of 2,221 American settlers and 30,000 freed slaves or natives who had placed themselves under Lberian government. But the whole colony still remained heavily in debt to the American societies, little attempt having ever been made to raise money by local industry so as to repay to these societies the cost of founding Liberia. Buchanan addressed very I Eventually acquired by Great Britain, Liberia <«- drastic remarks from time to time to the settlers on their want of self-respect, urging them to become self-supporting. When a settlement or township asked for a school, he told them there was nothing simpler than to start such an institution if they would club together amongst themselves for the necessary- money to support it. He himself was rebuked by the American Colonisation Society for the very poor cargoes of agricultural produce which were sent back from Liberia to the United States by the return voyages of the ships that brought out emigrants. Moreover, during his Governorship several of the sailing vessels that kept up communication between Liberia and the mother-country were lost on the coast, and com- munications with America gradually dwindled. Some years later, the first British steamer from Liverpool came out to the West Coast of Africa (the Macgregor Laird)^ and gradually by this means it became easier and quicker to visit Great Britain than to cross the Atlantic to the United States. From this time perhaps (1840) may be dated the gradual turning towards Great Britain on the part of Liberia, which in spite of a few rebuffs and some harsh treatment has till the present time increased gradually into a very strong sympathy between the two countries, aided no doubt by the brotherly relations which have grown up between Liberia and the very similar Negro colony of Sierra Leone. Buchanan was much worried during the last two years of his life by the intrigues and opposition of the Rev. Mr. Seyes, a prominent (? Baptist) missionary. Mr. Seyes appears to have wished to become a sort of religious Dictator or Grand Elector, to control the Government and ignore the American Colonisa- tion Society. Governor Buchanan died at Government House, Basa Cove, on September 3rd, 1841, after an illness lasting about ten days. 184 I -»> Governors of Liberia He had been on a vessel to Marshall, at the mouth of the Junk River, and here had narrowly escaped drowning in the surf, his soaking with sea water being followed by exposure to drenching rain. He returned to Basa very ill with fever, recovered somewhat, and then imprudently left his sick-room to resume business before he was properly convalescent. He was seized with a relapse, and after a tough struggle for life died, to the deep regret of natives and colonists alike along the coast regions of Liberia. After him were named the two principal Liberian settlements at Grand Basa — Upper and Lower Buchanan. He was the last of the white administrators of Liberia. His successor in the Governorship was General Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the first man of colour ^ to rule Liberia. He was a native of Virginia, born in 1809. He came to Liberia as a young man of twenty years old in 1829. Roberts at first was a trader, had seen something of the nearer interior in this capacity, and had developed very friendly relations with several native chiefs. Entering the Liberian Militia, he rose rapidly to a position of command, and was already a " General " in 1839 when he was placed by Buchanan at the head of the troops which delivered such a spirited attack on Gatumba's stronghold. His success in the armed forces marked him out very naturally as the leading man of the colony in succession to Buchanan. Fie took up the reins of office as soon as the news reached Monrovia of Buchanan's death, and was later on confirmed in the position of Governor by the American Colonisation Society. He had not been in office many months when he was • His tinge of Negro blood was but slight. He is generally called an octoroon, and at the age of (say) forty was a slight-built, handsome man with a very English-looking face, brown hair, blonde moustache and grey eyes. As he grew older and stayed longer in Africa he became more sallow in complexion, Liberia «•-' faced with a serious difficulty. Since Louis Philippe had become King of the French, vigorous measures had been taken on the West Coast of Africa by the French Navy against the slave trade, partly from a spirit of genuine philanthropy, and partly because, owing to naval jealousy of England, it was not desired to leave to Great Britain alone the task of policing these waters. Witnessing the success 56. GOVERNOR JOSEPH J. ROBERTS (AFTER- WARDS president). FROM AN OIL PAINTING EXECUTED ABOUT 1849 from a commercial point of view which had attended the establishment of Sierra Leone and other British colonies and depots on the West Coast of Africa (especially since the development of the palm-oil industry), it not unnaturally occurred to the French Government that in this work of suppressing the slave trade it was necessary to have points d'appui on the coasts for their own cruisers, French footholds pn the West African Httoral eastwards of Senegal. Up till 186 -»i Governors of Liberia about 1840 the French possessions on the West Coast of Africa were practically limited to the course of the River Senegal, the Cape Verde Peninsula, and the little island of Goree.^ But after 1 840 France took possession of places on the coast to the south of British Gambia and the north of Sierra Leone. She acquired Grand Bassam and one or two other points on the Ivory Goast, certain claims at Porto Novo, near Lagos, and the mouth of the Gabun River, which was subsequently to develop into her vast Congo possessions. In 1842 she en- deavoured to establish herself on the coast of Liberia by purchasing from the native chiefs (who were ready to sell their countries fifty times over) Cape Mount, the site of Great or Little Dieppe at Basa Cove, Great and Little Butu, and Garawe, on the western borders of the State of Maryland. At Garawe the French flag was hoisted " by Royal authority," and it was asserted that a considerable portion of the Kru coast had been purchased from the natives. Apparently, though there is no clear record of the circumstances. Governor Roberts protested strongly against this overriding (in most cases) of previous Liberian purchases ; but as no immediate attempts were made by the French to follow up these actions on the part of naval commanders by any definite taking of possession, the question dropped for a long time out of view, and the French claims were only revived (more for purposes of negotia- tion than anything else) in 1892. But this action of the French, combined with the increased commercial activity of the British, stirred up Governor Roberts to make fresh efforts to purchase from the natives all the more important sites along the coast of Liberia between Cape Mount and the borders of Maryland. On February 22nd, 1843, Roberts concluded a treaty with King Yoda of the Gora country, 1 Originally Dutch and often occupied by the English, 187 Liberia '^ which enabled Liberian influence to be a good deal extended up the St. Paul's River. In this treaty the Goras pledged themselves to abolish slavery and trial by poison ordeal. In December, 1843, on various dates in 1844, and in 1845, Roberts concluded other and further arrangements, strengthening the position of Liberia on the Junk River, at Grand Basa, at Sino, on the Sanguin, and west of Cape Mount in the direction of the Mano River; so that by 1845 the Liberian Colony could claim something like direct government over the whole coast between the Mafa River on the west and Grand Sesters River on the east, where the territory of Maryland began. ^ Maryland had insisted on maintaining an existence inde- pendent of Liberia proper. Founded in 1831, it numbered about four hundred colonists in 1840. In 1843 i^s coast-line extended for about ten miles west of Cape Palmas, but by the year 1846 treaties with the various petty chiefs of the Kru tribes on either side of Cape Palmas extended the Maryland State from the Liberian frontier at the Grand Sesters River on the west to the River San Pedro, sixty miles east of Cape Palmas. This therefore was a coast-line of about one hundred and twenty miles. In 1892 the French Government suddenly annexed the fifty miles of coast between the San Pedro and the Cavalla River, taking away the hinterland at the same time. Thus the existing county of Maryland is but a fragment of the State which was projected in the 'forties of the nineteenth century. The administrative capital of Maryland was situated at Cape Palmas, and named Harper, after Robert Goodloe Harper of Baltimore, who had been one of the most active members of the American Colonisation Society. The first ' Considerable sums in cash were occasionally paid in these territorial acquisitions, the money being furnished by the American and other Colonisation Societies. 188 MAP 4 Liberia ^ Governor of Maryland was John H. Russwurm,^ an octoroon like Roberts, the contemporary Governor of Liberia, and also a most energetic, capable man. It was agreed between Roberts and Russwurm that Maryland and Liberia should, as it were, make common cause against the outside world, and should as far as possible pursue a common policy, especially in the matter of a Customs tariff, which in the case of both colonies was 57. HARPER (cape PALMAS) AND HOFFMANN RIVER fixed at a uniform import duty of 6 per cent, ad valorem. It was hoped out of this Customs revenue to obtain sufficient funds to meet the cost of administering the colonies and thus to render them independent of monetary support from the various American Colonisation Societies. In 1843 the estimated American Negro population of Liberia • Like Dr. Blyden and President Arthur Barcla}', a native of the West Indies. Russwurm came from the Danish island of St. Thomas. 190 -♦i Governors of Liberia (including Maryland — about 400) was 2,790.^ In the same year there were only six white men (traders) settled on the coast of Liberia, and perhaps one or two more at Cape Palmas in Maryland. In this year it was noted that the north-western part of Liberia was invaded by an increased number of Muhammadan traders coming from the Mandingo countries, and these Mandingos commenced an active propaganda amongst the natives in favour of Muhammadanism. The Vai had already embraced the faith ' The following abstract of census of Liberia down to September, 1843, is taken from The African Repository, and may be of interest at this stage. It does not refer to Maryland. Year. Arrivals. Deaths. Removals. Births (living) * Population 1820 86 15 35 — 36 1821 33 7 8 — 54 1822 37 14 5 3 75 1823 65 15 8 6 120 1824 103 21 8 3 200 1825 66 21 3 6 248 1826 182 ..■ 48 6 3 379 1827 234 29 14 6 .. 576 1828 301 • • 137 24 12 .. 638 1829 147 .. 67 25 20 .. 813 1830 326 1 10 25 20 1,024 1831 .. 165 .. 83 12 30 .. 1,117 1832 .. 655 129 ... 83 13 .. 1.573 1833 • 639 .; 217 122 44 .. 1,917 1834 237 140 31 33 2,016 1835 .. 183 .. 83 32 .. 48 .. 2,132 1.836 . 209 .. 145 13 47 2,230 1837 76 141 6 .. 58 .. 2,217 1838 205 .. 185 12 .. 56 .. 2,281 1839 . 56 - 135 10 55 .. 2,247 1840 115 180 6 40 .. 2,216 1 841 86 ICO 9 .. 78 .. 2,271 1842 229 91 15 35 .. 2,429 1843 19 .. 85 2 29 .. 2,390 To tal 4,454 ... 2,198 ... 514 .. 645 In the same year the Americo-Liberian population of Maryland was estimated at 400. The total of the Americo-Liberians in that year, therefore, may be stated at only about 2,790. * i.e. number of children of each year who were surviving in 1843. 191 Liberia <♦- of Islam more or less, without abandoning their initiation ceremonies and "devil dances," The Goras also began to go over to the Arabian religion, which many of them have adopted at the present time ; and the Des, the great Kpwesi tribe in all its various divisions, and all the Kru peoples remained aloof and attached to the vague fetishistic beliefs which they still profess. On the other hand, at Cape Palmas some slight progress was made in Christianising the Grebo people, and the Rev. J. S. Payne (who died in 1874), commenced in 1843 his somewhat remarkable missionary labours amongst them. The cessation of the slave trade and the remarkable activity of Governors Roberts and Russwurm gave a considerable fillip to commerce on the Liberian coast. The natives began to give up their incessant internecine fighting (originally undertaken to supply the slave market), and brought increasing quantities of palm oil, palm kernels, and ivory to the coast. The definite establishment of a 6 per cent, ad valorem import duty at the Customs Houses of Liberia provoked a crisis in the status of the colony. British merchants who had come to the country to trade scoffed openly at the idea of a Negro Government, and refused to recognise the rights of Governor Roberts or Governor Russwurm to submit their commerce to any tax, or to interfere in any way with their engagement of Kruboys or other more questionable acts still savouring of the slave trade. They therefore set the Liberian authorities at defiance. To deal with these and other problems affecting the continued existence of Liberia, Governor Roberts paid a visit to the United States in 1844, and in the same year an American squadron visited the coast of Liberia. After Roberts returned from America, he concluded an important agreement with the chief Bob Gray, who had long been an ally and friend of 192 -^ Governors of Liberia the American colonists in the Grand Basa district. A treaty with this chief was concluded on April 5th, 1845, which definitely established Liberian authority over the coast between Marshall (Junk River) and the Grand Basa settlements. Later on in 1845, I^oberts further strengthened the rights of the colony over the Sino and Kru coast, and the prestige conferred on him by the visit of the American squadron to some extent tounteracted the shock to the Liberian influence over the latives by an unexpected protest from Sierra Leone against he assertion of sovereign rights. The British merchants were told by the authorities at Sierra ^eone that the Liberian Administration had no right to levy Customs duties anywhere on the Liberian coast, and they were ■ therefore guaranteed against acts of aggression on the part of the unrecognised Government of that country. The first test case was the attempt of the Liberians at Basa Cove to charge harbour and import dues on a British trader settled there who was known as Captain Dring. A naval officer of the West African Squadron, Commander Jones, was sent from Sierra Leone to Monrovia with a letter from the British Government, in which Governor Roberts was plainly told that Great Britain could not recognise the right of " private persons " to con- stitute themselves a Government, and amongst other acts of sovereignty to levy Customs duties. The Liberians later on, in 1845, having seized in the anchorage of Basa a ship known as the Little Ben (belonging to a Captain Davidson of Sierra Leone) for non-payment of harbour dues. Commander Jones arrived on an English gunboat, and sent an armed cutter into the anchorage of Grand Basa, which there seized a vessel, the John SeyeSj belonging to Benson, a Liberian subject. The reason of this action was alleged to be the desire to possess an equivalent for the indemnification of Dring and Davidson; VOL. 1 193 13 Liberia «^ but at the same time it was stated that Benson, the Liberian, was suspected of shipping slaves to America. Nevertheless, the Government of Sierra Leone seems to have invited Governor Roberts to state a case for Liberia which would have the attention of Her Majesty's Government, The Liberians at this time were a prey to great anxiety. Six months had elapsed without direct news from America, and the French were beginning to annex places on the Ivory Coast in addition to their paper claims to Cape Mount, Grand Basa, and points on the Kru coast. The seizure of the "John Seyes^ however, decided the United States Government to ap- proach the British Ministry with the desire for an explanation. The reply was that Great Britain could not recognise the sovereign powers of Liberia, which it regarded as the commercial experiment of a philanthropic society. It was alleged that Captain Dring by residence had prior rights at Basa Cove to those of the Liberian colonists. Lord Aberdeen, then Foreign Minister, wrote to Mr. Everett, the American Ambassador at the Court of St. James, stating that " Her Majesty's naval commanders would afford efficient protection to British trade against improper assumption of power on the part of the Liberian authorities " (referring presumably to the levying of Customs duties and harbour dues). The United States did not follow up their intervention very energetically. Their Minister in Great Britain replied that his country had no intention of " presuming to settle differences arising between Liberian and British subjects, the Liberians being responsible for their own acts." Throughout this correspondence it was plain that the United States had no intention of claiming for Liberia the status of an American colony; in fact, that it was desirous of re- linquishing any responsibility entailed on it by the creation of this Negro settlement. 194 -• Governors of Liberia In January, 1 846, it was resolved by the American Colonisa- tion Society through its Board of Directors that " the time had arrived when it was expedient for the people of the Common- wealth of Liberia to take into their own hands the whole work of self-government, including the management of all their foreign relations." Fortunately for this experiment, the British Government at that time was not anxious to increase its territorial responsi- bilities on the West Coast of Africa, or there is little doubt that had it decided during 1 846 to annex Liberia the United States would not have offered any very determined opposition. But there were as yet no steamships plying between Britain and the West Coast of Africa ; the British Government was in no hurry to act precipitately, and during this fortunate lull Governor Roberts strengthened the hold of his country over the Grain Coast by further purchases from the natives. In this year eighty miles of the Kru coast (and later on the Kru towns of Setra Kru and Grand Sesters) were purchased from the natives. During this year also a determined attack on the slave trade was made, especially in the region of Cape Mount, where Canot was settled, ostensibly as an innocent trader. The British cruisers co-operated whole-heartedly with the actions of Governor Roberts, and seem to have landed the slaves they liberated from the Spanish vessels on the coast of Liberia. Here they were " apprenticed " to Liberian subjects, the adults for seven years and the children till the age of twenty-one, the girls being mostly sent to the mission schools already established. The additional purchases of territory, however, and this apprenticeship system both attracted the unfavourable notice of the British Government. It was alleged with some degree of truth that the forcible apprenticeship of these released slaves 195 Liberia ^ to Liberian settlers was little else than slavery for a term of years under another name, and the British Government resented the activity of Roberts in buying up all the vacant spots on the coast as an attempt to pre-judge the eventual solution of the status of the Liberian colony. With regard to the ap- prenticeship, it is of course the case that where this system 58. OLD MANGO TKEES IN MONROVIA, NEAR ROBERTS'S HOUSE has been abused from 1846 to the present day it has resulted in these released slaves leading a life of servitude under a Christian Liberian which differed in little but dulness and respectabihty from the life he would have led witli a Muhammadan master in the interior. But many of these slaves were worthless people, convicted of crimes in their own land, and in almost all cases it was impossible to repatriate them. Left to themselves 196 -^ Governors of Liberia the)^ would have led a vagrant, useless life which would . have turned them into criminals once more, or have resulted in their being enslaved by the Kruboys or the Mandingos. On the whole, the apprenticeship resulted in no great abuse, and many of these apprenticed Negroes settled down eventually in the status of Liberians. 59. BANDASUMA OX THE RIVER SULIMA (President Roberts strove to include the Lower Sulima River Vfithin Liberian boundaries It now only bounds Liberia on the north-west) 197 CHAPTER XII IND EPENDE N CE AFTER the communication from the American Colonisa- tion Society in January, 1 846, Governor Roberts decided that the only way of saving the special character of the Liberian colony was to declare it to be an independent Negro republic. He obtained the assent of the mother societv to this proposition. It was then submitted to a council of Liberians, and voted for by a large majority on October 7th, 1846. Nearly all the local opposition to this scheme came, curiously enough, from the people in Grand Basa. The news of this decision was not received by the British Government with any disfavour ; on the contrary, it seems to have been intimated that, provided Liberia constituted itself a definite State with definite responsibilities, it would receive full recognition from the British Government. Through the spring and early summer of 1847 the Liberians continued to discuss the question of independence. On May i8th an ordinance for administering justice in the State of Maryland was passed, and preparation was made to declare Maryland an independent State simultaneously with Liberia.^ July 8th, i 847, was declared a day of public thanksgiving in Liberia, to mark the conclusion of the efforts which had been made to draw up the terms of the ^ No recognition was afforded by foreign Powers to the independent status of Maryland. It seems to have been reahsed that its fusion with Liberia was an inevitable and a desirable event. 198 I ^ Independence Declaration of Independence and the future constitution of the Liberian Republic. On July 26th a solemn Declaration of Independence on the part of the Liberian nation was made in Convention. Roberts seems to have been absent from Monrovia at the time ; Samuel Benedict, the Chief Justice of Liberia, was elected President of the Convention which made this declaration. The other members were H. Teage, General Elijah Johnson, J. N. Lewis, Beverly Wilson, and J. B. Gripon (representatives of the Montserrado County); John Day, Amos Herring, A. W. Gardner, Ephraim Titler (representatives from Grand Basa) ; and R. E. Murray, representative from Sino. Mr. Jacob W. Prout was the Secretary of the Convention. The Constitution was adopted by a unanimous vote, and as it is still the Constitution ot the Liberian Republic, it may be here given together with the text of the preliminary declaration : IN CONVENTION— DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE We, the representatives of the people of the commonwealth of Liberia, in co"nvention assembled, invested with the authority of forming a new Government, relying upon the aid and protection of the Great Arbiter of human events, do hereby in the name and on behalf of the people of this commonwealth, publish and declare the said commonwealth a free, sovereign, and independent State, by the name and title of the Republic of Liberia. While announcing to the nations of the world the new position which the people of this republic have felt themselves called upon to assume, courtesy to their opinion seems to demand a brief accompanying statement of the causes which induced them, first to expatriate themselves from the land of their nativity and to form settlements on this barbarous coast, and now to organise their Government by the assumption of a sovereign and independent character. Therefore, we respectfully ask their attention to the following facts : ^99 Liberia ^ We recognise in all men certain inalienable rights ; among these are life, liberty, and the right to acquire, possess, enjoy, and defend property. By the practice and consent of men in all ages, some system or form of government is proven to be necessary to exercise, enjoy, and secure these rights, and every people has a right to institute a government, and to choose and adopt that system, or form of it, which in their opinion will most effectually accomplish these objects, and secure their happiness, which does not inter- fere with the just rights of others. The right, therefore, to institute government and powers necessary to conduct it is an inalienable right and cannot be resisted without the grossest injustice. We, the people of the Republic of Liberia, were originally inhabitants of the United States of North America. In some parts of that country we were debarred by law from all rights and privileges of man — in other parts, public sentiment, more powerful than law, frowned us down. We were everywhere shut out from all civil office. We were excluded from all participation in the Government. We were taxed without our consent. We were compelled to contribute to the resources of a country which gave us no protection. We were made a separate and distinct class, and against us every avenue of improvement was effectually closed. Strangers from other lands, of a colour different from ours, were preferred before us. We uttered our complaints, but they were unattended to, or only met by alleging the peculiar institutions of the country. All hope of a favourable change in our country was thus wholly extinguished in our bosoms, and we looked with anxiety for some asylum from the deep degradation. The western coast of Africa was the place selected by American benevolence and philanthropy for our future home. Removed beyond those influences which oppressed us in our native land, it was hoped we would be enabled to enjoy those rights and privileges and exercise and improve those faculties which the God of nature has given us in common with the rest of mankind. Under the auspices of the American Colonisation Society, we established ourselves here, on land acquired by purchase from the lords of the soil. 200 -^ Independence In an original compact with this Society, we, for important reasons, delegated to it certain political powers ; while this institu- tion stipulated that whenever the people should become capable of conducting the government, or whenever the people should desire it, this institution would resign the delegated power, peacefully withdraw its supervision, and leave the people to the government of themselves. Under the auspices and guidance of this institution, which has nobly and in perfect faith redeemed its pledges to the people, we have grown and prospered. From time to time our number has been increased by immi- gration from America, and by accession from native tribes ; and from time to time, as circumstances required it, we have extended our borders by the acquisition of land by honourable purchase from the natives of the country. As our territory has extended and our population increased, our commerce has also increased. The flags of most civilised nations of the earth float in our harbours, and their merchants are opening an honourable and profitable trade. Until recently, these visits have been of a uniformly harmonious character ; but as they have become more frequent and to more numerous points of our ex- tending coast, questions have arisen which, it is supposed, can be adjusted only by agreement between sovereign Powers. For years past, the American Colonisation Society has virtually withdrawn from all direct and active part in the administration of the Government, except in the appointment of the Governor, who is also a colonist, for the apparent purpose of testing the ability of the people to conduct the affairs of government, and no complaint of crude legislation, nor of mismanagement, nor of maladministration has yet been heard. In view of these facts, this institution, the American Colonisa- tion Society, with that good faith which has uniformly marked all its dealings with us, did, by a set of resolutions in January, in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-six, dissolve all political connection with the people of this republic, returned the power with which it was delegated, and left the people to the government of themselves. The people of the Republic of Liberia, then, are of right, and in fact, a free, sovereign, and independent State, possessed of all the rights, powers, and functions of government, 30I Liberia <^ In assuming the momentous responsibilities of the position they have taken, the people of this republic feel justified by the necessities of the case, and with this conviction they throw them- selves with confidence upon the candid consideration of the civilised world. Liberia is not the offspring of grasping ambition, nor the tool of avaricious speculation. No desire for territorial aggrandisement brought us to these shores ; nor do we believe so sordid a motive entered into the high consideration of those who aided us in providing this asylum. Liberia is an asylum from the most grinding oppression. In coming to the shores of Africa, we indulged the pleasing hope that we would be permitted to exercise and improve those faculties which impart to man his dignity ; to nourish in our hearts the flame of honourable ambition ; to cherish and indulge those aspirations which a beneficent Creator had implanted in every human heart, and to evince to all who despise, ridicule, and oppress our race that we possess with them a common nature ; are with them susceptible of equal refinement, and capable of equal advancement in all that adorns and dignifies man. We were animated by the hope that here we should be at liberty to train up our children in the way that they should go ; to inspire them with the love of an honourable fame ; to kindle within them the flame of a lofty philanthropy, and to form strongly within them the principles of humanity, virtue, and religion. Among the strongest motives to leave our native land — to abandon for ever the scenes of our childhood and to sever the most endeared connections — was the desire for a retreat where, free from the agitations of fear and molestation, we could approach in worship the God of our fathers. Thus far our highest hopes have been realised. Liberia is already the happy home of thousands who were once the doomed victims of oppression ; and if left unmolested to go on with her natural and spontaneous growth, if her movements be left free from the paralysing intrigues of jealous ambition and un- scrupulous avarice, she will throw open a wider and yet a wider door for thousands who are now looking with an anxious eye for some land of rest. Our courts of justice are open equally to t'he stranger and the 203 -♦> Independence citizen for the redress of grievances, for the remedy of injuries, and for the punishment of crime. Our numerous and well-attended schools attest our efforts and our desire for the improvement of our children. Our churches for the worship of our Creator, everywhere to be seen, bear testimony to our acknowledgment of His providence. The native African, bowing down with us before the altar of the living God, declares that from us, feeble as we are, the light of Christianity has gone forth, while upon that curse of curses, the slave trade, a deadly blight has fallen, as far as our influence extends. Therefore, in the name of humanity, and virtue, and religion, in the name of the great God, our common Creator, we appeal to the nations of Christendom, and earnestly and respectfully ask of them that they will regard us with the sympathy and friendly considerations to which the peculiarities of our condition entitle us, and to extend to us that comity which marks the friendly inter- course of civilised and independent communities. CONSTITUTION Article I. Declaration of Rights The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government is to secure the existence of the body politic ; to protect it, and to furnish the individuals who compose it with the power of enjoying in safety and tranquillity their natural rights, and the blessings of life ; and whenever these great objects are not obtained, the people have a right to alter the government, and to take measures necessary for their safety, prosperity, and happiness. Therefore we, the people of the commonwealth of Liberia in Africa, acknowledging with devout gratitude the goodness of God in granting to us the blessings of the Christian religion, and political, religious, and civil liberty, do, in order to secure these blessings for ourselves and our posterity, 263 Liberia ^ hereby solemnly associate and constitute ourselves a free, sovereign, and independent State, by the name of the Republic of Liberia, and do ordain and establish this Constitution for the government of the same. Section i. All men are born equally free and independent and have certain natural, inherent, and inalienable rights, among which are the rights of enjoying and defending life and liberty, of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property, and of pursuing and obtaining safety and happiness. Section 2. AH power is inherent in the people ; all free governments are instituted by their authority and for their benefit, and they have a right to alter and reform the same when their safety and happiness require it. Section 3. All men have a natural and inalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of their own con- sciences, without obstruction or molestation from others : all persons demeaning themselves peaceably, and not obstructing others in their religious worship are entitled to the protection of the law in the free exercise of their own religion, and no sect of Christians shall have exclusive privileges or preference over any other sect, but all shall be alike tolerated, and no religious test whatever shall be required as a qualification for civil office or the exercise of any civil right. Section 4. There shall be no slavery within this republic ; nor shall any person resident therein deal in slaves either within or without this republic. Section 5. The people have a right at all times, in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble and consult upon the common good, to instruct their representatives, and to petition the Government or any public functionaries for the redress of grievances. Section 6, Every person injured shall have remedy 204 -♦) Independence therefor by due course of law ; justice shall be done without denial or delay ; and in all cases not arising under martial law, or upon impeachment, the parties shall have a right to a trial by jury, and to be heard in person, or by counsel, or both. Section 7. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or infamous crime, except in cases of impeachment, cases arising in the army and navy, and petty offences, unless upon presentment by a grand jury, and every person criminally charged shall have a right to be seasonably furnished with a copy of the charge, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, and have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour ; to have a speedy, public, and impartial trial by a jury of the vicinity. He shall not be compelled to furnish or give evidence against himself; and no person shall for the same offence be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb. Section 8. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, property, or privilege, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land. Section 9. No place shall be searched nor person seized on a criminal charge or suspicion unless by warrant lawfully issued, upon probable cause supported by oath or solemn affirmation, specially designating the place or person, and the object of the search. Section 10. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed nor excessive punishments inflicted ; nor shall the legislature make any law impairing the obligation of contracts ; nor any law rendering any act punishable in any manner in which it was not punishable when it was committed. Section 1 1 . All elections shall be by ballot, and every male citizen of twenty-one years of age, possessing real estate, shall have the right of suffrage. 205 Liberia ^ Section 12. The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the common defence. And as, in time of peace, armies are dangerous to Uberty, they ought not to be maintained without the consent of the legislature, and the military power shall always be held in exact subordination to the civil authority, and be governed by it. Section 13. Private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. Section 14. The powers of this Government shall be divided into three distinct departments — the Legislature, Executive, and Judicial ; and no person belonging to one of these departments shall exercise any of the powers belonging to others. This section is not to be construed to include justices of the peace. Section 15. The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state ; it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this republic. The press shall be free to every person who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the legislature, or any branch of the Government ; and no law shall ever be made to restrain the rights thereof. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man, and every citizen may freely speak, write, and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. In prosecutions for the publication of papers investigating the official conduct of officers or men in a public capacity, or where the matter published is proper for public information, the truth thereof may be given in evidence. And in all indictments for hbels, the jury shall have a right to determine the law and the facts, under the direction of the Court, as in other cases. Section 16. No subsidy, charge, impost, or duties ought to be established or levied under any pretext whatsoever, without 206 -•s Independence the consent of the people or their representatives in the legislature. Section 17. Suits may be brought against the republic in such manner, and in such cases, as the legislature may by law direct. Section 18. No person can in any case be subjected to the law martial, or to any penalties or pains, by virtue of that law (except those employed in the army or navy and the militia in actual service) but by the authority of the legislature. Section 19. In order to prevent those who are vested with authority from becoming oppressors, the people have a right at such periods, and in such manner as they shall establish by their frame of government, to cause their public officers to return to private life, and fill up vacant places by regular elections and appointments. Section 20. That all prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offences, when the proof is evident or presumption great ; and the privilege and benefit of the writ habeas corpus shall be enjoyed in this republic, in the most free, easy, cheap, expeditious, and ample manner, and shall not be suspended by the legislature except upon the most urgent and pressing occasions, and for a limited time, not exceeding twelve months. Article II. Legislative Powers Section i. The legislative power shall be vested in a legislature of Liberia and consist of two separate branches — a House of Representatives and a Senate, to be styled the Legislature of Liberia — each of which shall have a negative on the other ; and the enacting style of their acts and laws shall be " It is enacted by the Senate and House of 207 Liberia <^ Representatives of the Republic of Liberia in legislature assembled." Section i. The representatives shall be elected by and for the inhabitants of the several counties of Liberia, and shall be apportioned among the several counties of Liberia as follows. The county of Montserrado shall have four representatives, the county of Grand Bassa shall have three, and the county of Sino shall have one, and all counties thereafter which shall be admitted in the repuMic shall have one representative, and for every ten thousand inhabitants one representative shall be added. No person shall be a representative who has not resided in the county two whole years previous to his election, and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the county, and does not own real estate of less value than one hundred and fifty dollars in the county in which he resides, and who shall not have attained the age of twenty- three years. The representatives shall be elected biennially, and shall serve two years from the time of their election. Section 3. When a vacancy occurs in the representation of any county by death, resignation, or otherwise, it shall be filled by a new election. Section 4. The House of Representatives shall elect their own Speaker and other officers ; they shall also have the sole power of impeachment. Section 5, The Senate shall consist of two members from Montserrado county, two from Bassa county, and two from Sino county, and two from each county which may be hereafter incorporated in this republic. No person shall be a senator who shall not have resided three whole years immediately previous to his election in the republic of Liberia and who shall not, when elected, be an inhabitant of the county which he represents, and who shall not have attained the age of 208 ^ Independence twenty-five years. The senator for each county who shall have the highest number of votes shall retain his seat for four years, and the one who shall have the next highest number of votes, two years, and all who are afterwards elected to fill their places shall remain in office four years. Section 6. The Senate shall try all impeachments ; the senators being first sworn, or solemnly affirmed, to try the same impartially, and according to law, and no person shall be convicted but by the concurrence of two-thirds of the senators present. Judgment in such cases shall not extend beyond removal from office, and disqualification to hold an office in the republic, but the party may still be tried at law for the same offence. When either the President or Vice-President is to be tried, the Chief Justice shall preside. Section 7. It shall be the duty of the legislature as soon as conveniently may be after the adoption of this Constitution, and once at least in every ten years afterwards, to cause a true census to be taken of each town and county of the republic of Liberia, and a representative shall be allowed every town having a population of ten thousand inhabitants, and for every additional ten thousand in the counties after the first census one representative shall be added to that county until the number of representatives shall amount to thirty — afterwards one representative shall be added for every thirty thousand. Section 8. Each branch of the legislature shall be judge of the election returns and qualifications of its own members. A majority of each shall be necessary to transact business, but a less number may adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members. Each House may adopt its own rules of proceeding, enforce order, and with the concurrence of two-thirds may expel a member. VOL. I 209 14 Liberia ^ Section 9. Neither House shall adjourn for more than two days without the consent of the other ; and both Houses shall sit in the same town. Section 10. Every bill or resolution which shall have passed both branches of the legislature, shall, before it becomes a law, be laid before the President for his approval. If he approves he shall sign it ; if not, he shall return it to the legislature with his objections. If the legislature shall afterwards pass the vote or resolution by a vote of two-thirds, in each branch, it shall become law. I the President shall neglect to return such bill or resolution to the legislature with his objection for five days after the same shall have been so laid before him — the legislature remaining in session during that time — such neglect shall be equivalent to his signature. Section 11. The senators and representatives shall receive from the republic a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law ; and shall be privileged from arrest, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace, while attending at, going to, or returning from the session of the legislature. Article III. Executive Power Section 1. The supreme executive power shall be vested in a President, who shall be elected by the people, and shall hold his office for the term of two years. He shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy. He shall, in the recess of the Legislature, have power to call out the militia into actual service in defence of the republic. He shall have power to make treaties, provided the Senate concur therein by a vote of two-thirds of the senators present. He shall nominate, and, with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint and commission all ambassadors, and other public ministers and consuls, secretaries of state, of war, of the navy, and of the -^ Independence treasury ; attorney-general, all judges of courts, sheriffs, coroners, marshals, justices of peace, clerks of courts, registrars, notaries public, and all other officers of state, civil and military, whose appointment may not be otherwise provided for by the Constitu- tion, or by standing laws ; and, in the recess of the Senate, he may fill any vacancy in those offices, until the next session of the Senate. He shall receive all ambassadors and other public ministers. He shall take care that the laws be faithfully- executed. He shall inform the legislature of the condition of the repubHc and recommend any public measures for their adoption which he may think expedient. He may, after con- viction, remit any public forfeitures and penalties, and grant reprieves and pardons for public offences, except in cases of impeachment. He may require information and advice from any public officer, touching matters pertaining to his office. He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the legislature, and may adjourn the two Houses whenever they cannot agree as to the time of adjournment. Section 2. There shall be a Vice-President, who shall be elected in the same manner and for the same term as that of the President, and whose qualifications shall be the same ; he shall be president of the Senate, and give the casting vote when the House is equally divided on any subject. And in case of the removal of the President from office, or his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice-President, and the legislature may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation, or inability both of the President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act as president, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a President shall be elected. Section 3. The secretary of state shall keep the records of 211 Liberia <*- the State, and all the records and papers of the legislative body and all other public records and documents, not belongnig to any other department, and shall lay the same, when required, before the President or legislature. He shall attend upon them when required, and perform such other duties as may be enjoined by law. Section 4. The secretary of the treasury, or other person who may by law be charged with the custody of the public moneys, shall, before he receive such moneys, give bonds to the State, with sufficient sureties for the faithful discharge of his trust. He shall exhibit a true account of such moneys when required by the President or legislature ; and no moneys shall be drawn from the treasury but by warrant from the President, in consequence of appropriation made by Jaw. Section 5. All ambassadors and other public ministers and consuls, the secretary of state of war, of the treasury, and of the navy, the attorney-general, and postmaster-general, shall hold their offices during the pleasure of the President. All justices of the peace, sheriffs, marshals, clerks of courts, registrars, and notaries public shall hold their office for the term of two years from the date of their respective commissions ; but may be removed from office within that time by the President, at his pleasure ; and all other officers whose term of office may not be otherwise limited by law shall hold their office during the pleasure of the President. Section 6. Every civil officer may be removed from office by impeachment, for official misconduct. Every such officer may also be removed by the President, upon the address of both branches of the legislature, stating the particular reasons for his removal. Section 7. No person shall be eligible to the office of President who has not been a citizen of this republic for at 212 ^ Independence least five years, and shall not have attained the age of thirty- five years ; and who shall not be possessed of unencumbered real estate of not less value than six hundred dollars. Section 8. The President shall at stated times receive for his services a compensation which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected ; and before he enters on the execution of his office he shall take the following oath of affirmation : I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the Republic of Liberia, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution and enforce the laws of the Republic of Liberia. Article IV, Judicial Department Section i. The judicial power of this republic shall be vested in one supreme court, and such subordinate courts as the legislature may from time to time establish. The judges of the supreme court and all other judges of courts shall hold their office during good behaviour, but may be removed by the President on the address of two-thirds of both Houses for that purpose or by impeachment or conviction thereon. The judges shall have salaries established by law, which may be increased but not diminished during their continuance of office. They shall not receive any other perquisite or emoluments whatever on account of any duty required of them. Section 2. The supreme court shall have original jurisdic- tion in all cases affecting ambassadors or other public ministers and consuls, and those to which the republic shall be a party. In all other cases, the supreme court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, and with such exceptions and under such regulations as the legislature shall from time to time make. 313 Liberia "^ Article V. Miscellaneous Provisions Section i. All laws now in force in the commonwealth of Liberia, and not repugnant to this Constitution, shall be in force as the laws of the Republic of Liberia, until they shall be repealed by the legislature. Section 2. All judges, magistrates, and other officers now concerned in the administration of justice in the commonwealth of Liberia, and all other existing civil and military officers therein, shall continue to discharge their respective offices in the name and by the authority of the repubhc, until others shall be appointed and commissioned in their stead. Section 3. All towns and municipal corporations within this republic shall retain their existing organisation and privileges, and the respective officers thereof shall remain in office and act under the authority of this republic. Section 4. The first election of President, Vice-President, Senators, and representatives shall be held on the first Tuesday in October in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and forty- seven in the same manner as elections of members of the Council are chosen in the commonwealth of Liberia, and the votes shall be certified and returned to the Colonial Secretary, and the result of the election shall be posted and notified by him as it is now by law provided in cases of such members of Council. Section 5. All other elections of President, Vice-President, senators, and representatives shall be held in the respective towns on the first Tuesday in May, in every two years, to be held and regulated in such manner as the legislature may by law prescribe. The returns of votes shall be made to the Secretary of State, who shall open the same and forthwith issue notice of election to the persons apparently so elected senators and representatives ; and all such returns shall be by him laid before the legislature 214 -^ Indepoideiice 'es^£nateand House rf Rcprcsentadvcs. Hie votes for Pfcadent dball be sorted, counted, and dedared bj the House of RcftresentathrcSu And if no person didl appear to have a uujoiity of sodi votcs^ file scnaiois and rcpcesentatives shall in convention, by joint baHoC, dect fiom anvM^ the pcisous havii^ the three i^^iest nmnber of votes a person to act as President lor the ensmag term. Section 6. The IcgbljUuc duD assemble at least once in every jcar, and sodi meetii^ diaU be on die first yLaadacf in January, unless a diflfeient day shall be appointed by hnr. Section 7. Every legislator and other officer appointed under tins Constitution dull, bcfofc he enters upon the duties of his office, take and subsciibe a solemn oath or affirmation to suppoit the Constituticm of this repufafic and impaitiaDy discharge the duties of sudi office. The piraAng officer oi the Senate shall ailmiMwJifi such ooth or affii iiulinn to the Resident, in convention of both Houses ; and the President shall ailministrr the same to the Vice-President, senatois, and rqxcsentatives in convention. Other officers may take sndi oath or affirmation befofc the President, dnef justice, or any other person who may be designated by law. Secdon 8. AH dections of pubfic officers dull be made by a m^ority of die votes, czcept in cases odierwise regidated by the Constitudon or by law. Section 9. Offices created by thb Constitution w^nch the drcumstuiccs of die rqiufafic do not leqime that they shall be filled, shaD not be filled until the IcgidalHic shall deem it necessary. Section 10. The piopcity of which a woman may be pos- sessed at the time of her matii^y^ and also that of winch she ai5 Liberia <«- may afterwards become possessed, otherwise than by her husband, shall not be held responsible for his debts, whether contracted before or after marriage. Nor shall the property thus intended to be secured to the woman be alienated otherwise than by her voluntary consent. Section ii. In all cases in which estates are insolvent, the widow shall be entitled to one-third of the real estate during her natural life, and to one-third of the personal estate which she shall hold in her own right, subject to alienation by her, devise or otherwise. Section 12. No person shall be entitled to hold real estate in this republic unless he be a citizen of the same. Neverthe- less, this article shall not be construed to apply to colonisation, missionary, educational, or other benevolent institutions, so long as the property or estate is applied to its legitimate purposes. Section 13. The great object of forming these colonies being to provide a home for the dispersed and oppressed children of Africa, none but persons of colour shall be admitted to citizenship in this republic. Section 14. The purchase of any land by any citizen or citizens from the aborigines of this country, for his or their own use, or for the benefit of others, as estate or estates in fee simple, shall be considered null and void to all intents and purposes. Section 15. The improvement of the native tribes and their advancement in the arts of agriculture and husbandry being a cherished object of this government, it shall be the duty of the President to appoint in each county some discreet person whose duty it shall be to make regular and periodical tours through the county for the purpose of calling the attention of the natives to these wholesome branches of industry, and of instructing them in the same, and the legislature shall, as 2l6 Independence I soon as can conveniently be done, make provision for these purposes by the appropriation of money. Section i6. The existing regulations of the American Colonisation Society in the commonwealth relative to emigrants shall remain the same in the republic : nevertheless, the legislature shall make no law prohibiting emigration. Section 17. This Constitution may be altered whenever two- thirds of both branches of the legislature shall deem it necessary ; in which case the alterations and amendments shall first be considered and approved by the legislature by the concurrence of two-thirds of the members of each branch, atid afterwards by them submitted to the people, and adopted by two- thirds of all the electors at the next biennial meeting for the election of senators and representatives. Done in convention at Monrovia, in the county of Montserrado, by the unanimous consent of the people of the commonwealth of Liberia this twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-seven and of the republic the first. Li witness whereof we have hereto set our names. S. Benedict, PresidenT J. N. Lewis, H. Teage, Montserrado Beverly R. Wilson, | County Elijah Johnson, J. B. Gripon, John Day, A. W. Gardner, Grand "Basa Amos Herring, County Ephraim Titler,, R. E. Murray, County of Sim. J. W, Vko\jt, Secretary of Convention, 317 Liberia ^ Flag and Seal of the Republic of Liberia The following flag and seal were adopted by the convention, as the insignia of the Republic of Liberia, and ordered to be employed to mark its nationality. Flag : Six red stripes with five white stripes alternately displayed longitudinally. In the upper angle of the flag, next to the spear, a square blue ground, covering in depth live stripes. In the centre of the blue, one white star. Seal : A dove on the wing, with an open scroll in its claws. A view of the ocean, with a ship under sail, the sun just emerging from the waters. A palm-tree, and at its base a plough and spade. Beneath the emblems, the words Republic of Liberia ; and above the emblems the national motto, 'The love of liberty brought us here. By order of the convention, S. Benedict, President. The foregoing Constitution,^ modelled a good deal on that of the United States, was a sound piece of work expressed in clear language and without the verboseness and oratorical flourishes of the preliminary Declaration of Independence. It contains, so far as I know, only one really inconvenient and unworkable proposition : the President, House of Repre- sentatives, and half the Senators are to be elected ■ for a term of two years only. This means that every other year the little republic is convulsed by political agitation, while neither Executive nor Congress can initiate new legislation and set it going efficiently without the paralysing check of a more or 1 Which still remains in force unaltered, though Dr. E. W. BIyden and some others attempted in 1864 to effect slight changes. In 1906 a movement has been started to alter the constitution in a few particulars. - On the first Tuesday in May every " odd " year, to take office on January ist following, 2l8 The Shield, Emblems and Motto of Liberia, as established in 1847 -^ Independence less immediate appeal to the people. The electors are thus often called upon to pronounce a verdict on new measures which have had no fair trial. The term of office of Executive and people's representatives alike should be enlarged to four years, the term of the senators perhaps to eight. The franchise is to be exercised (apparently only in towns) by " every male citizen of twenty-one years possessing real estate." The Constitution did not define the relations which were to exist between the (American) colonists and the indigenous Negroes. The real natives of Liberia, indeed, are only alluded to in Section 15 of Article V.^ No doubt for some time to come the position of native " kings " and chiefs must continue to be recognised, but as the component parts of the repubHc are welded together the Constitution will have to be enlarged so as to admit of a reasonable extension of the franchise to all Africans who are Liberian citizens, and who acknowledge the central Government at Monrovia. The flag which was adopted under the Constitution for the Republic of Liberia was copied from the flag of the United States. The United States of America had dis- played no originality in selecting its own national colours. It had copied without reflection the red, white, and blue of Great Britain,^ Without consideration, therefore, the new State of Liberia adopted the colours of the United States and a modification of the same design — alternate red and white stripes, with a white star on a blue ground in the left- hand corner. No combination of colours has been done to death in the same way amongst the nations of the world as red, white, ' And in Section 14 of the same article, wherein the natives' right to their own land is somewhat obscurely safeguarded. " Our own colours being derived from the red and white of England and Scotland combined with the blue and white of Ireland (St. Patrick's colours), 219 Liberia ^ and blue. Holland was apparently the first to start this arrange- ment, Great Britain followed suit in the reign of Queen Anne, then the United States, France, Russia, half a dozen South American republics and the kingdom of Servia. If those who directed the shaping of Liberia had given a little thought and attention to this important symbolism, they would certainly not have chosen a combination of colours which has no reference whatever to the characteristics of the Liberian Republic. If ever Liberia decides to make a change in her Constitution (of which the flag design is a part), the present writer respectfully recommends for adoption a design like the one of which he gives an example. In this the stripes would be black and golden yellow, with one white stripe in the middle, and in the left-hand corner a white star on a green ground. Instead of the spear-head of the flag-staff, the writer would suggest a white cross with an olive branch, indicative of Christianity and peace. The predominating black would of course represent the pre- dominating Negro type in the State ; the yellow would represent those African races which have mingled anciently with the Caucasian — Mandingos and Fulas — who are, and may be still more in the future, inhabitants of the interior highlands. The one white line across the flag would be the recognition on the part of Liberia that she owes her existence to the impulse of White America, and perhaps also to occasional acts of kindly help from Great Britain and France, that the Black Republic on the West coast of Africa by no means excludes White enterprise or energy from its territories, just as it may aspire at a future day to see its citizens trading without fear or favour in the white countries of the world. Green must be the special colour of Liberia, as representing the forest land far excellence of all Africa, the most densely forested State in the African common- wealth. In these rich forests, nevertheless, will shine (the 32Q ttHE FLAG OF; TO-DAY OlHE. XLAGr OFTOMORROWrl The Flag of Liberia. -♦> Independence author hopes) the white star of the black man's growing civilisation. With like presumption, he would venture to suggest when a day of prosperity justifies any development of the work of 1847, the substitution of a different design from that which is laid down as the seal or emblem of the Liberian Republic. The illustration opposite p. 220 has been drawn by the author from that which is usually circulated as the design of the Liberian seal. (As a matter of fact, it differs slightly from the verbal description given in the Constitution, which says, " A dove on the wing, with an open scroll in its claws." As it is apparently difficult to render the open scroll in this position, the dove is usually represented as carrying a document in its beak. The reason of this symbolism is not given us by the founders of the Constitution, but it is apparently intended to typify the dispatch from the United States of the American Colonisation Societies' renunciation of their rights and consent to the proclamation of Liberian independence. In most versions of the Liberian seal — though it is not mentioned in the aforesaid definition — the promontory of Mesurado appears with its light- house.) None of the emblems in this seal are particularly ap- plicable to Liberia. Ships under full sail have long been out of date as a means of communication between Liberia and the outer world, and the plough is nowhere employed in Liberia, it being very doubtful whether much use could be made of it in ground that is better tilled by the African hoe. If any change is made in the flag and the colours of the Republic, the writer of this book would venture to recommend a similar change in the design of the seal, and he has been bold enough to append a painting as a suggestion for a new design. In this the real national colours of Liberia are once more embodied, (black, yellow, white and green), and on the shield are depicted 221 Liberia ^ representations of the three principal types — Christian Negro, Muhammadan Mandingo and Fula — that may go to the making of this African State. A somewhat similar Constitution was drawn up at Harper in the same year for the Maryland State, which continued under its own Governor. When this State was annexed (at its own desire) in 1857, it was allowed to send three members to the 60. EXECUTIVE MANSION, MONROVIA: THE OFFICIAL RESIDENCE OF THE PRESIDENTS Lower House, and was represented by two senators in the Liberian Senate. At the same time the number of repre- sentatives for Sino was raised equally to two in the Upper and three in the Lower House. The proceedings in this eventful year, 1847, were closed by the solemn hoisting of the new flag of the republic on August 24th, and the British Government, apparently kept 222 The Shield and Emblem of Liberia as they might be -»i Independence Informed of all these proceedings, sent a man-of-war to Monrovia and there saluted with twenty-one guns the Liberian flag, as a sign that Great Britain recognised the new African republic as a sovereign State. On the first Tuesday in October, 1847, Joseph Jenkins Roberts was elected first President of the republic. Until then he remained " Governor " of the colony. On January 3rd, 1848, he was installed as President. 223 CHAPTER XIII PRE SI DEN T R OBER TS 1847— 1856 PRESIDENT ROBERTS paid his first visit to Europe in 1847/ He concluded with the British Government (whom he describes as " exceedingly kind ") a treaty of amity and commerce which placed the Liberian Republic on the footing of the most favoured nation. This treaty was ratified by the Liberian Senate on February 26th, 1849. ^^ acknowledged the right of Liberians to levy duties and of the British to reside where they pleased in Liberia ; but their ships might not enter certain specified ports of entry to search for slavers except by the permission of the Liberian authorities. The treaty was signed by Viscount Palmerston and the Right Hon. Henry Labouchere." 1 He uas accompanied on this and subsequent journeys by Mrs. Roberts. This lady, born in 181 8 (she was the daughter of a Baptist minister named Waring), came to Liberia with her parents in 1824 Her father ministered to the colonists. He and his wife were octoroons. Roberts lost bis first wife before he left America He married Miss Waring at Monrovia in 1836. This wonderful old lady still lives (in full possession of her faculties) in a quiet street off Battersea Park. She visited most of the European courts with her husband in the middle of the nineteenth century, knew Napoleon HI. as " Prince-President," saw King Edward VII. as a little boy, lived in Liberia for over seventy years, and is the only survivor of the early immigrants. ^ The last named was then Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. He was afterwards Lord Taunton, and was the uncle of the better-known Henry Labouchere, the proprietor of Truth. 224 6l. MRS. JANK ROBERTS (WIDOW OF I'KI-ISIDKNT K0H1;KT.S). PORTRAIT TAKEN IN I9O5 VOL. I 225 15 Liberia <^ President Roberts went on from England to France and Belgium, in which latter country he received a most cordial welcome from Leopold I. He then proceeded to Holland and to Berlin, where the Government of Prussia formally recognised the existence of the Liberian Republic, its recognition following closely on that of England and France. Upon Roberts's return to England, the Ambassador of Prussia, the Chevalier de Bunsen, gave a dinner in his honour. At this dinner were present, amongst others, Lord Ashley (afterwards the great Earl of Shaftesbury), the Rev. Ralph Randolph Gurley (the biographer of Ashmun and one of the most prominent American promoters of Liberia), and the Bishop of London (Blomfield). The Bishop asked permission to take notes of Roberts's conversation, and the President described amongst other matters the shocking condition of the Gallinhas country on the western frontiers of the little republic, due to the ravages of the Cuban slave traders — Pedro Blanco and his associates. Roberts went on to say that the only way in his eyes finally to suppress the slave trade in this region would be to purchase the sovereign rights of the countries between Sherbro Island and Cape Mount from the native chiefs, and then resolutely exert the authority of Liberia to put an end to the slave trade. The Bishop of London inquired as to the sum necessary for the acquisition of these rights, and Roberts placed it at ^^ 2,000. Lord Ashley declared this sum should be raised immediately, and after dinner was over he offered to obtain the money for the purchase of these lands if Mr. Gurley approved. Needless to say, he expressed the liveliest pleasure at the offer. Accord- ingly, the next morning Lord Ashley took Roberts to a bank in Lombard Street, and there ^1,000 was obtained on the spot, and arrangements were made by Lord Ashley for the raising of the remainder of the estimated amount. With this money 226 -•> President Roberts Roberts on his return proceeded to come to terms with the chiefs of Mattru, Gumbo, Kasa, Gallinhas, Manna, and Manna Rock, though the actual purchase of these territories was not entirely finished until the year 1856. It is curious to notice (as will be seen in a subsequent chapter) that though a British philanthropist raised the funds for the purchase of these north-western territories of Liberia, it was the British Government that took them away from the republic and added them to the colony of Sierra Leone, with scant compensation and no show of right whatever. Queen Victoria gave the most kindly reception to President Roberts, and The Illustrated London News of April, 1848, contains an illustration of the reception by the Queen of the African President on board the Royal yacht, whereon he was accorded a salute of seventeen guns. When Roberts and his family were ready to return they were sent back to Liberia on the British warship Ama-zon^ and the Queen from her yacht signalled to the President, " I wish you God-speed on your voyage." The British Admiralty made a present to Roberts at this time of a vessel called the Lark for transport purposes on the Liberian coast, and a small sloop of four guns, the Q^uaily as a revenue cutter, to assist in suppressing smuggling and the slave trade. Roberts returned to Liberia, delighted above all with his reception in England, and also gratified at the kindliness with which other foreign courts had received him, and the readiness which they showed to recognise this Liberian Republic. Indeed, soon after his return to Monrovia France sent a gunboat, the Penelope, to salute at Monrovia with twenty-one guns the flag of the Liberian Republic. The American corvette Torktown and the English gun-vessel Kingfisher also visited Liberia in the early part of 1849 '^^^ assisted Roberts in a final attack 227 Liberia <*- on the obstinate Spanish slave-trade settlements at New Cess River, just beyond Basa. These were again destroyed, and on this occasion 3,500 slaves were released. In the year 1849 Portugal, Sardinia, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Brazil, Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck, and Haiti followed the Powers of Western and Central Europe in formally recognising the Liberian State. Alone amongst the then Great Powers of the world, the United States withheld its own act of formal recognition : for the extraordinary reason that in 1 849 it was feared if Liberia was recognised as an independent State, the United States would have to receive at Washington a " man of colour " as the Liberian envoy to the Great Republic. Such was the preposterous colour prejudice then in vogue, that this disability lasted until the great war between North and South in 1862. It was not till that year that the United States formally acknowledged the independence of this little State created by American philanthrophy. At this period of emergence into the status of a Sovereign Power Liberia was estimated to extend between 4° 41' and 6° 48' N. Lat. and between 8° 8' and 11° 20' W. Long. Its length of sea coast from Cape Mount to Grand Sesters was 286 miles. The average width of the country was 45 miles, and its approximate area 12,830 square miles. Amongst the Negro population professing allegiance to the republic were 6,010 Liberians of American origin. The annual value to which the exports had risen was stated at 500,000 dollars (^100,000). The population of Monrovia (in 1850) was estimated at 1,300. The public debt (that is to say, the adverse balance between the receipts and expenditure of the Liberian Government at the commencement of 1850) was 8,000 dollars (/^i,6oo). In 1849 Robertsport was founded at Cape Mount. In the same year the Rev. Ralph Gurley was requested by the 228 ^ President Roberts Liberian Government and the American Colonisation Society to proceed to Liberia and report on the condition of the country since its proclamation of independence. He left Baltimore on August I St, 1849, and reached Cape Mount on September i8th. As he approached the West African coast he commented in his report on the gorgeous sunsets and sunrises of this region. The present writer has noticed the same phenomenon at a similar time of year. It has no doubt something to do with the rainy season, though the full glory of these spectacles is rather to be observed on the limits of the rain-belt than within the area of drenching rain. Quoting Chateaubriand, he writes : " It seemed as though all the purple of Rome's consuls and Caesars were spread out under the last footsteps of the God of Day." Gurley remained about a month in Liberia, and returned to America, writing a very rose-coloured report on the country and its possibilities, which was printed as a State Paper in 1850 by the United States Congress. With this act may be said to have ended the direct patronage of the United States and the American colonisation societies, though in 1877 a number of Negroes were sent from the Southern States as colonists. But in various philanthropic circles the interest in the Liberian experiment never died out. The African Repository was the journal of these philanthropists. Founded in 1832, it has continued to give regular reports on Liberia down to the present day, though its name was changed to Liberia in 1892.^ Not only did the Liberian Republic imitate the United ' The American Colonisation Society still exists and still publishes this review, Liberia. The President elected in 1905 is the Rev. Judson Smith, D.D. Mass. Among the Vice-Presidents are the familiar names of Crozer (in remembrance of whom Crozerville was founded in Liberia), Professor Edward W. Blyden, and Bishop Joseph C. Hartzell, Methodist Bishop of Africa (see page 376). The Chairman of the Executive Committee bears the honoured name of Gurley, and is no doubt a son of Ashmun's biographer. 229 Liberia <<- 1 States in its flag, but it imported unnecessary political distinc- tions and a system of party government. The Conservative- minded amongst the Liberian voters styled themselves Whigs or Old Whigs, while the more Radical or Progressive section of the people called themselves firstly the " True Liberian Party," and later on " Republicans," The term " Whig " — which, like " Tory," arose as a political nickname in Ireland — travelled across to England, thence to the United States, and from America back to Liberia, where it is in use at the present day.^ In May, 1849, Roberts was elected for a second term as President, the term commencing January ist, 1850. He was again chosen for President between 1851 and 1853, and soon till December 31st, 1855. In 1850 two Hamburg trading houses established them- selves in Liberia.^ In 1851 the British Government appointed its first Consul at Monrovia, the Rev. Mr, Hanson, a native of Cape Coast Castle, and of African birth ; but he only held the post for a year, as he complained of disrespectful treatment from the Liberians. In this same year Dr. Lugenbeel reported the " sleep disease " (sleeping sickness) to exist in Liberia. This malady still occurs from time to time. The missionary Koelle from Sierra Leone, who visited the Vai country of Liberia in 1850, also alludes to a case of sleeping sickness (the death of the inventor of the Vai alphabet, Doala Bukere). ' The Whigs in later days have been further differentiated as "True Whigs" and " Old Whigs." As a party they desire to limit and restrain the rights of foreigners in Liberia, and to preserve the commerce and land-settlement as much as possible for Negroes. The True Liberian, called later on the Republic Party, on the other hand, advocated a far more liberal policy, which should admit strangers to nearly all the advantages of Liberia. To this last party belonged President Roberts, and also Stephen Allen Benson for the first part of his career. But Benson afterwards went over to the Whig party, and since i860 this has been the dominant faction, both for the good and for the ill which have come on Liberia. ^ One of them being the now celebrated house of Woermann. 230 -»5 President Roberts In 1 85 1 there arrived in Liberia a remarkable personage who has had a great deal to do with its subsequent history — Edward Wilmot Blyden, a Negro born in the Danish island of St. Thomas in 1832, but brought up to all intents and purposes as a British West Indian. He came to Liberia when only 62. DR. E. W. BLYDEN IN I nineteen years of age, and soon became a person of note, owing to his exceptionally good education. He was well versed in Latin and Greek literature, became subsequently an Arabic scholar, and was conversant with several European languages besides English. He is the author, amongst many other books, Liberia <^ of Christianity^ Islam, and the Negro Race, and he has taken a position of his own as a writer on African subjects. During 1851 there were serious troubles in the interior of Liberia, which caused considerable damage to commerce on the coast. The Boporo people ^ had practically stopped all trade between the Mandingo countries and the Liberian settlements by their exactions on caravans. This was the more exasperating because President Roberts, by skilful diplomacy, had for a time negotiated peace between the Vai, Gora, and Buzi people at the end of 1850, and had attempted by this action to clear the way for a great development of commerce. At Grand Basa everything was thrown into confusion by an attack on the part of a chief named Grando. He practically destroyed the new settlement at Lower Buchanan, and killed ten Liberians. But the rest of the settlers at Basa Cove, fighting for their lives, managed to drive off Grando with considerable loss to his following. In the adjoining State of Maryland troubles with the natives quite disorganised the community of American settlers, and the Governor, John B. Russwurm, died of over- work and worry. President Roberts, having completed his purchases of territory between Cape Mount and the vicinity of the Bulom country, at the back of Sherbro Island, left on another trip to Europe in 1852. In October of that year he had an interview with the Prince-President of the French Republic, Louis Napoleon, who was not yet Emperor. One reason of Roberts's visit to England was to secure recognition from the British Government of Liberian sovereignty over the Gallinhas country. He was sent back to Liberia on a British warship. In 1853 Roberts declared the civilised population of ^ A congeries and mixture of African races- -Des, Vais, Goras, Buzis, etc., permeated and ruled by Mandingos. 232 -»i President Roberts Liberia to be " about 10,000." If these figures referred to Negroes of American origin, it would seem to have been an exaggeration, their numbers at this time probably not exceeding 7,500. He made a declaration at the same time to the effect that the policy of the Liberian Government would be to stop all wars in the interior by closing the coast ports to the im- portation of arms and ammunition intended for trade. But apparently it was found impracticable to give effect to this policy, no doubt because the belligerents could obtain what supplies they required of guns and powder from the direction of Sierra Leone. Governor Russwurm had been succeeded in Maryland by S. M. McGill ; but although the foundations of a fine town were being laid at Cape Palmas, Maryland as a State did not prosper, owing to the constant troubles between the American colonial administrators and the warlike coast tribes —the Grebos and Krus and the allied races of the Lower Cavalla River, At the same time, any advice from Monrovia was resented, as interfering with the independence of Maryland. This in- dependence was solemnly declared at the beginning of 1854, when William A. Prout was elected Governor in succession to McGill. Maryland was then declared not to be a colony, but an independent republic. No recognition, however, was accorded to this by European Powers, it being expected that before long the State would fuse with Liberia. On January i8th, 1857, occurred the Sheppard Lake dis- aster, in which, while attempting to chastise the Grebo tribe on the borders of Sheppard Lake (a lagoon between Cape Palmas and the Cavalla River), the Maryland State lost a number of men and guns. Prior to this there had been a fiercely contested fight between the colonists and natives at Cape Palmas (December 22nd, 1856). General J. J. Roberts, no longer 233 Liberia ^ President, came to the assistance of Maryland with two hundred and fifty men, and on February i 8th, 1 857, he and the Hon. J. T. Gibson signed a treaty of friendship between Liberia and Mary- land, which was followed, through their efforts, by the conclusion of a treaty between the Grebos and Maryland State on February 25th. William Prout, the Governor of Maryland, had died in 1856, and had been succeeded by J. B. Drayton. It was felt, however, that the only way to settle the difficulties of Maryland was to annex it to the larger republic on the west, and this was finally carried out on February 28th, 1857, the "Governors " of Mary- land being succeeded by Superintendents, as is the case with each of the other counties of the Liberian Republic. The first Superintendent of Maryland after its annexation was the Hon, J. T. Gibson. Maryland, as already mentioned, now sends two senators and three representatives to the Liberian Congress. Roberts during the last year (1854) of his first tenure of power as President paid a third visit to Europe, reaching England in October, 1854. On this occasion he was so confident of the future that lay before Liberia, and elated at the en- couragement afforded by Great Britain, that he went to the length of asking the Earl of Clarendon (then Foreign Minister) to consent to Sierra Leone being annexed to Liberia, on the plea that the latter country stood in need of a really good harbour. " The proposition," Roberts wrote at the time, " was received with some indications of surprise, and but little favour." During this visit, however, Liberian coins were struck in England with the financial assistance of Mr. Samuel Gurney (after whom Roberts . had named a settlement in the Gallinhas country). Other British philanthropists subscribed at the same time generously to Liberian needs, Roberts returned to Liberia in December, i 8 54, to find himself confronted with some degree of local opposition to his policy. In May, 1855, Stephen 234 MAP 5 Liberia ^ Allen Benson was elected President, to take office in 1856. Benson was born in Maryland (U.S.A.) in 18 16 and had come to Liberia in 1832. He had risen to be a General and a Vice- President in the Liberian State. Roberts had rendered great services to the Liberian Re- public, only to be matched by those of Ashmun. It is possible that but for his vigorous management the State might never have had any independent existence at all, but have drifted into such a condition as to render annexation by Sierra Leone a necessity for the welfare of West Africa. Though Roberts had a strain of Negro blood in his veins, he was mentally and physically a white man, a fact which perhaps gave him more weight at that time in the councils of Europe, but a circumstance which raised some jealousy about him amongst the pure-blooded Negroes in the Liberian State, and perhaps also in America. He was much exasperated in the summer of 1855 by the attacks of a Mr. George S. Downing, described as a " free coloured man of New York City," who " wrote bitter articles containing various aspersions on Liberia and President Roberts." Roberts after ceasing to be President still continued to devote his talents and energies to the service of Liberia. As already related, he took command of the armed force that went to save Maryland at the beginning of 1857, and he played a leading part in the annexation of that colony. In 1857 he was appointed principal of Liberia College, an institution founded on paper in 1856, but not brought into being until 1858-62. With Mrs. Roberts he resided on the site of the College (outskirts of Monrovia) for a good many years. In 1862 he was sent on a six months' mission to Europe. Soon after his return to Liberia he was appointed by the King of the Belgians Belgian Consul at Monrovia, and, as will be 236 -•) President Roberts seen in a later chapter, he was again called to the Presidency at a critical time in the condition of his adopted country. Roberts on the occasion of his visit to France in 1852 had attracted the sympathies of that much maligned man, Napoleon III., then Prince-President. In 1856, when the troubles of the Crimean War were over, Napoleon III. remembered the little African republic, which he seems to 63. LIBERIA COLLEGE IN I9OO have wished to help from a spirit of pure disinterestedness. He sent them out in that year equipment for a thousand armed men, and at the same time gave them a smart little gunboat, the Hirondelle^ which was very soon turned to account. It conveyed Roberts with his two hundred and fifty troops to Cape Palmas when he came to the rescue of the Government of Maryland in its disastrous war against the Grebos. In the year 1858 an unfortunate event occurred, which for a time threw a cloud over the relations between France 237 Liberia ^ and Liberia. The French ship Regina Cceli arrived on the Kru coast, and the captain treated with various Kru chiefs for a number of their men to be shipped as labourers. These Krumen of course beheved when they voluntarily came on board that they were to be taken to various parts of the West Coast of Africa — a practice to which they had long been accustomed — to serve for a year in the estabhshments of merchants or possibly as seamen on board French ships. But when they heard their destination was to be the West Indies they took alarm and believed that the long conversations between the captain of the ship and the various headmen on the shore indicated their having been sold as slaves. With their horror of slavery, they lost their heads, and whilst the captain was still on shore they mutinied, took possession of the ship, and killed all the white crew with the exception of the doctor (who had already become a favourite with them, owing to some attention which he had paid to sick men amongst their number). The Krumen having returned to the shore, the ship was adrift, without a crew, and might have become a wreck had it not been noticed by a passing English steamer, which took it in and brought it to a Liberian port. The French Government instituted an inquiry, in which it was shown that the Liberian Government was in no way to blame for this unfortunate incident, due no doubt to a complete misunderstanding. Benson was anxious to open up relations with the interior of his country. When a young man he had engaged In trade up the St. Paul's River and had been taken prisoner by a boisterous native chief and kept in the interior for some time as a captive. Soon after he became President he sought for men who might be dispatched on journeys of discovery to the utterly unknown regions beyond the forest. Two Liberians seemed to him 238 ^ President Roberts suitable for this purpose : Seymore ^ and Ash. They left for the interior early in 1858, and travelled for six months. A description of their journey, in which they are supposed to have reached a place called Kwanga, two hundred and eighty miles distant from Monrovia, is given in the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society for i860. The journey was in no sense a scientific one, and no means were taken to map the route. Kwanga can no longer be identified on the map (it is probably the Mandingo state of Kwana) ; but the travellers 64. president's house, MONROVIA describe with emphasis the high mountains which they reached. There is little doubt that they made a considerable journey and reached the great mountain mass of Nimba, where the Cavalla River takes its source. In 1858 the first hospital (St. Mark's) was founded at Cape Palmas. Throughout this decade, from 1850 to i860, increasing trouble was experienced by the State in controlling the natives, especially on the Kru coast, when sailing ships or steamers ' The name is sometimes spelt Seymour. 239 Liberia <♦- struck on rocks or drifted ashore. It is still the custom of natives in those parts to regard a shipwrecked vessel as a gift from the gods, and attempts on the part of the IJberian or Mary- land Governments to enforce proper treatment of stranded ships generally resulted in conflicts in which a very doubtful victory was obtained by the civilised Government. This condition of affairs on several occasions during the latter part of the nine- teenth century led to sharp reprisals from Germany or Britain. By 1855 it is stated by Roberts that there were "four English steam-propellers" keeping up a regular communication between England and Liberia. These were the pioneer vessels of the African Steamship Company, which in conjunction with the firm of Elder Dempster was to become the great carrying agency on the West Coast of Africa, existing almost without a rival until the Hamburg Woermann Line started in 1875. 24c CHAPTER XIV FRONTIER QUESTIONS AS already mentioned in the last chapter, British philan- thropists had furnished the funds which enabled President Roberts to extend by purchase the coast territories of Liberia westwards to the Gumbo country. This may be roughly described as the Gallinhas territory. The land round about Cape Mount had been bought from the coast chiefs in the year 1850. Beyond the Mano (Manna) River (now the frontier of Liberia) the territory had been purchased westwards as far as the Sewa River and the vicinity of Sherbro Island, either in 1850 or in 1856. Apparently no objection was raised by the British Goverimient at the time of these purchases, perhaps for one reason amongst others, that in the 'fifties of the last century no very great interest was taken in the extension of our West African possessions. But the Slave trade had given place to the trade in Palm- oil, which was beginning, in our modern phrase, to " boom," and enterprising men from Lancashire or Bristol established them- selves on the West Coast of Africa, sometimes as repre- sentatives of companies, sometimes with their own capital of two or three hundred pounds. As often as not these men were the ex-stewards, pursers, or mates of steamers and sailing ships engaged in the African trade, who, having amassed a little gain, settled on shore, generally choosing for their first venture some river or coast port, not too near civilised government and VOL. I 241 16 Liberia <«- Customs duties. Usually these men married daughters of native chiefs, had a brood of mulatto children, and became very powerful, turning their efforts towards establishing a close monopoly in trade. It was desirable in the debatable lands between Liberia and Sierra Leone to establish more effective control over these independent traders, or their trading without heed of Customs duties would be detrimental to the more settled establishments farther west and east. It may be that the pioneer traders themselves invited the intervention of the British Government, to enforce claims justifiable and unjustifi- able against natives for debts or robbery. In the early days of the Sierra Leone colony (1817 and 1825) some attempt was made by the Governors of that colony (Sir Charles MacCarthy, for example, in 1817, and Sir Charles Turner in 1B25) to extend British political influence along the coast eastwards past Sherbro Island ; and on September 24th, 1825, a convention with the chiefs of Sherbro and the ad- joining islands and mainland was concluded, which certainly brought the British frontier to the vicinity of the Sewa River. It is true that by a subsequent proclamation Sir Charles Turner, though expressly leaving the Gallinhas territory outside British limits, instanced the intersection of the 7th degree N. Lat. with the coast as being in some way the British boundary. But in that case he claimed a boundary to which he had no treaty rights, and for which apparently it was not thought worth while to acquire any. No attempt was made to contest the right of the Liberians to the coast-line up to the Sewa River and the Turner Peninsula until i860, when trouble arose through a trader named John Myers Harris, who had taken advantage of the lack of any effective Liberian occupation to the west of Cape Mount, to establish himself between the River Sulima and the 242 I Frontier Questions River Mano. Soon after his establishment, however, he was reminded of the Liberian political rights. His presence was the more obnoxious because it was suspected, not without some probability, that he was carrying on a disguised trade in slaves. In consequence of his refusing to acknowledge in any way Liberian authority, President Benson sent a coastguard boat in the employ of the Liberian Customs to seize two schooners kbelonging to Harris. Actually the seizure of these schooners [for the infringement of Customs regulations) took place be- tween Cape Mount and Mano Point, consequently within limits ilways recognised as Liberian since 1847. Nevertheless, acting )n orders issued from Sierra Leone, a British gunboat, the yrorch, appeared suddenly at Monrovia, and took away by , force the two schooners belonging to Harris. Liberia being too feeble to resist, was obliged to submit to this display of force. In 1862 President Benson decided to visit the Governor of Sierra Leone on his way to England, in the hope that by friendly negotiation he might arrive at a definition of the boundary between Sierra Leone and Liberia, which should leave no room for a no-man's-land — a boundary within which Liberia might exercise her sovereign rights. At Sierra Leone, of course, though civilly received, he was referred to London for a decision. Soon after his arrival in London, Earl Russell addressed a dispatch to him according to which the British Government recognised the political rights of Liberia be- ginning on the coast east of Turner's Peninsula, somewhat vaguely known as Mattru.^ Thence eastwards Great Britain recognised the whole coast as being under Liberian jurisdiction as far as the River San Pedro.^ ^ Mattru seems to have been in the Gumbo country, between the Rivers Sevva and Mongrao. ^ About sixty miles east of the Cavalla. 243 Liberia ^ Meantime the trader Harris got up a considerable agitation against Liberian rights being recognised in the vicinity of his stations. With the backing of the Governor of Sierra Leone (Hall), Harris and his friends protested vigorously against the concession to Liberian rights which Earl Russell had just made. No decided action was taken by the British Govern- ment one way or the other, either to intimate to Liberia that a revision of the frontier was necessary or to inform these Sierra Leone traders that if they chose to settle within Liberian limits they must obey Liberian laws. In this year, 1862, Harris's two schooners were again seized by the coast- guard vessel of the Liberian Customs ; but on this occasion his evasion of Liberian Customs regulations had been markedly impudent, since his ships were found landing goods close to Cape Mount, well within the range of effective occupation by the Liberian Government. After this agitation the Governor of Sierra Leone allowed a mixed Anglo-Liberian commission to consider the details of the north-west frontier. This commission met at Monrovia in March, 1862. The British commissioners offered to recognise Liberian rights as far as the so-called River Gallinhas,^ but the Liberians refused this definition, and held out for the whole of the territory allowed to them by Earl Russell's dispatch. Never- theless, although the commissioners could not come to an agreement about the frontier definition, the Liberian Govern- ment restored his sailing ships to Harris after inflicting on him a small fine for breach of Customs regulations. The frontier still remained undetermined on the part of the Colonial Government of Sierra Leone. Harris, rendered ' Gallinhas is really the name of the country to the north and west of the River Sulima. The river to which that name is sometimes given is a little stream entering the sea near Palma Lagoon. 244 -^ Frontier Questionj^ bold by his repeated flouting of Liberian authority, in which he was secretly supported by the Sierra Leone Government, began at last to act almost as an independent chief in the Gallinhas country, and his exactions and disputes aroused the adjoining Vai tribe to reprisals. Harris met these reprisals by organising an attack on the Vai country by the GaUinhas people. The Liberian Government dispatched a body of its militia to defend the Vai. The Gallinhas natives took to flight and avenged their defeat by turning on Harris and destroying one of his factories. A demand for an indemnity of ^'6,000 was put in by Harris and apparently supported by the Sierra Leone Government. Another joint Anglo- Liberian commission was sent to inquire into the matter and ascertain the circumstances under which Harris's property had been destroyed and the real monetary value of the damage. It is doubtful whether at this time the Governor of Sierra Leone would not have carried matters with a higher hand had not Liberia made some kind of appeal to the United States, or at any rate to the commander of the United States battle- ship which happened to be in those waters (Commodore Shufeldt). This naval officer was chosen as arbitrator. The monetary claim of Harris was reduced to the sum of ^300. But at the sitting of this conference the senior British repre- sentative claimed for the colony of Sierra Leone a protectorate over the coast east of Sherbro as far as the mouth of the Mano River, on the ground that the Liberian forces were unable to maintain order west of the last-named stream. Undoubtedly they were unable to fight British traders, since every time they used force, maritime or military, the said traders were able to command the armed interference of the Sierra Leone Government. The question was once more referred to London, and was 245 Liberia ^ met at first by a very vague dispatch from Lord Clarendon, which settled nothing. In 1870 President Roye went to England to see Lord Granville, who proposed that the British frontier should be carried eastwards to the banks of the Sulima River. A joint commission was to be established at the mouth of the Sulima to inquire into the validity of Liberian rights west of that stream ; but by consenting to this somewhat curious 65. kiver sewa, once claimed as the liberian western frontier (gallinhas country) proposal President Roye had no doubt gravely compromised the right of his Government to an extension west of the Sulima. As a matter of fact, no steps were taken to carry Lord Granville's proposals into effect, owing to the disaster which led to the death of President Roye in 1871. The question, therefore, of this north-west frontier continued to remain open until closed by the Anglo-Liberian Treaty of 1885, as will be related in due course. 246 -»5 Frontier Questions Meantime, the United States had at last, on October 22nd, 1 862, officially acknowledged Liberia's independence as a sovereign State. This recognition, as already stated, had been delayed for fourteen years by an absurd prejudice against regarding any country ruled by black men as a State which could send diplomatic representatives who were men of colour. This treaty of October 22nd, 1862, did not, as has sometimes been thought, guarantee the independence of Liberia, nor did. it convey any distinct assurance of United States protection.^ ' Whilst touching on this question, it might be well to summarise as far as possible the instances in which the United States Government have intimated to other great Powers their special interest in Liberia. The extracts in question are abridged and quoted from the first edition of The Map of Africa by Treaty, by Sir Edward Hertslet, K.C.B. "In 1879, •^'^ ^^^ occasion of the reported offer of French protection to Liberia, the American Minister at Paris was instructed to make inquiries on the subject, and he was reminded in his instructions that when it was considered that the United States had founded and fostered the nucleus of native representative government on the African shores, and that Liberia, so created, had afforded a field of emigration and enterprise for the emancipated Africans of America, who had not been slow to avail themselves of the opportunity, it was evident that the United States Government must feel a peculiar interest in any apparent movement to divert the independent political life of Liberia for the aggrandisement of a great Continental Power, which already had a foothold of actual trading possession on the neighbouring coast. " In 1880 Mr. Evarts informed Mr. Hoppin (the United States Charge d'Affaires in -London) that the United States were not averse to having the great Powers know that they publicly recognised the peculiar relations which existed between them and Liberia, and that they were prepared to take every proper step to maintain them. " In 1884 Mr. Frelinghuysen informed M. Roustan (French Minister at Washing- ton) that Liberia, though not a colony of the United States, began its independent career as an offshoot of that country, which bore to it a quasi-parental relationship. This authorised the United States to interpose its good offices in any contest between Liberia and a foreign State. A refusal to give the United States an opportunity to be heard for this purpose would make an unfavourable impression on the minds of the Government and the people of the United States. " In 1887, on the occasion of the reported French aggressions on Liberian territory, the United States Government stated that their relations with the republic had not changed and that they still felt justified in employing their good offices on her behalf," ' 247 Liberia ^ In ] 864 S. A. Benson (a negro) had been succeeded as President by Daniel Bashiel Warner, a mulatto, who, being re-elected once, served from i 864 to 1 868. Although, like Benson and Roberts, Warner was a Republican (or True Liberian) candidate, he went over while in office to the Whig policy of preserving Liberia jealously from white invasion. He was moved to this distrust of Europeans by the actions of Harris and other merchants, nor can he be held to have been wholly unreasonable in establishing his Ports of Entry Law in 1865. According to this measure commerce to non-Liberians (and any person of African race could become a Liberian citizen even if he were a white Jew of Morocco) was restricted to six ports of entry and a circle of six miles diameter round each port of entry. The six places selected as trading ports were Robertsport (Cape Mount), Monrovia, Marshall, Grand Basa settlements, Greenville (Sino), and Cape Palmas,^ At all these places Liberian Customs-houses would be established and the Liberian Government would as far as possible be responsible for the safety of persons and property. Bitter complaints were raised, by British merchants chiefly, against this law, since it restricted their commercial intercourse with the indigenous Negroes at many calling places on the coast. But it is difficult to see what other course could then have been taken by the Liberian Government at that juncture. Its revenue was far too small to permit of its equipping more than six Customs-houses and ensuring law and order at these stations, with all the monetary consequences resulting trom any failure to keep the peace between natives and Europeans. After all, even on the coast of British and French Africa, there ' To these were added subsequently Grand Cestos River and Nana Kru, and in addition foreigners may trade under certain provisions and restrictions three miles into Liberia from any foreign frontier line. 248 Frontier Questions were only a stipulated number of places at which goods could be landed or embarked under Customs supervision. The Liberian Customs duties at that time were low — a uniform 6 per cent, ad valorem — but the foreign merchants, chiefly British, delighted in defrauding the weak little Negro Government by landing or shipping goods at other spots on the Liberian coast outside the ports of entry. To a certain extent this practice still goes on. A steamer in attempting to traffic on the " wild " coast away from a port of entry occasionally runs on the rocks and becomes a total wreck. The ungrateful aborigines (having perchance some score to pay off against the captain of the vessel) dart out in their canoes, plunder the ship of all they can lay hands on, the passengers and crew have to walk miles (quite unmolested) to the nearest Americo-Liberian settlement, and the . Liberian Government is called upon subsequently to pay an indemnity and engage in an expensive war with the erring natives. All things considered, perhaps the Ports of Entry Law was a wise measure. Its scope will no doubt be widened as the expanding revenue of Liberia permits of more Customs stations being opened along the coast and on the British and French frontiers. The Liberian Government has expressed the intention of creating numerous trading stations in the interior as soon 249 a 66. PRESIDENT BARCLAY IN 1896 Liberia (^ as it can construct a series of roads for wheeled traffic and establish police-stations. In 1865 three hundred West Indians (mainly from the British West Indies) emigrated to Liberia. Amongst these was a boy (Arthur Barclay) who is now President of the Liberian Republic. Barclay's father was a free Negro of Barbados who had associated himself with political agitation, and in consequence found himself obliged to leave the island. He emigrated with all his family, who throve greatly in their new home. Ernest Barclay, one of his sons, became a Secretary of State and might have risen to the higher office but for his untimely death in 1894 (see p. 331). He was a very able man and much regretted. The Barclays were of unmixed negro origin and originally came from Little Popo (Dahome). American interest in Liberia began to revive when the terrible war between North and South was at an end and when the Negro question was forcing itself on the attention of thought- ful Americans in a new form — namely, the Negro as a free man and a citizen enjoying equal rights with white men. Several abortive attempts were made to start Negro emigration to Liberia on a large scale, and for this purpose information as to the unknown hinterland was desirable. Benjamin Anderson, a young Liberian (born in 1834^), had received a good education together with some knowledge of surveying. Between 1864 and 1866 he had been Secretary of the Treasury under President Warner. He paid a visit to the. United States when he left office, and there found several American philanthropists who asked why no attempt had been made to fix some limits in the interior for the future bounds of Liberian territory. Anderson professed himself to be able and willing to make a journey through the dense forests to ^ He was still living at Monrovia in 1905. 250 Liberia <♦- the more open country at the back believed to be inhabited by Mandingos. Founds were found in America, chiefly by Henry M. Schieffelin, to meet the cost of Anderson's journey, and in 1868 he set out on an enterprise which has scarcely yet been repeated in the same direction. For a great many years, in fact, Anderson's journey loomed large in the exploration of West Africa. It did not shrink into insignificance until the more remarkable explorations of Captain L. G. Binger ^ twenty years later. Anderson started from Monrovia on February 14th, 1868, and journeyed by zigzags to the town of a chief called Besa, quite close to the coast, to the west of the River Mano. He found at first considerable opposition to his journey on the part of the Mandingo colony at Boporo. At Boporo, however, he managed to conciliate the chieftain and obtained porters to take him through the " Boatswain " country.^ Anderson found the Boatswain country ruled over by Mandingo chiefs or head-men who were large slave-holders, having in fact enslaved most of the local population or purchased slaves from the adjoining Kpwesi or Buzi tribes. Travelling north through the Busi or Buzi country (Doma Buzi), Anderson finally quitted the great forest, to his relief, at Zigapora Zue. From this point his way lay over a country of parklands ascending to a plateau of an average altitude of 2,200 feet. The Buzi people (Bousie in Anderson's spelling) seem to have been able in many districts to hold their own as an independent ' Now Colonel L. G. Binger, of the French Colonial Office, 2 The true meaning of this ridiculous appellation is not very clear. Need- less to say, there never has been any tribe calling itself by such a name pronounced phonetically. The patriarch or founder of the community was called Boatswain from having served in that capacity on British ships. This chief of the Boporo district (Tom Boatswain) was in existence at the foundation of Liberia in 1822, and is supposed to have rendered some assistance to the early Liberian settlers by his influence over the Goras. 252 -»i Frontier Questions race (admitting the Mandingos as traders or friends). At Bulata (2,253 feet) Anderson passed beyond the limit of oil palms, v/hich throughout Western and Equatorial Africa are associated with the forest region. He was now in an open country of grass- lands, with a dry atmosphere and (seemingly) a healthy climate, with deliciously cool nights. The people of the country were 68. A MANDINGO HORSE (iN SIERRA LEONE) Mandingos, Muhammadans of course, horse-breeders and riders of horses. Their capital town was Musadu.^ At Musadu and elsewhere in the Mandingo country ' The Americo-Liberians have never yet mastered the true principles of modern P3ngHsh orthography, copying in this the mass of the United States population, which is still very eighteenth-century in its use of the English alphabet. Con- sequently, again and again the letter r is used to supplement the vowel a in order to give the latter the sound of a m father. Musadu is the phonetic spelling. The place has not been found (seemingly) or recognised by subsequent French travellers. 253 Liberia <«- (which, by the bye, is described by Anderson and others of that period as the country of the Western^ instead of, as it should be, the Southern Mandingos) Anderson made treaties with the chiefs by which they placed their countries within the limits of Liberia. These treaties, the originals of which, written in Arabic, are still in the archives at Monrovia, do not seem to have been much more in intention than treaties of friendship. But as the result of them a somewhat eccentric hinterland boundary was fixed for Liberia. Anderson made in 1874 another exploring journey north- eastward through the densest forest of Liberia. But the geographical results were so vague and untrustworthy that it is scarcely worth mentioning, except for his further dealings with the Buzi people. Anderson's journeys and treaties (together with arrange- ments which had been made subsequent to the fusion with Maryland along the Ivory Coast) caused Liberia to claim a hinterland of a curiously zig-zag outline. The suggested limits of the republic's territory in 1876, and for some years later, are depicted on the accompanying sketch-map. It says something for the scrupulousness of Liberian agents that whilst they were about it — mere map-making, so to speak— they did not boldly include the Buzi territory and so round off the future boundaries of their republic. But the Buzi tribe was a formidable one, and had apparently agreed to no arrangements which could be construed as bringing them by their own consent within the limits of the Liberian State. The great traveller. Burton, visited the coast of Liberia (chiefly Cape Palmas) in 1861, on his way out to Fernando Po, to take up his consular work in the Bights of Biafra and Benin. In one of the best books he ever wrote {Wanderings in West Africa by a F.R.G.S.) he gives an 254 MAP 6 Liberia ^ interesting description of the condition of Liberia at the beginning of the 'sixties of the last century : his writing a little tinged with mahce, perchance, for to Burton the pure- blooded non-Muhammadan Negro was never an object of much liking. Moreover, Burton represented with some efficiency the spirit of revolt at that time against the sickly sentimentalism ASHMUN STREET, MONROVIA of Exeter Hall, according to which if the Negro only professed Christianity he could do no wrong and need not do much work. A disciple of Burton's and a writer of brilliant style, Winwood Reade glanced at Liberia in 1863, and visited the country in 1870, spending about three months on the coast between Cape Palmas and Monrovia. He also set out on a journey to Boporo with Dr. Blyden, but he has left us no clear description of that Kondo town. His chapter on Liberia in the second volume of 'The African Sketch-book (pubHshed in 1873) 256 -#j Frontier Questions and his notes on the Kru people are wonderfully true to life (even after thirty-five years' interval) and instinct with that charming sympathy, that real genius, which ran through the works of this wonderful young man, who died in 1874 after his return from the Ashanti Expedition, aged only thirty-four years. ^ ' He and the late Professor Henry Drummond were perhaps the only two writers of genius who ever touched Africa — Reade on tlie west, Drummond on the south-east. Burton came very near genius in some of his work but lacked the sympathetic insight of Reade. 'Rea.de' s Marty rdotJi of Man, his swan-song, planned in a squalid hut at Falaba in the Mandingo Highlands, wiiere he was detained a prisoner, was not " writ in water " as he feared. It is now in its seventeenth edition and should be given by the State to every young man and woman in the United Kingdom, the United States, and — shall we add ? — -Liberia, on their attaining the age of twenty-one years. It is the first rational exposition of the relations of mankind to the mystery which shrouds the how and wherefore of man's existence, the first honest protest against our long, long martyrdom. 70. MANO RIVER, LIBERIAN FRONTIER (FROM DIA, LOOKING UP STREAM) VOL. I 257 17 CHAPTER XV THE LOAN AND ITS CONSEQUENCES PRESIDENT WARNER ' was defeated in the election of 1867, and on January ist, 1868, his place was taken by another mulatto President, James Sfrigg Payne, a candidate of the Republicans. Payne's tenure of the Presidency was uneventful, and on January ist, 1870, he was succeeded by the first Whig President, Edward James Roye, a pure-blooded Negro. Towards the close of the 'sixties there was much discussion in Liberia on the question of public works and the means of opening up the interior to a more profitable and extended com- merce ; for, owing to the restrictive law already described, foreigners — that is to say, non-Africans or persons not of Negro race — could not trade away from the ports of entry. In fact, whilst the Constitution and legislation of Liberia were very naturally directed towards keeping this small portion of Africa open to the black man's enterprise, the civilised fringe of this Negro republic nevertheless stagnated, and the volume of trade was very small compared with that of the possessions of Britain and France on the West Coast of Africa. Perhaps also Liberia, now an independent State of twenty years' existence, thought it was time she should imitate all the other independent States of the world and have a loan and a public debt. ' Warner's sons and daughters, unlike the descendants of other Americo- Liberians, are said to have adopted the life of the indigenous natives. 258 -#> The Loan and its Consequences It was decided to negotiate this loan in London. At that period the Liberian Consul-General for Great Britain was an English financial agent named Chinery, who was apparently in touch with certain banking agencies not perhaps of the first rank. Two Liberian commissioners (W. S. Anderson and W. H. Johnson) were directed to proceed to London and negotiate through Chinery a loan of 500,000 dollars (^100,000). An agreement was come to with the firm of bankers introduced by Chinery of a character unfortunate for Liberia. Bonds to the extent of ^100,000 were to be issued against a payment in cash of ^70,000. This loan was to carry interest (on ^100,000) at 7 per cent., and the whole loan — that is to say, ^100,000 — was to be repaid over a term of fifteen years. This would mean that in order to touch _^" 70,000 in money — if the agreement had been carried out to the letter — Liberia was to repay to the lenders at the end of fifteen years a total sum, including the 7 per cent, annual interest, of ^132,600. Of course the indifi^erent security (in the eyes of the lenders) counted for much. The loan was to be guaranteed on the Customs or on some branch of the Customs revenue ; but the lenders alleged that the Customs revenue was collected in a somewhat haphazard fashion, and that there was sometimes an insufficiency of revenue to meet the actual working expenses of Liberia. Also they were aware that if the country repudiated the debt no steps would be taken by the British Government to exact payment. News of the terms of this loan when it reached Monrovia created a lively dis- satisfaction among the citizens. But although a protest was forwarded to Chinery, the matter was further complicated by the absence from Liberia of President Roye, who had gone to England to discuss the long-disputed GaUinhas question. Roye whilst in London seems to have given his approval to the 259 Liberia ^ scheme of the loan. He was accompanied on his journey to England by his Secretary of State, Hilary R. W. Johnson (afterwards President). Johnson disagreed with Roye on some point connected with the frontier, and returned to Monrovia before the President. Although President Roye had not taken any direct part in the negotiation of the loan, on his return to Monrovia he intimated his approval of the scheme before the matter could be submitted to the Legislature. From this and other indica- tions it had been thought for some months that Roye was aiming at a coup d'etat which would get rid of the trammels of the Constitution and enable him, at any rate for a time, to govern Liberia despotically. A story went abroad, for which no actual proof could afterwards be found, that Roye had himself received a portion of the money raised for this loan, or else a very heavy commission for according it his approval. Roye knew that according to the terms of the Constitution his Presidency would come to an end on January ist, 1872. Therefore, soon after his return from England, at the be- ginning of October, 1871, he issued a proclamation to the effect that he had on his own authority extended his tenure of the Presidency for another two years. Popular discontent soon made itself manifest at Grand Basa and Monrovia, and in most of the Americo-Liberian settlements. The President attempted to arm those of his party who had promised to stand by him in this unconstitutional manner of provoking a constitutional change which in itself had often been advocated by Liberian statesmen — namely, the extension of the President's term of office from two years to four. To this principle the people were not by any means ill-disposed, although it has not yet been brought about. But it was felt that Roye was aiming at something more extended than this — that he intended to act 260 -^ The Loan and its Consequences as not a few contemporary presidents of South American republics had done, in arrogating to himself supreme and uncontrolled power. An attempt on the part of Roye's supporters to seize a building in Monrovia used as a bank by an industrial society of the St, Paul's River settlements was the last straw that broke the camel's back. The people of Monrovia rose against him in the first — and, let us hope, the last — of Liberian in- surrections. They soon overpowered the armed resistance of Roye's followers, though several lives were lost on both sides. ^ The President's house was sacked by an angry crowd hunting everywhere for him, and with one of his sons he was caught and imprisoned. The Senate and House of Representatives then met in a hurriedly summoned congress and issued a most temperately worded manifesto. In this the "sovereign people of the Re- public of Liberia" declared on October 26th, 1871, that the President, E. J. Roye, was deposed from his office ; the Govern- ment was to be provisionally carried on by an executive committee of three members until constitutional measures had been taken for the election of a new President. The proclama- tion ended with an expression of thanks to God that this uprising had been attended with so little bloodshed. The three personages appointed to be members of the executive committee were Charles B. Dunbar, General R. A. Sherman, and Amos Herring. The Secretary of State, H. R. W. Johnson, still re- mained in office. Ex-President Roye was then brought to trial before the Supreme Court of Justice, but during the night he managed, • It is said that Roye commenced the actual fighting by going into the street and flinging hand grenades at the crowd. The populace soon retorted by sending a cannon-ball through the President's house. 261 Liberia ««- either through the negligence or the connivance of his guardians, to escape. An English steamer was anchored off Monrovia, and it is said that the ex-President removed nearly all his clothing, in the hope that he might be mistaken for an ordinary native or Kruboy boarding the ship for work. Around his waist was a belt, said to have been heavily charged with sovereigns, which of course it was further alleged were part of the loan. He attempted to cross the breakers in a native canoe and thus reach the steamer ; but the canoe was badly steered and capsized, and the unfortunate Roye was drowned. As regards the loan, no very clear account exists as to the precise sum in money which actually reached the Liberian treasury. The estimate has been put as high as _^2 7,000 (out of the theoretical _^ 100,000). Assuming that ^70,000 was really found by the London bankers, three years' interest was apparently retained or deducted by them from the ^70,000, This would reduce the amount to be handed over in cash to ^49,000. But of this sum again several thousands of pounds were represented by trade goods and ^/^ 12,000 was paid in more or less bad paper, in bills which could only be cashed at a terribly high discount. A good deal of the money seems to have disappeared with Roye, and a small sum which was being brought out by W. S. Anderson was further diminished before it reached the Liberian treasury owing to his flight to St. Paul de Loanda, from which place he refused to return to Liberia unless he was guaranteed against prosecution. One way and another, it is perhaps a generous estimate to suppose that ^27,000 in money reached Liberia out of this unfortunate loan. Against this sum bonds had been issued to the extent of ^80,000, chiefly by President Roye's Government. It is doubtful indeed whether bonds to the extent of nearly j^ 1 00,000 were not in circulation, but a considerable proportion 262 ^ The Loan and its Consequences of these at any rate were disavowed and cancelled by the Liberian Government. It cannot be said, however^ that Chinery or the bankers associated with him profited by their share in the enterprise. The bankers received only paper for their money, and were 71. GENERAL R. A. SHERMAN not of course responsible for the defalcations of President Roye, and soon afterwards they went into liquidation. Chinery's commission as Consul-General was revoked, and he was replaced by another Englishman, who brought an action against him in the Courts at the instance of the republic.^ ' Little or no satisfaction was obtained by these proceedings. Chinery went out to Sierra Leone and there made the acquaintance of Dr. E. W. Blyden, who 263 Liberia ^•- On January ist, 1872, the veteran Joseph J. Roberts was recalled to the Presidency, and served his country in that capacity till 1876.^ He then refused re-election on the ground of age and enfeebled health. James Sprigg Payne was elected to succeed him. Three years' interest, it will be remembered, had been retained in London out of the principal of the loan. The Liberian Government were inclined to repudiate the whole transaction after the deposition of Roye ; but this was not easy, as a certain proportion of the loan — ^20,000 to ^27,000 — had been received and spent by the republic. A Mr. Jackson had succeeded Chinery as Liberian Consul-General and financial agent in London, and during his tenure of the post for some nine years he had attempted to do his best for the affairs of the republic. After the brief reappearance on the scene of Chinery, the post of Consul-General was finally conferred on a Mr. Gudgeon, who was succeeded in 1891 by the present Consul-General and Acting Minister Resident — Mr. Henry Hayman. It was not until Mr. Hayman took up this office from 1885-91 (first as Consul) that any attempt was made to clear up the business of the loan. For years Mr. Hayman fought his way through an extraordinary tangle of fraud and the results of negligence, owing to which large numbers of bonds (" to bearer ") had found their way on to the London Stock Market, or to Holland, or even more remote places. It is supposed that there had been negligence and malfeasance came to the conclusion that he liad not been to blame for the unfortunate affair of the loan. Owing to Blyden's representations, Chinery acted as Consul-General in London for a short period in 1880; but this step on Dr. Blyden's part (Blyden was then Liberian Minister at the Court of St. James) was not confirmed by the Liberian Executive. • He died on February 2ist, 1876, two months after leaving the presidential chair. He had just attended the funeral of a colleague at which a tornado burst with an awful downpour of rain. Roberts died from the chill, 264 President J. J. Roberts (Painted from a Photograph taken ahout 1871) -^ The Loan and its Consequences in Liberia as well as in England, and that bonds to bearer in both countries had been disposed of for trivial sums of money. Finally the republic (in 1898) admitted a loan of between j^yOjOOO and ^^80,000 and agreed to pay a progressive in- 72. MEMORIAL TO PRESIDENT J. J. ROBERTS terest at 3 to 5 per cent. Since 1898 the interest (which is now 4 per cent.) has been paid without default. This honourable settlement with the bondholders (honourable especially to the Liberian Government) was achieved by Mr. Arthur Barclay 265 Liberia ^ (then Secretary to the Liberian Treasury), Mr, J. C. Stevens (Attorney-General), and Mr, Henry Hayman (Consul-General). The negotiations were materially assisted by Mr. I. F. Braham, manager of the Liberian Rubber Syndicate,^ ' I append the text of this agreement: Liberian Government 7 per cent. External Loan of 1871. Bases of Agreememt submitted by the Honourable A. Barclay, Secretary of the Treasury, and the Honourable J. C. Stevens, Attorney-General of the Government of Liberia, of the one part, and approved by the Committee of Liberian Bondholders acting in conjunction with the Council of Foreign Bondholders of the other part. I. The interest on the debt to be reduced as follows : 3 per cent, for three years; 3^ per cent, for three years; 4 per cent, for three years [the present rate of interest] ; \\ per cent, for three years ; 5 per cent, thereafter until extinction. Interest to be paid half-yearly in gold in London, by a banking house to be appointed by the Government of Liberia and approved by the Council. The first payment of interest to be made on October ist, 1899. II. Amortisation of the principal of the bonds deposited with the Council under this arrangement, in accordance with Article VIII., to commence after five years, viz. on October ist, 1904, by means of an accumulative sinking fund of I per cent, per annum, to be applied half-yearly by purchases on the market or by tenders, as the Government may decide, when the price of the bonds is under par, or by drawings for redemption at par when the price is at or above par. The Government reserves the right to increase the sinking fund at any time, or to put it into operation at an earlier date. Ill For the arrears of interest reckoned up to March 31st, 1899. the Council of Foreign Bondholders will issue non-interest bearing certificates, which shall be redeemed in the following manner. After the extinction of the principal of the debt, the Government of Liberia will continue to remit in the manner hereinbefore provided, for a period of four years, the like amount of interest and sinking fund payable at the date of such extinction in respect of the amount of bonds which may be deposited with the Council within the period prescribed by Article VIII. This sum shall be applied by the bankers charged with the service of the debt to the redemption of the certificates, either by a pro rata payment or by half-yearly drawings as may be determined by the Council in conjunction with the Committee. The Government of Liberia is entitled to purchase certificates on the market at any time if it so desires, and to participate with the holders of the other outstanding certificates in the fund appropriated for their redemption. IV. As security for the service of the debt the Government especially assigns the expiorts duty of 6 cents per lb. on rubber, to be paid by the exporters direct to the Consul-General for Liberia in London, and to be handed by him to the bank charged with the service of the debt. Any sums hereafter paid to the ?66 -^ The Loan and its Consequences It was under Roberts's last Presidency, in 1874, that the explorer Benjamin Anderson was again sent into the interior, if possible to reach the alleged gold-mines near Musadu. He Government by the existing Liberian Rubber Syndicate, or any other syndicate or company that may succeed it, are to be apphed in Hke manner to the service of the debt. V. Should the product of the rubber export duties within the first five years amount to more than is required for the payment of the interest on the debt at the rates set forth in Article I., such surplus shall be applied to amortisation, or if after the fifth year there should be a surplus from the same source after providing for the payment of interest and the accumulative sinking fund of I per cent, as set forth in Article II., such surplus siiall be applied to additional amortisation. VI. The service of the debt shall be further secured on the general Customs revenue of the republic, it being understood that the acceptance of these bases of arrangement on the part of the Council and Committee is contingent on some effective control of tlie collection of the Customs duties satisfactory to the Committee being established, and that any deficiency in the product of the rubber export duties required for the service of the External Debt is to constitute a first charge on the revenues derived from the general Customs revenue, subject only to the expenses of collection and the payment of interest not exceeding 6 per cent, per annum on any advance made by the syndicate or company which may be formed to undertake the collection of the said revenue?. In any event the full sum required in gold for the half-yearly service of the debt is to be in the hands of the bankers in Loudon at least a fortnight before the due date of the coupons as altered under this arrangement. The Government will also at the same time pay the bank the usual commission for administering the debt service. VII. The bonds of 1871 are to be lodged with the Cv)uncil, and stamped on their face as assenting to the new arrangement, and the coupons endorsed with the altered dates and rates of payment in accordance with Article I., or new coupon sheets are to be printed and attached to the bonds. If any stamp duty in England is involved in this operation, the cost shall be borne by the Govern- ment of Liberia. VIII. In order to participate in this arrangement the bonds must be deposited with the Council of Foreign Bondiiolders within one year from the date of its acceptance by the bondholders. IX. In the event of default of any payment contemplated by this arrangement, or of failure to carry out the terms thereof, the existing rights of the Bondholders to revive. X. This arrangement is subject to ratification first by the Legislature of Liberia, and afterwards by resolution of a general meeting of bondholders to be convened by the Council. XI. A reasonable sum to be paid by the Liberian Government to the Cpuncil 267 Liberia <•- did not succeed, nor did his vague wanderings in the central forests lead to any definite increase of geographical knowledge, although they increased the political influence of Liberia. Lord Granville had promised President Roye in 1870 that although Great Britain could not bind herself to recognise Liberian territorial rights west of the River Sulima, nevertheless a mixed commission would be appointed to meet in the vicinity of that river and discuss the Liberian claims to the territories farther west. Roye had accepted this proposal, but before it could be carried into effect the Vai people had again attacked (in revenge for injuries suffered) the factories which Harris had founded on the Mano and Mafa Rivers. The Governor of Sierra Leone demanded an indemnity for these acts from Liberia, reminding the Government of that country at the same time that the indemnity agreed upon in 1869 had not yet been paid. President Roberts paid over this first indemnity in 1872, but demurred to the second claim. The matter remained dormant until 1878, when it was revived with some asperity by Sir Samuel Rowe, then Governor of Sierra Leone. This second indemnity was a demand for about _^8,500. At the same time Sir Samuel Rowe revived the claim of the British Government to extend its protectorate along the coast as far as the Mano River, partly on the pretext that the Liberians were unable to keep order amongst the tribes west of that river. lor their expenses and services, to be settled between them and the Consul- General of Liberia. London, the 28th day of September, 1898. For the Government of Liberia, Arthur Barclay, Secretary of Treasury. J. C. Stevens, Attorney -General. For the Committee of Liberian Bondholders, C. W. Fremantle, Vice-President of the Council, Acting Chairman. 268 ^ The Loan and its Consequences Roberts in 1876 had been succeeded as President by J. S, Payne, and this last had been followed by Anthony William Gardner at the beginning of 1878. President Gardner met Sir Samuel Rowe's dispatch by agreeing to the meeting of that boundary commission which had been already 73. KKL'MAiN OF NANA KRU foreshadowed in Lord Granville's protocol of 1870. It was decided, however, that the mixed commission of Liberian and British delegates should meet at Sierra Leone on January 1st, 1879. The Liberian delegates arrived at that place on December 29th. Through all the negotiations that followed 269 Liberia ^ during the next few months It cannot be said that they received even common courtesy from the colonial authorities at Sierra Leone, nor were the proceedings of the commission conducted fairly and impartially. The matter was allowed to drag on and on, and during these delays much pressure was brought to bear on the chiefs of the frontier districts west of the Mano River to deny that they or their predecessors had ever made any cession of their territories to the Liberian Republic. Naturally, in the time which had elapsed between 1850 and 1856 and the year 1879 local conditions had changed. Tribes had increased or diminished in power. Those which were dominant when the Liberian rights had been acquired by President Roberts thirty years bqfore were now displaced by other tribes, who were much better disposed to come under the rule of the British than under the Liberian Government. The British commissioners sought to compel the Liberians into accepting as their frontier the 'little River Mafi or Mafa, which lies to the east of the Mano and which would have brought the valuable possession of Cape Mount almost within the grasp of the British. A long wrangle also took place when the commission was established on the Sulima River on the amount of indemnity due not only to Harris but to several other British or Sierra Leone traders who declared themselves to have suffered from the attacks of the Liberian Vais in I 87 I. The commission broke up without arriving at any settle- ment of the questions of frontier or indemnity. Later on, in 1879, another unfortunate incident occurred to lessen the dignity of the Liberian Republic, already gravely compromised by the British action on the north-west and the repudiation of the London loan. A German steamer, the Carlos, went on the rocks at Nana Kru, near the mouth of the Dewa River. The Krumen on the coast not only pillaged the vessel 270 74. thp: insignia of the liberian order of African redemption, founded BY president a, W. GARDNER IN 1 879 Liberia ^^ but treated very badly the shipwrecked Germans who had landed in their boats. These unfortunate people were robbed of the small luggage they had saved and even stripped of their clothes. Adding insult to injury, they were compelled to sign a grotesque document drawn up in broken English by an educated Kruboy in which they professed to have received most considerate treat- ment from the natives of the place where they had been ship- weecked. They were then compelled to walk along the beach (fording streams where necessary) until they could reach the European trading establishments at Greenville (Sino). A German ship of war, the Victoria^ was immediately dispatched to the Liberian coast. Taking for granted that the Liberian Government had no effective power over the Kru people, the commander of the Victoria proceeded first to Nana Kru and bombarded the towns round about the scene of the shipwreck. The Victoria then proceeded to Monrovia, and deposited a claim for _^900 on behalf of the shipwrecked Germans, a claim by no means unreasonable. So short of money was the Liberian Treasury, however, that even after a delay of six months which was granted to them for the purpose they were unable to find this sum, and it was only paid eventually under the threat of a bombardment, and by the co-operation of the European merchants settled at Monrovia. Soon after this (in 1883) occurred the wreck of the Corisco^ a British mail steamer belonging to Messrs. Elder Dempster. The Corisco^ carried out of her course by a current, struck on a concealed rock (Manna rocks) near the mouth of the Grand Cestos River. The passengers took to the boats, and crew but they were surrounded on landing by crowds of natives who plundered them of all they possessed, including most of their clothing. Amongst the passengers were four ladies, who would have suffered cruelly but for the kind consideration of the 272 -^ The Loan and its Consequences principal agent at the Dutch factory, who gave them shelter and clothing until another steamer could call for them. This was utterly indefensible behaviour on the part of the natives. The steamer was not trying to land or embark goods away from a port of entry, and the natives plundered not only the derelict ship but the unfortunate shipwrecked passengers. 75. A LIBKRIAN HOUSEHOLD The British Government dealt with the matter in a conciliatory manner, and the Liberian forces under Major-General Sherman inflicted more punishment on the Grand Cestos people. The Senegal was also wrecked on the Liberian coast and plundered in much the same manner by the indigenous natives. The 'seventies of the last century had not been a happy period for Liberia. Besides the loan and the Monrovia uprising there VOL. I 273 18 Liberia ««- had been a terrible outbreak of smallpox in 1871 in Maryland, beginning at Cape Palmas. Then ensued in the same region more wars with the natives, chiefly the Grebos. In 1875 the Grebos burnt two Liberian settlements on the outskirts of Harper — -Bunker Hill and Philadelphia. In the following year (1876) "jiggers" ^ or burrowing fleas were first introduced, by a ship coming from the Portuguese island of Sao Thome to land or recruit Kru labourers. The jigger has since spread all over the coast regions of Liberia, but is not so abundant as it was a few years ago. In 1879 President Gardner (who had recently been made a Knight Grand Cross of the Spanish Order of Isabella Catolica) resolved to institute a Liberian Order of Chivalry, which was named the Order of African Redemption (see p. 271). Under Gardner's Presidency, on April ist, 1879, Liberia joined the Universal Postal Union.^ In 1877 there had been a fresh accession of Negro colonists from Louisiana, who were mainly distributed about the Lower St. Paul's River. Some of these subsequently returned to America. No immigration of any organised or important kind has taken place subsequently from America, though individuals from the United States and the West Indies have from time to time found their way to Liberia and settled there more or less permanently. By 1880 it is probable that the total Americo- Liberian population scarcely reached ten thousand in number. The birth-rate was small, and the somewhat slow increase at most atoned for the departure of disappointed settlers or the rather heavy death-rate from disease ; for some sixty years' experience ^ Sanopsylhis penetrmis. This pest is indigenous to tropical America, where it is known as the " chico." It was brought in sand ballast by a Brazilian ship to Ambriz in 1855. ^ In 1903 an agreement with regard to the exchange of money postal orders was entered into with the United States and Great Britain. 274 -^ The Loan and its Consequence^ had shown that Negroes born in America, especially in the temperate climate of the United States, were scarcely less immune from African fevers than a people of European origin. Mulattoes suffered more than full-blooded Negroes, and quadroons more than mulattoes. The result has b'^en the gradual dying out in Liberia of the half-breeds and the proportionate increase of a purely Negro type. Down to 1880 a somewhat foolish spirit of distinction had been kept up between the " civilised " Christian Negro immigrants from America and the " natives." A marriage or an illicit union between an Americo-Liberian man and a native woman (though some of the native women, especially those of Mandingo race, are distinctly comely) was looked upon as a shameful occurrence, at any rate as an episode to bs kept in the shade as much as possible. That these unions did take place in spite of caste prejudices was perhaps fortunate, since they decidedly infused new vigour into the next generation. But about the period named (1880) a feeling of dis- appointment as regards the results of Negro repatriation was making itself felt, and public spirit in Liberia was taking — wisely,, perhaps — a more African turn. In spite of the some- what harsh treatment which the country was then receiving from England over frontier questions, an increasing disposition to turn to England for advice was manifested. The constitution of the adjoining colony of Sierra Leone, with its coast population of freed slaves so similar in origin to the fundamental stock of the Americo-Liberian, was a bond of union between the British Empire and Liberia. The United States continued its practical philanthropy on the part of individuals, who sent from time to time donations towards the educational work of the Liberia College ; but this benevolence was also matched by splendid gifts for missionary and educational purposes from the British 275 Liberia ^ philanthropist of Leeds, Mr. Robert Arthington (after whom a settlement on the St. Paul's River has been named). Moreover, throughout Liberia an extraordinary affection and reverence grew up during these years for Queen Victoria. This feeling dated possibly from the journey of President Roberts to England in 1 849 ; but the late Queen had often testified her interest in West African Negroes by the adoption or even the bestowal of her godmothership on Negro girls, one or two of whom afterwards settled in Liberia with their husbands. Liberian ladies, the wives of such statesmen who occasionally travelled to England on business, were not infrequently presented to the Queen, and brought away memorials of her in the shape of photographs and kindly speeches, the result of which was a kind of cult for the Queen of Great Britain which the present writer found still lingering on his visit to Liberia in the summer of 1904. Her picture was to be seen almost wherever a Liberian settlement existed. 276 CHAPTER XVI RECENT HISTORY SIR ARTHUR HAVELOCK had succeeded Sir Samuel Rowe for a time as Governor of Sierra Leone in 1880, and under his administration of that colony renewed steps were taken to procure British predominance over the territories between the Sherbro and the Mano River. It was resolved to exact Liberia's consent to this restriction of her frontiers, and also to compel the payment of an indemnity to Harris. Ac- cordingly, Sir Arthur Havelock (who was also Consul-General for Britain in Liberia) came to Monrovia on March 20th, 1882, with four gunboats, and demanded that the Liberian Government should at once give its consent to a frontier delimitation, which would bring the British Protectorate up to the River Mafa and the vicinity of Cape Mount. Also the Liberians were simultaneously to pay the indemnity of ^^8,500 claimed on behalf of Harris and the other merchants. President Gardner, over- awed by the appearance of this section of the British fleet, hastened to appoint Dr. Edward Blyden (then Minister of the Interior) to arrange the bases of an understanding with Sir Arthur Havelock. It was agreed between the two plenipoten- tiaries that Liberia should pay an indemnity to Harris and the other merchants supposed to have suffered from the Vai in 1871, that Liberia should abandon her rights to any territory west of the Mafi or Mafa River (subject to a promise from 277 Liberia <«- Sir Arthur Havelock that he would intercede with the British Government for the line of the Mano River instead), but that Britain should repay to Liberia all the sums which could be shown to have been spent by her since 1849 in acquiring territories west of the Mano. The treaty was signed, and Havelock returned to Sierra Leone with the British gunboats ; but these terms aroused most violent opposition, and the Senate rejected the treaty soon afterwards. The Liberians declared themselves willing to submit the matter of the disputed territories to arbitration. Floods of eloquence were poured forth in the Liberian press, some of it very true and very touching, but all futile in face of this incontestable fact, that paper rights cannot always remain paper rights in Africa, and that claims to political control must be supported by evidence of the control being sufficient to maintain law and order and the recognition of sovereign rights, at any rate after a reasonable lapse of time. The hardness of Liberia's position arose from this, that if it had been a mere case of keeping in order turbulent blacks, she might have been able to show that she possessed sufficient resources for that purpose. But the dispute about the Mano, Sulima, and Gallinhas territories really arose from Liberia not daring to use her force to restrain within limits of law and order the arrogant English traders who had established themselves on the confines of her territory and who had refused to obey her regulations. On September 7th, 1882, Sir Arthur Havelock returned with the gunboats and demanded a ratification of the treaty. The Liberian Executive opposed to him two arguments. If the contested territory was British, why did the British Government claim from Liberia an indemnity for acts of violence amongst the natives which had taken place thereon ? If, however, Liberia acknowledged her responsibility, as sh? 278 -•i Recent History had done, and agreed to pay an indemnity, why should she be in addition deprived of territories for the law and order of which she was held responsible, and which were hers by acts of purchase admitted by the British Government ? The Liberian Senate, again summoned, persisted in refusing to ratify the treaty. In March, 1883, the Colonial Government of Sierra Leone took possession on behalf of the British Government of the territories between Sherbro and the Mano River, lands which from first to last, in original purchase money, in special missions of negotiation to England, military expeditions to punish the natives for attacking English factories, indemnities due for such attacks, and in the expenses of three frontier commissions had cost Liberia in all ^20,000. President Gardner was so much upset over the forcible ■annexation of this north-western strip of the Liberian coast that he resigned office before his Presidency terminated.^ According to constitutional usage, he was succeeded for the rest of the term by the Vice-President, A. F. Russell. On January ist, 1884, Hilary Richard Wright Johnson" (who had been elected in the previous May) was installed as President, and at once commenced negotiations in London to regularise the action taken by the British Government in 1883. These negotiations finally resulted in the treaty of November iith, 1885, which was subsequently ratified by both Governments. By this the boundary of Liberia on the west commences at the mouth of the River Mano.^ Its continuation in the interior in • January 20th, 1883 He never recovered from the mortification caused by Governor Havelock's actions and died early in 1885. ^ Johnson, a mulatto, viras a man of very distinguished attainments, who had served as professor at Liberia College, had been a Liberian diplomatist and Secretary of State. He was the first President born in Liberia (1837) and was the son of the gallant pioneer, Elijah Johnson. =* Spelt Mannah in all the documents of an earlier date, but now known as the Mano, 279 Liberia <«- Article 11. of this treaty was defined in such extraordinarily- vague language that its purport could have been clear to no one.^ But the question was finally set at rest by further negotiations in 1902, which resulted in the Anglo-Liberian boundary commission in 1903. The same treaty also provided for the repayment to Liberia of the sum of _^4,750, which was intended to reimburse Liberia for sums originally paid between 1849 and 1856 for the purchase of some of these contested territories. French opinion at the time censured the British Govern- ment for this action in forcibly curtailing Liberian limits. The Belgian author, Colonel Wauwermans, who in 1885 published an admirable work on the history of Liberia, reflected French feeling when he compared the aggressive attitude of Great Britain to the kindly and indulgent demeanour which France displayed towards the little republic. But France, too, soon afterwards was to have her unscrupulous mood. By deeds of purchase and treaties, the little State of Maryland (and subsequently the bigger Republic of Liberia with which it 1 The actual text of Article II. of the Treaty of 1885 runs thus: "The line marking the north-western boundary of the Republic of Liberia shall commence at the point on the sea coast at which, at low water, the line of the south-eastern or left bank of the Mannah River intersects the general line of the sea coast, and shall be continued along the line marked by low water on the south-eastern or left bank of the Mannah River, until such line, or such line prolonged in a north-easterly direction, intersects the line or the prolongation of the line marking the north-eastern or inland boundary of the territories of the republic, with such deviations as may hereafter be found necessary to place within Liberian territory the town of Boporo and such other towns as shall be hereafter acknowledged to have belonged to the republic at the time of the signing of this Convention." It is regrettable that tliose who negotiated this treaty should have composed an article so vaguely and cumbrously worded. Fortunately, when it came to a delimitation of the boundary many years afterwards Great Britain was sufficiently actuated by goodwill towards Liberia not to avail herself of the bad definition of her frontier expressed in this article. But evidently this fault was not confined to British or Liberian diplomatists. The wording of the French boundary treaty of 1892, as will be seen later on, was almost equally vague and contradictory. 76. HILARY R. W. JOHNSON, ^PRESIDENT OF LIBERIA 1884-93 Liberia ^ fused) had extended the limits of the republic eastwards along the Ivory Coast to the River San Pedro, about sixty miles east of the Cavalla. This extension really covered all the coast territory inhabited by people belonging to the Kru race, so that it was to a great extent coincident with an ethnographical boundary. When the present writer was Acting Consul for the Niger Coast, etc., in 1888, he visited this portion of the Liberian coast to settle some disputes which had arisen between Kruboys and their employers in Southern Nigeria. At that date the territory between the Cavalla and the San Pedro was distinctly recognised as Liberian. Nevertheless, when French ambitions in the matter of an African empire were revived in the beginning of the 'eighties of the last century, it was determined to extend the scattered French possessions on the Ivory Coast until they covered the whole region between the British Gold Coast on the east and the Cavalla River on the west. An indication of this intention was given by a decree published in the Bulletin des Lois in 1885, which declared the coast to be French territory not only between the San Pedro and the Cavalla but beyond the Cavalla and Cape Palmas to the town of Garawe. France also began to revive claims of a very shadowy nature^ to Cape Mount, to the original site of Petit Dieppe (Grand Basa), and to a large piece of territory at Grand Butu." Most of these claims were based on offers of territory by native chiefs to the commanders of French war vessels. In 1 89 1 an official communication of these intentions on the part of the French Government was made to Great Britain. But no doubt unacknowledged negotiations had been proceeding ' Dating from 1842. ^ Also the site of a supposed Norman settlement, Le Grand et le Petit Putteau. 283 -^ Recent History for some time, and the late Lord Salisbury had induced France to restrain her aggressions on Liberian territory within reasonable limits. Consequently, in the French official notification of October 26th, 1891, the French boundary was drawn at the Cavalla. The Liberians protested in vain against this spoliation, but receiving no assurances of support either from the United States or Great Britain, they were fain to conclude a treaty with France on December 8th, 1892, according to which the River Cavalla became the boundary between PVance and Liberia from its mouth "as far as a point situated at a point" about twenty miles to the south of its confluence with the River " Fodedougou- ba," at the intersection of the parallel 6° 30' N. Lat. and the (Paris) meridian 9° 12' of W. Long/ From this "point at a point " so contradictorily fixed on the Cavalla, the boundary was then to be carried along 6° 30' parallel of N. Lat. as far west as the Paris Meridian 10° of Longitude, with this proviso, that the basin of the Grand Sesters River should belong to Liberia and the basin of the Fodedougou-ba to France. Then • This starting-point of Franco-Liberian delimitation on the River Cavalla is determined in the most contradictory manner. The treaty first says that it shall be situated at a point on the Cavalla about twenty miles to tlie south of its confluence with the River Fodedugu-ba, which was at that time supposed to be an affluent of the Cavalla. But the treaty supplements this definition by adding the words " at the intersection of the parallel 6° 30' N. Lat. and the (Paris) meridian q° 12' of W. Long." At the date this treaty was drawn up, almost nothing was known of the course of the River Cavalla. The name Fodedugu-ba is a Mandingo word (apparently) for river or watercourse which under varying forms appears and reappears con- stantly in the Upper Niger basin. The river which is indicated under this name in the Franco-Liberian treaty is obviously the main course (Dugu or Duyu) of the River Cavalla, placed a good deal too much to the north in tiie hypothetical map of 1892. This was confused by native tradition with a real " Fodedugu-ba" which occurs a great deal farther to the north as an affluent of the Sasandra River. It was therefore foolish enough that the negotiatiors of this treaty should assume a point of junction between a hypothetical Fodedugu-ba and an equally hypothetical Upper Cavalla ; but when in addition they went on to postulate that twenty miles below the confluence of these two streams the main course of the Cavalla would beintersected by 6° 30' N. Lat. and 9° 12' (Paris) W. Long., they were simply courting gubsecjuent confusion. 283 Liberia ^ the boundary was to be carried north along the loth meridian of Paris to the intersection of the yth degree of N. Lat., and from this point in a north-westerly direction till the (supposed) latitude of Tembi Kunda was reached, after which the boundary was carried due west along the latitude of Tembi Kunda till it intersected the British frontier near that place. At that time it was supposed by both French and English that Tembi Kunda was situated in about Lat. 8° 35'. Subsequent surveys, however, show that Tembi Kunda is in about 9° 5'. All these lines drawn by latitudes and longitudes from 7° N. Lat. to Tembi Kunda were, however, to be inflected and diverted should they conflict with the basin of the Niger and its affluents, all of which was to belong to France. It was also decided that the Mandingo towns of " Bamaquilla " and " Mahom- modou " should belong to Liberia, while " Mousardou " and " Naalah " should belong to France. Disadvantageous as this treaty was in some directions to Liberia, it, at any rate, coupled with the Sierra Leone settlement, enabled the territory of Liberia to appear on maps of Africa with some greater definiteness of outline and without the fantastic zigzags introduced by Anderson's surveys. President Hilary Johnson ^ (whose Government had been chiefly responsible for negotiating this frontier treaty with France) retired from the Presidency before it was concluded, on January ist, 1892, and was succeeded by President Joseph James Cheeseman, who occupied the chief magistracy till his death in November, 1896. Cheeseman was succeeded by William David Coleman, first as Vice-President and later as President. 1 Johnson died in 1898. He had received several decorations from European Powers and was much respected. After his retirement from the Presidency he took up the position of Postmaster-General. 284 '■i. K Liberia ^ In 1893 the Grebos, excited by French aggressions On Liberian territory east of the Cavalla River, attacked the Americo- Liberian settlements near Harper and on the Lower Cavalla River, and the Liberian forces in the conflict met with several disasters involving loss of guns. The Liberian Government's armed steamer, the Gorronomah^ was completed in that year, and this vessel co-operating with the land forces under General R. A. Sherman enabled the Monrovian Government to gain an eventual victory over the natives in this, the so-called " Third Grebo War." " General R. A. Sherman, a mulatto officer, directed the Liberian forces on most of these punitive expeditions, but he died in 1894 (see p. 263). In 1896 fresh troubles arose with the Grebos, in which one or more Liberians were killed. About 1880 the question of admitting Europeans in a more extended degree to the development of Liberian resources was agitated. Sharing in the spirit of the time, there was a talk of " concessions," of privileges to be granted in mining or rubber-collecting which might prove lucrative to the State, and enable it perchance to pay off that debt which hung like a millstone about the neck of the republic's finances. In 1869 there had sprung into existence the Mining Company of Liberia, which was granted certain special rights by the Government of Liberia, but which failed to raise any capital for the working of these mining rights. In 1881 this was transformed into the Union Mining Company, and to it was granted a charter containing important privileges. This chartered company was to languish in inaction, since it was unable on a purely Liberian basis to raise any capital for its purposes. ' The native name of Cape Palmas. ^ These " wars " were mostly skirmishes with small loss of life and many "alarums and excursions" on botli sides. 286 MAP 7 Liberia <4- The belief in mineral wealth in Liberia then (and perhaps one may add now) was persistent but hypothetical. Benjamin Anderson had written a great deal that was alluring about mines of fabulous wealth in the vicinity of Musadu, which, however, he had not been allowed to visit. He had tried to reach these regions in 1874, but had failed. Although the French have since occupied this country and presumably have explored it, the wonderful gold-mines of Buley Q Bula) have not been discovered, or if they have been found by the French they have been kept absolutely secret. But after the diamond discoveries in South Africa in 1869 and the revival of the gold-mining industry on the Gold Coast following on Burton and Cameron's journey and report, it was believed that any part of Africa must of necessity be packed with precious stones or minerals of great value. ^ Between 1886 and 1888 the writer of this book, then Acting Consul in the Niger Delta, had drawn attention to the existence in that region and in the adjoining Cameroons of enormous quantities of rubber-producing vines and trees. Various French travellers had done the same in regard to Senegambia, and by the end of the 'eighties the great rubber trade of West Africa had begun. Long before this it had been realised that the Liberian forests down almost to the sea coast were equally well provided with rubber-bearing lianas and trees. These and other sources of wealth had been pointed out by the celebrated Swiss traveller, Professor J. Biittikofer, and the question of a rubber concession had been suggested either by a Liverpool or a Hamburg firm. Finally this resulted in the granting of a concession to export rubber (subject to a royalty to the Liberian Government) and to work exclusively all the ' As to Liberian diamonds the cautious remarks of Professor Biittikofer on p. 426 of vol. i. of his Travels in Liberia should be read. 288 ^ Recent History rubber of all the public lands and forests throughout Liberia to a firm in London. This concession had been re-drawn in an amended form at the request of Lord Raglan, who visited Liberia for this purpose in 1894. The royalty payable to the Liberian Government on the rubber exported was to range from twopence to fourpence a pound according to selling price, and a considerable sum of money as additional bonus was to be paid in instalments for the granting of this concession.^ Li 1879 Professor J. Biittikofer,^ at the suggestion of Dr. Jentink of Leyden, started to begin his celebrated explorations of the fauna of Liberia, which at that period was felt to be with justice one of the least explored and yet most accessible parts of Africa. Professor Battikofer travelled in Liberia from the beginning of 1880 to the middle of 1882, and from the end of 1886 to the middle of 1887. On his return he published in 1890 at Leyden his Reisehilder aus Liberia'. Professor Bilttikofer was a Swiss by birth, employed in Holland, where he still resides. There may have been good reasons for his not publishing his work in Dutch. He decided to write it in his native language, German. This, if one may say so without unfairness, was unfortunate for those most interested in Liberia, since German is a language too little under- stood in England, not very commonly known in America, and absolutely ignored in Liberia. There is little doubt that had Biittikofer's work been published in French like Wauwermans's book (which appeared in 1885) it would have had the extended vogue which it thoroughly deserved, for it was, and is, one of " The rubber royalties were afterwards applied to the service of the Liberian debt. The concession after passing through several hands was finally bought by the Chartered Company, and has now become the Liberian Rubber Corporation. ^ Nowadays Director of the Zoological Gardens, Rotterdam ; formerly Conservator of the Leyden Museum in Holland. VOL. I 289 19 Liberia ^ the best books ever written about Africa, as useful to-day as when it first appeared sixteen years ago. The results of Biittikofer's journeys were firstly a consider- able increase of our knowledge of the coast geography of Liberia, which was then very incorrectly represented on the British Admiralty charts and even less accurately given in contemporary French or American maps. The journeys of Buttikofer and his friend and fellow-countryman F. X. Stampfli produced some remarkable results in the discovery of what were new, or practi- cally new, species of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and inverte- brates. Battikofer collected a great deal of information regarding the history and natives of the country. During the 'eighties and 'nineties of the last century German interest in Liberia began to grow considerably, partly through the publication of Bttttikofer's work, but also and mainly through the establishment of factories (as trading stations are named in West Africa) at various points along the Liberian coast by the celebrated Hamburg firm of Woermann, who had commenced trading in Liberia in 1850. In 1886 the old- established firm of Wiechers & Helm (also of Hamburg) founded trading stations at Monrovia, Marshall, and Cape Palmas. The Dutch trading house (Oost Afrikaansche Cie.) which did so much to develop the commerce of Mozambique has long been established in Liberia, but without any political bias whatever ; whereas the Germans, like the French and the British at other times, have cast a longing eye on the territory of Liberia as a possible field for German "colonisation." The great explorer Nachtigal seems to have had a half intention (when sent out by Germany in 1884 to secure the Cameroons and Togoland) to get a foothold in or near Liberia. As it was, he did raise the German flag in some territory on the North Guinea coast, but it was removed in deference to the 290 -^ Recent History feeling displayed by France. Curiously enough, Dr. Nachtigal died at sea as he was returning from the Cameroons, and was actually buried at Cape Palmas on Liberian soil. From this time onwards, however, Germany was disposed to increase 78. GROUP OF EUROPEAN CONSULS AND MERCHANTS IN MONROVIA {19OT her influence in Liberia, either by demanding indemnities and threatening bombardments when German ships were wrecked on the coast or by tendering Liberia loans of money when she was hard up. In 1897 the German Consul concluded a dispute about damage to a German plantation at Cape Palmas by offering to the Liberian Government a treaty placing the country under 291 Liberia ««- German protection. News of this was dispatched as soon as possible to England and to the United States. Germany disavowed the action of her Consul and withdrew him. Nevertheless, the house of Woermann has conferred great I 79. A KRUBOY benefits on that country, not easily to be overlooked or for- gotten. The British house of Elder Dempster, acting through the two British steamship companies which are practically one 292 -#5 Recent History (the African Steamship Company and the British and African So. KKU HKADMAN ON .STKAMKK Company) has long maintained (since 1855) a steamer service between Liverpool and nearly all the Liberian ports ; but the 293 Liberia ^ steamers were formerly the slowest boats of the line, uncertain and unpunctual, and not always very comfortable.^ Therefore the Woermann service, which provided an express boat once a month from Hamburg and Southampton to Monrovia, and which placed on the line modern steamers of fair speed and thoroughly comfortable accommodation, proved most beneficial to European intercourse with Liberia, and naturally these efforts by the Woermann firm provoked similar improvements in the steamers of their English rivals. During the last decades of the nineteenth century Liberia acquired an added importance in the eyes of Europe as being the home of the Kruboys. This race had for nearly a century been the seamen of West Africa. Refusing ever to be enslaved, though quite willing to assist in the enslavement of other tribes, they were the first free labourers to engage themselves voluntarily for employment with Europeans on the West Coast of Africa. They entered willingly the service of the British Navy, in which large numbers of them continue to the present day in ships of the Cape and West African Squadron. As British sailors they might be seen up and down the coasc of West Africa, from the Gambia to the Cape of Good Hope. They engaged in service with all the commercial houses — British, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Belgian, and Portuguese — along the coast of West Africa from Sierra Leone to Mossa- medes. It was soon found that they were of little use as porters in inland expeditions ; but they were invaluable in any service connected with the water or the waterside. They formed the universal boats' crews up and down the coast. This race accepted the settlement by the Americo-Liberians on either side of their country with good-humoured tolerance until attempts were made to maintain law and order within ^ I am writing of course of the state of affairs which prevailed twenty years ago. 294 Liberia <*- the Kru country and to prevent the pillaging of wrecked ships. Then, and at every other effort on the part of the Liberian Government to assert its authority, the Kruboys showed fight ; but in spite of their splendid muscles and their bullying manner they are a cowardly race, and generally gave in to resolute action on the part of the Liberian Militia. Nevertheless, the writ of Monrovia does not completely run through the Kru country yet. The existence of the Krumen both tempted to aggression on Liberian territory and yet was one of the motives which obliged England on several occasions to intervene when any Power seemed advancing towards the absorption of Liberia. France snapped up the sixty mile stretch of coast between the San Pedro and the Cavalla so as to have under her own flag a supply of Kru labour. But although at that period Great Britain was disposed to make many concessions to France, the late Lord Salisbury drew the line at the Cavalla. Several attempts were made by the German house of Woermann to ob- tam a concession for the recruiting and exporting of Kru labour, and regulations governing this recruitment were from time to time drawn up by the Liberian Government ; but so far, any monopoly has been wisely avoided, while on the other hand not too much unnecessary red tape has been introduced into the engagement of a people who have very good ideas of looking after themselves. Now and again, of course, unscrupulous steamer captains managed to convey Kruboys to a destination which was opposed to their wishes. Employers on the West Coast are very soon ticketed with a character good or bad by the Kru community on the coast of Liberia and at Sierra Leone. A bad or inconsiderate employer very soon fails to get men ; so in time, on the lines of the survival of the fittest, it has come about that Krumen receive fair and considerate treatment wherever they are employed, lest by breaking this rule it would 2q6 PRESIDENT GIBSON AND HIS CABINET Liberia <*- be impossible to secure fresh gangs of Kru labourers. They rarely engage for more than a year. The Monrovian Government in 1893 strengthened its position amongst the Krumen by securing declarations on the part of their chiefs of adhesion to the Government of Liberia, to put a stop to foreign intrigue in this direction. In 1900 President Coleman entertained somewhat ambitious views about establishing Liberian influence in the interior north- west of the St. Paul's River. He therefore organised and conducted an expedition in that direction, which, however, was 298 ^ Recent History disastrously defeated by the tribes it had been intended to subdue. As this policy towards the natives was not approved of by his Cabinet, President Coleman resigned and was suc- ceeded by Vice-President Garretson Wilmot Gibson (who was already President-elect). Under Gibson's Presidency a further change took place in regard to the development of Liberia. The agent of the 84. CHARTP:KED company's HKAUQUAKTERS in MONROVIA Union Mining Company offered the charter of that body to an English syndicate, of which Lieut.-Colonel Cecil Powney was chairman. An agreement to purchase the charter was concluded, but as there were matters concerning the tenure of the charter in dispute, and as the transfer of such a document to a foreign company might require the direct sanction of the Liberian Government, Sir Simeon Stuart and Mr. T. PI. Myring went to Liberia on behalf of the syndicate. In 299 Liberia ^- December, 1901, the transfer of the charter in an amended form from the Union Minnig Company to the West African Gold Concessions, Limited, was sanctioned by an Act of Congress. Colonel Powney travelled through part of Liberia to investigate its possibilities in 1903. Soon after his return his company changed its name to that of the Liberian Development Chartered Company. Some further modifications were introduced into the tenure of this company's charter (which conveyed mining rights over the counties of Montscrrado and Maryland, and general banking, railway, telegraph, and other rights throughout Liberia) in August, 1904, and January, 1906. The Chartered Company between 1902 and 1904 dispatched six expeditions to search the hinterland for minerals ; and in 1903 engaged Mr. Alexander Whyte, F.L.S., to make a thorough investigation of the Liberian flora. The results of Mr. Whyte's work have been of some importance to science : he has done for the flora of Liberia what Biittikofer did for the fauna. In 1904 a great step was mads towards the extension of Liberian rule over the hinterland of this country. President Arthur Barclay, who had succeeded the Hon. G. W. Gibson on January ist, 1904,^ summoned to Monrovia an important congress of "kings" and chiefs from the interior, chiefly from the Gora, Boporo, and Kpwesi countries. In 1903 missions had been dispatched under native commissioners to places on the Cavalla River a hundred miles and more from the coast, and also to native towns and markets at about a similar distance up the St. Paul's River, not only to hoist the Liberian flag, but to endeavour to assuage the internecine wars ^ President Barclay was born in Barbados in 1854. He came to Liberia in 1865, and entered the public service in 1878, becoming first Clerk to House of Representatives, and then successively Judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions; Sub-Treasurer, Montserrado ; Postmaster-General ; and Secretary to the Treasury. He has been re-elected for a fresh term of office from January ist, 1906. 300 -^ Recent History between tribe and tribe and open a road to commerce with the coast. President Barclay's conference of native chiefs (which was succeeded by other meetings of Kru and Grebo chiefs from 85. PRESIDENT G. W. GIBSON the eastward) markedly improved the trade relations of the Americo-Liberian settlements with the western Mandingo and Gora country and with the regions behind Cape Palmas. President Barclay's arguments against the French assump- 301 Liberia <*- tion that the absence of Americo-I.iberian settlements in the far interior argues a lack of Liberian " occupation " are that he considers all the Negroes inhabiting Liberia to be Liberians, 86. A VAi < liiiii-, iii.s w ni.s AM) i.\ri;ki'Ki-;'n:i; and has not the slightest desire to displace native-born Negroes by colonists born on the coast. This is a perfectly sound doctrine ; but of course the present weakness of the civilised 302 87. MANDINGOS FROM THK FRANCO-LIBERIAN FRONTIER. Liberia ^•- Americo-Liberian Government on the coast is that it has no sure means of maintaining law and order between tribe and tribe, and between all these tribes in the hinterland in regard to their relations with the French and English possessions across the frontiers. The British have borne with patience the occasional lawlessness of Kisi, Kondo, and other tribes on the Sierra Leone boundary, together with the gun-running — namely, the passing of guns and ammunition in defiance of Customs regulations from Liberia into the recently agitated hinterland of Sierra Leone. France complains of similar lawlessness on the north-east and north-west frontiers of Lberia. On the other hand, the Liberian Government retorts that the Muham.madan Negroes who are now French subjects are eating steadily into the Liberian hinterland. They are penetrating the north-east parts of Liberia, firstly as peaceful traders, and secondly as somewhat exclusive colonists. They cut down the forest and take possession of the country little by little, driving back the forest-dwelling tribes towards the heart of Liberia. Time and patience are required to settle these problems, and to settle them more satisfactorily by peaceful negotiation than by armed expeditions. It is surely not too much to ask from the kindliness and civilisation of Europe that the poor little Americo-Liberian Republic shall have grace accorded to it — say another fifty years — within which to show how it can bring into an orderly condition the not very large territory entrusted to its charge. It has made considerable progress in that direction in the coast regions, where it is scarcely ex- aggeration to say that the life of a white man is absolutely safe, even though the same assurance cannot be given about his property in every hole and corner, just as there are parts of London and Paris at the present moment in which it would 304 -^ Recent History be very unsafe for a well-to-do person to appear, flourishing signs of wealth on his person and without the escort of the police. In 1903, during President Gibson's tenure of office the Anglo-Liberian boundary had been demarcated locally from the 88. A MANDINGO HEADMAN FROM THE UUKWIA RIVER mouth of the Mano River to Tembi Kunda. In 1904 President Barclay strove to have the same needful work carried out by a Franco-Liberian commission so that the northern and eastern boundaries of the Liberian Republic might be fixed from the vicinity of Tembi Kunda to the mouth of the Cavalla River. Between 1898 and 1900 a very remarkable journey of explora- tion had been accomplished which, while adding greatly to our wou I 305 20 Liberia ^^ knowledge of the Liberian hinterland, had aroused French land- hunger once more as regards Liberian territory. This expedi- tion was under the joint command of a colonial official of the Ivory Coast, M. Hostains, and a military officer, Captain d'Ollone. This mission started on February 19th, 1899, ^^^^'^ Berebi on the Ivory Coast. It crossed the Cavalla River and the Ivory Coast frontier at Fort Binger, travelled through the interior of Maryland and Sino counties, passed through the Niete Mountains, mapped the upper course of the Duobe, recrcssed the main Cavalla at its great western loop, followed the Upper Cavalla at intervals till they rounded the mountain mass of Nimba, and passed almost at the same time out of the great forest and the political boundaries of Liberia. Their journey was the most remarkable piece of explora- tion that has yet been accomplished in the Liberian hinterland. Americo-Liberian officials and traders and European represen- tatives of the British companies had, it is true, traversed some of the regions described by Captain d'Ollone and had met with a much more peaceable and less sensational reception amongst the (so-called) cannibal tribes. Biittikofer's journeys had been more productive of general knowledge, but this French expedition was the first to reveal with any approach to accuracy the configuration of the Cavalla basin. It discovered the lofty Nimba Mountains and enabled us to make a more accurate guess at the sources and affluents of the St. Paul's River. The accuracy of all their estimates and deductions has been called in question : Hostains and d'Ollone may prove to be wrong here and there ; but their journey threw a beam of bright light through the dark Liberian hinterland.^ ' The results of this expedition are embodied in an interesting and admirably illustrated work by Captain d'Ollone (De la Cote (i'lvoire au Soudan, etc., Paris, 1901, Hachette). 306 NATIVES OF THE GREBO COUNTRY NEAR LOWER CAVALLA RIVER Liberia «*- Hostains had explored a portion of South-eastern Liberia in 1897. Between 1901 and 1904. Mr. I. F. Brahani (General Manager of the Chartered and Rubber Companies), Mr. J. P. Crommelin, and the Due de Morny had done the same. In addition there had been exploration from the north-east and north-west. The increasing success of the French warfare from the Niger eastward and southward against the Mandingo chieftain Samori brought them to established posts at Kisidugu and Beila 90. NATIVES OF PADIBO, DUOBE RIVER on the verge of Northern Liberia (i.e. near the limits of the Niger watershed). From these points enterprising French officers like Lieut. Woelffel (one of the captors of Samori) discovered the lofty Druple and Nimba Mountains and collected informa- tion regarding the sources of the Cavalla and of the mysterious Nipwe or Nuon River, which is a western tributary of the Cavalla, or an eastern affluent of the St. Paul, or an independent stream, the head-waters of the Dukwia or the St. John's River. 308 -»i Recent History Other expeditions revealed the upper waters of the Moa or Makona with its many affluents on the Mandingo Plateau ; the most important of these affluents, the Meli, being discovered by the Anglo-Liberian boundary commission under Captain H. D. Pearson and Lieut. E. W. Cox. Several French officers and Senegalese soldiers lost their lives 91. NATIVES OF THE KELIPO COUNTRY, CENTRAL CAVALLA REGION in these explorations, attempting to pierce the dense Liberian forests from the north. The pagan cannibal tribes of the forest did not regard them as deliverers from Samori's raids but as fresh invaders come to ravage the forest villages. So there were not a few fights until they became better acquainted with the true character of the French explorers. On the other hand, a 3°9 Liberia hundred miles nearer the coast British travellers were making their way through the country unharmed because the coast government excited no apprehensions of conquest and spoliation. It only needs time, patience, and trade goods to open up all parts of these forest regions, and create friendly intercourse 92. LCBKRIANS ANMJ EUROPEAN VISITORS with the European : peaceful penetration, in fact, will be far cheaper in the profitable development of Liberia than military expeditions. In' 1 905 Liberia joined !the convention of African 'Powers for the preservation of big game, rare animals and birds. 310 -^ Recent History In 1904 and the following year negotiations were entered into with France to effect a more accurate definition in words of the Franco-Liberian frontier, inasmuch as the definition of 1892 was incompatible with geographical facts. The frontier which Liberia proposed in 1905 is illustrated on the accom- panying sketch-map. The counter-proposals of the French Government involved the loss to Liberia of a portion of the Makona basin in the north-west, though securing to her the entire western basin of the Cavalla, and all the basin of the St. Paul's River. Liberia loses territory on the north-east and on the north-west, but secures a more easily marked frontier — the course of the Cavalla from source to mouth, the line of water- parting between the systems of the Niger and the St. Paul's, and the main course of the Makona River as far as the British frontier. It is probable that the Liberian frontier will be definitely drawn in accordance with these principles (see p. 317). I cannot do better in concluding this sketch of Liberian history than quote extracts from a recent presidential address of the Hon. Arthur Barclay : Message of the President of Liberia, communicated TO the Second Session of the Twenty-ninth Legislature, December 15TH, 1904 Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Repre- sentatives— In accordance with the provisions of the Organic Statute of our State we are here to-day to review the progress of our affairs during the past year, as well as to give and to take such counsel as may upon mature consideration and reflection appear most fit and proper for the further guidance and direction of the business and interests of the Republic. It seems proper in the first place to direct attention to internal conditions. During your recess death has deprived the State of an able, 3" Liberia <^ devoted, and capable public servant, the Hon. H. J. Moore, Secretary of the Interior. His father, G. Moore, Esq., a prominent merchant largely interested in the interior trade, for many years before the formation of the Interior Department was recognised as the Agent of the Government of Liberia among the tribes of the hinterland of Montserrado, among whom he was widely known. His tactful management maintained the peace of a great part of the province for many years, especially of the districts contiguous to the Americo-Liberian townships. It was through neglect of the advice given by him toward the end of his life that the country between the Little Cape Mount and the St. Paul's Rivers has been for over twenty years in a disturbed condition. Secretary Moore received from his father much useful information and sound advice as to the manner in which the native population ought to be controlled and governed. Dr. Moore was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Cheeseman in 1892, and directed that department for about twelve years. His attitude toward the native population was sympathetic and his policy conciliatory. It is to be regretted that his ideas were not always popular, especially among the less thoughtful section of our civilised population. But Secretary Moore made a lasting contribution to the country's prosperity and progress when he succeeded eventually in convincing the community that the policy he advocated and invariably followed was and is the correct one. No bill, as far as I have been able to ascertain, has since the Declaration of Independence passed the Legislature providing for the local organisation and government of the territory. The necessity for such a measure has now become urgently necessary. It may be said we have townships — our smallest political units — and these townships are grouped into counties. So much was done before 1848. Since that time as regard townships, and their boundaries, every man has done what was right in his own eyes. The public statutes accord to the township a territory of eight miles square. In Montserrado County the township of Virginia claims that the town- ship of Brewerville is in its territory. No one knows where the township of Brewerville begins and ends. There is also an un- pleasant boundary dispute between the townships of Arthington and Millsburg in the same county. Misunderstandings and difficulties pf a like nature exist elsewhere in the territory of the republic. 312 ^'!.^k4ii Tie Liberia <•- I recommend that the townships should have an area of six miles square ; that all townships be laid out under direction of the President ; that they be called into existence by public proclamation, and in such proclamation the boundary of each be indicated and the inhabitants dwelling therein be directed to elect and appoint the local authorities, notifying their initial action to the Secretary of the Interior, who shall immediately give publicity to the same ; said township shall then be considered as properly organised. In the same connection I think it will be found advisable that the native districts be considered and treated as townships under the govern- ment of the native authorities. In the Act, power of sub-division and rearrangement under direction of the President ought to be reserved. The native chief in charge, commissioned by the President, will be treated as the local authority. The government of townships needs your attention. The 3rd Article of the Act establishing the boundaries of counties of the republic, and regulating towns and villages, declares that the several townships shall be bodies corporate, but it is not settled by whom the corporate authority is to be exercised after town meeting has adjourned. The power of taxation was placed in the hands of the town assembly which meets the first Tuesday in October, and also the appointment of one treasurer and three over- seers of police. Without warrant, as far as I can see, the assemblies have appointed the commissioners to exercise executive authority. The town assembly has not been altogether a success. I suggest that a mayor and council, elected every two years, be substituted for the town assembly, the elections to take place the first Tuesday in October in specified years. The Act authorising the President to open certain roads in the county of Maryland has been put into operation. Starting from Webo, stations have been established, at intervals of one day's march, at Tuobo, Ketibo, and Pan, Each coinmissioner is supported by a police guard of twelve men. The upkeep of the stations and police guard will necessitate an annual expenditure of $11,000. Of this sum it is proposed to spend $1,000 a year in widening and improving old paths, building permanent bridges and cutting out new roads. The establishment of the stations was a matter of gratification to the native population of the districts affected. The route suggested for the proposed water-way between Harper 314 -•> Recent History and the Cavalla River has been examined. It cannot be made practicable unless at an expense of about $6,000. A map of the country and of the creeks between Harper and Cavalla River drawn by Mr. T. J. R. Faulkner, who with the Hon. J. J. Dossen was appointed to survey the route, will be laid before you. The stations authorised on the Anglo-Liberian frontier have not yet been taken in hand. I hope the Legislature will not adjourn before passing a bill to 93. IN MONROVIA : FIRING A SALUTE regulate the government of the native communities of the country. This matter cannot be any longer delayed. A national policy in this regard ought to be initiated. The territory should be controlled through the leading native families. We ought to make it a point to recognise and support them and get them to work with us. The desired bill should be arranged on the following lines. Assimilation of tribal territory to townships ; right of inhabitants to land within 3'5 Liberia ^ a specified area ; local self-government granted to people ; the recognition and administration of customary native law, both locally and by Courts of the republic ; supervision of native population by commissioners living among them ; the creation of two new Courts — the Court of the native chief and that of the District Commissioner. The former will take, in native communities, the place of the justice of the peace in the townships inhabited by the civilised population. The latter will deal with appeals from the Court of the native chief 94. A GORA CHIEF AND HIS WIVES AT SINKO and will hear and settle disputes between members of different sec- tions of the same tribe, or persons of different tribes within his jurisdiction. Jails, fees, and costs are subjects which for the present ought to be left to Executive regulation, through the Attorney- General. Appeals from District Commissioners should be to the Court of Quarter Sessions of each county, which Courts should also deal with crimes of a serious character. The bill should also accord to the Executive the power of issuing such regulations as may be requested or advised by the native chiefs, which regulations would 316 ■ MAI Liberia <*- of course have the force of law until expressly disallowed by the Legislature. It should also be made a misdemeanour for any chief or other person to refuse to obey the summons of the President, the Secretary of the Interior, or the Superintendent of county or district when it becomes necessary to investigate matters and things tending to disturb the peace of the country. The Acting Secretary of the Interior will submit his report, and 95. A LIBEKIAN SCHOOLHOUSE from that document the Legislature will be informed what the Government has striven to effect in the hinterland and on the coast since your last session. Education The Superintendent of Public Instruction will submit his report for 1904. It will show over 5,000 pupils in the public and mission schools of the country. The expenditure has averaged $25,000. Besides this we are spending about $I0,000 a year on the College. The latter is an absolute necessity, since it is from the ranks of its students that we will obtain the most efficient teachers of our primary and secondary schools. The great wants of the public schools at 318 ^ Recent History present are books, and a defined course of instruction. The Govern- ment will give the tuition. Parents must pay for the books which their children need. People never properly value that which costs them nothing. We must not pauperise the people. My idea is that as soon as the prescribed course is laid down and a list of the books required given, the Government might arrange for the establishment of a book depository in Monrovia with agencies throughout the country. The owner or manager ought to be guaranteed against eventual loss. We ought not to sacrifice the „, ■•- , -^^ ^ I ^■"^".V "^^ M S 1 "1 ..mm SSjiS 1 " 96. HON. MRS. BARCLAY, WIFE OF THE PRESIDENT, AND THE PUPILS OF A GIRLS' SCHOOL future of our children to the necessities of the present adult genera- tion. The education of the youth of the country should in no way be connected with its political parties. Our public schools system will never amount to very much as long as the Superintendents and Commissioners of Education are for the most part political appoint- ments. For the party system is necessarily applied, and controls in the main the appointment of the teachers. We need efficient, zealous, and punctual teachers. There is need for careful selection. Many otherwise capable persons cannot impart instruction to others. They 319 Liberia <#- do not attract and cannot interest the children, have no enthusiasm for the work, indeed are often otherwise objectionable. The Superintendents, knowing this, are hindered from refusing employment to such persons for fear of offending a good partisan or a local boss. Then it is observed too that the County Superintendents do not inspect the schools in their districts quarterly as is required by the public school law. Hence they can make no suggestions. They do not often remove teachers, many of whom shamefully neglect 97. PUPlL.b OF A SCHOOL FOR INUlGFiNOL'S NEGROES their charges. It is necessary to put life into the dead bones of our system of public instruction. We ought to take the schools out of politics. It is universally recognised that the money spent on public education of the right sort is a national investment of great produc- tive value. It is a gilt-edged national security. We ought not then to be so indifferent about it. If we must make the investment, then we must get full value for the money expended. I recommend that the Superintendent of Public Instruction be created a member of the 320 Recent History Cabinet so as to place him in immediate touch with the heads of the State ; that an advisory Board of Education be created, the members of which shall be appointed by the President for a term of three years, serving without pay, to advise and assist the Super- intendent of Instruction. To the Superintendent and Board ought to be handed over the distribution of the educational funds, the appointment of Superintendent of the schools in each county and the management of the whole system of public instruction. I cordi- . AN AMERICO-LIBEKIAN PLANTATION ally endorse the suggestion of the Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion that a fee of two cents per week be required of each child attending a public school, the money to be applied to the purchase of books. Bureau of Agriculture The Act creating the Bureau of A<^riculture has been put into operation. Its organ. The Agricultural World, is printed at public expense, besides which the Bureau will issue bulletins on subjects of VOL. I 321 21 I.ibena <*- interest to the agricultural communities. These it will distribute through the local committees provided for by the Act. The question of cotton-growing in West Africa is claiming considerable attention in Europe. Liberia is well known to be a cotton-producing country. The plant here is perennial. Some of our citizens, 1 learn, are giving special attention to its culture. In view of the depression in the coffee trade it will be to the interest of our agricultural districts to extend the industry in the fertile regions with which the republic abounds. The Government it is needless to say, will give every assistance and afford every facility 99. AMERICO-LIBKRIAN COFKEK PLANTATION for,»«t^e, extension and development of the growth of that and other valuable staples. Post Office The report of the Postmaster-General will show you that the Postal Department continues to make satisfactory progress. The money order office is of great public service and its advantages are daily being utilised. The progressive development of the department has entailed considerable outlay, and its revenues are insufficient to meet its expenses. It ought to be remembered that this department is maintained as a public agent, and that it cannot in this country, at present, afford a surplus revenue. What' is maintained for the service of the people of the State should be supported by the people. The revenue of the Post Office this year is returned at $7,466.70. 322 -^ Recent History All expenses, except the salaries of some of the officials, have been met out of this. Contributions to the expenses of the Inter- national Bureau at Berne, sea transit of letters, stationery, printing of stamps, postal supplies, salaries of General Post Office officials, boat hire, salaries of the Monrovia Post Office, are paid out of the postal revenues. The Postmaster-General is exceedingly anxious to place the service on the same footing in all parts of the country, but he is hampered by want of funds. The state of the public finances will not admit of any large sum being spent on the service out of revenue from other sources. I hope that the Legislature will after ten years' solicitation pass the Stamp Act constantly suggested since 1894 If not satisfactory in the way put before you, pass the measure modifying the scale of fees. There is no tangible reason why it should be longer ignored. It is a proposal entirely in the interest of the people. I think, too, the Legislature should pass some measure for the encouragement of thrift among our people. I would recommend that the Postal Department be authorised to establish Postal SavinGfs Banks. Judiciary I fear the unguarded expressions of some of our judges are affecting the reputation for impartiality which our Courts have hitherto sustained. The judges of subordinate Courts seem at present to have the opinion that they are subject to no sort of control either on the part of the Supreme Court or of the Executive Government. With their judgments, where there does not exist a well-grounded suspicion of corruption, or provided they do not violate Constitution or law, the Executive power has nothing to do. I am of the opinion that if a judge proves unfit from want of legal knowledge, the Executive ought to suspend him and report the facts to the Legis- lature for action. The judges are civil officers, they are therefore to be supervised by the Executive Government as regards their conduct and deportment, since these must materially affect the respect in which the judicial office ought to be held. These remarks are to .some extent called out by a discussion which the Government of the Republic has been carrying on during the year with the Imperial German Foreign Office, with regard to the case of 323 Liberia Fischer & Leincke v. Houston Bros. & Co. for dissolution of part- nership. This case was filed in the Court of Equity, Montserrado County, in November, 1903, and was decided for plaintiffs at the December term of 1903. The defendants appealed, and the judgment was reversed by the Supreme Court at its session of January of the present year. On May 19th the German Consul complained (i) that in said case several serious violations by illegal actions of Liberian officials had been committed, and (2) that the Supreme Court of this republic by its judgment in said case had been per- " l^^u 100. LIBERIAN POSTAGE STAMPS — ISSUED PRIOR TO I906 verting justice to the disadvantage of a German firm, and intimated that an indemnity would probably be demanded. It may not be generally known that alien residents have wider powers of redress for judicial wrongs than citizens. The latter are bound by the action of the Court of their own country. The former are not so precluded. Government may question the judgment, and may institute an investigation as to its fairness and legality. The principle is thus enunciated in Taylor's International Lai^', p. 260, sec. 214: "The responsibility of a State for the conduct 324 -^ Recent History of its judicial officers rests upon an entirely different basis. In all highly organised modern State systems such officers are placed in positions of greater or less independence so as to protect them, except in case of high misdemeanours, from all responsibility to the other departments of power. International law supposes that the tribunals are open for impartial administration of justice between natives and foreigners, and only when there has been palpable denial of it, after the foreigner has made adequate appeal to such tribunals, does the occasion arise for diplomatic intervention." It is not neces- lOI. LIBERIAN STAMPS — TSSUKU I'KIOK TO I906 sary to affirm that a government is not responsible in any case to a foreign government for an alleged erroneous judicial decision rendered to the prejudice of a subject of said foreign government. But it may be safely asserted that this responsibility can only arise in a proceeding when the foreigner, being duly notified, shall have made a full and bona fide, though unavailing defence, and, if neces- sary, shall have carried his case to the tribunal of last resort. If after having made such defence and prosecuted such appeal he shall have been unable to obtain justice, then, and then only, can a demesne} 325 Liberia ^•- be with propriety made upon the government. Redress must be denied on some palpably unjust ground, such as discrimination on account of alienage, or there must be arbitrary acts of oppression or deprivation of property as contradistinguished from penalties and the punishments incurred through the ordinary infraction of law, before the administration of a State's justice can be subjected to diplomatic inquisition. That this discussion has taken place at all is directly due to the indiscreet remarks and unfounded statements of persons connected with the judiciary of Liberia. The representatives of foreign Powers in Liberia should remem- ber that in all countries, especially in oriental lands, before making complaints it is absolutely necessary to verify your facts. The first point in the complaint of the German representatives was understood incidentally to question the right of the Supreme Court of Liberia to control the procedure of the subordinate Courts. As a brief statement of the law in this regard may be serviceable, I will cite it. In the Constitution of Liberia, Article IV., it is ordained as follows : " Section i. The judicial power of this republic shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and such surbordinate Courts as the Legis- lature may from time to time establish. "Section 2. The Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction in all cases affecting ambassadors, or other public ministers and consuls and those to which a country shall be a party. In all other cases the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, wich such exceptions and under such regulations as the Legislature shall from time to time make." The term "judicial power " is thus defined by Mr. Bouvier : " The authority vested in the judges. The authority exercised by that de- partment of government which is charged with the declaration of what the law is and its construction so far as it is written law. The power to construe and expound the law as distinguished from the legislative and executive functions. The power conferred upon Courts in the strict sense of that term ; Courts that compose one of the great de- partments of the government. The term ' power ' could with no propriety be applied nor could the judiciary be denominated a depart- ment without the means of enforcing its decrees. The term 'judicial power ' conveys the idea both of exercising the faculty of judging and applying physical force to give effect to a decision. Judicial 326 :*~ QiAmUMAJQj V f ■ I > I' IrPlffTinfl. ^.^-j\,f\j:^j\ *.ufr,-v,*v^ MNW^^Mi^difdMMlJkP J^ ?^ A AX* -*r-»f<9- Recent History Of this writ it is said that it lies to prevent failure of justice. It extends to the control of all inferior tribunals, corporations, public officers and persons. It may be granted by an appellate court to require a judge to settle and allow a bill of exceptions. In the case of Fischer & Leincke v. Houston Bros & Co.y Judge King made an ex parte order to which defendants took exceptions. The judge refused to allow their exceptions to be recorded. The defendants then applied to Associate Justice Richard- son, who upon their petition issued a mandamus to Judge King to 103. I.IBERIAN JUDGES AND LAWYERS allow their exceptions to be noted or show cause why he refused to do so. The judge upon this declared that he would have nothing further to do with the case, and thus created the impression that the judges of the Supreme Court were exercising an authority not warranted by law. It would have been impossible to have had the order of Judge King reviewed on appeal, unless the defendants' exceptions were on record. The law on Appeals, Chap. XX., sec. 10, ist Liberian Statutes, declares : " The Court to which the appeal is taken shall 32y Liberia ^ examine the matter in dispute, upon the record only ; they shall receive no additional evidence, and they shall reverse no judgment for any default of form, or for any matter to which the attention of the Court below shall not appear to have been called either by some bill of exceptions or other part of the record." Of course in the end the mandamus was obeyed and the exceptions noted, but the erroneous impression remained. The right of the judges of the Supreme Court to supervise the procedure of the subordinate Courts rests j^ecurely on both Constitution and statute law. With respect to the second exception, that the judgment of the Supreme Court was a perversion of justice, the German authorities have so far presented no evidence. Indeed the discussion would seein to indicate a charge of erroneous judgment rather than of intentional unfairness. The Government of Liberia took the ground that the defendants having gone into court it must be presumed that they went there to have some wrong corrected or injustice redressed. They were therefore bound to prove their allegations. If they did not do so, no blame can be attached to the Supreme Court. They were quite at liberty, too, to renew their case, which ought not to be made the subject of diplomatic action until the point in dispute had been legally and fully adjudicated. It has been finally agreed that the question whether there was intentional unfairness in the trial be settled by an arbitrator whose decision shall be final. This case attracted locally a great deal of attention and elicited much passionate discussion. It would perhaps be a wise innovation if the judges of the Supreme Court would sometimes reserve their opinions until the passion of suitors, counsellors, and supporters had had time to subside. We are pleased to see the Courts of Justice dispatch business promptly and without delay ; but with regard to the Supreme Court, the Bar and thinking citizens generally would be glad to see just a little less hurry — more time given to cases argued before it. It is due to the country that the Court place itself above just criticism, and it can only do this by keeping reso- lutely apart from the passions of the arena, and by its calm, careful, well-digested, and matured opinions on the many important cases submitted for its decision. I am impressed, after twenty years 33° -^ Recent History contact, that the Court has always striven to act up to its motto : " Let justice be done to all." Constitutional A mendments A great source of weakness in the Government of Liberia is the very short tenure of office accorded to the President and members 104. THE LATE HON. E, J. BAKCLAV, A MUCH- RESPECTED LIBERIAN SECRETARY OF STATE of Legislature. Twelve months after inauguration the President is called upon to justify his administration and to undergo all the trouble and strain of a fresh election. Six months must elapse before he can resume his projects of administration, and if he is defeated he knows that it is useless to do so. In any case he can only have Liberia <•- eighteen months' continuous administration before his policy is challenged. Under these circumstances a continuous and progressive policy is almost impossible because an advance is nullified by a return to the old unprogressive conditions. We are to some extent going around a circle. We have worn out and sacrificed many of our brainiest men without any corresponding national benefit. A member of the Legislature is of very little service until after his first term. If he is not re-elected, the $1,200 dollars the State has paid him is as much wasted as if it had been thrown into the sea. For every avocation in life men must Have a special training. It takes quite two years for even a fairly well-educated man to learn the House ; how to manage it ; how to catch its ear — and interest it ; the rules of order and of business ; how to deal with the leaders ; how to conciliate and compromise with opponents ; and where to go for and how to obtain information on matters of public concern. The good sense of the people has usually accorded to the President and members of the Legislature two terms at least, but many good men have been forced out of the public service by the expense and worry of constant elections. For more than thirty years the necessity for an amendment of the Constitution has been discussed, and agreed upon as a national want. The amendments have been framed, passed the Legislature and submitted to the people at the least on three occasions. Why have they not been carried ? Because of a want of moral courage on the part of the men in office, and because of the selfishness of political opponents. Why sacrifice the interest of the country to our passions and prejudices ? If the amendments are adopted, all will have the same chance. But I would not advise that the necessary amend- ments be considered at this session. I would like to see first of all a plank in the platform of some political part)' to the effect that the Constitution ought to be amended. In two years the people will have become accustomed to the idea, will have had time to hear and consider the reasons for the changes, and will be ready doubtless to adopt them. Perhaps it would be better, in order to avoid any charge of self-seeking, if the Legislature passed an Act providing for the calling of a Constitutional Convention for framing a new Constitution, which might embody most of the features of the present, submitting same to the peojole for adoption. It would greatly simplify matters. 332 ^ Recent History In the Declaration of Independence and Constitution of Liberia the word " Negro " is conspicuously absent. The impression is sought to be conveyed that we are of American origin. The adhesion, attachment, and support of the native population of the country are of vital importance to us. Yet these important State papers place the civilised Liberian in a false light?; before the |»fififl(i 105. A LIBERIAN FAMILY GROUP eyes of the aboriginal citizen. He is made to appear as an alien and stranger in Africa, the land of his fathers. I trust that the recommendations of the Attorney-General will have your careful consideration. Abuses and disorder in the judicial branch of the Government ought to be carefully examined and scrutinised with a view to their immediate correction. The question with regard to the legality of appeals from the Courts of Monthly Sessions to the Courts of Quarter Sessions, rather than to the Supreme Court, should be set at rest by positive enactment. 333 Liberia Foreign Relations Our relations with foreign Powers are on the most friendly footing. In pursuance with the provisions of the Anglo-Liberian Boundary Agreement the British Government has announced that the survey of the coast of Liberia will be taken in hand during the present month. A map of the frontier and other documents relative to the Anglo-Libcrian Delimitation Commission has been received at the Department of State. Liberia's share of the joint expense was found to be ;£4,836 i8.y. 2d., equal to $23,117.16. You are requested to make pro\'ision for the piyment of this sum. A commission composed of the Attorney-General F. E. R. Johnson and Associate Justice Dosscn was dispatched to France during the year. The commissioners, with our Minister Resident in France, were charged to obtain the speedy execution of the Franco- Liberian agreement of 1892, and to endeavour to arrive at a preliminary understanding with regard to the deviations or changes which might become necessary on lines designated on the agree- ment, in consequence of said lines running between towns, and the territory belonging to them, or splitting the country of a small tribe in two, and such other changes as might appear proper and in accord with the spirit of said agreement. The representatives of the two Governments were unable to agree with regard to the Cavalla frontier, for which cause, and other good reasons, our commissioners suspended the negotiations and returned home. The Government has often found itself much hampered and embarrassed by the fact that its foreign representatives are too little acquainted with the laws and institutions of the country. Therefore where explanations have to be made, and the Civil and Criminal Code of the country explained, we arc placed at a great disadvantage. For this reason the Hon. H. W. Travis, Secretary of State, was dispatched to Berlin to discuss with the German Foreign Office the Fischer-Lemcke — Houston case. He \yas received in the most courteous and friendly manner. He was able to reach a friendly accord. He has communicated to me his impression that the republic will receive at all times just and considerate treatment 334 Recent History Trom the imperial German Government, and that we have many warm friends among the people of that great State. Finances .!. The revenue for the year is expected to show a decrease compared with that of the last year of at least $50,000. The 106. LIBERIAN SILVER AND COPPER COINS accounts have not been fully made up, but for the half-year ended March 30th, from all sources only $158,664.04 had been received. No blame can be attached to the administration for this. Revenue is an index of the industrial condition of the country and its relation to the markets of the world. The greater in volume and in value the exports, and the larger the imports the greater the revenue. For, since it is principally obtained from the move- ment of trade, it must flourish or decline in accordance with that movement. First the coffee crop decreased both in quantity and 335 Liberia ^ value, and then the piassava-fibre, the principal article of export in the leeward counties, declined in quality and consequently in price. Disturbances in the interior, especially in Montserrado County and in other quarters, have affected conditions. Everything possible is being done to settle the disturbed districts, but as it is easier to excite disturbances than to allay them, it will be some time before the result of these efforts can be seen and appreciated. Nations, like individuals, must live within their income or else go into bankruptc}' and so lose control to a very great extent of their affairs. It may be useful to place before you a statement of our financial condition. The foreign bonded debt amounts to ^96,997. We are paying interest on ;^78,2 50 at the rate of 3I per cent, and the charge on the revenue for sinking fund and interest will be $16,000 for the next three years. The internal bonded debt amounts to $135,557.17, of which $36,000 bears interest at 6 per cent, and the balance at 3 per cent. The annual charge is about $5,000. The floating debt is estimated at under $200,000, less than one year's average income. It consists of currency, audited bills, and drafts on the Treasury. About $150,000 of this sum is held by foreign merchants. It forms the principal embarrassment of the Treasury, since it is being constantly liquidated out of current revenue. To meet the deficit and pay current expenses of government, the Treasury has con- stantly to ask for advances from the mercantile holders of this debt. For this accommodation it is paying interest at the rate of from 25 to 33 per cent. The total debt of the country is about $800,000, of which the English 1 87 1 7 per cent. Loan is the largest item. The debt would be covered by about three years' revenue. For the last ten years, 1893 to 1903, the revenue from all sources is returned at $2,243,148. The disbursements were $2,177,556, showing a balance in favour of the country of $65,592. Unpaid balances due by the receivers of the revenue stamps, etc., account for a very large amount of this balance. Now if our disburse- ments represented approximately the sum annually appropriated, there would be no floating debt ; but unfortunately they do not. The local budgets of the counties of Sino and Maryland especially, 336 -♦> Recent History for the last ten years, approved and passed by the Legislature, have been double the estimated revenue, as I shall now proceed to show. The total revenue collected in the county of Maryland for the last ten years amounted to $335,598.02. A little less than one-half of this sum is placed at the disposal of the local administration, say 107. HON. AKTllUK liAKCLAY, PKESIUENT OF LIBERIA, 1906 ii 60,000. The appropriations for Maryland County for the same period, or let us say the local budget, have amounted to $243,139.06, most of which was drawn for, and the difference between receipts and expenditure went to form the floating debt. In fact, the floating debt in that district was found to be about $44,000, Everybody can see how this debt has been VOL. I 337 22 Liberia «♦- brought about. The case is the same in the county of Sino, where the total revenue has during the last ten years amounted to $202,245.70 while the local budgets for same period have amounted to $235,435.00. As the local administration could control only half, at the most, of the revenue, the difference against the Treasury was at least $100,000. Now the case is different in the two upper counties ; the budgets are more in accord with their financial position. The General Government having to meet many unforeseen expenses, always, too, owes something. The Secretary of the Treasury, confronted on one hand with the necessity of paying the floating debt, must, on the other, find means of meeting current expenses. If he does not pay the persons who hold the Government paper, they will make no advances, and if he does pay and endeavours at the same time to extinguish the debt by not asking for advances, he is met by the angry murmurs of citizens employed in Government service, who require payment of their bills. Now the real blame lies on the shoulders of the Legislature. The annual budget must rest on certain data, which ought to be estimated for the five years last past and forwarded to Houses by the Treasury. But if the Legislature will not, as it does not, draw up the budget in accordance with these data, the situation will never improve. The average revenue each year for the last ten years has been for the first five years $225,000, and for the last five $266,000. The budget for the General Government then must not exceed $160,000 ; for the county of Montserrado $40,000; Basa $35,000; Sino $16,000; Maryland $16,000 in hand. If we could be sure that this estimate would be adhered to, then a small loan could be negotiated for paying off the floating debt. The President of the Republic has for many years been de- prived of his right of veto so far as concerns the budget, as it is made the last bill and is generally presented on the last day, just at the last hour or even a little after the Legislature has adjourned sine die. I hope this course will be abandoned. It is contrary to the Constitution. With the desire, doubtless, of assisting the republic and facilitating the development of the country, the F'rench Governmer by a decree issued during the present year directed its West Africat State Bank to establish a branch at Monrovia. 338 ^ Recent History As a direct incentive to vigilance I recommend the passage of a resolution granting to the officers of Customs at the ports one-half of the penalty recovered from persons convicted of smuggling at said ports, to be divided among the stafT in proportion to the amount of salary. The County i\ttorney for the purposes of this Act should be considered a member of the Customs staff. Arthur Barclay. I.OOKIXG TOVVAROS THE CUSTOMS HOUSE, MONROVIA 339 CHAPTER XVII THE AMERICO-LIBERIANS NO official census has been taken in Liberia (so far as the author is aware) since 1843. When the author visited that country in 1904, he made a rough computation, from data variously obtained, of the approximate Americo- Liberian population of the civilised settlements, and adding to the total thus obtained one or two hundred to represent Liberian traders or Government officials travelling from place to place in the far interior, he came to the conclusion that the men, women, and children of American origin did not exceed i2,oco in number.^ In an appendix to this chapter is given an enumeration of the Americo-Liberian settlements known to the writer, and their approximate population. The author confesses that the results are less than the estim.ates of some recent writers on the subject ; but when there has been taken into account the rather high death-rate amongst the civilised Negroes, the poor birth-rate, and the return to America of some few dissatisfied persons, it is probable that his estimate is not far short of the mark. Is this to be regarded as a source of discouragement ? Are we to pronounce the Liberian experiment after eighty years' trial to be a failure } The author thinks not, decidedly. ' This is not the correct estimate of the Liberian {i.e. more or less civilised and Christian Negro) population, which in the various coast centres of population reaches to quite 40,000. Tl;e appendix only deals with settlers of American origin. 340 The Americo-Liberians Many of the first immigrants from America were broken- down people, worn-out slaves, dissatisfied, sickly mulattoes or octoroons. Liberia is no country for the half-breed between the Northern European and the Negro ; nor is this a mis- cegenation to be encouraged. It is not a good cross. In distant centuries, in historic and prehistoric times, the Caucasian of 109. A LIIJEKIAN PLANTER (MR. SOLOMON illLL) AM) HLS FAMILY the Mediterranean and of Western Asia repeatedly invaded Africa and interbred with the Negro. But this type of Caucasian was less widely separated from the Negro stock. The long-headed, brunet division of the white man's species ranges in infinite gradations of skin colour but with scarcely any change of head form from Dravidian India to the Berbers on the shores 341 Liberia <*- of the Atlantic Ocean, The Dravidian type of Indian in its lowest form almost links on to the Australian, and thereby to that fundamental primitive human stock from which the Negro also sprang. The result of intermixture past and present between the Mediterranean type or the Dravidian, direct from India, with the Negro has produced exceedingly good results in physical develop- ment. It has brought beauty in varying degrees to the Negro, who in his unmixed type is usually a hideous creature. So inveterate have been the permeations of Caucasian blood through Negro Africa that only the Congo Pygmies and a few forest tribes in Equatorial West Africa and the desert peoples of South- west Africa can be described as pure Negroes, and consequently hideous. Near as the Libyans of North Africa are to the Iberians of the Spanish Peninsula or the Southern Italians, there is just that extra drop of Dravidian blood in their veins that causes them to fuse with the Negro and produce a satisfactory hybrid so far as the human animal is concerned. Most mulattoes of Portuguese parentage are feebler in race than are the cross- breeds produced by the Spaniard, because the average Portuguese (except in the Algarve) contains more Northern, Aryan blood in his veins than does the average Spaniard. French and English hybrids with the Negro are still less satisfactory from the point of view of physique. But the cross between the northern white man and the Negro rises far higher intellectually than does the cross with Arab, Libyan, Hamite, or Indian. The Aryan mulatto (so to speak) has usually a poor physique but a " white " braiii. The future for the Mulatto will lie in two directions. He must 1 There are exceptions to every rule, and there are isolated instances of fine-looking men and women in different parts of America who are apparently pro- ducts of the cross between the northern white man and the Negro. But very often if the past history of these exceptional individuals was inquired into it would be found that the Negress mother was not a pure Negress, but of Fula or Mandingo stock — that is to say, already partly mixed with Caucasian blood. 342 no. MANDINGO WOMAN OF WESTERN LIBERIA Liberia <*- re-marry with the Negro and fuse by degrees into a purely- Negro community, or he must take his part with one or other of the white peoples. Pride in his white parentage may stand in the way of his marrying a Negro wife, in which case his place is not in Liberia or in any other part of tropical Africa. The caste prejudice of the Northern European may reject for a long time to come any absorption of the Quadroon into the white community. In Spanish and Portuguese America, where these prejudices are scarcely existent, lies perhaps the best chance for these Negro hybrids in the future. Gradually they will fuse with the Southern European element and that mixture of Mongolian blood represented by the American Indian ; and a strong composite race may yet arise which by continued physical im.provement will acquire an ever clearer skin — unless in the course of centuries the admiration of humanity should once more gravitate towards a darker ideal instead of a pink and white complexion. But even the pure-blooded Negroes of American origin — that is to say, born in America, perhaps bred in America for several generations — have not withstood triumphantly the severe test of the Liberian climate. They have been far more subject to attacks of malarial fever than the indigenous blacks, and are prone at the same time to European diseases not yet endemic in Tropical Africa, The only remedy for this lies in marriage with the indigenous peoples. No American Negro need scorn alliance with a Mandingo woman or even with some of the Vai. The Mandingo race ought to become the backbone of the Liberian Republic. Even the people of Basa and the Kru country not infrequently present comely types in both men and women ; yet there is nearly always a grotesque appear- ance in these unmixed negroes ; whereas there is a something about the Mandingo people that checks the white man's sneer 344 III. A MANDINQO PROM WESTERN LIBERIA Liberia «*-- and even compels his admiration if he has an artist's eye. Not a few among the interior tribes — Buzi or Gora — are of fine physique and comely lineaments, due no doubt to some ancient infiltration of northern blood. The Americo-Liberians have a right to boast of their civilisation. They are an intelligent, often well-educated, poHte people, whose method of life is perhaps more akin to that of the Englishman or New Englander than it is to habits of the African Negro. Mentally, they are much more European than African. Physically, their best friends cannot maintain that they are a handsome race, taken as a race. Here and there a man or woman of good physique and pleasing face announces Mandingo descent or an origin from the more refined races of Dahome. They are composed of the most diverse West African elements. Senegal and Senegambia sent handsome Wolofs, an occasional aristocratic Fula, hideous Felups and Papels to Louisiana and Haiti and the French West Indies. The Gold Coast sent slaves to the Dutch possessions of Manhattan and New Amsterdam in the State of New York. Other Gold Coast negroes and natives of the coast of Dahome and of the Niger Delta were dispatched to the Danish and Dutch West Indies. The British West Indies recruited from all parts of the African coast, from the Gambia to the Congo. The bulk of the slaves, however, imported into what are now the United States of America when they were British colonies came more from the Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Northern Liberia. Add to this the permeating inter- mixture of English, Scotch, Dutch, French, and Spanish blood, and from this extraordinary amalgam you have the 12,000 civilised Liberians who have been with some success and certainly no excesses administering for eighty years a territory on the West Coast of Africa not much smaller than England. Given their pitifully small numbers, one may pronounce their achievements 346 A Liberian Homestead -•> The Americo-Liberians considerable. Several of their towns, in the appearance of their buildings and accessories of a civilised existence, need not fear comparison with European towns in West Africa. They are, as has been already stated, a most polite race, of instinctive good manners, and evince considerable dexterity in building and in some other directions. They can construct and work a telephone, for 112. TELEPHONE POLES IN MONROVIA, ERP:CTED BY MR. FAULKNER, A LIBERIAN. THLS TELEPHONE EXTENDS TO THE .ST. PAUL'S RIVER SETTLEMENTS example, and nothing but want of means has prevented them from linking their capital by an overland telegraph wire with the Sierra Leone system or with that of the Ivory Coast. They are quite as well read as the average English peasant, are law- abiding, and almost invariably of a kindly disposition. So much for their virtues ; and now for their faults or defects and their mistaken ideals, (i) They are too religious. 347 Liberia ^ (2) There is still rather a tendency towards abuse of alcohol, in which of course it may be said that they are no worse or even a little better than the Europeans on the West Coast of Africa. (3) They are too American in their devotion to frothy oratory and floods of eloquence in print, orations on this subject and on that. Over and over again one is reminded of the American scenes in Martin Chuzzlewit as one passes through the coast regions of Liberia. (4) They are too much given up to politics, after the American fashion ; and with a zest for unproductive disputation and ridiculous hair-splitting on public questions goes an American facility for — how shall one phrase it delicately ^- — making politics more openly a trade than they are yet made in England. We are given to boasting in our own country of the pure tone of our official life and its relative freedom from corruption — in plain words, the more or less unbribable nature of our officials. This happy state of affiiirs is brought about not by any deeper attachment on the part of the Briton to abstract morality, but because for a long time past we have realised that to secure impartial and incorruptible officials we must pay men sufficiently well to place them above temptation. This principle is not yet realised in some parts of Europe and America, and certainly not in Liberia. In these regions it is very often impossible for a subordinate official to live within his means, on his official income ; consequently, in some cases, severe temptations are put in his way to add to that income by illicit means. There are of course officials, high and low, in Liberia of absolute integrity, and as high-souled in their ideals as the men we have in our own service. But, again, there have been in the past others — as there would be in England under similar circumstances — not above taking a monetary inducement to depart from their strict duty. This has been hitherto one of 348 113. IN A LIBERIAN GENERAL STORE AT BUCHANAN, GRAND BASA Liberia ^ the weaknesses of the Customs service in Liberia. High- handed officers of European steamers or influential merchants have used both threats and monetary blandishments to evade the strict payment of duties, export and import. This tendency has not been helped by the unfortunate condition of the Liberian currency. Absence of cash in the Liberian exchequer has compelled the Government from time to time to issue a certain amount of paper money in the form of Treasury bonds. These are taken by various mercantile houses in Liberia, at a greatly reduced rate, in payment for goods supplied to the Government or to officials in their private capacity. They then tender these bills (as they have a right to do) at their face value in payment of Customs duties. Consequently, what with this unreal value of the paper and the mixture of threats and cajolery on the part of foreigners connected with shipping on the coast or some commercial firms on shore, the receipts of the Liberian Customs- house, instead of being amply sufficient to meet the cost ot administering the country, do not yield to the exchequer more than half the value of what should really be gathered in. Reference has been made to high-handed procedure. It is meant in this sense ; that the officers of certain European steamers plying up and down this coast occasionally try to carry things with a high hand because the country is run by "niggers." In defiance of the law prescribing nine specified places as ports of entry where Customs-houses are established, officers of the aforesaid steamers will attempt to land or to embark cargo (without payment of Customs duties) at more or less wild spots on the coast where there is no Liberian official to interfere with their movements. These adventures not infrequently result in the steamer striking an uncharted rock or in being driven ashore by some sudden tornado. Then %ib :p. i^> iittmif Liberia <•- the wild natives from whom the produce was to have been taken, or to whom the goods were to be delivered, see their opportunity for quite another kind of gain. They come off" in hordes in their canoes and pillage the wrecked ship. Or even if this does not occur, the owners of the ship will somehow or other try to wring an indemnity from the Liberian Government for having uncharted rocks on its coast. In either case a good deal of threatening language is heard, and at one time scarcely twelve months elapsed without a subject of this, that, or the other E^ower claiming an indemnity for a shipwreck. Of cuurse if it can be clearly shown that a foreign vessel has come to grief on the Liberian coast without any attempt to evade Customs duties, and if this vessel is pillaged or its crew are ill-treated by the coast natives, foreign nations have every right to claim an indemnity from the Liberian Govern- ment, which must be held responsible for the maintenance of law and order up and down this coast ; but as that Govern- ment has the leave of the world to do things gently and gradually, so it has neither the means nor the force to guarantee security on every spot along its three hundred and forty miles of coast line. Therefore it prescribes certain places as ports of entry, and here — at any rate within the last ten years — it has amply guaranteed security to life and property on the part of all foreigners conducting a lawful trade. With reference to the official community in Liberia, it is absolutely necessary, when the revenue of the country shows signs of increase, that their rate of salary should be augmented. The wages paid to all officials, from the President down to the porter at the Customs-house, are not sufficient, even with great economy, to maintain a civilised existence. With regard to the first fault to be found with these 352 -•5 The Americo-Liberians people — excess of religion. With a few rare exceptions the mass of the Americo-Liberian community suffers from religiosity. Almost without exception they belong to various branches of the Protestant Church. They are Episcopalians (Methodist, Protestant, and African ^), Free Methodists, Baptists, Pres- 115. METHODIST CHURCH, MONROVIA byterians, Lutherans, Zionists, and so forth. They betray little or none of the superstition that clings to the uncultivated West Indian Negro or to the Negroes of Spanish, French, and Portuguese America ; but they have erected the Bible into a sort of fetish. They exhibit the Puritanism of New England in the eighteenth century almost unabated. ^ These three adjectives represent three separate Episcopahan bodies in America and Liberia. VOL. I 353 23 Liberia <«- Their average morality is probably no higher than that of European nations or even of the Negroes indigenous to Liberia. But so far as outward behaviour, laws, and language go they are prudish to a truly American extent. Sparsity of clothing on the part of the native is treated in some settlements as an offence. The mistaken idea which arose after the Christianising of the Roman Empire that there is something sinful in man's body divested of clothes is still a leading idea amongst the Liberians. The Americo-Liberian still worships Il6. THE "RELIGION OF THE TALL HAT" clothes as an outward and visible manifestation of Christianity and the best civilisation ; that is to say, the European clothes ot the nineteenth century. He shares with our fathers the religion of the tall hat and frock coat. No self-respecting Liberian would be seen abroad on a Sunday or would pay a call or take part in any social function, even under a broiling sun in a Turkish-bath atmosphere, except in an immaculate black silk topper and a long black frock coat. Their women of course follow the fashions of Europe ; 354 -^ The Americo-Liberians but although one hears them much derided for this by Europeans, it must be admitted that as a rule Liberian ladies are attired in good taste. It is impossible to put back the clock, and although one would infinitely prefer the costume of the beautiful 117. A LIBERIAN I-AUY Mandingo womei: — a combination of golden-brown skin, silk turban, cotton waist-cloth, and velvet drapery — I imagine that the Liberian lady would go willingly a martyr to the stake sooner than clothe herself after the fashion of her half-wild but 355 Liberia ^ sometimes more comely sister. Let that be, however. What is wrong with the dress of the Liberian women is wrong, or was wrong last year, with the costume of our own women in Europe and America. But with regard to the Liberian man, must he always worship such hideous idols } Will there never arise a President and a Congress that will have the courage and the true insight into what is needful to pass a sumptuary law which shall penalise the wearing or even the introduction of the tall black silk hat and the long, long black frock coat? If the present writer were a Liberian, he would strive with might and main to induce his fellow-countrymen to adopt the becoming, the economical, the sanitary, the decent, the statuesque, and the richly coloured costume of the Man- dingo. In this we touch one of the weaknesses of Liberia, of these twelve thousand Americanised Negroes. Their ideals are pitifully Anglo-Saxon. There must be enormous power in the Aryan races of North Europe. How completely the Frenchman has stamped his impress on the American Indian and on the Negro ! With what equal completeness the Anglo- Saxon in America or even in the West Indies has created an Englishman or a Scotsman in mind and ideals out of the slave torn from the African jungle whose descendants have lived one, two, or three generations on American soil ! The Christianity of Liberia is an exact mimicry of the narrow, warped Christianity of England from Puritan times to the dawn of better things in the middle of the nineteenth century. Thje teaching of Christ which might be accepted by the whole world without demur is overloaded with a worship of the letter of the Old Testament which is inconceivably wearisome, time-wasting, and futile. Of what practical utility to the modern man in Liberia, or in England, or in Kamschatka, 356 A Mandingo in blue cotton robe tf"*'!*, „ ""j^ - »t-n . ,wi ' ■■XW.5 >*^fe^->>i^;^*it,';r ll8. THE "RELIGION OF THE TALL HAT AND FROCK. COAT*': A MASONIC PROCESSION Liberia ^ are the folklore of Genesis, the trivial and often silly pre- scriptions of Leviticus, the confused and bloody wars of petty Syrian tribes a thousand years before Christ, the dismal ravings of Jeremiah or of the minor prophets ? Christianity may not appeal to some races or individuals as a divine revela- tion— it depends on the definition one would dare to give to the adjective " divine " ; but so far, the world has known nothing like the simple teaching of Christ for the perfection of religion. We are only beginning to appreciate it now. Unhappily, not many years after the death of Christ, men of second-rate, third-rate, fifth-rate insight and intelligence began to overload His direct teaching with more or less nonsensical dogma — dogma of absolutely no profit either to human intelli- gence, morality, or life. Worshipping, as they do, the Old Testament, they are strong Sabbatarians ; that is to say, they transfer to Sunday the rigid respect given to Saturday by the Jews, coupled, of course, with the spiteful mortification ot poor human flesh which began with Pauline Christianity. In this of course, as in other things, they will not resist the emollient tendencies of modern civilisation. They will learn that true religion is not to be reserved for one day in the week only ; that one day of rest in the seven is absolutely necessary to humanity, but that the day of rest^ — more or less compulsory rest — should not be associated with dreariness, or dissociated from every lawful form of happy enjoyment. Their newspapers will cease to devote a large portion of their space to profitless examination papers on the Old Testament ; and one may begin to hope that there, as in America and in Protestant England, some surcease may be given to the bestowal of Jewish names. Let the Jews by all means style themselves with expressions derived from the Hebrew language ; but 358 Ilg. A MUNICIPAL BRASS BAND, LIBERIA Liberia ^ surely the English, the Americans, the Liberians, and all future races that may come within the pale of the Christian religion — or the Muhammadan — need not be obliged to give Hebrew appellations to their sons and daughters ? They are inappro- priate, their real meaning is very seldom understood, and the pronunciation given to them in the English language is ugly and most inaccurate. The Americo-Liberian need not throw away any precept of Anglo-Saxon civilisation which can be usefully adapted to Africa. They have a battle to fight, or, let us say, a friendly rivalry to wage with the civihsation of Arabia, which is being steadily brought into Liberia from the north by the Mandingos. The present writer has little more sympathy with Muham- madanism as a religion than with that strange amalgam of Judaistic Christianity which became associated for a time with the Protestant Reform, but which is now being shed rapidly by the Reformed Churches. But it is useless to deny — though it be inconvenient to admit — that Muhammadanism has done a great deal to raise the Negro in the social order. It has clothed his nakedness with good taste. It has given him pride and confidence in himself which makes him look a man and a ruler. It has given him great ideals for which he is ready to lay down his life, and it has brought to him the reasonable amenities of the East. Whether it be possible to fuse in one community what is best in Muhammadan civilisation with what is practical and cheerful in Christianity remains to be seen. France in North Africa, England in Egypt and the Sudan, are trying the experiment. Liberia on a much smaller scale must solve the same problem in this forest-land of West Africa. Muhammadanism, though it has greatly helped the Negro, has been a bitter foe of the more reasonable side of European civilisation in India, in Turkey, in Syria, Asia Minor, 360 Liberia ^ and North Africa. The strength and pride with which it infuses its believers hardens them for a struggle which is lamentable,* and wasteful of human effort. There is absolutely no reason but the inherent perversity of man why the precepts of Christ in the New Testament might not be the basis of all 121. A wi'-.DuiNG 1'Koc:essio.\, Monrovia religion, the common denominator, with liberty to each race and tribe to tack on what superfluous adornments they choose. Perhaps in this direction the present and future statesmen of Liberia may work out the redemption of their country and their race. But it is not only for their fetishistic worship of the Old Testament that one is disposed to criticise these people: it cannot be too often repeated that their ideals hitherto have been those of^ 362 ^ The Americo-Liberians New England and not of Africa. Dwelling on the West Coast ot Africa, they still turn their faces and their intelligence towards the east coast of North America, which again but reflects the culture of eighteenth-century England. "Have done with this!" 122. A REVIEW OF TROOPS IN MONROVIA their friends might say. *' Make yourselves polished Africans, not imitation Anglo-Saxons. Study the languages of West Africa, not Hebrew, Greek, and Latin ; or at any rate only teach your boys a sufficient smattering of Greek and Latin that they may understand the construction of that English language 363 Liberia <*- which must be the lingua franca of West Africa, must be used by Liberia for intercourse with the world at large, as Japan and China, Holland and Scandinavia, use it." For eighty years 123. REVIEW OF troops: "QUICK MARCH ' have these American Negroes and their descendants inhabited this part of West Africa. Several of them, quite exceptionally, have studied the Grebo language on the eastern frontier of 364 The Americo-Liberians the republic, and have published their studies. The Liberia College has existed since 1862. It has taught a great deal of useless Greek and Latin, Miltonian and Shakespearian English to its pupils. It has not conveyed one particle of instruction in the languages of Africa, notably those which are spoken in Liberia itself. Yet the various dialects of the 124, A FUNERAL PROCESSION, MONROVIA Mandingo tongue were well worth attention, and in studying the evolution of African ideas minute examination should have been made of the Kru group of languages. Has anything been done for African botany ? — No. African zoology? — No. A little tropical American agriculture has been taught ; there has been no society founded for the study of indigenous cultivable plants ; there has been no attempt made to domesticate in- 365 Liberia ^•- digenous birds and beasts. The average Americo-Liberian is far more ignorant of the fauna and flora of his own country than is the casual Englishman, Frenchman, or, above all, G.^rman who lands on his shores. He brought with him from America that exasperating habit of mis-naming birds and beasts, a per- versity which will long afiiict American-English. The Civet Cat INUEl'KNDENCK DAY, is called a "raccoon," the splendid Bongo Tragelaph {Boocercus euryceros) is styled the " elk," the Harnessed Antelope" is called the " red-deer," Jentink's Duiker is named the " tapir," the Manis is called the " armadillo," the Chimpanzee is known as the " baboon," the Zebra Antelope is styled the " mountain deer " ; other antelopes are called the " roebuck," the " bush-goat," and so forth. The present writer was told 366 Liberia <•- by one Liberlan that the forest near his settlement was full of " peacocks." He intended to indicate by this term the Great Blue Plantain-eater. Not one prominent bird or beast in that country is known by its right name, A little more attention has of late been applied to botany, and there have even been one or two interesting articles in the Liberian press describing familiar plants of the country in their correct (and consequently universal) Latin names. No portion of Africa is more interesting for its biology than Liberia. The Americo-Liberians may be proud of having inherited a rare piece of Miocene Africa, one of the choicest morsels for the modern naturalist. They may rejoice in a somewhat specialised fauna and flora, and the present writer earnestly hopes that the new generation will drop the attempt to translate Plato and Cicero, will cease troubling about the vicissitudes of David, leave Israel to wander in the wilderness, and devote itself whole-heartedly to studying the fascinating folklore of the Vai, the religious rites and ceremonies of the Grebo or the Gbalin, and the marvellous Miocene flora and equally remarkable fauna to be found within the limits of their 43,000 square miles. If the author of this book were a Liberian, he would strive (within reason) to do everything as difi^erently as possible from what is done in Europe, Asia, or America. He would try to be original. For instance, if he were the Principal of the Liberia College he would resolutely exclude " mortar-boards " from the heads of his students, not only because they are an unsuitable form of headgear, but because they happen to be the mode adopted in England and America. He would try to develop a special African architecture, an African school of painting. He would certainly study and develop the inherent musical talent evinced by many of the Liberian natives. He would attempt to domesticate the Red Bush-pig, and not introduce 368 VOL. I 369 24 Liberia ^ Berkshire swine ; the red BufFalo, and not the English Short- horn ; the Agelastes Guinea-fowl, and not the Cochin-China. Along this route there are life, hope, and a future before the Liberians. In their obstinate adhesion to the ideals of New England there is a hopeless stumbling-block in the way of their very existence. They must turn their backs on America and their faces towards Africa, or they will dwindle to nothing, leave no heirs, and implant no permanent civilisation on those whom they have come to redeem. 1 (;1KI, FKOM THK SIERKA I.EONK FKdNIII K 'M I.llil.KIA (Wearing silver ornaments and a tasteful appropriate costume) 370 Red-headed Guinea Fowl {Agclastcs nicleagroides) APPENDIX I AMERICO-LIBERIAN POPULATION The following is a summary of the principal Americo-Liberian towns and settlements with their approximate population of American origin. The enumeration commences with Robertsport, not far from the western (Sierra Leone) frontier of Liberia, and proceeds north- wards, southwards, and eastwards to the French frontier along the Cavalla River : Americo- Liberian population. Brought forward ... 3900 County of Montserrado {contd.) : — Monrovia Junk River settlements — Schieffelin and Powells- ville ... Mount Olive Marshall Farmington River Owen's Grove County of Montserrado :- Robertsport ... Royesville ... St. Paul's River settlements — Americo- Liberian population. 400 50 New Georgia ... ... 200 Virginia loo Caldwell 200 Brewerville ... ... 300 Clay Ashland 400 Louisiana ... ... 100 New York 50 White Plains 300 Millsburg 250 Arthington ... ... 300 Careysburg ... ... 400 Crozerville ... ... 100 Bensonville ... ... 150 Robertsville ... .. 150 Harrisburg ... ... 250 Settlements on the Mesu- rado River: — Barnersville Gardnersville Johnsonville Paynesville Carried forward 225 150 125 and 300 3250 3900 Carried forward 2500 800 County of Grand Basa : — Basa, settlements — Little Basa 50 Edina 250 Hartford 50 St. John's River 350 Upper Buchanan 400 Lower Buchanan(Grand Basa) 600 Tobakoni 50 1750 Coast between Grand Basa and River Cestos ... 150 On the River Cestos ... ... 50 9150 371 Liberia ^ Americo- Liberian population. Brought forward ... 9150 County of Sino : — Sino Settlements — Sino River 50 Lexington 100 Greenville 350 Philadelphia ... 125 Georgia ... 125 Settlements on Kru Coast - Nana Kru "1 Setra Kru Nifu Sas Town Garawe County of Maryland : — Settlements round Cape Palmas and on the Lower Cavalla River — Rock Town ... ... 100 Harper ... ... ... 900 Philadelphia 100 Carried forward ... 750 150 10050 Americo- Liberian population. Brought forwc rd ... 10050 nty of Maryland (conld.): — Brought forward .. HOC Latrobe .. 50 Cuttington 100 Half Cavalla .. 50 Hoffmann .. 50 Middlesex .. 50 Jacksonville •• 75 Bunker Hill .. 25 Tubman Town .. 100 New Georgia .. 25 Hillierville •• 25 1650 Americo-Liberians scattered about Kelipo in far interior of Maryland County ; in the Boporo coimtry, near the Sierra Leone frontier, and on the Upper St. Paul's River, etc., say 150 Total Liberians of American origin ... ... ... 11,850 The approximate total coast population of " civilised " Liberians (mostly Christian, and of mixed American and indigenous negro races) amounts to 40,000. The " Liberian " community therefore at the present time amounts to a population in the coast regions of about 50,000 in number. 372 129. A LIBERIAN HOUSE OF WOODEN SHINGLES, GKEENVILLE, SINO APPENDIX II RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL, EDUCATIONAL, AND OTHER ESTABLISHMENTS IN LIBERIA I. The Protestant EpiscorAL Church seems to have begun in America as a branch of the Church of England or of the Church Missionary Society. It started work in Liberia in 1830. A few years later the first Missionary Bishop was elected (Bishop Auer). The second Bishop was the celebrated John Payne, who did such a splendid work amongst the Grebo of Cape Palmas. The present Bishop is a man of colour, the Right Rev. Samuel David Ferguson, D.D., born at Charlestown in the United States, but settled in Liberia since 1848. He was elected Bishop of Liberia in 1884 and consecrated in 1885. He attended the Lambeth Conference in 1897 ^"d was one of the Bishops received in audience by Queen Victoria. Under the Protestant Episcopal Church, Liberia is divided into four districts, Mesurado, Basa, Sino, and Cape Palmas. These again are divided into a number of sub-districts. Nearly every Americo-Liberian settlement has a church or school belonging to this body, which is also very active as a missionary institution amongst the natives. At Cape Mount the P.E. Church has a fine establishment : the Irving Memorial Church, Langford Memorial Hall,^ St. George's Hall, etc. The residence of the Bishop is at Monrovia. This Church maintains, besides the Bishop, 18 clergy, 69 catechists and teachers, 38 day schools, 18 boarding schools, and 31 Sunday schools. It gives instruction to over 3,000 pupils. 2. The Methodist Episcopal Church.— This, as a missionary body in Liberia, started in 1832. Its work in Liberia is controlled by the American Methodist Bishop of Africa, the Right Rev. ' Used as a school. 374 130. RIGHT REV. J. C. HARTZELL, METHODIST BISHOP OF AFRICA Liberia <4- Joseph C. Hartzell, D.D., a well-known and much-respected personage in West, South, and South-east Africa. Bishop Hartzell supervises all the American missionary work in Western Africa between Liberia and Angola, and in Rhodesia and Mocambiquc. The Associate Bishop in Liberia is the Right Rev. Isaiah Scott. The Methodist Episcopal Church has about 2,700 adherents, 48 ministers and missionaries, 40 lay teachers, 59 Sunday schools, and 2,709 scholars. 3. The Presbyterian Church. — Presbyterian missionaries began work in Liberia in 1832. At present their operations are chiefly confined to Monrovia and the St. Paul's settlements. 4. The Baptist Church. — Earliest of all Christian Churches, the American Baptists entered Liberia (in 1821) to perform chaplain's duties — so to speak— for the American colonists. Their pioneer pastor was the Rev. Mr. Waring, the father of Miss Jane Waring who married Roberts, the first President of Liberia. Mrs. Roberts is living still (in London), the only survivor of the original band of colonists. The Baptists have most of their adherents in Monrovia (with a large church and Sunday school) and in the Basa settlements. 5. The African Methodist p:i>iscopal Church. — This Church or Mission, which in a sense is more exclusively Negro in its sympathies, began work in Liberia in 1885. It has mission stations in three counties of Liberia (not in Sino). 6. The Lutheran Church is represented by a very energetic missionary enterprise chiefly in the St. Paul's River district, with stations at Arthington and Mount Coffee. There are Muhammadan mosques at Vanswa (Brewerville), and of course in the far interior Mandingo towns. Of the approximate 2,000,000 of population, about 40,000 are Christians, about 300,000 Muhammadans, and the remainder Pagan.s. LIST OF PRESIDENTS OF LIBERIA Joseph Jenkins Roberts, January ist, 1848, to January 1st, 1856. Stephen Allan Benson, January ist, 1856, to January I St, 1 864. 376 131. METHODIST CHURCH, HARPKR, CAPE PALMAS 132. PROTESTANT, EPISCOPAL CHURCH AT HARPER, CAPE.PALMAS Liberia Daniel Bashiel Warner, January ist, 1864, to January 1st, 1868. James Spriggs Payne, January ist, 1868, to January ist, 1870. Edward James Roye, January ist, 1870, to October 19th, 1 87 1 (deposed). (Vice-President) James S. Smith, October 19th, 1871, to January ist, 1872. Joseph Jenkins Roberts, January ist, 1872, to January 1st, 1876. James Spriggs Payne, January ist, 1876, to January ist, 1878. Anthony William Gardner, January ist, 1878, to January 20th, 1883. (Vice-President) Alfred F. Russell, January 20th, 1883, to January ist, 1884. Hilary Richard Wright Johnson, January ist, 1884, to January ist, 1892. Joseph James Cheeseman, January ist, 1892, to November 1 2th, 1896. (Vice-President) WILLIAM David Coleman, November 12th, 1896, to January ist, 1898. William David Coleman, January ist, 1898, to December nth, 1900. (Secretary of State) Garretson Wilmot Gibson, December iith, 1900, to January 1st, 1902. Garretson Wilmot Gibson, January ist, 1902, to January 1st, 1904. Arthur Barclay, January ist, 1904. Re-elected for further term from January ist, 1906. The Cabinet and Executive usually consists of the President, the Secretary of State (at present time Hon. H. W. Travis), the Secretary of the Treasury (Hon. D. E. Howard), the Attorney- General (Hon. F. E. R. Johnson), the Secretary of the Interior (vacant), the Secretary of War and Navy (Hon. J. B. Dennis), and the Postmaster-General (Hon. S. T. Prout). There is an official private secretary to the President (N. H. Gibson). The Senate is composed of eigJU members — two from each of the four counties or provinces (Montserrado, Basa, Sino, and 378 ^ Religious, Political, Kducational Maryland). Each Senator receives about ;^I40 a year whilst serving. The Senators arc selected for four and two years (znWe terms of Constitution). The House of Representatives consists of thirteen members — four from Montserrado and three from each of the other counties. Each member of the House receives about ;^ioo a year whilst serving in that capacity. They sit for two years, and are elected biennially. LIST AND SALARIES OF PRINCIPAL LIBERIAN OFFICIALS $ £ President „ Entertainment Allowance... Vice-President... Secretary of State ... "... Secretary of the Treasury Secretary for War and Navy Secretary of the Interior ... ... Postmaster-General Attorney-General Chief Justice Two Associate Justices, each ... Superintendent, Public Instruction ... Controller of Treasury Auditor-General Treasurer-General Statistician Superintendent, Montserrado County „ Grand Basa County „ Sino County „ Maryland County „ Grand Cape Mount Judiciary Department His Honour Zachariah B. Roberts, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. His Honour R. B. Richardson, Associate Chief Justice. His Honour J. J. Dossen, Associate Chief Justice. His Honour F. E. R. Johnson, Attorney-General. 379 2,500 ^ 1,000 ) = 700 1,000 = 200 1,000 = 200 1,000 = 200 700 = 140 700 = 140 700 = 140 700 = 140 I poo = 2CO 750 = 150 700 = 140 700 = 140 700 = 140 700 = 140 700 = 140 500 = 100 500 ■= 100 400 = 80 500 = TOO 375 = 75 Liberia «^ Treasury Department Five Sub-Treasurers (one for each county); at $400 to $500. Customs Department Thirteen Principal Collectors of Customs, at $250 to $500 each ARMY ESTABLISHMENT Brigadier-General J. S. Padmore (only paid when on active service), pay about $45 a month, with rations. Major-General J. A. Gibson (Cape Palmas) (only paid when on active service), pay about $40 a month, with rations. Colonels of Militia : — EUjah Johnson A. F. Jones Francis Payne A. D. Williams J. A. Railey J A. Toliver J. H. Tubman J. VV. Dent A. B. Stephens There are five regiments of Militia, divided into a number of companies, which bear the following names : — The Newport Volunteers, Clay Ashland Defensibles, Edina Regulars, Buchanan Rallies, St. John's Volunteers, Cheeseman Guards, Roberts Guards, Jackson Volunteers, Gibson Guards, Independent Blues, Johnson Guards, Cooper's Invincibles, Palmas Union Guards, Ashton Guards, Johnson Artillery, etc. Pay when on active service about $38 a month, with rations.^ DIPLOMA TIC As regards diplomatic and consular representation, LIBERIA is represented in Great Britain by a Charge d'Affaires and Consul- General (Mr. Henry Hayman), in France by a Charge d'Affaires ' The pay of a lieutenant-colonel is $35 a month, that of a major $30, captain $22, lieutenant ^(7, sergeant .$15, corporal ic, private $8 — all with lations. 380 ^ Religious, Political, Educational (Mr. J. P. Crommelin), in the United States by a Consul-General (Mr. C. H. Adams), in Germany by a Consul-General (Herr Dinklage), and elsewhere by consuls-general or consuls. AMERICA is repre- sented in LlF^ERIA by a Minister-Resident (Dr. Ernest Lyon), Great 133. BAPTIST CHURCH, MONROVIA Britain, France, and Germany by Consuls de carriere (Capt. Braith- waite Wallis, M. Germenot, and Herr Franoux), and the other Powers by trading consuls or vice-consuls. EDUCATIONAL The Liberia College.— This College, represented at the present day by a great gaunt building of iron and brick about one mile outside Monrovia, on the verge of the tropical forest, and not far from the sea coast, dates its existence in idea from 1848, when it was suggested by the Right Rev, John Payne, afterwards a Missionary 381 Liberia ^ Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and the celebrated missionary and philologist of Cape Pal mas. The Rev^ John Payne made the suggestion to the Hon. Simon Greenleaf of Boston of establishing a School of Theology. Greenleaf and those who were working with him for philanthropical objects in Liberia decided that the college had better be placed in the vicinity of Monrovia and that it should be unsectarian. In 1850 a Board of Trustees under the title of the " Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia " was incorporated in Massachusetts. In 1851 the Legislature of Liberia 134. IN THE HOUSE OF KEI'KESENTATIVKS, MONROVIA passed an xAct incorporating Liberia College. In 1857 ex-President J. J. Roberts was appointed the Principal of this College, and together with Mrs. Roberts took up his residence in the vicinity of the existing building, of which he practically superintended the construction. By 1 86 1 further funds had been derived from America, and the endowment was vested in eighteen Trustees, of whom eight represented the Mcsurado Count}', three Grand Basa, three Sino, and three Mary- land, J. J. Roberts making the eighteenth. In the same year the College buildings were completed, and in 1862 the institution was opened for 382 ^ Religious, Political, Educational work. In 1865 Dr. E. W. Blyden became one of the principal pro- fessors. But towards the close of the 'sixties the teaching of this institution languished, and it remained in a very unsatisfactory con- dition until 1892, when, under the impulse of ex-President W. D. Coleman, the College regained new life, and was to some extent re- 135. J. A. KAILEY, A COLONEL OF HBERIAN MILITIA organised in 1900. The President of the College at the present time is His Honour Dr. R. B. Richardson. His predecessor was ex-President G. W. Gibson. There is a department for the teaching of women in this College under the direction of Mrs. S. A. King, with one or more assistants. This last department educates at the present time about forty-eight pupils. 383 Liberia ^•- In 1905 the teaching staff of the College stood as follows : — President: Hon. Dr. R. B. Richardson (Associate Chief Justice). Professor of Moral Philosophy and Sciefjce : G. W.Gibson. Law and Mathematics : T. W. J. Haynes. EnglisJi and Latin: Hon. Arthur Barclay. Modern Languages: O. F. March. History and Botany : O. A. Massey. Principal of the Preparatory Department : H. B. Haynes. Vice-Principal of the Preparatory Department : E.J. Barclay. Scholarships. — Four scholarships have been established in the Liberia College. The first is the " Gordon Memorial Scholarship," proposed by Dr. E. W. Blyden in 1900 in memory of the English midshipman Gordon, who died of fever at Monrovia in September, 1822, defending the infant settlement against the attacks of the natives. The " John Payne Scholarship " is in honour of Bishop John Payne of Cape Palmas. The " Simon Greenleaf Scholarship" and "George Briggs Scholarship" perpetuate the memory of American gentlemen who with others of Massachusetts took an active part in endowing Liberia College. Liberia College receives an annual grant from State funds, at present ;^ 3,200 per annum. By laws passed in 1881 and 1882 public funds are appropriated for the support of four preparatory schools in the four counties of Liberia to serve as feeders to the College at Monrovia. The College of West Africa (conducted by the Methodist Episcopal Church). —The educational work of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, which is very highly commended by all who know Liberia, was commenced in 1839 under the direction of the Rev. Jabez A. Burton (first Principal of the College), Mrs. Anne Wilkins, and Mrs. Eunice Moore. In 1849 a large brick building with stone foundations took the place of the earlier structure. This was erected under the Rev. N. S. Bastion at a cost of over ;f 2,000. Faculty.— President : A. P. Camphor A.M., D.D. ; also Professor of Moral and Mental Science, Elocution, and TJieology. Hebreiv, Greek, and Latin: The Rev. Walter H. Hawkins, A.M., D.D. Modern Languages and Mathematics: Miss Ella B. Dowell, A.M. The English Language and Music: Miss Ida M. Sharp. Modern Science : (vacant in 1905). Assistant Masters : Messrs. W. H. Powell and Joseph Cope- land. Preceptress and Matron: Mrs. M. A. R. Camphor. Teacher of Primary Grades : Mrs. Emma W. Payne. 384 LIBERIAN MILITIA : A MARCH PAST VOL. I 25 Liberia «*- The following information is given about the work of the College of West Africa : Organisation. — I. The Primary School, the work of which covers a period of three years and leads up to the Grammar School. II. The Grammar School furnishes instruction in the ordinary English branches and preparatory for the High School. It covers a period of three years. III. The High School endeavours to give a knowledge of the higher branches of English. The course may be completed in two years. IV. The Normal course is designed to prepare teachers for their work. V. The College Preparatory and College Departments give classical education. VI. The Biblical Department " gives young men preparing for the Christian ministry that systematic preparation which will help them best to subserve the interests of the kingdom of God." VII. Industrial Department embraces work in carpentry, tin- smithing, shoemaking, blacksmithing, printing, and home training for girls. Night School, for students who cannot attend school in the day. The incidental fee is $[ per month. Examination s.^Ox^X and written examinations will be held at the end of each term. Terms of Admission. — The College of West Africa is open to all, irrespective of parentage, race, sex or religion. Expenses. — For Day Students, in the College, College Prepara- tory and Norm.al Departments, $i per month. In the High School, Grammar and Primary Departments, 50 cts. (The usual reduction of incidental fee will be made for two or more coming from the same family.) For Boarding Students. — Table board, including room, wash- ing, incidental fee, and the use of the necessary text books, $9 per month. Students must furnish their own bed-clothes, towels, lamps, oil and toilet articles. Students who are not afraid of indiscriminate work can earn $3 per month to help pay their expenses. Bills paid in advance and quarterly. 386 137. LIBERIAN MILITIA IN RKVIEW OKPER (wmiJi UNIt'OKM, BLUE SASHES Liberia <^ Graduation Fee. — ^Diploma from College Department, $5. Diploma from College Preparatory Department, $3. Diploma from Normal Department, $3. Diploma from High School, $2. Diploma from Biblical and Industrial Departments, each $2. This College of the Methodist Mission has an Industrial School on the St. Paul's River, in charge of Mr. J. B. McGill. It has also an Industrial School on the Sino River, and a High School at Cape Palma.s. Epiphany Hall, Cuttington (the College of the Protestant Episcopal Mission). Cuttington is the name given to a former station of the Pro- testant Episcopal Mission, four and a half miles north of Cape Palmas. This station takes it name from Mr. R. F. Cutting, the late President of the P.E. Mission in the United States. The College was founded in 1889. It is sometimes known as the Cutting- ton Collegiate and Divinity School. The operation of the Institution is maintained in three depart- ments : The Higher, formerly known as the Hoffmann Institute, which had its origin at Cavalla station on March 8th, 1868, under the late Rev. Dr. Auer, and was transferred to Harper at the beginning of the political trouble with the Grebo tribe. The object aimed at in this department is similar to that of the Theological Depart- ment. The Preparatory Department, known as the High School, which was for many years a flourishing institution at Mount Vaughan, is to impart a Christian education to the aborigines and others. The Theological Department is to " train young men to take part in the work of advancing the cause of Christ in the capacity of clergymen, catechists, teachers, or other laymen, according to the doctrine, discipline, and worship of the Holy Catholic Church as is maintained in one of her true branches — the P.E. Church in U.S.A." The Preparatory Department has a two years' Primary course and a two years' Secondary course. The Higher Department has a two years' Advanced course, a two years' Collegiate course, a year's course for Certificate of 388 Religious, Political, Educational Proficiency in General Education, and a Normal course for candi- dates for teaching. The Theological Department has a three years' course and a Postulant course. Industrial Department. — A valuable work is carried on in this College in inculcating habits of manual labour. It has a coffee 138. THE ARMOURY, MONROVIA plantation on which the pupils work, and a farm. The pupils are generally called upon to work for about four hours a day during the week in learning practical agriculture and horticulture. There is a printing department in connection with Epiphany Hall, situated at the town of Harper, where the students are taught printing. Faculty. — Principal : The Rev. A. Dunbar. Vice-Principal : The Rev. G, W. Gibson. Professor of Bible^History, Secular History, and 389 Liberia ^ Spelling: T. M. Gardner. Languages and Music: E. D. W. Shannon. Mathematics : S. P. Hodges. Modern Languages : N. W. Valentine. The Hall Free School. — Dr. James Hall, of the United States, founded in 1875, on his own endowment, the Hall Free School in Maryland (Harper). This school was chartered by the Legislature of Liberia in 1875. Its funds were invested in five Trustees. When Dr. Hall died, he left money to continue the upkeep of this institution. The Principal of this school is Mr. S. J. Dossen, B.L. In addition to the foregoing colleges, the Liberian Government has appointed a General Superintendent of Public Schools, Mr. J. Deputie. Each county has a local School Commissioner. There are 55 Government Schools in Mesurado County, 13 in Grand Basa, 15 in Sino, and 19 in Maryland, with 102 teachers and 3,320 pupils, male and female. A number of these pupils, according to Govern- ment statistics, are native Africans. LITERARY SOCIETIES The principal amongst these is probably the MARYLAND Academy of Philosophy, with its headquarters in the town of Harper (Cape Palmas). At Monrovia is established Dr. Blyden's Literary Union. At Cape Palmas is the Ladies' Mutual Relief Society. The other societies trail away into secret, freemasonic, or bene- volent institutions, such as the GRAND UNITED ORDER OF ODD- FELLOWS (with fifteen lodges throughout Liberia), the UNITED Brothers of Friendship (described as a secret order, having its origin in the United States in 1861). "Like all other secret organisations, this (the U.B.F.) inculcates the principles of brotherly love, friendship, and truth." This institution has an organisation of a somewhat lurid character as regards nomenclature. Besides the Grand Lodge of Monrovia, there is the " Eastern Star Temple," or Female Branch, further known as the " Sisters of the Mysterious Ten." The United Brothers of Friendship maintain about 390 Liberia ^•- eleven lodges in various parts of Liberia, besides the female mysteries of the Sisters of the Mysterious Ten. Colonel Powney has supplied me with the following information regarding the organisation of Freemasonry in Liberia : " There are nine lodges established at Monrovia, St. Paul's River, Cape Mount, Edina, Grand Basa, Greenville, and Cape Palmas, — viz. the Oriental, St. John's, St. Paul's, Excelsior, Widow's Son, Rising Star, Evening Star, and Morning Star." THE PRESS IN LIBERIA The newspapers and periodicals now published in Liberia consist of the following : The Liberia Recorder (Editor, the Rev. N. H. B. Cassell), Monrovia. This paper is in its seventh year. It comes out every fortnight, and each copy costs 2^d. It often contains excellent articles. 77ie Agricultural World (Editor, P. P. Gray), Monrovia. Price 2\d. monthly. In its sixth year. Libjria and West Africa (Editor, the Rev. A. P. Camphor). A monthly publication, in its fifth year. Yearly subscription, 6s. -^d., including postage. The African League (Editor, J. H. Green), Grand Basa. A monthl)' paper, price ^d. The Living Chronicle (Editor, the Rev. S. D. Ferguson, Jun.), Gregory Street, Harper, Cape Palmas. Monthly paper, price i\d. A useful handbook on Liberia is issued yearly from the office of The Living Chronicle. MUNICIPALITIES AND PORTS OF ENTRY There are at present four incorporated cities in Liberia — namely. Monrovia, Grand Basa (Lower Buchanan), Edina, and Harper, Each of these cities has a Mayor and Council. The other centres of population of the second order are described as townships. The ports of entry at which foreigners are free to trade and settle (the theoretical areas of these ports of enfry being reduced to a radius of three miles from the centre of the town) are at present nine in number— Robertsport (Cape Mount), MONROVIA, MARSHALL, Grand Basa (Lower Buchanan), RiVER Cestos, GREENVILLE 392 ^ Religious, Political, Educational (Sino), Nana Kru, Harper (Cape Palmas), and Cavalla (mouth of Cavalla River). The following are not }'et ports of entry but are places on the coast where Americo-Liberians carry on trade : Little Basd, 140. A HOUSE AND GARDEN, MONROVIA Tobakoni, New Cestos, Trade Town, Grand Ktillo, Tembo, Manna, Rock Cess, Bafu Bay, Butu, Setra Kru, Kroba, Nifu, Beddo, Sas Town, Pikanini Ses, Grand Sesters, Wedabo, Fish Town, Rock Town, Puduke, and Gar awe. 393 Liberia 141. "GREEN BE HER FAME" — LIBERIAN NATIVE COFFEE TREES APPENDIX III THE NATIONAL HYMN OF LIBERIA It is not very clear when this came into existence. As early as the 'fifties of the last century there was a feeling that as an independent state Liberia should be endowed with a National Anthem. The stories circulated about it — to the effect that the 394 -•> The National Hymn words were " indented for " in America and the music was supplied by a student at Dresden — are untrue. The words of " Hail, Liberia, hail ! " were (it is said) written by President D. B. Warner. The music, certainly, was composed by a Liberian citizen, Olmstead Luca, in the early 'sixties. The Luca family was a very musical one. They were mulattoes from the southern United States, of whom one or more settled in Liberia. This musical talent in the Eurafrican, the mixed breed between the Caucasian and the Negro, is a noteworthy feature. Many of the beautiful airs of the early " nigger " songs from the United States were invented by mulattoes and quadroons. A well-known com- poser of the present day rapidly coming to the fore in the British musical world is of this mixed lineage, and hails from Sierra Leone, next door to Liberia. LIBERIAN NATIONAL ANTHEM. Music by Olmstead Luca, a Liberian composer. Words said to be by President D. B. WarNer. Reproduced from the American review '■' Liberia." for 1892. Soprani ed Alii. M J. J' J J J- J' J J w 3EfE -^s- hafll -A. r p r r hair, Li- be • ria, hail, all J- ^ j J Air Tenori e rrrr ill, Li be ria, hail Bassi All All J. / J J «i:i 9i ^^ r f^Ei I J, ; J J f^^^=t^ i^f^ glorious land of haill This - „ J J J J li ■ ber • ty shall long oe J: t J J. hail ! This hail, Li • be ria, i ^m2: ^ ^ ^ rTf=f =F=^=f= 395 Liberia <*- 1^ a: ours. Tho* IP^ J I J J- new her name, green J i i J ^^ be her fame, and W W B » E mighty be hev S rt ^ 22: 32: 32: pow'rs, Tho' ^fe new her name, green f:, #•! ■*-] ^ be her fame, and 4i ^i mighty be her $ ^ I and pow'rs, j2 '"^ e -hta. 407 Liberia <«^ fronds of the Raphia palm [R. viniferd). Its use was discovered about 1889, and in 1890 it was first exported, the value at that time being from ^60 to ^^70 per ton. It was easy to prepare, and the Raphia palm of which it is a product was extremely plentiful. 150. YOUNG OR SMALL KAPHL-V VINIFERA PALM, TO SHOW INFLORESCENCE The natives rushed in and the production in the course of a few years grew to enormous proportions, Liberia being for many years practically the sole country exporting this product. As the production grew the natives became careless (as 408 Liberia <♦- is the case with most Liberian products), the merchants who handled this article gave it little attention — prices and profits being so good — and in course of time prices in the home markets fell. Other West African countries began to compete and gradually the price dwindled, the value decreasing rapidly until it descended to the low level of about ^lo rising to ^20 per ton, at which quotation it now stands. The difficulties of selecting the good from the bad piassava are great, enormous losses occur by shrinkage in weight, and the trade is practically at a stand- still. Although a steady export goes on and profits are made, the risks are great and merchants are less keen to embark in this uncertain trade ; the piassava market is too speculative — for one shipment ^^15 may be obtained, and for the next, identical in quality, only _;/^io. Grand Basa was, and still is, the headquarters of the pias- sava export. Efforts are being made, with some slight success, to regulate this trade and to improve the methods of production, but the low and uncertain prices ruling (and which are Ukely to rule) will prevent the trade from increasing to its former proportions. Coffee^ Rubber, Palm Oil, Palm Kernels, and Piassava may be regarded as the staple exports from Liberia. Camwood. — At one time — in the 'seventies and 'eighties — camwood was a most important article of export in Liberia (as with other parts of the West Coast), and as much as £4rO and ^^50 per ton were realised ; but the discovery of aniline dyes had a disastrous effect, and now, although small quantities are still shipped, the price (^10 to ^13) is too low to encourage a steady export. These remarks apply to annatto and other dye stuffs, all of which have been affected by the introduction of, aniline. Ivory is not largely exported, although occasionally a ton] 410 h<..lf'k 'H**-^ Jjut'i 152. 1. DALBERGIA MELANOXYLON (PRODUCING EBONY) (nat. size) 2. Flower (enlarged). 3. Calyx laid open (enlarged). 4. Wing petal (enlarged). 5. Keel (enlarged). 6. Section of ovary (enlarged)? 7. Pod (nat. size). Liberia ^ or so is shipped. The natives regard their stores of ivory as very precious, and there is little or no profit in the ivory trade. Most ivory finds its way through the hinterland to the French colonies, and very little to the seaboard. The develop- ment of the transport system of the country, the opening of roads, and the settlement of native disputes will have a beneficial effect with regard to this as well as to other products of the country. The natives state there are two descriptions of elephant inhabiting the vast virgin forests — a smaller and a larger, the latter producing the smaller ivory ! From obser- vation this has not been proved, and the statement is to be doubted. Ebony. — A species of Diospyros and of Dalbergia are both present in the Liberian forests. It is not difficult to understand why no ebony is exported since the present price is only about £G a ton. Cacao. — Owing to the bad outlook for the future of the coffee industry, many Liberian planters have started cocoa- growing on their plantations. This industry is in the early stages of infancy, but bids fair to develop into useful pro- portions. Samples sent to England have touched high prices (47^. per cwt.). Cotton. — Experiments are being made by the Liberian planters. It is too early to discuss this product from the point of view of trade, but there is no doubt that the soil is well adapted to the growing of cotton. The interior natives grow cotton for their own consumption, from which they weave beautiful cloths. The cotton industry is increasing. Calabar Beans have only an uncertain sale and cannot be regarded an an article of export. They are plentiful, however, and if the hom.e market demanded, large exports could l)e made. 412 ■^ '^f'i-x-JM^ cLz'^ 153. FLOWERS AND LEAVES OF COLA ACUMINATA (KOLA NUT) 1. Flowering branch (nat. size). 2. Male flower with calyx removed (enlarged). 3. Anthers (enlarged). 4. Female flower with calyx removed (enlarged). 5. Stellate hairs (enlarged). Vide Sierculiacecc in Appendix. Liberia <•- Kola Nuts. — Very few kola nuts are exported to Europe, although there is a comparatively large local trade — mostly in the hands of the Sierra Leoneans. As this valuable nerve stimulant (the basis of certain brands of cocoa and tonic wines) is likely to attain a greatly extended use in Europe and America, kola production in Liberia should receive attention. Ginger. — The export of ginger varies considerably. It is largely planted by the Americo-Liberians, the soil being splendidly adapted to the purpose, but the home market for ginger is most irregular, and this has had the effect of reducing the amount planted and exported. In spite of all drawbacks, however, some considerable quantity of ginger is shipped. Present prices are about 2^s. the cwt. Sugar. — In the early days of Liberia sugar-cane was largely grown on the St. Paul's River, but the introduction of beet sugar has had the same effect in Liberia as in other sugar- growing countries, and none is now exported, although a small quantity is prepared for local consumption and the molasses and syrup are sold locally. The cane grows freely and well, and with a better demand and higher prices a trade in this product could be resuscitated to advantage. Tobacco. — Experiments are now being made by a Liberian recently arrived from America, but results so far have been negative. Gum Copal (Copaifera dinklagei) exists in quantities in the forestSj and the natives are beginning to gather it. It is an increasing industry, and little more can be said. The quality is about on a par with that exported from Sierra Leone, and the value reaches to ^74 a ton. Ivory Nuts have been exported in small quantities with negative results. These nuts — probably the fruit of a Pandanus or Borassus — are used in the manufacture of cheap buttons. 414 hx.i'y^M^dW. 154. FRUIT OF THE COLA^-ACUMINATA (KOLA NUT) 1. Fruit. 2. Section of fruit. 3. Seed. 4. Section of seed (all nat. size). Liberia «•- Ground Nuts (^Arachis and Voandzeid) are grown in small quantities and are disposed of locally. Rubber. — The industry in this product is increasing since the foundation of the Monrovian Rubber Company^ in 1904. In all probabiHty rubber will become in time the principal article of export. The present price of Liberian rubber is about 2J-, 9^. per lb. The price during 1898, 1899, and the first half of 1900 remained very constant at an average of about is. '^d. per lb. During this time Para rubber rose from y. <^d. to 4^". ^d. per lb. The lowest price for Para rubber since 1880 has been 25. \d. in 1884; in 1891 it was 2J. %d. per lb., and it steadily rose to 4J. ()d. per lb. in the beginning of 1900. During the first half of 1900 Para rubber fell rapidly, recovered somewhat, and again fell, until at the end of the year it was 4^. per lb. It is now about 5J". per lb. The average price for the last ten years has been about 3^". ^d. per lb. During the latter six months of 1900 Liberian rubber fell steadily to about \s. %d. per lb., I J. '~i\d. having been the lowest price touched ; is. \od. was the highest reached (1905). Liberian rubber is chiefly used, mixed with other kinds, in the manufacture of rubber for mechanical purposes. The quantity of rubber used in " mechanicals " is very large indeed, probably about equal to the total amount of Para imported. In Liberia sixteen classes of rubber are known at present, probably attributable to as many species of rubber-producing trees and vines, a list of which, so far as they are known, will be found in the Botanical Appendix (p. 616 et. seq.). The quality of the rubber varies very much according to the species. Lan- dolphia owariensis and Funtumia elastica probably yield the best. ^ Now styled the Liberian Rubber Corporation. 416 [s:-^ I 155. WEIGHING RUBBER AT GREENVILLE (SINO), LIBERIAN RUBBER CORPORATION VOL. I 27 Liberia <«- The lianas of Landolphias, which produce so much of the rubber, grow up tall trees and extend sometimes three or four hundred feet along their tops. The rope-like stems of these creepers are as much as nine inches in diameter, the slenderest probably being about three inches. Rubber abounds not only where it has been seen by the officials of the Company, but right through the vast forests of 156. FOKESTER'S HOUSE In" INTERIOR (RUBBKK CORPORATION) the interior. The method of treating the rubber at present is somewhat crude, but the quality, although it is not considered the best on the market, is very fair, and, barring a certain un- pleasant odour, is equal to the average rubber exported from the West Coast of Africa. Hitherto rubber-collecting in Liberia has been merely in its infancy, but the Liberian Rubber Corporation is making rapid strides towards opening up stations throughout the country 4r8 -^ Commerce of Liberia with satisfactory results. Down to about 1898 no attempt was made by Europeans to trade for rubber or to collect it away from the coast ports. In that year, however, two agents of the Liberian Rubber Syndicate (which preceded the Monrovian Rubber Company) made some attempt to collect rubber in the Dukwia country, but the enterprise, though successful, was not persisted in. In 1903-4 the journeys of Mr. Alexander Whyte 157. HEADQUARTERS OF THE LIBERIAN RUBBER CORPORATION, MONROVIA revealed the extraordinary wealth ot rubber-producing trees, shrubs, and lianas in the interior forests. Early in 1904 Mr. Harold Reynolds, on behalf of the Monrovian Rubber Company, opened the first permanent station in the interior, opposite Dobli Zulu Island on the St. Paul's River, near Boporo. Prior negotiations had been entered into with the Gora and Boporo chiefs in the neighbourhood by Mr. Braham, the General 419 Liberia ^ Manager of the Company, with the assistance and support of the Liberian Government. Similar measures brought about the foundation of other stations at distances of from twenty-two to one hundred miles from the coast at Mount Barclay, Kakatown (Dukwia), Sikombe, Putu, and Woffoke ^ (Maryland). These stations were occupied by foresters (mostly from the Edinburgh Botanical Gardens) in the service of the Rubber Company. Tn 1905 Mr. D. Sim, one of these foresters, discovered the Funtumia elastica (the rubber-tree of Lagos) existing in the vast Nidi forest in the Sapo country behind Putu. The natives soon realised the public importance of this asset, and are taking great pains to see that the trees are not injured by excessive tapping. Since the end of 1905 a number more rubber- collecting stations in the interior have been opened by European and negro foresters. The first of this new series was at Kaitikpo's town, on the Farmington River, Rubber-collecting by the natives is carried on in two ways : either as an individual enterprise — the native going out into the forest and collecting rubber which he afterwards brings for sale to the Company's stations or to the traders on the coast — or by direct salaried employment at the hands of the Company. The best rubber-collecting season is in August and from October to March, during the (more or less) dry season ; but this is because at that time of year the natives have less work to do on their farms, and of course the slackening in the rainfall makes outdoor work in the forests more agreeable. When rubber-collecting is undertaken by the natives on their own initiative, their procedure is usually as follows : Their wives prepare about three weeks' food, which they carry ' Woffoke has since been closed. About four sub-stations, mainly under the charge of Sierra Leone men or Liberians, depend on each head-station. 420 FORESTER S CAMP Liberia <4- in the baskets {kinjd) borne on the back and forehead of the porter. They then settle down in the forest in the middle of the rubber vines and proceed to collect the latex of the vines or trees by tapping the bark and allowing the " milk " to run into little receptacles (broken bottles, large snail-shells, gourds, tin cans, etc.), or else by cutting up the smaller lianas into seg- ments, from each end of which the latex streams off into basins or other receptacles. The supplies of latex (" milk ") are either collected towards evening or in the early morning, and are all mixed together in brass kettles or iron pots. The rubber is thence obtained by promoting coagulation. This is effected by boiling the latex, or precipitating the caoutchouc by the admixture of acid reagents, such as lime-juice or the juice or tannin of wild fruits or bark- infusion. The better educated natives then put their strips or balls of rubber aside to dry by hanging them over the rafters of huts in the smoke from the hearth. The stupider or the more dishonest immerse their rubber in flowing streams, believing that by so doing they cleanse it from impurities and yet cause it to absorb moisture and so increase its weight fraudulently. As a matter of fact the caoutchouc does not absorb the water, but immersion prevents it from exuding its inherent moisture, so that it is brought to the trader in a damp and " mucky " condition. The ordinary pay of the native labourer is about ^d. to I J", per day. By working systematically one man can readily collect up to 3 or 4 lb. of rubber per day, for which he would receive about \s. per lb. The natives prefer collecting rubber to growing or collecting any other kind of product, as when brought to the coast it realises ^2 ioj. per load as against about 4^-. for the same weight of palm kernels, \os. for palm oil, and 14^. for coffee. They will rarely carry produce other than rubber more than a two days' journey. 422 • ) .. ' • i Liberia <«- The whole of the rubber trade and collecting of rubber in Liberia is under the supervision of the Liberian Rubber Corporation, which is for all practical purposes the Forestry Board of the Liberian Government, for whom it collects the royalties or export duties on the rubber (an approximate 8 cents [4^'.] per lb.). The Liberian Rubber Corporation makes arrange- ments with and subsidises native chiefs for the carrying out of 160. OX-CART ON LIBERIAN ROAD its regulations (which have the force of by-laws) for the pre- servation of the forests and the replanting of rubber vines and trees. It spreads instruction amongst the natives as to the proper methods of collecting rubber, and by its stations and sub- stations in the interior endeavours to provide foci for the trade. Any person may trade in or collect rubber in Liberia by obtaining a licence from the Company and agreeing to pay the royalties due ^ ' \d. per lb. to the Liberian Government, \d. per lb. to the Company = 8(^. per lb. total royalties. 424 -#i Commerce of Liberia and observe the regulations in force. The sums derived from the rubber royalties are pledged by the Liberian Government to the service of its public debt. l6l. "IN THK WET SEASON THESE PATHS BECOME CANALS " The foregoing list ought not to hmit by any means the possible trade products of Liberia. Any quantity of valuable timber — African mahogany {Khaya), African teak {Oldfieldid), 425 Liberia ^- besides other trees mentioned in tlie Botanical Appendix — -is present in the forests ; there are many undescribed nuts and seeds yielding fine oils ; the bark of the mangrove and of certain acacias is valuable for tanning. Besides articles of export there are local wants to be supplied. Liberia ought — so far as climate and soil are concerned — to grow all the Rice her indigenous and American population requires, and yet become a rice-exporting country — instead of which she imports rice by the hundred- thousand-pounds' worth. Her coasts are well provided with fish. She should set up her own fish-curing establishments on the seashore and send dried fish to the people of the interior instead of importing it from Norway. The fruit produced in the coast regions consists of coconuts, pineapples, oranges, limes, mangoes, papaws. Avocado pears, " sour sop," bananas, and plantains. Cattle thrive well in Liberia : they ought to be bred and fattened for the West African market, likewise sheep, goats, fowls, and ducks. Geese will not breed in this climate, and turkeys find it too wet. The mineral wealth of Liberia is still an unknown quantity ; it will be discussed in another chapter. To quicken the stagnant commerce of this land several things are necessary : imprimis, a far greater devotion to agricul- ture on the part of the Negro population : practical, tropical agriculture should be taught at all the colleges and schools ; secundo, more coin, instead of paper money, should circulate ; tertio^ roads must be made into the interior and European traders be allowed to settle at convenient points along those roads. Present means of transport are most defective and primitive. In the coast districts there are short stretches of roads made by the Liberian Government, with a few wooden bridges. On these, rudely made ox-carts ply between the plantations and 426 Commerce of Liberia the villages. Beyond the coast strip of ten to twenty miles all roads narrow into a footpath which becomes often a mere tunnel through dense vegetation sufficiently high for foot passengers with loads on head or' back to pass through. In the wet season these paths become canals, along which Europeans and natives can only progress by wading, sometimes up to the armpits. In the far interior {i.e. over seventy miles from the coast) another inconvenience to caravans arises occasion- ally from the simultaneous occupation of the roads by herds of elephants, who are very fierce, and rush at the human trespassers (for many of these paths appear to have been elephant-tracks in origin) with angry screams and up- lifted trunks. Needless to say, the native porters, if not the European master, fling down their loads and scatter into the dense forest. But when the region quite beyond coast influence is reached, at, say, one hundred miles inland, these narrow paths often broaden out into fine highways, constructed and kept clear of vegetable growth by the industrious, warlike (and often cannibalistic) natives of the "far interior, 427 162. A PORTER, LIBKRIA Liberia ^•- The native porters prefer to carry their loads in the kinja^ a wicker " pottle " or long hamper slung on the back (see Index), but European boxe^ are carried on the head. In many districts the women readily proffer themselves as porters, and carry all loads poised on the head. On the rivers in their navigable stretches dug-out canoes (see p. 496) are much used for transport and travel. Horses and 163. WOMEN PORTERS donkeys are employed as pack animals by the Mandingo beyond the forest zone, but never within the region of dense vegetation. The Americo-Liberians are keen traders, fonder, indeed, of trade than of agriculture. Most of them, however^ carry on their business as the agents or employes of European firms. Mr. S. Harmon, of Grand Basa, is an important trader. Attia, a Moorish Jew, came to this country a long while ago, and, on the strength of his African nationality, was able to 428 Commerce of Liberia enjoy all the privileges of a Liberian citizen. He built up a big trading business, but since his death the firm seems to have left Liberia. The most powerful trading house is that of Woermann, with agencies in every port of entry ; then follow the Liberian Development Chartered and Rubber Companies 164. CAXOE-TRAVELLING I STOPPED BY THE KAPIOS (British), the German firms Wiechers and Helm, J. West, etc., the Dutch East African Company, Messrs. Woodin (British), etc., etc. The total value of British trade with Liberia in igo^ was j^ii2,779 (imports from United Kingdom, ^^ 5 0,06 9 ; exports to United Kingdom, ^^62,710) ; total trade with British Empire, including about ^^2 0,000 with Sierra Leone and Gold Coast = ;^i32,ooo. 429 Liberia The value of Liberian trade with Germany durhig the same period (1904) was ^105,000 ; with Holland (about) ^70,000 ; and with other countries (United States, France, Spain and Belgium), about ^100,000. A list of Custom Duties in force is appended : The regular IMPOSTS or CUSTOMS on Goods, Wares, or Merchandise brought into this Republic are as follows, as per Tariff as enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Liberia. All import duties payable in gold. Specific Dried Fish, per 100 lb. Pickled P^ish, per barrel Beef, per barrel . Beef Tongues, per barrel Pigs' Feet and Heads, per barrel Bacon, per lb. Ham, per lb. . . Pickled Sausages, per lb. Sugar (Refined), per lb. Fancy Biscuits, per lb. Butter, per lb. Lard, per lb. Candy Confectionery, per lb. Salt, per 100 lb. . Tea, per lb. . Rice, per 1 12 lb. . Common Soap, per lb. Fancy Toilet Soap, per lb Starch, per lb. Steel, per lb. Brass Kettles, per lb. . Cutlasses, per doz. Gunpowder, per lb. Kerosine, per gallon . Tobacco — Leaf, per lb. M.oo 1. 00 1-25 2.00 I. GO .01 .02 •03 .06 .02 .04 .06 •05 •05 .10 •25 .02 .06 .06 .02 .06 •25 .08 .04 .08 ' The Liberian currency is in dollars and cents (100 cents = i dollar). §1 (one dollar) = 4^'. 2d. English money ; one cent = |^rt?. English money. 430 Commerce of Liberia Percussion Guns, each Flint Lock Guns, each Oven and Spiders, per lb. . Manufactured Tobacco, per lb. Cigars, each Cigarettes .... Lumber, per foot Trade Plates (not in sets), per doz. Basins not exceeding 12 inch, per doz. „ exceeding 12 inch, per doz. Brandy, Old Tom Gin, Jamaica Rum, Scotch or Irish Whisky, and all other fine qualities of Alcoholic Liquors, per gallon Common Rum or Gin, per gallon Wine, Champagne, Cordial, and all other Liqueurs or Sweet Waters, per gallon Beer, Ale, Stout,. Porter, Cherry Wine, per gallon Empty Demijohns, each . . • $2.50 2.50 .01 •25 .01 ad valorem .QO\ .12 .12 .25 2.00 •75 2.00 •50 1. 00 Ad Valorem Upon all other goods not enumerated in the foregoing, there shall be levied and collected a Duty of \2\ per cent, ad valorem, tran- sient traders not excepted. Free Goods Seine, Lye, Thread, Agricultural Implements, and Machinery of all kinds (Bill-hooks and Cutlasses excepted). Tools, Sewing- machines, Palm Kernel and Coffee-bags, Shocks, Hoop-iron, Rivets, Tenter-hooks, Musical Instruments, Books for use of Missions and Schools, in cases of direct consignment from abroad. EXPORT TARIFF Export Duties are payable in gold and currency. Palm Oil, per gallon „ Kernels, per bushel Camwood, per ton . Rubber and Guttapercha, per lb. Ivory, per lb. . Piassava, per lb. . . r 43 i $0.01 .02 3-50 .06 to .08 .05 .(X)5 (half cent) CHAPTER XIX GEOGRAPHY OF LIBERIA IN drawing up this summary of the little that is known con- cerning the geography of Liberia, it will be more convenient to deal with the coast regions first, and then describe the interior. The territory of the Liberian Republic begins on the left (east) bank of the River Mano, a river which higher up in its course is called the Bewa. The Mano is formed by the conjunction of two streams, the most eastern of which is taken as the main stream for the purposes of the Anglo-Liberian boundary frontier delimitation. Like most other Liberian rivers, the Mano is only navigable for a short distance from the sea by boats or canoes. It flows through a region of dense forest, which is described by the Anglo-Liberian Boundary Commissioners as being full of rubber-producing vines. There is practically no Customs station or sign of Liberian authority at the mouth of the Mano River, though there are Americo-Liberian settlements a few miles to the east, and there is a large trading village at Gene about twenty miles from the sea. Proceeding eastwards, the next stream flowing into the sea is the Mafa, a river with a course of about thirty-five miles, which under the designation of Marfa, Mahfa, and Marfi has often figured in Liberian history. This stream is shallow and not navigable for any distance from the sea. Its banks are frequented by a few Liberian and native traders. The Mafa 432 Il6s. 'A BUSH ROAD NEAR THE MANO RIVER VOL. II 28 Liberia ^ River discharges partly into the large lagoon known as Fisher- man Lake and also directly into the sea, besides giving access to a long creek which runs westwards parallel to the coast and is known as Shuguri (Sugary) River. Into Fisherman Lake also flow from the north the Morfi ^ and Japaka Rivers, and a smaller stream called Yonni (Johnny) Creek. Fisherman Lake, sometimes known by the alternative Vai name of Pisu (which simply means " lake "), is a large sheet of slightly brackish water subject to the influence of the tides. It is about ten miles long and five miles at its greatest breadth, with depths of from thirteen and a half to ten feet. It communicates with the sea by a narrow outlet, rather inclined to shoal water. The entrance at once to the Mafa River and to the outlet of the Fisherman Lake (the delta of the river and the outlets of the lagoon being strewn with islands, big and little) is at Barmouth, immediately to the north of a little rocky peninsula, which is a promontory of Cape Mount. At low tide there is only three feet of water on the bar ; otherwise there might be the making of a useful harbour behind Cape Mount. Cape Mount is the most interesting and noteworthy feature on the coast of Liberia, and the earliest known and recorded. For the most part the West African coast, north of the Equator, is low and singularly uninteresting in outline. This excessive monotony and vagueness is broken by a few noteworthy features, such as Cape Verde, which, though not very lofty, is still visible at a considerable distance ; by Mount Kakulima and the other highlands near Konakri, which attracted the notice of Hanno the Carthaginian ; by Sierra Leone, with its mountains rising to 3,000 feet ; and by Cape Mount in Liberian territory, the highest point of which is 1,068 feet above the sea. Eastwards * Perhaps " Muevi " in Vai, or it may be the old trade name for Ivory (Morfil, Marfim). 434 ^ Geography of Liberia of this there is no very noteworthy promontory on the whole coast till the Cameroons Mountains are reached. Cape Mesurado is a noticeable clifF, and there are some bold bluffs here and there along the Gold Coast, but nothing which can vie with Cape Mount, rising as it does more than a thousand feet straight up from the sea coast, the Gibraltar of Liberia. On the northern seaward face of this steep acclivity is situated Robertsport l66. THE SHORE OF FISHERMAN LAKE (CAPE MOUNT) (Wakoro), the Americo-Liberian settlement. On the coast for two or three miles round the shoreward face of the mountain is a succession of small settlements, either native or Liberian, The mission station of the American Episcopal Mission and the factories or places of business of the foreign merchants are on the inner shore facing Gambia Island. It is difficult to understand how such a splendid site as this mountainous peninsula with its spacious lagoon on the east and half-formed seaport on the wes.t did not tempt the nucleus 435 Liberia ^4- of the American settlers in 1822 to choose it for their future capital instead of the less attractive Cape Mesurado. Several times slave traders or pirates in the past conceived the idea of Cape Mesurado as a stronghold. The last to do so was Captain Theodore Canot, who, as related in another chapter, was so taken with the beauty of the scenery and agreeable conditions of Cape Mount that he resolved to lead a new life there and settle down as an agriculturist and stock-breeder. He would in fact have done so had not a ruthless British gun- boat destroyed his settlement, in the conviction that he was still carrying on a disguised slave trade. East of Cape Mount the coast is low, and in places swampy. It is broken by the Little Cape Mount River (called Lofa in the upper reaches) at Half Cape Mount. ^ This is a stream of some length of course, which may be the Lofa which rises on the Mandingo Plateau. It flows in its lower course past the Po range of hills in the Boporo country. The river deserves to be called by its native name of Lofa, instead of by the unwieldy term of " Little Cape Mount." The settlement of Half Cape Mount was so named because it was half-way between that promontory and the next cape. On or near the little Poba River, a few miles to the east of Half Cape Mount, are the Vai and Liberian settlements of Digbi and Royesville. Digbi was often the scene of slave raids and wars provoked by the slave trade, or of the em- barcation of slaves down to the middle of the nineteenth century. A short distance beyond Poba stream (always proceeding ^ The term "Half" is constantly applied to rivers or capes or places of call all along this coast, originating from sailors, who, unatlle to find the native name or to invent a distinctive term of their own, named such places thus because they were half-way or half a day's journey between one prominent feature and another, 436 A Liberian Stream in the short Dry season M:\l' lU n^' 1 1*20' IIVO' 'p ^ ^'Si j£ ^ ioruzy oBcLse JBoaou 0/ iZobolLou \ j,N>""/t / (rlirruv oJJhcrurvaTutnf ■f' \ ^ oColesFlcuce V° / Stbqoirv\\ \c SodtTotrri o/ ^ I r 4 1 \ ^ joMx/ceTvadn-e jr .....^^ .... ,.1.-1 v.><>"^*'* /""//> ^v'','»"'V 'o£tLSptor^ ^ I ^MaJtwimJbo ^^f * 4°' «/ .^i^" H.CapeMoimi'k Hobertspori , known as Bali Island. Monrovia ^ itself is built on the western end of a broad promontory or tableland nearly insulated by the creeks of the Mesurado River on the west and north, and by the Junk River on the east. But for the narrow isthmus between Paynesville and the westernmost branch of the Junk River the Monrovian or Cape Mesurado promontory would be a long island, about thirty miles in length and an average three miles in breadth, surrounded by the sea, the Mesurado and the Junk creeks. If this narrow isthmus could be canalised and the Junk River con- nected with the Mesurado lagoon, it would give Monrovia not only safe water communication with the St. Paul's River on the one hand, but with the Dukwia and Farmington Rivers on the east. This would enable an enormous quantity of produce to be brought cheaply, safely, and quickly to Monrovia for shipment by ocean-going steamers. As it is, steam-launches and canoes can penetrate a considerable distance to the east of Monrovia. The streets and blocks of Monrovia are rectangular. The town has been laid down with mathematical accuracy ; but the broad streets are merely the surface of the ground in its natural formation : they have never been turned into roads of even surface suitable for wheeled traffic. Abrupt fragments of rock break their surface, which is mostly covered with a fine turf. This turf is the ramification of various herbs mixed with a little grass. It presents a lawn-like appearance from being constantly browsed on by the small cattle which pasture on these roads and give a pretty, almost Arcadian appearance to the capital. In addition to cattle, however, there are pigs of a less pleasing aspect that play the part of scavengers, a part unfortunately 1 Native name " Duko." The Liberian name is derived from President Mor.rce, U.S.A. 446 I73. THE TURFY STREETS AND~CATTLE OF MONROVIA Liberia <•- necessary, as very little has been done to prevent offal of all descriptions from being thrown from the houses into the streets. Owing, however, to the industrious pigs, who keep pace with the untidiness of the inhabitants, the upper town is fairly clean of aspect, and would be really smart but for the excessive growth of herbage in places where the cattle cannot keep it under.^ The houses for the most part are spacious and prettily coloured, more or less surrounded with gardens and handsome trees. There are five large and spacious churches (and one still unfinished), some handsome Government buildings, and at a little distance from the main town rises the gaunt iron-and- brick structure of Liberia College. On Mamba point, near the lighthouse, is an unfinished fort, with the ancient historic guns of the settlement. There is a large and sad-looking cemetery outside Monrovia, with a view of the sea-beach below. The con- siderable number of graves testifies to the mortality among the American settlers. Amongst the interments are those of wealthy or important Kru people from the native town, mostly the wives of leading Krumen. These graves are marked by slabs or crosses of wood on which rude inscriptions have been painted, probably by the Kru widower. One of these reads somewhat as follows : " Here lies my dear wife, Qpsidedown," the adverb being really the name of the Kruman, John Up- sidedown. Between the cemetery and the town is an undrained ' My last stay in Monrovia, hov^ever, has convinced me that pubHc municipal spirit in that town should be aroused, not only to do away with the vegetable growth on waste land and the refuse-heaps in back yards (which breed mosquitoes, sandflies, and cockroaches), but also to abate the farmyard nuisance of the domestic animals. Sleep is often interrupted at night by the incessant barking of dogs, the squeals of fighting boars, lowing of cattle, baaing of goats, miauing of cats, crowing of cocks, to say nothing of gunfiring by watchmen, musical serenades at untimely hours, loud talking, whistling, and singing. Some of these noises are inseparable from town life ; but the pigs and dogs might be restrained. 448 -^ Geography of" Liberia .§wimp used as a place for washing clothes. This, in its present state, is unwholesome ; but the springs that feed the swamp might well be diverted into a useful basin of fresh water, with an overflow to the sea. Perhaps what makes the locality so melancholy and gives such a gloomy touch to Monrovia in general is the rampant, choking, monotonously green vegetation, which for ever 174. A STREET IN MONROVIA threatens to smother the small settlement. No one is so near a tree-worshipper as I am, or so keen a botanist from the aesthetic point of view; but I must confess Liberia,is a country to disgust one with vegetation and even with forest. It is as though mankind in this part of Africa was fighting a well- nigh desperate battle against the hostihty of the vegetable world. In the far interior man has won a victory which has been almost too extreme. He has absolutely killed out the VOL. I 449 29 Liberia <*- forest, and thus diminished the rain supply to a point which makes famine a possibility. Yet in the surroundings of Monrovia, as throughout much of Liberia, you feel as though 175. WATERSIDE VEGETATION — PANDANUS, MANGROVE, PALMS you would like to banish the forest and ' the bush and begin anew with domesticated, cultivated, and easily controlled vegetation. Not a few of the landward streets of Monrovia 450 -*i Geography of t.iberid end in a wall of forest. This as it grows down to the banks of the Mesurado lagoon (on the north and east of the Monrovia plateau) merges into the waterside vegetation of pandanus, 176, MANGROVE TREES, SHOWING AERIAL ROOTS mangrove, raphia and oil palms, coarse ferns, dracaena trees, bombax, Albizzia^ Lonchocarpus^ and Parinarium. There are in the natural site of IVIonrovia and the Mesurado 451 Liberia ^ peninsula the makings of a handsome and healthy city, with its attendant plantations, farms, and pleasure-gardens. There is no marsh in the vicinity except the small patch near the cemetery, and the whole of the peninsula is high, fertile land, with patches of magnificent forest. The Mesurado lagoon, as already related, extends its tidal creeks eastwards within a short walk of the most westerly creek of the Junk River. Navigation up these creeks can be carried on to some extent by a steam-launch, but canoes are required for the narrower and shallower parts. The mangroves lining these creeks rise to a fair altitude, though not to such magnificent proportions as the mangroves of the lower Congo. As usual, the roots up to the highest tide-mark are often set with oyster clusters. On the high branches of these man- groves perch the white and black, pink-faced fishing-vultures, almost the only sign of bird life, while on the mud the common Nile crocodile and the short-headed crocodile may sometimes be seen. Grey mangabey and greenish colobus monkeys frequent the thicker part of the mangrove bush ; but all this region, like so much of the coast-belt of Liberia, is singularly lacking in animal life. Northwards of these creeks of the Mesurado the ground rises and the scenery becomes agreeable to the eye. Numerous plantations, belonging, with one exception, to Americo-Liberians, dot the country behind Monrovia in the direction of the St. Paul's River. The Mount Barclay plantation (Louisiana) belongs to the Liberian Rubber Corporation. It was initiated by an enter- prising Bavarian named Humplmayer. Here the ground rises to about four or five hundred feet, and from this point a view of Monrovia can be obtained, twenty miles distant. Along the roads to this and similar plantations are charming avenues of oil palms, coffee trees, oranges, and raphia palms. 452 177. FOREST ON THE LANDWARD EDGE OF THE MESURADO PENINSULA Liberia «^ An occasional Borassus fan palm towers above the other trees, or even higher than the Borassus reach the climbing Calamus palms, which scramble higher than the highest tree-top and wave their hooked branches in the air. Much of the forest round about Monrovia is enlivened with the brilliant white bracts of a Muss^nda^ these large, smooth, pure-white leaves looking as though they had been cut out of velvet. The Junk River, which is fed by streams from the Mamba country to, the north, is a long, winding, tidal creek that flows almost parallel with the coast for about fifteen miles. In its eastern half it is really the estuary of two rivers, the Dukwia and the Farmington. The Dukwia is a rather im- portant river which is navigable for about thirty miles (it is very winding) from the sea to the last rapids, a little beyond Saddle Hill, a mountain said to be nearly two thousand feet high. The source of the Dukwia River is unknown. It may possibly have a course of about a hundred miles, and it flows through a country in its upper part exceedingly rich in indiarubber and covered with the thickest forest, much and dangerously frequented by herds of elephants. A rough road exists from the Liberian settlements on the lower Dukwia and Junk Rivers overland to Careysburg, Crozerville, and White Plains on the St. Paul's River. I have not personally visited Saddle Hill. It would be interesting to ascertain if its altitude really is two thousand feet, as in such case it ought to be a valuable and easily reached sanatorium for Monrovia, since it is close to the. banks of the Dukwia River, where it is still navigable from the. SQa upwards. At the mouth of the joint estuary of the Junk, Dukwia, and Farmington Rivers is the important settle- ment of Marshall, a place of growing importance, founded by the Liberians about 1828.^ Unfortunately, the entrance 1 Named after Chief Justice Marshall, U.S.A., the biographer of Washington. 454 nirvir 11 Liberia <«- to the J Link River at Marshall from the sea has a very bad bar, or this would become an important port, as it would receive produce from so many directions by cheap and easy inland water carriage. Marshall and the other Liberian settlements on the adjoining rivers have an Americo-Liberian population of about eight hundred. From the Mano River on the west to the Farmington River on the east are the coast boundaries of the county of Montserrado. This is the largest province or county of Liberia, though its inland boundaries, with the adjoining county of Grand Basa, have not yet been fully determined up to the French frontier on the north. They are assumed to take a straight line in a north-easterly direction from the source of the Little Basa or Farmington River. The county of Montserrado therefore contains nearly the whole of the basin of the St. Paul's River. Originally there was another county to the west of Cape Mount — the Gallinhas or North-Western Territories ; but when the frontier agreement with England pushed back the Liberian boundary to the Mano River, this definition was abandoned, and the territory between the Mano and Cape Mount was added to Montserrado County. The name " Montserrado " has given rise to many conjectures. Amongst others it was supposed to be derived from the West India island of Montserrat, called by the Spaniards Montserrado. As a matter of fact, it is nothing else but a mis-spelling of " Mesurado." The Americans who first dealt with the question of Liberian colonisation, not understanding the Portuguese word " Mesurado," wrote the cape " Montserrado." As Cape Mesurado was the principal settlement, it gave its name under the corrupt form of Montserrado to the province of which it is the capital. In this form the name of the province has been so long established that it is impossible to change it back to Mesurado. 456 The Yellow-flowered Musscenda, vvtth White Sepals, so common in the Liberian Bush (Musscenda conopharyngifolia) 178. MANGROVE TREES ON THE BORDERS OF THE MESURADO LAGOON Liberia The Farmington or Little Basa River is the northern boundary both of the Basa people and county. Basa is a native tribal name covering a section of the Kru races. The Basa 179. DENSE BUSH WITH WHITE-LEAVED MUSS^ENDA, WILD COFFEE, ETC. people speak a dialect closely resembling the, Kru, but physically they seem to be rather a mixed Negro stock. Occasionally types amongst them are seen which strongly suggest an 458 -^ Geography of Liberia ancient infusion of the Mandingo tribes, while others are the most hideous examples of the broad-nosed, prognathous, thick-lipped Guinea Negro. The principal river of the Basa county is the St. John's (Portuguese, Sao Joao). This is also known as the Hartford River, and a small western affluent is called the Mechlin, after Dr. Mechlin, one of the founders of Liberia, who did something to settle colonies in the Basa country in 1830. The St. John's River rises, it is supposed. A ROAD NKAK THE ST. PAULS RIVP:R near the conjectural Mount Bo, on the western limits of the Satro range. Midway along its course it flows past the important Finley Mountains.^ There are considerable Liberian settlements at the mouth of the St. John's, Edina, and Upper Buchanan. The pro- montory of Grand Basa Point, together with certain reefs on the coast, to some extent protect the anchorage in this bay ' Named after Finley of the American Colonisation Society. 459 Liberia <«- of Grand Basa, a bay which with but little work in the way of breakwaters might become a very decent harbour. As it is, the surf on the beach is nearly as bad as elsewhere on the Liberian coast, and landing or embarking is always a matter of uneasiness. On the south side of the bay is Lower Buchanan, where most of the foreign factories are situated. Close to Lower Buchanan is the little Bis5 (Bissaw) River, l8l. WATERSIDE, MONROVIA and here or hereabouts is the legendary site of the old Norman station of Petit Dieppe.^ To the east of Grand Basa Point is the settlement of Tobakoni — a name which goes back some two centuries — and beyond that is New Cess or Pua (Poor) River, at the mouth of which, or at the adjoining village or Young Sesters, was the slave depot of- Theodore Canot. ' M. Maurice Delafosse thinks Petit Dieppe was situated at the mouth of the River Cestos. 460 l82. ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF MONROVIA Liberia ^^ Continuing eastwards, one arrives at the Little Kullo (Culloh) River, beyond which again is Grand Kullo. Between Grand Kullo and the mouth of the Cestos three small rivers enter the sea. The River Cess, or Cestos,^ is a stream of some length of course, which probably rises in the Satro Mountains, close 183. IN LOWER BUCHANAN (GRAND BASA) to the basin of the Cavalla River. Unfortunately, the mouth of the Cestos has a very bad bar, with rocks in the middle, and a depth of only three feet at lowest tide. The foreign trading station and Liberian settlement are on St. George's Point. ' Derived from Portuguese name " Cestos," meaning " baskets." 462 MAI' 12 Liberia ^ Between the Cestos River and the Sanguin there is the important native town of Rock Cess. All this part of the coast is dangerous from rocks and reefs, one of which bears the Portuguese name of Diabolitos, or " Little Devils." The Sanguin River is the eastern boundary of Basa County. It is a stream of some size, which rises in the Nidi Mountains and flows through the Sikon country. East of the Sanguin mouth on the coast is Bafu Point, a notable promontory, and eastwards of this again are the Tuba and Butu Rivers, with various Butu villages between, villages which are also supposed to have been sites of Norman settlements. The entrance to the Sanguin River is, like so many other ports on the coast of Liberia, beset with rocks above and below water, some of which might be blown up and others marked by buoys. But from the south, with a turn to the east, there is a fairly clear entrance over a bar which is better than the bars of most Liberian rivers, inasmuch as it has from nine to ten feet of water in the shallowest part at lowest tide. The long spit of land, which is called Wilson Point, should form an excellent protection against the surf inside the bar, and there are distinct possibilities therefore about the Sanguin River as a future port of some importance. The Sanguin River is the western boundary of the Sino County, named after the Sino River, which was also called by the Portuguese Rio Sao Vicente or Rio Duke. Sino is a native name, either for the river in its lower course or for the district, which was noted by the Portuguese as far back as the sixteenth century.^ To those who are greedy of sensational experiences I recommend a landing at the mouth of the Sino River at a ^ The pronunciation of this word should be Sino, very like the English " snow.' It is more convenient — once this is understood — to spell the word Sino. 464 Liberia ^ and servants who are to be taken to the Niger Delta, the Cameroons, and the Congo coast. Among the more celebrated of these Kru villages are Little Kru, Setra Kru, Little and Great Nana Kru (a port of entry), Great and Little Wapi, Nifu (a port of entry), and Sas Town, also a port of entry. The coast is broken by a multitude of little rivers flowing down from the hilly country at the back. Some of these hills can be seen from the sea on a clear day. One of them has a sugar- loaf appearance, and is about seven hundred feet high. In the vicinity of Grand Sesters River there are heights near the coast of several hundred feet ; otherwise, it is a monotonously low line of dark forest, straw-coloured sand, and foaming white breakers. Grand Sesters, as already mentioned, is a name which is derived from the Portuguese word Sestro, meaning "sinister," " suspicious." It is at the mouth of a river which enters the sea by a very narrow opening, and is continued westwards along the coast by a long, narrow creek at the foot of the hills. Grand Sesters River is scarcely indicated on most charts of the Liberian coast, but it is the boundary between the counties of Sino and Maryland. It is possibly identical with a stream that rises on the western flanks of Mount Keto in the Kelipo country. Maryland County on the modern map of Liberia is sadly truncated. It originally stretched along the coast from Grand Sesters past the Cavalla River to the Rio San Pedro on the Ivory Coast. The Cavalla River therefore flowed through the middle of this once independent American Negro State. But in 1892 the French seized the coast between the San Pedro and the Cavalla. The interior of Maryland County is also threatened with serious diminution, since it has been found that the main course of the River Cavalla trends so much 470 KRU VILLAGE ON THE COAST Liberia <^ more to the west than was expected when the 1892 treaty- was made. EUROPEAN TRAVELLERS CROSSING A RIVER IN LIBERIA About Grand Sesters the Kru race changes into the Grebo, closely allied to the former in language. There are no rivers of any importance east of the Grand Sesters until the Cavalla 472 ,*#!» Willi I lu tw^ The Hoffmann River, Cape Palmas ■^ Geography of Liberia River is met with, at once the boundary and the most southern limit of the Republic of Liberia. There is, however, on the coast of Maryland that rare feature in Liberian geography, an island, something more than a mere rocky islet, called Old Garawe, which lies off the mouth of the small Garawe River, and is about three miles long, being separated from the main- land by a broad creek. The western approach to the River Try or Garawe is beset with rocks ; but the eastern end of 187. IN A KRL VILLAGE this Garawe Island might be inspected with a view to the creek behind it forming a harbour. There is said to have been an old French settlement at Garawe, as there was also at Grand Sesters. A remarkable reef of rock stretches out into the sea near the mouth of the River Dia and to some extent prevents the approach to Fish Town, a Liberian settlement on a promontory which was called Cape Sao Qemente by the Portuguese. 473 Liberia <»-• Beyond this is Rock Town, an important Grebo settlement, where a Grebo king resides, and beyond this again is the cele- brated Cape Palmas, an attenuated headland plumed with groves of coconuts. A rocky island called after Governor Russwurm lies off Cape Palmas. The harbour of Cape Palmas is the mouth of a lagoon-like river of short course, which under the l88. MISSIONARY COLLEGE, HARPER, CAPE PALMAS name of Hoffmann rises a few miles back in the interior in two branches. The name of the Liberian town at Cape Palmas is Harper,^ very prettily situated on the palm-tufted promontory. This is perhaps the town of most pleasing appearance on all the coast of Liberia. The houses are well constructed, with red roofs, green palings and white fronts. They are built of brick, stone, or wood. Besides handsome coconut palms, there are many ^ Named after Robert Goodloe Harper. 474 ■^ Geography of Liberia bouquets of vegetation. Brightly flowering oleanders fill most of the front gardens, together with Pride of Barbados (an acacia-like tree with splendid scarlet blossoms), bread-fruit trees, oranges, bananas, borassus palms, and oil palms. The town is cleaner, quieter, and better-governed (municipally) than Monrovia. There is nothing about Cape Palmas to suggest ill-health. A strong breeze blows all day off the sea, the roar of which 189. "OLEANDERS FILL MOST OF THE FRONT GARDENS" is never out ot one's ears. The red promontory with its green vegetation is girdled with a ring of foam. The temperature of the air around is seldom oppressively hot, owing to the sea breeze ; while in the height of the rainy season it is often too low — sixty-nine degrees — for West Africa ; eppur si muore !— or at least one can fall very ill at Cape Palmas, not only from ordinary fever but from black-water. This is one of the unexplained mysteries, because owing to the strong winds mosquitoes are seemingly absent. 475 Liberia ««- Harper is practically the port for the Cavalla regions, because the mouth of the river has a very bad bar. Goods tor the Cavalla River therefore are always landed from the ocean- going steamer at Harper, and sent on their destination either overland to the Cavalla or along the coast and across the bar 190. CAPE PALMAS (iN FOREGROUND): "THE PROMONTORY . , . GIRDLED WITH A RING OF FOAM" of that river. There is a salt-water lagoon (Sheppard Lake) which goes nearly half-way from Harper to the Cavalla River. Sometimes goods are sent to the eastern extremity of this lagoon by canoe and are then conveyed along the beach by human porterage to the Cavalla mouth. The Cavalla River is probably the longest stream in Liberia. 476 -^ Geography of Liberia It rises, so far as our information goes, in the high mountain mass of Nimba, nearly under the 8th parallel of N. latitude (in the vicinity of a place called by the French Fanha), under the name of Diugu or Yubu. Perhaps its farthest source comes just under the highest point of the Nimba Mountains (approximately 6,560 feet). The extreme Upper Cavalla or Yubu would then seem to flow through a valley or pass 191. A ROAD IN MARYLAND between the Nimba Mountains on the west and the lofty Druple range on the east, the latter a mountain mass with an approximate altitude of 9,840 feet. The Diugu or Yubu then flows south-westwards till it comes in contact with another range of mountains, vaguely and perhaps incorrectly called Satro, the culmination of which seems to be Mount Bo, To the north of this range the Yubu turns abruptly 477 Liberia «♦- in a sharp bend to the south-east. Captain Woelffel, a French officer who has surveyed the northern part of Liberia, thinks that at this abrupt bend to the south-east the Cavalla receives another affluent, nearly equally important in volume — the Nuon or Western Cavalla, which also rises (according to his statements) in the Nimba Mountains. Captain d'Ollone, however, argues that the Nuon does not join the Cavalla, but flows either towards the St. Paul's or to the Farmington River. Captain d'Ollone 192. " HALF CAVALLA '— Tllli HKACll NKAR THE MOUTH OF THE CAVALLA RIVEK asserts that the natives who accompanied himselt and the civil administrator, Hostains, said that the Cavalla receives no important affluent above its junction with the Duobe. In any case, it seems correct to regard the Yubu as the main stream of the Cavalla. The Nimba Mountains also, according to the French surveyors, give rise to the Tige or Nipwe River, which joins the St. Paul's. Our knowledge, however, of the hydro- graphy of the innermost parts of Liberia is still extremely vague. 478 Liberia ^ After its bend to the south-east the Cavalla Is generally known as Diugu or Duyu. From its supposed junction with the Nuon it flows in a south-easterly direction for about a hundred and fifty miles, and then turns abruptly to the south- west and south, receiving an important affluent at Fort Binger, and a little farther on being joined by the Duobe. This last river seems to have its ultimate source on the northern flanks of Mount Bo, a lofty peak of the Satro Mountains. The Duobe flows nearly parallel with the assumed course of the main Cavalla, and receives a large number of affluents from the northern flanks of a more or less continuous mountain range (heavily forested) known as Satro on the west, Nidi, Nedi, or Niete in the centre, and Kelipo in the east, each prominent peak having its individual name. Mount Keta in Kelipo is said to be 6,000 feet high. Below its confluence with the Duobe, the Cavalla receives the Neka on the east and the Bwe on the west ; and below that the Nokba and the Kiki, which is its last affluent before it reaches the sea. The Kiki has some length of course, as it rises on the southern slope of the KeHpo Mountains, and flows for about fifty miles south- east before it joins the Cavalla. The Cavalla is navigable for boats from its mouth for about eighty miles up-stream. Except near the coast, it flows through the most densely forested countries of Liberia, and, according to the French, past tribes of people who are ferocious cannibals of well-developed physique. Yet these races — which seem, from the very little we know of them and their languages, to be distantly related to the Kru stock — have developed a certain amount of civilisation. They are industrious and skilful agriculturists, and their houses are well built. The Cavalla is crossed in many places by wickerwork bridges of lianas and palm midribs. In some of these districts the natives 480 VOL. I 31 Liberia ^«-' have made quite broad roads for a considerable distance from village to village. This eastern half of Liberia is perhaps the most mountainous part of the country. The highest summit of Mount Druple, which lies a few miles outside the LIberlan frontier on the extreme Upper Cavalla, has an altitude estimated by Woelffel to be 3,000 metres (9,840 feet). Of course this Is mere guesswork, 195. VILLAGE IN KETIEBO COUNTRY, ABOUTJA HUNDREli MILK;, i KoM lilE COAST: ARRIVAL OF LIBERIAN COMMISSIONER as Is the similar estimate of 2,000 metres (6,560 feet) for the highest point In the NImba mountain mass. Still, both altitudes are conceivable, as the French travellers who have passed In this direction seem to have bsen much Impressed with the loftiness of these mountains. Captain d'Ollone even hints that there may be higher peaks than the two mentioned about the upper waters of the St. Paul's River and Its numerous affluents. He caught fleeting glimpses of masses towering above 482 ^ Geography of Liberia the clouds. If all these estimates be correct, then Liberia, within its limits or a few miles outside its borders, presents us with the highest land in the whole of the western projection of Africa. . In the Futa Jalon highlands and the hinterland of Sierra Leone there is, so far as we know, no mountain that reaches, to 6,000 feet in altitude, nor has anything as high 196. KIKI RIVER, AN AFFLUENT OF THE LOWER CAVALLA as this bsen reported along the course of the Niger, The nearest rival to these alleged high mountains of Liberia would be the volcanic peak- of the Cameroons, a thousand miles to the east. If the guess of Captain Woelffel as to the height of Druple be at all correct, it should possess a remarkable alpine flora, interesting alike from a negative and a positive 483 Liberia <•- point of view, for what it possessed and for what it lacked. These great mountains in addition would serve as important sanatoria for the northern part of Liberia and the western basin of the Niger, and might eventually be the objective of railways from the Liberian coast-line and from the French Sudan. The southern range of mountains which confines the Cavalla basin on the south and west (Satro-Nidi-Kelipo) 197. CAVALLA RIVER has as yet exhibited no heights that have been placed by guesswork at more than 4,000 feet. High mountains are reported north-east of the Cavalla, named Gamutro and Duna. These may possibly, one or the other, be 5,000 feet in height. The tops of these mountains are said to be bare of forest, whereas the peaks of the southern Satro range seem to be wooded to their summits. Between the Upper Cavalla and the St. Paul's River is an almost unknown region, reported 484 -») Geography of Liberia by natives and one or two adventurous Liberians to be dense forest, and a constant succession of hills and valleys permeated by endless streams. These forests are inhabited more or less sparsely by tribes of the Kpwesi and Kru stock ; but the real lords of the land are the elephants, who range this forest country 198. CAVALLA RIVKK ABOUT EIGHTY MILES FROM ITS MOUTH as tyrants, destroying plantations and attacking human beings unprovoked. Something like a recovery of man's primacy is observed in the vicinity of the Farmington and Dukwia Rivers, where a good deal of agriculture is carried on and the dense forest is traversed here and there by passable roads. On the middle course of the Farmington, in the Gibi country, are the towns of the important chiefs, Kaitikpo and Zanga. 485 Liberia «*^ Very little is known even by hearsay of the upper course of the St. Paul's River within the forest area. Northwards of the forest, the French and English boundary commissioners 199. TKAVKLLING THKOUGH THE FORKST CLEARINGS IN A HAMMOCK from Sierra Leone have explored to a certain extent. They have discovered the sources of the Niger affluents, streams flowing to form the Rivers Sankarani, Milo, and Niandan ; 486 Liberia <«- they have placed on the map the source of the mysterious River Lofa, the ultimate destination of which is one of the many unsolved problems of Liberian geography — it may be the upper waters of the Tuma or Toma River and the principal affluent of the St. Paul's ; or it may flow into either the Little Cape Mount River or the Mano (Bewa) ; or it may even be the easternmost affluent of the important Moa or Makona. The ultimate source of the Makona is in about 9° 5' N. lat. It flows south-east, south-west, and then nearly due west, until after its junction with the Meli it turns once more to the south-west and enters the sea in Sierra Leone territory under the name of SuHma.^ The Makona system drains the north-western part of Liberia, and when nearly all the affluents are united in a single stream it passes into the colony of Sierra Leone. The northern part of the Makona basin may probably become French in return for cessions from France to Liberia in the Cavalla basin. To the west of the lower half of the St. Paul's River, south of the Tuma, is a diversified, hilly, or even mountainous stretch of country, with ranges that are called the Po Hills. There is probably no altitude exceeding 3,000 feet in this direction. In this district is the important town of Boporo, which has been known by name to Europeans for something like eighty years. Boporo would seem to have reached its importance through having become a Mandingo colony. There are a good many trading stations of Mandingos in the country west of the St. Paul's River, from the Mandingo Plateau to the verge of the Americo-Liberian plantations. Benjamin Anderson visited Boporo in 1868, and calculated its altitude at 564 feet above sea level. According to Anderson's account, he crossed the St. Paul's River (more probably its affluent ' Often called in past times Solyma. 488 20I. A FOREST clearing: ^V4blll^;G LLUTHES IN A BROOK Liberia <4- the Tuma) at a place called Zigapora Zue, possibly the town now known as Sanoyei. He states that he quitted the forest region at Bulata, where the ground rose to an altitude of 2,253 feet. From this point, travelling in a north-easterly direction, he passed through an open park-like country, covered with tall grass, with a few trees. There is, I think, little doubt that Anderson reached the Mandingo Plateau ; but the places of which he wrote — Muhammadu and Musadu — have not subsequently been seen or identified by any traveller who has succeeded him after an interval of thirty years. ^ The place where gold was found, which he alludes to as Buley, is possibly the Mandingo town of Bula, now occupied by the French, which is situated exactly on the Liberian frontier, on the hne of water-parting between the St. Paul's River on the one hand and the Sasandra on the other. It is unfortunately impossible to identify any of the sites mentioned by Anderson after Totokwali, which is a short distance east of the town of Boporo. He states that in the Buzi country (which according to his story would begin some- where about the Tuma River) there are large, densely peopled towns, with markets, often tenanted by five thousand people at a time. The towns are cleanly, contain well-built houses of clay, and are surrounded by high and massive clay walls, all this showing Mandingo influence. The hills or mountains are of sandstone in the Boporo region, but farther north of granite. The hills about Zolu (possibly Mount Banyei) contain, according to Anderson, large stones of a beautiful green colour (.? malachite). In the Buzi country much cotton is cultivated. The scenery in this land of the Buzi people (north-west of the St. Paul's River) he declares to be very beautiful. The hills or mountains are round and bossy ' On some French maps the last named appears as Musadiigu, near Bella. 490 Liberia <•- masses of granite, gleaming with the watercourses that slip down their precipitous sides. During the rainy season, the noise of all these cascades creates a perpetual roar like thunder. Although Anderson implies that the luxuriant forest region continued to the north and east of the Buzi country, he nevertheless leads one to infer that a good deal of clearing has gone on in Buziland, producing wide, grassy plains between the forested hills, plains in which rice, sorghum, and ground- nuts are cultivated, the last-named food-product being produced in enormous quantities. Beyond the Tuma River the open grass country becomes more frequent, with marshy tracts which Anderson describes as cane-brakes, and fields of wild rice. The soil is hard red clay (disintegrated granite), strewn with pebbles and iron ore. Still farther to the north-east, on the verge of the Mandingo country, the oil palm ceases, and vegetation becomes more scanty. The soil (he writes) is so ferruginous that it appears in many places to be a solid mass of iron ore, so that the beaten roadways traversed by men, horses, and donkeys shine like polished metal, and are almost impassable in the dry season, owing to the frightful heat which they radiate in the sunshine. There is a sparse vegetation of grass and scrubby bushes in this burning land, except of course in the vicinity of watercourses. According to Anderson, elephants swarm in great herds in these territories, which are a kind of no-man's-land between the true Mandingo country and the more forested tracts inhabited by the Buzi and Gbalin peoples. In this no-man's-land he mentions the Vukka Hills (known as " Foma " by the Mandingo), in which the town of Vukka, belonging to the Buzi people, is situated. Muhammadu (also called Musomadu) is (or was) a large town, surrounded by a quadrilateral clay wall diversified with bastions, these walls 492 203. EVENING IN THE FOREST Liberia «•- and bastions, however, being very thin. The houses were of clay, and circular in shape, with high-pitched, thatched roofs. The Mandingo carried on a good deal of careful agriculture, and were already in touch with the north, since they grew onions amongst their vegetables, which had come to them from the Arabs. Their country, despite its parched appearance, was well suited for the cattle that grazed in large herds in the vicinity of the towns. It was also a great 204. THE ST. PAUL'S RIVER ABOVE THE RAPIDS horse-breeding district, the horses kept being of two varieties — large for use as pack animals, and smaller and very fiery for war cavalry. The Mandingo women made a plentiful display of gold ornaments, and informed Anderson that their gold came from the country to the north-east. The explorations of Hostains, d'Ollone, and WoelfFel have carried the forest region of Liberia and of the Ivory Coast much farther to the north than we had supposed it to exist from the 494 205. THE MAiM) ki\ji.K FROM MINA (WESTERN BUUNUARV OK LIBERIA) Liberia ^^ descriptions of Anderson, at any rate in the north-eastern part of Liberia. It was not until the Hostains-d'Ollone mission had passed entirely outside the basin of the Cavalla that they quitted the dense forest for a park-like region, which in its turn soon gave way to the more arid condition characteristic of the whole Central Sudan, from the Upper Niger right across to Lake Chad and Wadai. A small portion of this relatively healthy, sun- 206. A DUG-OUT CANOE smitten country, so well suited to a pastoral existence and the raising of vast numbers of cattle, horses, sheep, and goats, comes within the political limits of Liberia, if France gives the former country her due under the treaty of i 892. But five-sixths of Liberia will remain a forest region, only modified by the clearings of the Americo-Liberians on the coast and of the more industrious agricultural tribes in the interior. 496 CHAPTER XX CLIMATE AND RAINFALL THE climate of Liberia is essentially equatorial ; yet small though this country is in geographical extent, it has by no means a uniform climate over its surface of 43,000 square miles. Beyond the forest region, on the Mandingo Plateau, the annual rainfall does not exceed 60 or 70 inches ; there is a perceptible dry season between November and May during which vegetation becomes very parched, and at this time of the year the nights are cool — cold indeed where the ground rises above 3,000 feet in altitude. In this northern part of Liberia, judging from the experiences of Benjamin Anderson and of various French explorers, the summer time, or at any rate the beginning and end of the rainy season, would seem to be the hottest period of the year, with a temperature rising well above 100° P'ahr. in the middle of the day. On the other hand, the winter or dry season is not only cool at night, but the mid-day temperature is not fierce at that season of the year. In fact, though no part of Liberia reaches much farther north than the 9th degree of latitude, the interior regions beyond the forest can show something like a winter. In the forest region, however, and along the coast the dry season is very attenuated, and, except no doubt on such high mountains as have not yet been explored, the thermometer probably never descends much below 55°. Throughout this forest and coast belt of Liberia the few dry months are VOL. I 497 32 Liberia <^ at once the coldest and the hottest. These are December, January, and February. February is the coolest and the driest month in the year. At this time in the interior or twenty to fifty miles from the coast, the thermometer may descend at night and early morning as low as 54° Fahr. But in the middle of the day, on the other hand, it may easily reach 100° in the shade. From these extremes the temperature during the other months of the year gradually diminishes, till about 75° may very well be the scarcely varying temperature of night and day. In the height of the rainy season — August — there may be a distinct lull in the rainfall, though the sky is constantly covered with clouds. At this time the temperature, even at such an equatorial place as Cape Palmas (little more than four degrees north of the Equator), may scarcely exceed 69° in the daytime, and perhaps fall to 6^'^ at night, so that the middle of the rainy season is usually regarded by the Liberians as the coolest time of year, though actually the lowest temperatures (as well as the highest) are recorded in the three dry months between December and March. The accompanying tables will illustrate the fluctuations of temperature in the various months of the year. The highest shade temperatures as yet actually recorded in Liberia were 105° on December ist, 1904, on January 31st and on February 20th, 1905, at Sikombe Station, in the Sikon country to the north of Sino. This seems to be an exceptionally hot place for the'coast-lands of Liberia. During the months of December, January, and February temperatures of 100° and 101° Fahr. were frequently registered at noon, while the night temperature was generally 80° to 83°. At Putu station, about the same distance from the coast, and some thirty miles to the east (both stations being only a few hundred feet above sea level), the temperatures during the dry season were much milder. The 498 ■^ Climate and Rainfall hoon heat seldom went higher than 87°, and only once in December and twice in February reached as high as 90°. In March there was a slight increase of temperature, which occasionally went up as high as 93° at noon. At Mount Barclay, twenty miles from Monrovia, the shade temperature at noon was only once recorded as reaching 100° (at 2.30 p.m.), on February 3rd, 1905, in the height of the dry season.^ The shade temperatures at Monrovia itself are somewhat lower than at Mount Barclay, which is farther inland. Al both places the extremes of heat and coolness are much less during the rainy season, when the highest day temperature seldom goes above 85° or at night-time below 75°.^ February 2nd, 3rd, and 4th showed, curiously enough, the lowest tempera- ture of 1905 at Mount Barclay (near Monrovia), Sikombe, and Putu. At Sikombe, evidently a place of extremes, on P^ebruary 2nd the thermometer at 6 a.m. registered 56°, on the 3rd 57°, and on the 4th 57°. At Putu, thirty miles to the eastwards, 58 was registered on the same three days at 6 a.m. On the other hand, at Mount Barclay on February 2nd, 3rd, and 4th the thermometer did not fall lower than 64° at 6 a.m. Ordinarily, on cloudy days during the three dry months and through the remainder of the year when the rains are on, the range of temperature in all parts of the coast of Liberia is not extreme, generally averaging from 74° at 6 a.m. to 88° at noon. The strong sea breeze which for something like eight months of the year blows from the south over the cool Antarctic current materially relieves the heat all along the coast-line of Liberia, but its effects do not reach very far inland. During the months of December, January, and February the north wind or Harmattan takes its place. This blows from the ' In March and April, 1905, at Mount Barclay sun temperatures of 120° and 115° were registered concurrently with shade temperatures of 95° and 63°. 499 Liberia '^ Sahara Desert, and although its intensely dry character is materially diminished by passing over the well-watered valley of the Upper Niger and the dense Liberian forests, it is neverthe- less a dry wind, sometimes hot and sometimes cold, which parches everything to an inconvenient extent. For something like nine months of the year the tendency in the coast-lands of Liberia is towards excessive humidity, with all its consequences of rust and mould. During January and February the drying influence of the Harmattan is so extreme that it is scarcely a remedy. The worst months of the year for storms are March and April. Thunder-storms also occur in November, De- cember, February, and May, but very seldom in the height of the rainy season. In March and April they can be very violent and dangerous. No one who has visited Equatorial Africa needs to be reminded of the appalling storms which occur there in certain months of the year — how following on stifling heat and a fearful stillness comes the devastating tornado, succeeded by thunder and lightning and a deluge of rain, during which the lightning continues for an hour or so. In such countries as Liberia all buildings which rise to any height should be furnished with lightning conductors. It is doubtful whether Liberia is the rainiest country on the West Coast of Africa ; the palm may have to be awarded to Sierra Leone, where I believe in one year (1901) a downfall of i75'4 inches was registered. It is only since 1904 that any attempt has been made (by the employes of the Monrovian Rubber Company) to register the rainfall continuously month after month. Records even for the first twelve months of observa- tion are unfortunately not quite complete at any one station ; but taking ten months' observations of rainfall at Mount Barclay coupled with a record of the missing two months (September and October) at the not far distant station of 5°o ^ Climate and Rainfall Kakatown, we arrive at a total of i^j inches as the rainfall registered in the southern part of the county of Mesurado, behind Monrovia, for the twelve months from September, 1904, to the end of August, 1905. From other observations which have been taken, I have reason to think that this record of 153 inches is not an extreme one, but represents something like the average annual rainfall in the coast regions of Western Liberia, between Cape Mount and Grand Basa. Judging by the rain records at Sikombe and Putu in the county of Sino, the year's rainfall from September, 1904, to the end of August, 1905, stands approximately at 100 inches ; but this is not a complete or reliable record. I have been in- formed by an American missionary that the annual rainfall at Cape Palmas was computed to be about 100 inches. Mr. Alexander Whyte states that the southern half of Liberia has a distinctly less rainfall than what may be attributed to the northern half, and this opinion is shared by a good many Liberians. I believe that the approximate average annual rain- fall on the British Gold Coast is something like 90 inches per annum. ^ It may be, therefore, that along the West African coast-lands the rainfall, which is only about 35 inches at St. Louis at the mouth of the Senegal, increases gradually in volume eastwards and southwards till it reaches its culmination in the colony of Sierra Leone and the western parts of Liberia, gradually to diminish in volume as far as the Gold Coast, and then to increase again to the heavy rainfall of the Niger Delta,^ Old Calabar, and the northern Cameroons, where it is approximately 120 inches per annum. The southern part of Sierra Leone is in all probability the wettest part of tropical Africa, with the exception possibly of one or two isolated mountains. ' Western Gold Coast, 925 inches in 1901. 2 Lagos rainfall, 1901, 112-5 inches. — W. Shelford, M.I.C.E. 5°i Liberia ^^ The driest month of the year in Liberia is February. In the vicinity of Monrovia in 1905 only 2 millimeters (about one-sixteenth of an inch) fell during that month ^ on three days, as against nearly 2 J inches (54'7 mm.) of rain in January on 4 days, over 5 inches (i27"3 mm.) of rain in December on 8 days, and lyg inches (28-2 mm.) of rain in March on 5 days. In April at the same station (Mount Barclay) the rainfall increased to 5 J inches (i33'3 mm.), and occurred on 19 days out of the 30. In May the rainfall rose (occurring on nearly every day of the month) to over 19 inches (5007 mm.), in June to 33 inches (840*2 mm.). In July it fell to a little over 22 inches (574*1 mm.), and occurred on about 25 days in that month. In August the proportion of fine days was more considerable — about 1 1 in the month ; but the total rain- fall was heavy, rising to over 29 inches (744-2 mm.). In September" the rainfall at Kaka Station sank to about 17 inches, and in October (also at Kaka) to about 8 inches ; in November it fell to 6 inches. During the same twelve months the greatest amount of rainfall which occurred in twenty-four hours at Mount Barclay was nearly 8§ inches (214 mm.). The most unhealthy months of the year seem to be September and October, partly no doubt on account of the soaked condition of the land. December is not a very healthy month after the Harmattan wind sets in with its alternate dry cold and fierce heat. The most agreeable month of the year perhaps is February. I found August in 1904, however, not much to complain of, although it was in the height and middle of the rainy season, because at that time there is usually ' At Sikombe, or Sikon, on the other hand, over 3^ inches fell in February, and at Putu not quite i inch. ^ On the other hand September in most other parts of the Forest region of Liberia and even the coast belt is usually the wettest month. Captain d'Ollone in Eastern Liberia recorded rainfall on 27 out of September's 30 days, 502 Liberia «•- a lull in the rainfall, the weather is distinctly cool, and the cloudy sky permits of a good deal of walking exercise without fatigue due to the sun. The worst season of the year, however, for the surf on the coast is from June to October, when the south wind is blowing strong. The heavy roll which causes the surf, however, is more or less developed according to the state of the tide, being worst at spring tides. I append some tables of rainfall and temperature to illustrate the foregoing summary : RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE STATISTICS FOR CERTAIN MONTHS IN I904-5, AT ONE STATION IN WESTERN LIBERIA AND TWO STATIONS IN THE EASTERN PART OF THE COUNTRy, RAINFALL Mount Barclay Station (20 miles N.E. from Monrovia, Western Liberia) Date. February, 1905 Millimeters 10. Thunder-storm .. .. .. .. .. .. i*8 25- Slight Shower. No Register . . . . . . . . — 26. „ „ Morning . . . . . . . . . . 8 MilHmeters . . . . . . 2-6 Date. April, 1905 Millimeters. I. I to 2 p.m., Storm . . 3-5 3- Shower in Afternoon 4- 12.30 p.m. Storm . . 1-8 5- Afternoon Storms 3-1 8. 4 a.m. Thunder Display . . 4 9- Hurricane and Lightning . . 8-4 II. 9-10 p.m. Storm : " Thunder" . . 3-5 14. 12 mid. to 4.50 a.m. Hurricane . . 30-0 6-7.30 a.m. Shower i-o 15- During Night 4-5 18. Thunderstorm. 12-2 p.m. 2-5 19. 2.30-3.15 p.m. 6-7 20. At Night with Strong Wind 8-3 22. Showers and Thunder 6 23- Thunderstorm, 6-8 p.m. 4-8 25- „ Afternoon 1-2 26. ,, 6 p.m. 2-5 27. at Night 3 ,, IO-45 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. . 50-0 28. ,, 4-30 a.m. . . 2 30- . Showers all day : No Register . . Millimeters . . . •• 133-3 5°4 Climate and Rainfall Date. I 2. 3- 4 5 6 7 8 9 lO II 12 13 14 15 Da I te. Slight Showers 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 lO 1 1 12 Storms 13 14 Stormy Nil. 9 hours' Sun 15 16 Heavy Storms 17 18 Nil".. '.'. 19 20 Showers 21 Nil .. 22 Storms 23 24 Nil".. '.'. 25 26 27 Heavy Storms Showers 28 ,, 29 „ 30 31 Rail 1 all day EJqtials 33 inches 2 millimeters. June, 1905 Millimeters. Date. Millimeters. 121- I 16. 2-0 2' 3 17- 8-7 46- I 18. 5-6 6-. ^ 19. 2-8 24- B 20. 97 21-9 21. 2-0 9 22. 19-2 4-< 3 23. i8-4 44- 3 24. 25-0 3-0 1 25. i8-2 20- B 26. 4-8 io8-o 1 27. 6o-o 6o-( 5 28. SO-2 154- 3 29. "8-8 4*. 5 30- 7 Millimeters . 840-2' J^ ly, 1905 Millimeters. i-o 8 8-6 17 87 8-1 67 5 '4 15-0 4-6 o.'7 ^ / 16-4 II-5 1 7 1-4) 42-6 j ^ 107 19-2 ) ^ -^ 6i-2^ 9-0 1 102-5 32-3 J 30-0 29-2 46-2 Millimeters 574-1' - Equal s 22-4nche s 5-3 mil imeters. F J. Whicker. 5°5 Liberia TEMPERATURE Mount Barclay Station February, 1905 Date. a.m. Fahr. Fahr. p.m. Fahr. I. 6.15 64 12.0 noon 90 9.0 73 2. 6.44 64 1.3c P .m 98 9.0 74 3- 6.45 64 2.30 P- m 100 9.0 75 4. 6.30 64 2.0 3.m. 93 9.0 76 5- 6.0 64 12.0 noon 92 8.15 76 6. 6.30 69 12.0 , , 94 9.0 77 7- 6.0 71 12.0 , , 91 9.0 78 8. 6.30 74 12.0 ) , 88 9.0 77 9- 6.0 73 j Absent, 1 Engine House \ ■ 9.0 77 10. 6.0 70 12.0 noon 86 9.0 78 1 1. 6.0 73 12.0 90 9.0 76 12. 6.0 67 12.0 85 9.0 77 13- 6.0 65 12.0 90 9.0 76 14. 6.0 67 12.0 92 9.0 75 15- 6.0 70 12.0 89 9.0 77 16. 6.0 68 12.0 90 9.0 76 17- 6.0 72 6.0 p.i n. 80 9.0 76 18. 6.0 73 12.0 no on 90 9.0 79 19. 7.0 74 I.O p.i Tl. 86 9.0 80 20. 6.45 75 12.0 no on 90 9.0 80 21. 6.0 75 5 Engine 1 12.0 no Room on 88 f •• 9.0 79 22. 6.15 75 j Engine ( 12.0 no Room on -.1 •■ 9.0 80 23- 6.0 76 12.0 91 9.0 85 ( Office 90 ^ 24. 5-30 76 12.0 ' \ Engine \ \ House 93 J 8.0 80 2';. 5.0 77 12.0 ,, 88 9.0 80 26. 6.15 77 12.0 ,, 86 9.0 78 27. 4.0 76 12.0 ,, 86 9.0 80 28. 5-0 74 12.0 90 9.0 80 Apri I, 1905 Date. a.m. Fahr. l""ahr. p.m. Fahr I. 6.0 73 1.0 p. Noon. m. 86 9-0 76 2. 6.30 71 12.0 85 9.0 76 3- 6.30 y^ Misi 12.0 87 9.0 77 4- 6.0 74 „ 12.0 86 9.0 78 5- 6.0 76 12.0 95 Sun 103 9.0 74 6. 6.0 69 12.0 89 >, 103 9.0 77 7- 6.0 74 12.0 90 „ 105 ■ . 9.0 78 8. 5-30 72 12.0 90 „ 108 9.0 77 9- 6.0 70 12.0 88 „ 105 . 9-0 77 10. 6.0 71 12.0 91 „ 100 9.0 76 II. 6.0 74 12.0 98 ,, no 9.0 80 506 Climate and Rainfall April, 1905 (^continued) Date. a.m. ""ahr. Noon. 1 '"ahr. p.m. Fahr. 12. 5-30 72 12.0 Breeze 87 Sun 109 9- 0 78 13- 6.0 74 12.0 93 » 115 9- 0 79 14. 6.0 72 12.0 92 9- 0 72 15- 6.0 70 12.0 89 .. 9- 0 78 16. 6.0 70 12.0 89 Sun 106 9- 0 78 17- 5-3 3 69 12.0 88 „ 107 9- 0 78 18. 6.0 75 12.0 79 9.0 76 19. 6.0 73 12.0 89 Sun 108 9. 0 78 20. 6.0 69 12.0 95 » I] I 9- 0 77 21. 6.0 74 12.0 86 9- 0 78 22. 6.0 74 12.0 90 Sun no 9- 0 79 23- 6.0 73 12.30 87 .. 9- 0 74 24. 5-45 74 12.0 87 Sun 107 9- 0 78 25- 6.0 76 12.0 90 „ no 9- 0 76 26. 6.0 74 12.0 94 „ 105 9- 0 79 27. 6.0 75 12.0 73 9- 0 71 28. 6.0 69 12.0 89 Sun lOI 9- 0 77 29. 6.0 74 12.0 91 » lOI 9. 0 78 30- 7.0 78 12.0 90 M 108 9- 0 79 June , 1905 Date. a.m. Fahr Noon. Fahr p.m. Fah r. I. 6.0 74 Rain 12.0 81 Rain 9.0 77 Rain 2. 6.0 74 Fine 12.0 87 Cloudy 9.0 77 Fine 3- 6.0 75 Cloudy . 12.0 81 Rain 8.15 75 Rain 4- 6.0 74 Rain 12.0 ^7 Fair 9.0 74 Fair 5- 5-30 74 Cloudy . 12.0 75 Rain 9.0 75 Fine 6. 6.0 72) Rain 12.0 85 Fine 9.0 76 „ 7- 5-30 74 Fair 12.0 83 Cloudy 9-30 74 Fair 8. 5-30 71, Fine 12.0 80 Rain 9.0 75 Rain 9- 6.0 74 >> 12.0 81 ,, 7-30 75 >> 10. 6.30 71 >> 12.0 85 Cloudy 8.30 77 Fine 1 1. 7-30 74 Rain 12.0 85 Rain 9.0 75 Rain 12. 6.30 74 ,, 12.0 81 Stormy 9.20 76 Fine 13- 6.30 74 >> . 12.30 80 Rain 9.0 74 Rain 14 6.0 71 ,, 12.0 77 >» 9.0 74 M n. 6.0 73 Dull 12.0 81 Dull 8.0 74 Fair 16. 6.30 74 Rain 12.0 81 Rain 8.30 74 Fine Dull and 17- 6.30 74 „ 12.0 77 " 8.0 73 Damp 18. 7.0 74 Cloudy 12.0 80 ,, 8.IS 72 Rain 19. 6.15 73 >> 12.0 80 >> 9.0 74 Fine 20. 6.0 73 Rain 12.0 80 ,, 8.0 74 >> 21. 6.0 73 „ 12.0 79 Dull 9.0 75 ,, 22. 6.0 74 Cloudy . 12.0 84 Showers . . 9.0 75 Cloudy 23- 6.0 74 Showers . 12.0 81 Cloudy 9.0 74 „ 24. 6.0 73 Clouds 12.0 77 ,, 9.0 75 Clouds 2=;. 7.0 74 Stormy . 12.0 80 Showers . . 9.0 74 >» 26. 6.0 73 Fine 12.0 84 ,, 9.0 75 >» 27. 6.0 74 >j 12.0 80 ,, 9.0 75 >» 28. 6.0 75 Rain 12.0 83 Fair 9.0 75 Fine 29. 6.0 73 Storm)'- . 12.0 74 Rain 9.0 74 Rain 30. 6.0 73 Clear 12. o^" 85 Clear 8.0 74 Fine 507 Liberia July, 1905. Date. a.m. Fahr. Noon Fahr p.m. Fahr. I. 6.0 70 Fine 12.0 80 Fine Sun nil 9.0 75 Fair 2. 7.0 75 >> 12.0 85 ,, ,, 9.0 74 Fine 3- 6.0 74 ,, 12.0 80 Showery ,, 8.30 73 Rain 4- 6.0 71 Damp 12.0 82 ,, ,, 9.0 74 Damp 5- 6.0 73 Clouds 12.0 7S Stormy ,, 8.0 74 Rain 6. 6.0 73 Rain 12.0 76 Showery „ 9.0 74 Fair 7- 6.0 73 Fair 12.0 80 Clouds ,, 8.0 72 ^j 8. 6.30 72 Rain 12.0 74 Rain ,, 8.30 73 ,, 9- 8.0 73 Fair 12.0 73 ,, ,, 8.30 72 Rain lO. 6.0 73 '. 12.0 76 Showery ,, 8.0 73 ,, 1 1. 6.0 73 Clouds 12.0 80 Fine ,, 85 F .8.30 73] Wind, Fine 12. 6.0 71 Fair 12.0 75 » J >» nil 8.30 74 13- 6.30 73 Rain 12.0 77 Fair ,, 9.0 73 ,, 14. 6.0 72 Sun 12.0 82 Fine „ 98 9.0 72 ,, 15- 5-30 70 Fine 12.0 88 ,, ,, 99 9.0 74 >> 16. 7.0 74 Rain 12.0 78 Fair ,, nil 9.0 72 Fair 17- 6.30 71 Rain 12.0 75 >» >> 9.0 71 Rain 18. 6.0 73 ,, 12.0 80 ,, ,, 9.0 74 Fair 19. 6.30 75 Fair 12.0 85 Fine ,, 9.0 75 Fine 20, 6.0 73 ,, 12.0 82 ,, ,, 9.0 74 ,, 21. 5-30 72 Mist 12.0 79 Fair „ 9.0 72 Lightning 22. 6.0 71 Rain 12.0 79 Rain ,, 8.30 74 Rain 23- 8.0 73 „ 12.0 84 Fine ,, 9.0 73 Fair 24, 6.0 73 Fair 12.0 81 (Fine with) \ breeze /" 9.0 73 .. 25- 6.30 73 Fine 12.0 83 Fine ,, 102 9.0 75 Fine 26. 6.30 73 ,, 12.0 79 Showers ,, nil 9.0 74 Showers 27. 6.0 72 Rain 12.0 80 ., ». 9.0 73 Rain 28. 5-15 73 Cloudy 12.0 72 Rain ,, 8.15 72 Fair 29. 6.30 72 Rain 12.0 71 >> j> 8.0 72 Rain 30. 5-30 72 Mist 12.0 73 »> >> 8.30 72 Fair 31- 6.30 72 Rain 12.0 73 >> >> 8.30 72 »> F. J. Whicker. TEMPERATURE Monrovia, Liberia September, 1905 Records of Temperature taken at 6 a.m., verandah of dwelling-house, Monrovia, for preceding twenty-four hours. 28° Centigrade = 82*4° Fahr. 197° = 65°. Date. I Centigrade. Max. 26-50 26-00 Min 20-00 20-00 19-75 22-25 22-50 22-50 23-00 22-50 25-75 25-75 25-50 26-00 27-25 25-50 Date. 9- 10 I I 12 13 14 15 16 Centigrade. Max. 26-00 Min. 23-00 21-75 21-90 21-75 22-25 23-00 23-00 22-50 24-90 23-80 25-00 25-50 26-50 27-00 26-50 Date 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Centigrade. Min. 21-90 22-50 22-50 23-00 23-20 22-00 23-10 Max. 26-00 25-50 26-00 27-00 28-00 25-50 27-00 Date. 24. 25 26 27 28 29 30 Centigrade. Min. 21-90 22-50 22-50 22-00 22-25 22-00 22-00 Max. 26-75 26-00 27-50 25-00 26-50 27-00 26-90 H. Reynolds. 508 Climate and Rainfall RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE SiKON Station, Eastern Liberia October, 1904 Date. Rainfall. Temp. Temp. Temp. 6 a.m. Noon. 6 p.m. Remarks. Inches. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. I. O.OI 72 89 77 ■' Heavy thunder all day 2 — 71 87 72 .. Bright day with showers 3- 0.28 71 83 71 .. Bright day, chilly evening 4- 0.24 71 85 71 .. M M „ „ 5- 0.04 72 87 76 .. Bright day, dull towards evening 6. 1.47 70 85 73 •• Alternate sun and cloud 7- 0.22 72 83 74 •• Dull day with thunder 8. 0.26 72 80 70 .. Dull all day 9- 0.07 71 86 72 .. Cloudy all day lO. 0.16 69 86 75 •• Bright day, slight breeze II. — 70 91 76 .. Very close and sultry 12. — 71 90 73 •• Close and sultry with heavy showers towards evening 13- ^•33 71 87 73 •• Alternate sun and cloud 14. 0.16 72 82 73 •• Very cool and showery 15- 0.31 71 81 75 •• Showery forenoon, bright afterwards 16. 0.23 71 90 76 .. Dull, with occasional sun 17- 0.40 71 82 74 •• Showery all day 18. 0.14 71 89 75 •• Bright day 19. — 72 92 75 •• Sunny, with occasional showers 20. 0.03 72 94 75 •• Bright day 21. 0.1 1 71 82 74 •• Showery with occasional sun 22. 0.20 71 95 75 •• Bright day 23- 0.04 72 94 TO Bright forenoon, heavy showers afterwards 24. 0.29 72 90 74 •• Sultry with heavy thunder showers 25- 0.21 72 91 72 .. Bright forenoon, heavy thunder and lightning in afternoon 26. 0.97 72 86 74 •• Cloudy all day 27- 0.05 71 lOI 77 •• Bright day 28. — 69 103 78 .. Bright day, occasionally cloudy 29. — 69 97 76 .. »> >» >> >» 30- — 70 89 73 •• Dull day with heavy showers 31- 0.85 71 87 75 .. Bright day, slight breeze Total inches } 8.07 Average 0.26 7 1 .06 88.51 74.C )6 February, 1905 Date. Rainfall. Temp. Temp. Temp. 6 a.m. Noon. 6 p.m. Remarks. Inches. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. I. — 63 97 73 , . Cold morning, bright day 2. 56 96 69 j> >» >> »• 3- — 57 100 70 »> >» »» '• 4- — 57 96 70 >> >> »? '• 509 Liberia ^ February, 1905 {continued) Date. Rainfall. Temp . Temp Temp. 6 a.m Noon. 6 p.m. Remarks. Inches. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. 5- S8 102 76 .. Cold morning, bright day 6. 62 100 76 .. Bright day 7- — 72 92 68 Heavy dew in morning, bright day 8. — ■ 72 97 79 » M „ „ „ 9- — 73 100 80 >> 99 >» J> >» lO. 67 96 77 Dull all day 1 1. 0-37 72 98 80 Bright day 12. — 74 93 79 »> 99 13- — • 72 96 80 Bright day, heavy thunder and lightning in the evening 14. 2-83 68 98 79 Dull all day 15- 70 96 80 Bright day 16. o-o6 72 98 78 .. >» >> 17- — 75 96 80 M M 18. — 73 100 80 ,, ,, 19. — 73 100 80 Dull morning, bright day 20. — 72 105 80 Heavy dew in morning, bright day 21. — 73 102 81 Dull morning 22. — 73 98 79 ,, ,, thundery evening 23- — • 72 100 80 Dull and close all day 24. — . 74 102 81 Bright day 25. — 72 lOI 78 .. Heavy dew 26. 0-41 72 98 80 Slight rain all night 27. — 73 98 81 Bright day 28. — 74 100 81 >> >> RAINFALL AND TEMPERATURE PuTU Station, Eastern Liberia October, 1904 John Gow. Date. Rainfall. Temp. Temp. Temp. Sunrise. Noon. Sunset Inches. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. I. 0-05 72 86 76 2. 0-14 72 84 74 3- 0-I5 72 80 74 4. o-io 74 82 76 5- o-ii 74 79 •75 6. — 74 83 76 7- 0*40 72 82 74 8. 0-05 74 80 74 9. 0-05 72 82 74 10. — 74 78 75 11. — 74 82 74 12. 0-29 72 86 76 13. O'll 72 80 76 14. 1-55 73 74 73 15. o-i6 73 80 ' 72 i6. o-oi 72 80 74 17. 0-02 73 82 76 j8. 0-02 73 82 77 510 climate and Rainfall October 1904 {continued) Date. Rainfall. Temp. Temp. Temp. Sunrise. Noon. Sunset Inches. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. 19. — 74 83 76 20. 0-07 72 84 76 21. o-o8 73 80 78 22. 0-04 74 85 74 23- — 74 82 78 24. 0-37 74 82 78 25. o-oi 74 80 77 26. — 74 82 76 27. — 73 86 76 28. — 74 88 77 29. — 74 88 82 30. 0-17 71 86 83 31- — 7Z 82 78 Total i nches 3-95 February 1905 Date. Rainfall. Temp. Temp. Temp. .Sunrise. Noon. Sunset Inches. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. I. — 63 86 84 2. — 58 86 75 3- — 58 86 76 4 — 58 86 76 5 — 64 86 70 6. — 68 86 78 7- — 68 84 80 8 — 68 84 80 9- — 74 86 72 lO — 70 86 80 IT — 70 86 80 12. — 75 86 82 13 0*25 74 84 80 14 0-23 74 85 76 15 — 74 80 7S 16 — 74 90 82 17 — 74 88 80 18 — 76 82 80 19 — 74 90 80 20 — 74 86 80 21 — 74 86 78 22 0-03 75 84 80 23 — 74 88 80 24 — 74 86 82 25 0-40 74 86 80 26 — 74 88 80 27 — 75 84 80 28 — 75 86 80 Fotal inches 0.91 D. Sim. 5" Liberia <^ July i6th to August i^th, 1905 Temp. Temp. Temp. Rain 6 a.m. Noon. 6 p.m July Gauge. Fahr. Fahr. Fahr. 16. 0-85 70 82 72 17. 079 70 78 72 18. 0-93 71 72 72 19. 71 80 73 20. 0-09 71 80 73 21. 72 80 73 22. 72 78 72 23. 72 78 73 24. 0-07 73 78 72 25- 72 77 73 ,26. Tra\ celling : no observations. 27. >» »> »> 28. — 72 78 73 29. — 73 80 72 30. 0-65 72 79 73 31- 0-27 73 76 72 August I. — 73 77 74 ^ 2. — 71 76 72 3- 0-09 72 74 73 4. — 71 77 72 s- — 72 80 71 6. — 71 76 72 7- — 70 77 72 8. — 70 78 73 9. — 67 78 72 10. — 70 78 72 II. — 69 77 72 12. — 69 76 72 13- — • 68 76 71 14. 0-65 69 7A 7t 15. 073 68 74 72 Percy H. Newman ;i2 CHAPTER XXI GEOLOGY AND MINERALS THE petrology of Liberia is still very little known— almost unknown would be the correct phrase. It is a land which rises gradually from the sea coast, with a very diversified surface of hill and valley till the open country of the Mandingo Plateau is reached on the extreme north, where the average altitude is about 2,500 feet above sea level. Nowhere, so far as we know, is there any large extent of marsh in Liberia, or any sheet of open water big enough to be styled a lake, though during the rainy season — from May to October — a good deal of the coast country is under water. The rivers have tumultuous courses, strewn with rocks and cataracts, and, with the exception of the St. Paul's and Cavalla Rivers, tidal influence does not reach more than a few miles inland from their mouths. The petrology of the coast is to some extent hidden under recent alluvium covered with mud, mangroves and pandanus, or with a growth of dense forest or plantations. Much of the surface of Liberia is Archaean, references to the " Miocene " characteristics of its fauna and flora ^ not being intended to convey for an instant the idea that there are any deposits of so recent an age as the Miocene in its geology. The rocks are mostly metamorphic, and include gneisses of various kinds, 1 Meaning, of course, that there is much in the existing fauna and flora of Liberia which suggests affinities with the fauna characteristic of France and Germany in the Miocene age. VOL. I 513 33 Liberia ^ granuiites, amphibolite {hornblende)^ granites ^pegmatites ^ a.nd guartz veins, together with the various products of the decomposition of the above-named rocks. There is laterite overlying much of the coast regions. Mr, Benjamin Anderson, who explored the north-western parts of Liberia at the end of the 'sixties, records that the rocks on the verge of the Mandingo Plateau were mostly quartz and granite^ while the decomposed granite produced that red ferruginous clay so familiar to all who have seen the parklands of tropical Africa. This clay of decomposed granite is strewn with round quartz pebbles. The promontory of Cape Mount is mainly of gabbro ^ formation, sprinkled with the same quartz pebbles. Gabbro is also seen in parts of the headland of Mesurado; for a considerable distance inland behind Cape Mount the formation is granite capped with rotten ironstone. Heavy black sand is very common here, according to Captain Scarvell Cape. The same explorer, who visited Western Liberia in 1903, describes the formation near the Lofa River about fifty miles inland as being clay-slates^ diorite^ and ironstone. He thought in the country between the Lofa and the Mano Rivers tin might be discovered. The rock about the lower rapids of the St. Paul's River is amphibolite (a form of hornblende')^ and here, as in many of the stream valleys of Liberia, are beautiful translucent quartz crystals which over and over again are mistaken by the Americo-Liberians for diamonds. Some of these quartz crystals are so hard that they will scratch, if not cut, glass, and their appearance, with their regular facets, often of hexagonal shape, is certainly very like that of a rough diamond. The present writer has obtained these same quartz crystals on the top of Mount Mlanje in ' Gabbro is a compound Archaean rock composed of triclinic felspar and diallage, sometimes mixed with olivine or hornblende (both of these last being silicates of magnesium), quartz, magnetic iron and apatite (phosphate of lime). 514 -^ Geology and Minerals South-east Africa, and l)elieved at that time he had picked up a handful of diamonds. Greenstone or diorite and olivine- diahase (an old eruptive crystalHne rock) are found in the Mesurado peninsula, also in the region of the Cestos River. Laterite (disintegrated gneiss), as already mentioned, over- 207. QUARTZITE OUTCROP NEAR THE ST. PAUL'S RIVER spreads the rocks of much of the coast formations. It is spongy and pitted with shallow holes, but hardens under exposure to the sun and weather. It is often intensely red in 5'^ Liberia «•- colour, and makes admirable road material. Grey gneiss is the rock formation of much of the interior of Central Liberia, of the regions through which flow the Dukwia, Farmington, St. John's, Cestos, and Sino Rivers, with here and there an outcrop of red granite and hornblende. Cluartzite and conglomerate ^ are found in parts of the Dukwia region. Saddle Hill is chiefly quartz-rock (quartzite) on its surface. All these central regions of Liberia are rich in mica-schists^ which are found in such large slabs that the laminae of mica might almost be valuable enough for exportation. In the eastern part of Liberia (county of Maryland near the west bank of the Lower Cavalla) there is a good deal of corundum ^ (^alumina). This formation has been inspected pretty closely by two expeditions sent out by the Chartered Company, in the hope that it might contain sapphires^ rubies^ and perhaps topazes ; but nothing of this kind has yet been found, though the two former stones are merely variants of corundum and the topaz is also an aluminoid compound. In 1903 a Liberian official came to England to exhibit a small diamond of ahout 10 carats which it was alleged had been found in the county of Grand Basa, about twenty miles from the coast. The land from which the diamond was said to have been obtained was leased to a German syndicate, but so far as present information goes, no trace of any geological formation likely to contain diamonds has yet been met with in that region. It is much more probable that the eastern parts of Liberia may be found to contain sapphires, rubies, and such other precious stones as are mere variants of corundum. Specimens of sand from the St. Paul's River consist mainly ' Sometimes called " pudding-stone " : formed of consolidated gravel or shingle. ^ Corundum is an oxide of aluminium containing as much as 50 per cent, of metal, but not used as an ore because of its great hardness, 516 S08. SINKING A SHAFT IN A QUART? REEF NEA« THE ST. PAUJ^'S RJVER Liberia ^ of ilmenite (titaniferous iron ore), with some magnetite^ zicron^ garnet^ hornblende, and tourmaline, and in the rocks from the same region there is magnetite and limonite. In sand from Mount Barclay, twenty-two miles from Monrovia and within six miles of the creeks leading to the Mesurado Lagoon, monazite was present. (It is from this mineral that mantles are made for incandescent gas-burners.) In this same district zinc ore was present.^ Nearer the east bank of the St. Paul's River, a sample of sand contained garnet and ochreous iron ore. Other specimens were varieties of schist. From the Lower St. Paul's River, however, come numerous specimens of specular magnetic iron ore. From the same country, to the east of the Lower St. Paul's, come copper pyrites and iron pyrites, and some of the mineral specimens suggest the presence of cobalt. Magnetic iron ore seems to be present throughout the greater part of the coast regions of Liberia. Benjamin Anderson asserts that the soil of the northern parts of Liberia is so full of iron that traffic on the paths causes them to shine like steel ; but how far this information is to be depended on the present writer cannot decide. Specimens of nearly pure copper have once or twice been brought by natives from some region of Western Liberia to the Sierra Leone territory and also to Monrovia ; but the place of origin of these samples has not yet been identified. Numerous quartz veins and outcroppings suggest that this might be an auriferous country. Certainly the Mandingos of the far interior seem to obtain gold from some local source, but whether this is within the political limits of Liberia has not yet been ascertained. The Liberian Development Company has sent several expeditions into the interior to look for gold since 1900, with no very encouraging results. In 1903 Captain Scarvell Cape tested the sands of two small streams emptying ' As zinc-blende with quartz veins, or zinc-blende with calcite veins, 5^8 i ^ Geology and Minerals into the Lofa (Little Cape Mount) River, and each pan returned from six to twelve colours of " moderately heavy gold." In this region he found the river sands distinctly auriferous, but could find no trace of gold in the quartz reefs. It is thought that gold might be obtained by dredging the bottom of the rivers. It has been suggested that it would be wiser for prospectors to select those quartz veins with a likely ' gossan " and to crush several pounds of this quartz on the spot, and search for gold either by panning or dry vanning. What discourages all work of this kind at present is the difficulties of locomotion, and especially transport of any heavy machinery. It was at one time rumoured that there were indications of coal in Liberia. Apparently the only support to this theory was the digging up of large fragments of charcoal — charred wood — which after some forest fire or clearing of a plantation had been buried and had in the course of time assumed a rather coal-like appearance. There is nothing as yet discovered in the rocks of the country to lend any strength to the supposition that Liberia contains coal ; but in several places there are in- dications of the possible existence of mineral oil, and as some form of petroleum has been discovered in the very similar region of the Cameroons it is not impossible that it may be brought to light in the rock formations of Liberia. There are indications of slow subsidence taking place along the Liberian coast. No traces have yet been found of any volcanic activity of a later date than the Primary epoch. It is possible that the whole of this coast between Cape Verde and Cape Palmas is the African end of the bridge which intermittently connected West Africa with Northern South America down to as late a period as the end of the Eocene (early Tertiary) ; a bridge by which the ancestors of the American monkeys, 519 Liberia ^ numerous bird types (parrots and barbets), the bolne snakes, and certain fishes, insects, and spiders may have reached South America from Africa ; while by the same route travelled to Africa from South America hyraxes, hares and rabbits (?), octodont rodents, insectivores, edentates, the ancestral types of some birds (secretary vulture and other Raptores^ Gallinace^, Ratites such as the ostrich and iEpyornis), a few reptiles, beetles, and families of plants common only in their known distribution to South America, Africa, and Madagascar. That some of these forms strayed just beyond the African region into Southern Europe or Western Asia does not militate against their having originated in South America and having reached Europe or Asia via Africa. The best test in the case of each genus, family, or order is their occurrence or non-occurrence in the Eocene fossil fauna of North America. If they are represented in that region and in Europe or Asia also it might be supposed that they had reached or quitted the Old World by the circumpolar land bridges (Behring's Straits or the Greenland-Iceland route) and not by the Eocene bridge which may have anciently connected Western Africa with Northern Brazil. It is believed that this land connection across the Equatorial Atlantic did not persist later than the end of the Eocene — the first period of the Tertiary epoch. Printed by Hazell, Watson &■ Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. r PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE CARDS OR SUPS FROM THIS POCKET UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY DT Johnston, (Sir) Harry 62h Hamilton J7 Liberia v.l (^