In January 1820 the first emigrants embarked
from New York for 'Liberia.' The original grant of land was made (April
1822) to the 'American Society for Colonising the Free People of the
United States,' by King Peter and sundry chiefs of the Grain Coast, who
little knew what they were doing. The place was described in those days as
an Inferno, the very head and front of the export trade, the waters
swarming with slavers, the shore bearing forty slave-factories, and the
whole showing scenes of horror which made the site 'Satan's seat of
abominations.' It has now changed its nature with its name, and has become
the head-quarters of Dullness, that goddess who, we are assured, never
dies.
Mesurado Mount, with the inverted cataract rushing white up its black
rocks, is a picturesque feature. Halfway clearings for coffee-plantations,
with a lime-washed bungalow, the President's country-quarters, lead to the
feathered and forested crest which bears the 'pharos.' This protection
against wreck is worse than nothing; it is lighted with palm-oil every
night, and then left to its own sweet will. Consequently the red glimmer,
supposed to show at thirteen miles, is rarely visible beyond three.
Pages:
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69