Not a little curious that our country
supplied the money both to carry on the _traite_ and to put it down. Three
miles south of the Gallinas the Sulayma River flows in. Here the scenery
suggests a child's first attempt at colouring in horizontal lines; a
dangerous surf ever foams white upon the yellow shore, bearing an eternal
growth of green. Two holes in the bush and a few thatched roofs, separated
by a few miles, showed the Harris factories, which caused frequent
teapot-storms between 1865 and 1878. The authorities of Liberia, model
claimants with a touch of savage mendicancy, demanded the land and
back-dues from time immemorial. 'Palaver' was at last 'set' by the late
lamented David Hopkins, consul for the Bights, in the presence of a
British cruiser and two American ships of war.
The weather resumed its old mood, a mixture in equal parts of 'Smokes' and
of Harmatan or Scirocco. At noon next day we steamed by Cape Mount, the
northernmost boundary of Liberia, [Footnote: The 'liberateds' of Liberia,
who lose nothing by not asking, claim the shore from the Sam Pedro River
southwards to the Jong, an affluent of the Shebar or Sherbro stream, 90
miles north of Cape Mount.
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