They are now represented by about seventeen chief, and two hundred
minor, tribes. A hundred languages, according to Mr. Koelle, increased to
a hundred and fifty by Bishop Vidal, and reduced to sixty by Mr. Griffith,
are spoken in the streets of Freetown, a 'city' which in 1860 numbered
17,000 and now 22,000 souls. The inextricably mixed descendants of the
liberateds may be a total of 35,430, more than half the sum of the
original settlement, 53,862. Being mostly criminals, and _ergo_ more
energetic spirits, they have been the most petted and patronised by
colonial rule. There were governors who attempted to enforce our wise old
regulations touching apprenticeship, still so much wanted in the merchant
navy; but disgust, recall, or death always shortened their term of office.
Naturally enough, the 'Cruits' were fiercely hated by Colonists, Settlers,
and Maroons. Mrs. Melville reports an elderly woman exclaiming, 'Well,
'tis only my wonder that we (settlers) do not rise up in one body and
_kill_ and _slay_, _kill_ and _slay!_ Dem Spanish and Portuguese sailors
were quite right in making slaves. I would do de same myself, suppose I
were in dere place.' 'He is only a liberated!' is a favourite sneer at the
new arrivals; so in the West Indies, by a curious irony of fate,
'Willyfoss nigger' is a term of abuse addressed to a Congo or Guinea
'recaptive.
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