is not more than a quarter of a mile from our settlements on that Island, bound herself by treaties with this Colony, not to permit the Slave-trade to be carried on within her territories. About three or four weeks ago, a complaint was lodged with me, through her son-in-law, that some of her people had ran away, and were harboured by the Recaptured Africans under my charge. Not being willing to give up these poor creatures without hearing their complaint, I sent Mr. Williams (the Superintendent of Recaptured Africans) to ascertain from them, why they had left their mistress. They stated, that Mamma had lately sold many of her people to the slavers at Gallenas, and that she was about to sell them when they ran away. From this circumstance, and what I have since heard, I have reasons to believe, that for years she had never ceased to sell slaves. The fact of her originally having had many hundred people under her government, and her now having but 8 or 10 families, is strongly confirmatory of the correctness of this opinion."

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Expedition up the St. Paul's.

The much-lamented Dr. Randall gave the following account of a short journey up the St. Paul's, in a letter to a friend, who has kindly consented to its publication. It will give our readers a very good idea of the country which is now inviting the industrious and energetic freemen of colour in our land, to make it their own, and to cover it with the blessings of liberty and the habitations of civilized and Christian men.

Liberia, February 15, 1829. I have at length gotten through with this much-talked-off African fever; and, after all, do not think it any great thing. A Carolina or Georgia fever is just as bad, and as for an Alabama fever, it would be worth two of it. I continued to use precautions and take medicines for six weeks after my arrival, and enjoyed perfect health; but I at length became tired and careless, and the consequence was the fever. I was well taken care of, and had every attention that could be afforded; and since I am through with it, I am glad I have had it, as it will exempt me entirely from it hereafter.

As soon as I had finished my business with the Shark, and

she had sailed, I determined to set off on an exploring expedition up the St. Paul's, which had been hitherto unexplored by civilized man, except to Millsburg, the head of safe navigation. I left this the day previous, so as to take a fair start from Millsburg, our frontier post. The river from its mouth is most beautiful: its banks are high and broken, and covered with the most dense and variegated verdure. Along the banks here and there, we observed an African town, with the thatched huts intermingled with the broad green leaf of the plantain, of which the beautiful pea-green colour distinguishes it from all surrounding verdure. On our approach to one of those villages, which is always announced by our boatmen with their African Boat Song, we generally found all the inhabitants, men, women, and children, assembled on the beach to see and receive us. If you stop, you are immediately carried to the King, or head-man's house, where you are expected to make him a dash or present before any thing is said or done. If on a friendly visit, it is small, and is returned by a dash on the other part. But if on business, and you have any great object to effect, your dashes must be larger and numerous, and then you receive nothing in return. After passing half a dozen of these villages on the St. Paul's, and ascending 20 miles, we arrived at Millsburg, where we slept in country fashion, but had a good supper from our store basket. In the morning early we left the settlement with our little party, (which soon however magnified itself into a pretty large one,) as the natives say, "to go into the bush." One of the most enterprising of our settlers had penetrated along one of the branches of the river, by following the paths made by the wild cattle, for about two miles, and we determined to follow the same path as far as it would lead us. As the underwood here is the most dense and close that can be imagined, the course of procedure is to send forward, to clear the path, two or three of the natives with their short strait cutlasses, with which they open the path with great facility. By thus cutting a passage through the underwood, without cutting the large trees or shrubbery, a perfect alcove is formed, and you are entirely protected from the action of the sun, which is only now and then visible through an opening in the trees. When we had advanced about two miles on our route, we came to a point where the St. Paul's was joined by a considerable stream, which we at first

concluded was a river from the North; but upon ascending the river to a higher point, we ascertained that it was only a branch which had separated above and united at this spot. We were exceedingly anxious to cross the river, to survey the beautiful island opposite; but as there was no other means of getting over, except by a native bridge, we had to abandon the idea. The native bridges are constructed of ratan or country rope, and consist merely of cords drawn across the river, to prevent the current from sweeping the swimmer down, and are sometimes to the unskilful more dangerous than useful. I was astonished to find the St. Paul's here, contrary to my expectations, most clear and limpid. Most of the African rivers are said to be turbid and muddy; but in the St. Paul's, the bottom was visible at 20 feet, and the fish, which were numerous, could be seen for many yards from us. As we advanced further on our route up the northern branch, which we determined to pursue till we came to the main stream again, our path was crossed by many more recent wild cattle tracks, all leading to, or from, the river, and we occasionally saw the broad foot-print of an elephant. After following the course of this branch of the river for two hours, we found that we would have to leave it, or deviate from the course by which we expected to strike the St. Paul's above, where the natives told us it made a great sweep or bend, and "made trouble or fuss.” We therefore left the river and kept on northward by a cattle path, which soon brought us to a prarie. This was evidently an artificial prarie; and the numerous palm and cotton trees, soon convinced us that this had at some former period, been the seat of an extensive and populous native settlement. The appearance of the solitary palm tree, is most truly majestic. In a plain on which there is no shrub six feet high, a half dozen of these fine trees will elevate their smooth round trunks, without a branch, 80 or 100 feet, and then expanding their heads, by opening their broad pea-green leaves, they form a beautiful umbrella, some twenty or 30 feet in diameter. After following a strait line through the prarie, which appeared to have been the favourite resort of the wild cattle and elephants, about two or three hour's walk, we began to hear the roar of the cataract, and now became convinced that we had taken the proper course and would soon again be in sight of the river. The river broke upon our view

just as we had ascended the height of a considerable mountain, which appeared to thrust itself immediately in our path. From this height, which is nearly 200 feet, I had a view of the St. Paul's, only intercepted here and there by the density of the foliage. I now found what the natives had described as a tremendous cataract or fall, was merely rapids in the river, produced by the sudden obstruction of its course offered by the chain of hills on the point of which I then stood. As soon as I was able, (for we had all been completely broken down in the ascent,) I commenced the descent to the river, down a bank so steep, that nothing but a strict adherence to the underwood could save us from falling down the declivity. We had here many amusing incidents. A little native boy, whose sole duty it appeared was, to carry a small iron pot, lost his poise, and came rolling pot and all, down the hill. In his rapid course, he tripped up the legs of the Krooman who carried our whole stock of provisions in a basket. The case was really alarming, for our whole stock of provisions was not only in great jeopardy, but as there was below a precipice of 50 feet, the fear was that the poor fellows would pitch over. Fortunately they both succeeded in stopping themselves before they arrived at its edge, and, except some severe bruises and scratches, we sustained no other loss than a bottle of claret and the iron pot, which was dashed to pieces, and will no doubt serve some day for slugs for an Elephant shooter. The Krooman took it very coolly, saying he no care; he no break the Governor's plate; but the poor boy was jeered throughout the whole journey with the loss of the pot with which he had been entrusted. On arriving at the foot of the precipice, close down to the edge of the river, I found that the sweep of the river from its original course was caused by its choosing the direction of this high chain of hills. The St. Paul's here is wider, deeper, and contains much more water than the Potomac. It is a much more beautiful stream too; for its banks, though fully as precipitous, are clothed with the richest verdure, and this verdure is of a more variegated character. The innumerable islands which were scattered in front of us, appeared each one intended to catch, in its descent of the stream, some particular plant or shrub, and afford for it shelter and protection, for scarce two of them were alike in their foliage. As most of these shrubs too were different from

those in the surrounding woods, we had no doubt that their seeds and roots had been brought down by the inundations of the annual rains. Many of them perhaps are from the foot of the Kong Mountains. After resting ourselves, it became necessary to determine whether we should return immediately, or by advancing farther, render it necessary to spend the night in the woods. We ascertained that our provisions would be sufficient to give all hands a hearty supper, and resolved to advance and gain if possible the point where the river first enters the mountains, in order to ascertain the general course of the river before it took this turn. We continued to travel over the rough and precipitous shores of the river for about two hours, until we arrived at a point which presented to our view the first distinct fall we had seen. At this point we came to a beautiful valley, where a small stream rushing down the rocks precipitated itself into a natural circular basin of rock, which presented the appearance of an artificial basin. We determined at once to take up our quarters for the night, and began making our preparations accordingly. We soon had a considerable space of wood cleared; built an arbour; and our natives surrounded us on all sides, with large fires, to protect us from the wild beasts. I felt no necessity for using such precautions, as our party was strong enough in fire arms to defy them; but I encouraged them to keep them up, as the best security against the bad effects of the night air. ning we arose early, and after each one had carved his name or made his mark on some prominent tree, to show at some future period that he had been one of the discoverers of this lovely spot, we took up our line of march for Millsburg. Our journey back was equally if not more eventful than that of the preceding day, but I must refer you to my journal for particulars.

The next mor

Opinions of the Colonists.

Mrs. Amelia Roberts, who resided for several years in Petersburg, Va. distinguished among her class for intelligence, moral character, and industrious habits, by which she had been enabled to place herself in comfortable circumstances, and who embarked in the Harriet for Liberia, by the return of that vessel, thus ex