of the contiguous tribes, and each being characterized by some national peculiarities; the difference, however, in appearance, customs, and superstitions not being very great among the different tribes within the territory of Liberia. 2. The principal tribes in Liberia and its immediate vicinity are the Dey, Vey, Bassa, Queah, Golah, Pessah, Kroo, Fish, and Grebo; the last-named being that tribe in the immediate vicinity of Cape Palmas. 3. The government among the different tribes may be regarded as a kind of compound of the patriarchal, the oligarchal, and the monarchical. In every tribe there is one man who is recognized as the head king, to whom all the other kings and chiefs of the tribe are nominally subordinate. African kings, however, are very numerous. Indeed, in almost every community there is one man who is regarded as a king; his jurisdiction extending over a single hamlet, or a small tract of country, including within its limits several small hamlets. 4. As in European monarchical governments, so among the native tribes of Africa, royalty and governmental authority are usually hereditary. The legal successor of a departed king, however, can not assume his royal station and authority without the concurrence of all the other kings of the tribe; and not unfrequently some other individual, not of the royal family, is appointed by the other kings, with the concurrence of the people over whom he is to preside, in consequence of the minority of the rightful successor though he may be a man of thirty years of age, or more—or of some other difficulty either imaginary or real. The kingly succession is not so scrupulously observed in Africa as in Europe. And not unfrequently, like Bonaparte and Cromwell, some daring adventurer, sometimes of another and distant tribe, will usurp the power and authority rightly belonging to another, and set up a dominion or kingdom for himself, vi et armis, as in the case of the celebrated Boatswain, who rendered valuable as sistance to the early settlers of Liberia. 5. In most cases the title is the only thing of which African kings can boast. None of them are ever burdened with wealth. Indeed, most of them are miserably poor. I have seen half a dozen kings, and as many chiefs and headmen, at one time, sitting on the ground as humble mendicants, in submissive patience, awaiting to receive a "dash" (present) of a few pounds of tobacco, from a gentleman in Liberia, at whose place of residence they had assembled. 6. In addition to those persons who are dignified with the honorable appellation of king, there are others of subordinate authority who are generally called headmen. In each hamlet, however small, there is a headman, who has more or less control over all the other residents of the place, and who is responsible for their conduct. The principal mark of distinction between the kings, or the headmen, and the rest of the people, usually consists in the size of the garments which they respectively wear; those of the former generally being rather more extensive than those of the latter. Their style of living does not differ materially from that of any of their subjects, and their palaces can not generally be distinguished from the residences of their untitled subordinates. 7. The natives about Liberia invariably reside in towns or hamlets, few of which contain more than five hundred inhabitants, and most of them less than two hundred. The whole country, except in the immediate vicinity of these towns or hamlets, which are very numerous, presents a deep unbroken forest, the solemn silence of which is seldom disturbed, save by the footsteps and voices of travelers and the noise of wild animals. The houses or huts in which they reside are generally rudely constructed of sticks, usually lined with strong bamboo mats, with which the dirt floors are also sometimes covered. They are always covered with thatch, and sometimes they are daubed outside with mud. Some of their huts are constructed with a little regard to taste and convenience, some are pretty substantially built, but most of them are filthy, smoky, ugly, disagreeable hovels, presenting indubitable evidence of extreme indolence and improvidence on the part of the inmates. 8. Their almost universal style of dress consists simply of a piece of cotton cloth, or a cotton handkerchief, fastened loosely about their loins; in addition to which a kind of hat is sometimes (not generally) worn, composed of the fibers of some one of the numerous indigenous vegetable substances or of a kind of grass. In addition to the ordinary "girdle about the loins" some of the natives, particularly the kings and headmen, wear a kind of robe loosely thrown across one shoulder and wrapped around the body. These robes are generally manufactured in the country, from the native cotton, which they spin by a very simple though tedious process, and weave into narrow strips, never more than six inches wide, by a process exhibiting a little ingenuity, but not less tedious than that of the spinning. 9. A great deal of their time is occupied in dancing and singing, and in a variety of nonsensical plays. These plays are frequently kept up day and night for several successive days, and sometimes for several weeks. I have frequently heard the sound of their rudely-constructed drums, and other instruments of music, at nearly all hours of both day and night. Some of their musical instruments are quite fanciful in appearance; but none that I ever saw exhibited much ingenuity in their construction. They have various systems of gambling, and many of them are very expert in some of their games. It is not uncommon to see half a dozen, or more, strong, healthy natives sitting on the ground busily engaged in gambling, the amount at stake being a pipe full of tobacco. 10. Several of the tribes have national marks by which the members of a particular tribe may be distinguished from those of any other tribe; in addition to which the bodies of some are variously and sometimes fantas very tically tattooed, particularly the breast, back, and arms. Their process of tattooing consists in making numerous small incisions in the skin, over which they rub a kind of paste, usually made of the ashes of a particular shrub, mixed with palm-oil, which leaves an indelible impression, somewhat darker than the contiguous surface. 11. Domestic slavery is very common among all the tribes to which I have alluded, and I presume among all the numerous tribes throughout the whole of Africa. So far as I was able to learn, the Kroomen and the Fishmen are the only tribes on that part of the western coast who do not enslave persons of their tribe; they never enslave each other, and they are seldom enslaved by others. They, however, frequently possess slaves of other tribes, and they are the most active "aiders and abettors" of the nefarious traffic on that part of the coast. They are generally employed in conducting the slaves from the marts on the coast to the slave ships; and from them principally is derived the information relative to the state of the trade. 12. In most cases the slaves owned by individuals of any tribe are of some other tribe. Those who are captured in the wars, and thus reduced to slavery, are generally sold to foreigners; while many of those who are purchased are kept for years by the individuals to whom they belong. It is not uncommon for one man to own several scores of slaves; and in some cases, among the wealthy sons of the forest, several hundreds of their fellow-beings submit in humble obedience to the authority of their princely master. It is not improbable, indeed, that at least five sixths of the whole population of Africa are slaves. In visiting an African hamlet, however, a stranger would be at a loss to distinguish slaves from free men, or even from their masters. But, though they are of similar complexion, and though no prominent mark or badge of distinction can be seen by strangers, yet slaves are easily recognized by other members of the same community, and by members of other communities of the same tribes, and even by individuals of contiguous tribes. 13. In many cases, however, they live as well as their masters do; and in some cases the state of bondage is apparently only nominal. But, like slaves in other countries, they are always deprived of certain civil and political immunities, which deprivation of course tends to degrade them in the estimation of their more highly favored neighbors. On some parts of the coast, however, as in the vicinity of the Gaboon River, and perhaps in many other parts of Africa, slaves are generally treated with the utmost severity, and are regarded by the free people with the utmost detestation. I have been informed that among some tribes they are held in so little estimation, that the master may take their lives (which is not unfrequently done) for the most trifling offense, with perfect impunity, no legal process ever being instituted to punish the inhuman master in any way; and the only punishment which any other free man would have to endure for a similar offense, would be the payment of the valuation of the slave to his master. 14. In many communities the number of slaves is much greater than that of the free persons; and it might be supposed that insurrections would be common. This, however, is not the case. It might also be supposed that slaves would frequently run away, inasmuch as no recognized marks of distinction between masters and slaves exist in Africa. But they seldom resort to this expedient to obtain their freedom, knowing as they do that such a course (to use a familiar simile) would be a jump from the frying pan into the fire, inasmuch as they would be doomed to slavery by the people among whom they had fled; and very probably their situation would be worse than before. 15. The ordinary valuation of an able-bodied slave is about thirty dollars in goods, being from fifteen to twenty dollars in money. Young females generally sell for a |