We admit their pretensions as far only as the
Sugary River, four miles above the Mafa (Mafaw), or Cape Mount stream.] a
noble landmark and a place with a future. Approaching it, we first see the
dwarf bar of the Mafa, draining a huge lagoon ('Fisherman's Lake'). On the
banks and streams are sundry little villages, Kru Town and Port Robert,
the American mission-ground. The harbour is held to be the first of five,
the others being Monrovia; Grand Bassa (Bassaw), with Edina; Sinou, and
Cape Palmas.
The Mount is an isolated rocky tongue rising suddenly like an island from
the low levels, and trending north-west to south-east. The site is
perfectly healthy; the ground is gravel, not clay, and the stone is
basalt. The upper heights are forested and full of game; the lower are
cleared and await the colonist. With the pure and keen Atlantic breeze
ever blowing over it, the Mount is a ready-made sanatorium. Its youth has
been disreputable. Here Captain Canot, [Footnote: _Wanderings in West
Africa_, vol. i. chap. v.] the Franco-Italian lieutenant of Pedro Blanco,
sold the coast till compelled by H.M. cruisers to fall back upon honest
trade. His name survives in 'Canot's Tree,' under whose shade he held his
palavers.
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