very fond of flowers, and have gardens full of roses, oleanders, allemandas, bougainvillia, and frangipani in constant bloom. There are numerous churches and a masonic hall. There is a good deal of civilization and comfort and signs of proggress at the settlements, which are grouped together under the general name of Grand Basa, and also at the Sino towns, the principal of which is named Greenville. But perhaps, on the whole, the most go-ahead and energetic assemblage of Americo-Liberians is to be found at Harper (Cape Palmas). Here there is a philosophical society, which is doing a good work in collecting and printing statistics about Liberia. But Harper, unfortunately for Europeans, is a good deal more unhealthy than Monrovia. Compared with other parts of West Africa, I should say that Liberia is less unhealthy for the European than Sierra Leone, the Ivory coast, the Gold coast, or Lagos. But it is, perhaps, too soon to judge. It is noteworthy, however, that the remarkable absence of mosquitoes should to a great extent coincide with a less marked prevalence of malarial fevers. From the European point of view, perhaps the most healthy part of Liberia is the northern half, and from all accounts it would be the Mandingo plateau that Europeans would prefer for their trading or mining settlements. The great undoubted wealth of Liberia lies, as I have already pointed out, in its rubber, but the trade in this product is as yet only in its infancy. Another important article of export in the future will be timber. Piasava, which is a fiber derived from the rind of the fronds of a Raphia palm, figures to some extent in the exports, which also include coffee, a little cacao, ivory, copal, palm oil, palm kernels, ginger, camwood, and annatto. APPENDIX I. PEOPLES AND TRIRES OF LIBERIA. The following is a summary of the principal Americo-Liberian towns and settlements with their approximate populations. The enumeration commences with Roberts Port, not far from the western (Sierra Leone) frontier of Liberia, and proceeds northward, southward, and eastward to the French frontier along the Kavalli River: The approximate total coast population of "civilized" 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 region of about 50,000 in number. There are a good many other native villages and small isolated settlements or farms of Americo-Liberians which it would be tedious to enumerate by name. The ones and twos in such scattered settlements as these (such as Fish Town, Puduke, Weabo, Pequenino Ses, etc.) may be taken as a set-off against any possible exaggeration of numbers in connection with the more populous places. These Americo-Liberians at present constitute the governing caste of the country. In origin about two-thirds are from the United States of America and one-third from the British West Indies. It is curious that in a general way the men who have come most to the front in the history of Liberia have been of British West Indian descent rather than emigrants or descendants of emigrants from the United States. They came, or their ancestors came, to Liberia rather to seek a profitable field for their enterprise than in any attempt to flee from conditions of slavery or other kinds of unsatisfactory social environment. The Liberians of British West Indian origin have generally been removed one or even two generations from a condition of slavery. They are also for the most part better educated and remember more as to their actual African origin than is the case with those whose immediate ancestors have come from the United States. For instance, the present President of Liberia, the Hon. Arthur Barclay, knows that the negro stock from which he sprang came from the district of Popo, now on the borderland of French and German territory, in the western part of the Dahome coast. English is naturally the universal language used by the Americo-Liberians. It is variously spoken by them, those originally of United States origin speaking it with a very strong “American” accent, while the Liberians who have sprung from the British West Indies talk English-that is to say, educated persons do-with but slight accent, and in the case of those who have received additional education in England, with no very obvious accent at all. A good deal of connection in sentiment is still kept up with the United States, though perhaps there is an increasing tendency, so far as higher education is concerned, for the dispatch of young Liberians to study in England at such places as the Liverpool schools and the African Training Institute of Colwyn Bay. But several local educational institutes are generously maintained by American philanthropists. The station of Arthington, on the St. Pauls River, is named after the celebrated philanthropist of that name connected with Leeds (Yorkshire), who did so much to establish the first missionary steamers on the Kongo, and whose name is very gratefully remembered in Liberia for the assistance that he has given in educational work. The indigenous population of Liberia, not of extraneous origin, may be estimated with some correctness at a total of about 2,160,000. [In Vol. II, pp. 884-901, of his book on "Liberia," New York, 1906, Sir Harry Johnston gives additional information about the native races, estimating the population at 2,000,000.] They may be enumerated as follows: |