Liberian coffee is, or rather
would be, famous if produced in sufficient quantities to satisfy demand.
At present it goes chiefly to the United States, where, like Mocha, it
serves to flavour burnt maize. Messieurs Spiers and Pond would buy any
quantity of it, and of late years Brazilian coffee-planters have taken
shoots to be grown at home. Here it fetches 1_s_. per lb.; in England the
price doubles. This coffee requires keeping for many months, or the
infusion is potent enough to cause the 'shakes;' it is the same with
Brazilian green tea. The bouquet is excellent, and the flavour pretty
good. There is a great difference in the shape of the beans, which range
between the broad flat Harar and the small, round, horny Mocha.
I could obtain few details concerning the 'Black Devil Society,' which
suggests the old 'Know-nothings.' It has been, they say, somewhat active
in flogging strangers, especially Sa Leone men. Most of the latter,
however, have been expelled for refusing to change their style from
'subjects' to 'citizens'--a foreign word in English and Anglo-African
ears.
At the time of our visit the republic was in a parlous state. H.E. Mr.
Gardiner, the new President, refused to swear in the Upper House, and the
Lower refused to acknowledge the Presidential authority.
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