John's Hill upon the line of its river. Nothing
can be healthier than these sites, which are well populated; and the
slopes are admirably fitted for that 'Arabian berry' whose proper home is
Africa. But, while hill-coffee has superior flavour lowland-coffee is
preferred in commerce, because the grain is larger and heavier.
Grand Bassa is the only tract in Liberia where the Sa Leonite is still
admitted. The foreshore of yellow sand, pointed and dotted by lines and
falls of black rock, fronts a shallow bay as foul and stony as the coast.
Here are three settlements, parted by narrow walls of 'bush.' Edina, the
northernmost, is said to do more business than any other port in the
republic; she also builds fine, strong surf-boats of German and American
type, carrying from one to five tons. The keels are bow-shaped, never
straight-lined from stem to stern; and the breakers are well under the
craft before their mighty crests toss it aloft and fling it into the deep
trough. They are far superior to the boats with weather-boards in the fore
which formerly bore us to land. The crew scoop up the water as if digging
with the paddle; they vary the exercise by highly eccentric movements, and
they sing savage barcarolles the better to keep time.
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