2 ous when provoked, and as being very expert in the use of fire-arms. In point of stature they correspond with the Berri, a tall race of men toward the other side of the continent. The Jaloffs are high-toned and courteous, and, in contradistinction to the other tribes, are called by foreigners the "gentlemen of Africa.” 3. The Mandingoes are from the banks of the Gambia, from Manding down to the coast. It is a numerous and powerful race, with more of the characteristic features of the negro than the Jaloffs. They are represented as lively in their dispositions, prone to traffic, and with some taste for literature-a literature confined to the Koran. It is said they read no other book, and are taught no other lessons in their schools but an unmeaning repetition of its laws and precepts. I question the correctness of the assertion. The songs of the Jelli, or singing men, would bespeak a higher intellectual cultivation. Mr. Laing visited in 1822 the walled town of Kakundi, in the country of Melicouri, and was there introduced to King Yaradee, one of the chiefs of Sulima. 4. On that occasion was recited the following song, which is almost as poetic and far more genuine than the fabled poems of Ossian. It commemorates an advantage gained by Yaradee over the Foulahs, at the time when ten thousand of them, headed by Ba Dembah, laid siege to Falata: "Shake off that drowsiness, brave Yaradee, thou lion of war! Hang thy sword to thy side, and be thyself! Dost thou not behold the army of the Foulahs? Observe their lines of muskets and spears, vying in brightness with the rays of the departing sun! 5. "They are strong and powerful; yea, they are men! and they have sworn on the Al Koran that they will destroy the capital of the Sulima nation. So, shake off that drowsiness, brave Yaradee, thou lion of war! The brave Talaheer, thy sire, held the Foulahs in contempt. Fear was a stranger to his bosom! He set the firebrand to Timbo, that nest of the Islamites; and, though worsted at Herico, he scorned to quit the field, but fell like a hero, cheering his war-men. If thou art worthy to be called the son of Talaheer, shake off that drowsiness, brave Yaradee, thou lion of war! 6. "Brave Yaradee stirred. He shook his garments of war, as the soaring eagle ruffles his pinions. Ten times he addressed his gree-grees, and swore to them that he would either return in triumph to the sound of the war-drum, or that the cries of the Jelli should bewail his fall. The warmen shouted with joy. Behold! he shakes from him that drowsiness, the lion of war! he hangs his sword by his side, and is now himself! 7. "Follow me to the field! exclaimed the heroic Yaradee! Fear nothing! for, let the spear be sharp, or the ball be swift, faith in your gree-grees will preserve you from danger. Follow me to the field! for I am roused, and have shook off that drowsiness. I am brave Yaradee, the lion of war! I have hung my sword by my side, and am myself. I have shook off that drowsiness. The war-drum sounds, and the sweet notes of the balla encourage warriors to deeds of arms. The valiant Yaradee mounts his steed! His headmen follow! The northern gate of Falaba is thrown open, and they rush from it with the swiftness of leopards. Yaradee is a host in himself! Observe how he wields his sword! They fall before him! They stagger! They reel! Foulah men! you will long remember this day! for Yaradee has shook off his drowsiness, the lion of war! He has hung his sword by his side, and is himself." 8. By way of contrast of the turn of thought and mode of expression, I give the account of a Bornou man, related by himself: "My years were eighteen. There was war. At that time my mother died. My father died. I buried them. I had done. The Foulahs caught me. me. They sold The Housa people bought us. They brought us to Tomba. We got up. We came to the Popo country. To a white man they sold us. The The Popoes took us. white man took us. We had no shirts. We had no trowsers. We were naked. Into the midst of the water-into Thirst killed somebody. the midst of a ship they put us. Our us. chains went off from our time we prayed. God heard God sent them. They came. died. Our thirst died. feet. Shirts they gave us. Trowsers they gave us. Hats they gave us. Every one was glad. We all praised the English. Whoever displeases the English, into hell let him go." 9. The Mandingoes manufacture cotton cloths and dye them with indigo and other vegetable dyes in colors so fixed as to resist, it is said, the action of acids and lighta quality surpassing that of any other known dye-stuff in the world. The Mandingo indigo-plant, as it is here called, has a deep-green leaf, with a number of spear-shaped leaflets along the sides of a common leaf-stalk, opposite to each other and abruptly winged, and may therefore be classed among compound leaves. From thirty leaves of this plant nearly an ounce of pure indigo has been obtained. The Mandingoes are skilled also in the tanning of hides and the preparation of leather; and the specimens which I saw of their bridles, whips, pouches, sword and dagger sheaths, and powder-horns far surpass all I had conceived of native manufacture. CHAPTER LIV. LIBERIA-PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE. 1. For about twenty-five years the Colony of Liberia remained under the control of the American Colonization Society, which had planted, and up to that time had fos tered it. But the Society could not protect it against the impositions of jealous foreigners, who, finding a youthful but growing civilized and Christian community on the coast, having no official connection with any powerful government, did all they could to annoy and crush this young people. The community could not appeal to any government for protection-could not avail itself of the rights guaranteed by the law of nations, for it was not a nation. 2. The only way left to the people to secure themselves from annoyances and impositions was to assume the control of their own political affairs, declare themselves a sovereign and independent state, secure recognition, and thus be able to treat with foreign nations. The people met in convention, earnestly discussed the matter, and agreed to declare themselves an independent state. The Society interposed no objection, but quietly withdrew its supervision and left them to the government of themselves. On the 26th of July, 1847, they presented to the world a Declaration of Independence. 3. The nationality of Liberia then came into existence under peculiar circumstances. Its independence was achieved peaceably, without the accessories of battle and smoke, the noise of the warrior, and garments rolled in blood. When, therefore, we speak of the independence of Liberia, we do not speak of it in an antagonistic or aggressive sense, as against any other nation, but simply in a particular, individual, or distinctive sense, in contradistinction to, or separation from, any other nation. 4. But peaceably and quietly as this nationality has been brought about, it has done and is now doing immense good. The declaration of the independence of Liberia, the establishment of the first republican government on the western shores of Africa, did not, it is true, solve any intricate problem in the history of nations. It did not shed any new light upon mankind with reference to the science of government. It was not the result of the elaboration of any novel principle in politics. But it has poured new vigor into the poor, dying existence of the African all over the world. 5. It has opened a door of hope for a race long the doomed victims of oppression. It has animated colored men everywhere to fresh endeavors to prove themselves men. It has given the example of a portion of this despised race, far away in the midst of heathenism and barbarism, under the most unfavorable circumstances, assuming the responsibilities and coming forward into the ranks of nations; and it has demonstrated that, notwithstanding the oppression of ages, the energies of the race have not been entirely emasculated, but are still sufficient to establish and to maintain a nationality. 6. Soon after the Declaration of Independence, Liberia was welcomed into the family of nations by Great Britain and France. Then followed, one after another, all the great nations of Europe, except Russia, and that great empire has recently given tokens of friendship. The emperor sent to the capital of Liberia, in January, 1865, on a complimentary visit, a first-class Russian frigate, the Dneitry Donskoy. 7. Liberia is in treaty stipulations with Great Britain, France, the Hanseatic States, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, Italy, Portugal, the United States, and Hayti. The United States, though rather tardy in according them a formal acknowledgment, has, nevertheless, always treated them as a de facto government. Her squadrons on the coast have always been at the service of the government of Liberia; and their gallant officers, whether Northerners or Southerners, Red Republicans, Abolitionists, or Democrats, have always cheerfully' responded to the call of that government. And the highest diplomatic representative they have yet had the pleasure of receiving from abroad is the accomplished Abraham Hanson, Esq., United States Commissioner and Consul-General, 8. They are now gradually growing in all the elements |