abundantly, and the pomegranate, the fig, the vine, and a tree bearing the cashew-nut are to be seen, but not in abundance.

4. The soil is thin and not productive, resting upon a ferruginous rock which occasionally crops out. The gar dens are inclosed by wooden palings, generally in a state of decay, or by stone walls without mortar. In them were only a few collards and some cassada, sweet potatoes, and arrow-root. But it is not the proper season for vegetables, and a few months hence these gardens may, and doubtless will, present á more gratifying appearance. The suburbs, the river, and the inner harbor are commanded by Fort Hill, as the outer anchorage is by that of Fort Norris at the cape.

5. The view from Fort Hill is a very fine one. To the west and southwest it overlooks the houses and trees and far out upon the sea; on the north and east Stockton Creek and the two branches of the Mesurado flow gently through an alluvial plain; and to the southeast the eye follows the direction of the ridge which stretches far into the interior. On Broadway, south of Fort Hill, is the government-house

-a large stone building, with arched windows and a balcony in front. The lower floor is used as a court-room and printing-office, and the upper as the hall of legislative council; behind it is the jail; directly opposite is the President's mansion-a double two-story brick house, with a front portico, its roof sustained by lofty columns. It is the most imposing building in the place.

6. There are five churches, all well attended. Indeed, I never saw a more thorough-going church community, or heard a greater rustling of silk on the dispersal of a congregation, than here; all were at least sufficiently attired, and the dresses of the children were in better taste than those of their mothers. One of the most gratifying things I noticed was the great number of well-dressed and wellbehaved children in the schools and about the streets. 7. The schools are also numerous and well attended. I

did not see sufficient to justify the expression of an opinion, except that, while I noticed the attendance was full in almost every one, it seemed to me that, in some instances, the acquirements of the teachers were surpassed by the capacities of their scholars; but for all the purposes of rudimental education the materials are ample. I feel a delicacy in alluding to this subject, and only say what has escaped me from a solicitude that the generation now coming forward may sustain the institutions of the republic.

8. The colonists were all decently clothed; and of the natives moving about the streets, with very few exceptions, the most indifferently clad wore a long loose shirt, but their heads and legs were bare. One of the latter I saw reading apparently a book, which he held before him as he walked.

CHAPTER LII.

NEW VIRGINIA AND MILLSBURG.

1. OPPOSITE to Caldwell is the settlement of New Virginia, where, in 1847, the Government of the United States built a receptacle for liberated Africans. Higher up are Kentucky, Heddington, and Millsburg. Heddington was fiercely attacked by the natives in 1841, and gallantly defended by a missionary and one of the colonists; the leader of the assailants was killed and his party dispersed. These four are little more than a close contiguity of small farms; but Millsburg, at the head of navigation, and the farthest inland settlement in Liberia, is a flourishing village and missionary-school station; and on the opposite side of the river is the mission of "White Plains."

2. From its situation, Millsburg must be comparatively healthy, and is certainly beautiful. The river, separated by an island into two channels, there forces itself over a

rocky ledge with the rushing sweep and hoarse sound of a rapid. The ledge is, however, a narrow one, and a channel through it might be blasted with gunpowder, or it could be flanked by a canal. Above the ledge the stream is unobstructed for about ten miles, and the country through which it flows is yet more rolling and beautiful than it is below the rapids. The soil is a rich mold, formed by the vegetable decay of centuries, resting on a substratum of clay, and covered with a luxuriant forest.

3. At the rapids are a number of islands, clothed with luxuriant vegetation; and, as was remarked by the lamented Dr. Randall, the islands differ from each other in their verdure, and from that of the mainland. Each one seems to have caught, in the autumnal inundations, the seeds and roots of particular plants and shrubs brought down from the interior; for, while differing from those on the main, no two resemble each other in their peculiar foliage.

4. Above the islands the country is represented as most beautiful, bearing trees of immense size, clear of undergrowth, and having their branches interwoven with vines, and decorated with gaudy parasitic plants, forming a shade impervious to the sun, and imparting a coolness to the atmosphere which is truly delightful. The stream, irregular in its width, sometimes forces its way through fissures in the rocks, and at others forms deep pools, where the water ́ is so transparent that the bottom is distinctly visible.

5. It seems as if the foot of man had never trodden these lovely solitudes, where the silence is only interrupted by the murmuring sound of water, the scream of the fishhawk, and the chattering of monkeys pursuing their gambols among the trees. This must, however, be taken cum grano salis; for in the rainy season the river overflows its banks and inundates the country.

6. The River St. Paul's has its source in the same range of hills from which the Karamanka issues; and, by barometrical measurement, these hills are 1,400 feet in height, which is about the elevation of the head waters of the Mis

sissippi. The scenery of the upper St. Paul's will, therefore, compare with that of the Karamanka, although more than two degrees intervene between their outlets.

7. The late Major Laing thus describes the country bordering on the latter river: "The valleys are picturesque and fertile, and are watered by numerous rivulets, which, running from north to south, collect behind the lofty hill of Botato, and contribute in swelling the river Karamanka. I was frequently induced to stop to contemplate the lovely scene around me, consisting of extensive meadows clothed with verdure; fields, from which the springing rice was sending forth its vivid shoots, not inferior in beauty and health to the corn-fields of England in March, interspersed here and there with a patch of ground studded with palm-trees; while the neighboring hills-some clothed with rich foliage, some exhibiting a bald and weather-beaten appearance-formed a noble theater around

me.

8. "We left the town of Nijiniah, on the Karamanka, and having walked an hour and three quarters, gained the summit of one of the hills; and in one direction, on the opposite side, a scene quite panoramic broke upon the view: an extensive valley, partly cultivated and partly covered with a long, natural grass, about five feet high, with lines of stately palm-trees, as regular as if laid out by art, and here and there a cluster of camwood trees, their deep shade affording a relief to the lighter hue of the smaller herbage.

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9. These, with a murmuring rivulet, meandering through the center, exhibited the appearance of a wellcultivated and tastefully arranged garden, rather than a tract amid the wilds of Africa; while in the distance, mountain towered above mountain in all the grandeur and magnificence of nature."

10. On both shores of Stockton Creek, as well as on the Mesurado, are many alligators' nests. They are about four feet high, and five in diameter at the base, made of mud

and grass, very much resembling haycocks. The female first deposits a layer of eggs on a floor of a kind of mortar, and she and her mate having covered this with mud. and herbage, she lays another set of eggs, and so on to the top, there being sometimes as many as 200 eggs in a nest. All is plastered over with mud by the tail, and the grass around the nest is beat down with the same member, to prevent an unseen approach of enemies. The female then watches the nest until the young are hatched by heat of the sun; when she takes them under her care.

CHAPTER LIII.

THE JALOFF AND MANDINGO RACES.

1. THE Jaloff is the tallest race of men I have ever seen, and forcibly reminded me of the fabulous accounts of the Patagonians. They inhabit the vast district extending along the coast from the Gambia to the Senegal. Their frames are rather slight than muscular; they are coal- · black in their complexions, and have the short, crisped hair peculiar to the negro race; but have not the thick lips, flat nose, and low, receding forehead which, in our ideas, are associated with the features of the African. On the contrary, with the Caucasian, they have prominent noses, and their foreheads are high but narrowing at the temples.

2. Each one carries himself as stately as if he were a monarch, the women as much so as the men, and with the same proportion as elsewhere, in the respective size of the sexes. I am not alone in the opinion that the females are, on an average, as tall as men are with us. It is a very interesting race. The Europeans here represent them as easily managed by gentle means, but exceedingly danger