The prominent building is still the large white-washed mission-house with
its ample windows and shady piazzas: the sons of St. Benedict could not
have placed it better. In rear lies the square tower yclept a lighthouse,
and manipulated like that of Monrovia; its range is said to be thirteen
miles, but it rarely shows beyond five. An adjacent flagstaff bears above
the steamer-signal the Liberian arms, stripes and a lone star not unknown
to the ages between Assyria and Texas. The body of the settlement lying
upon the river is called Harper, after a 'remarkable negro,' and its
suburbs lodge the natives. When I last visited it the people were rising
to the third stage of their architecture. The first, or nomad, is the hide
or mat thrown over a bush or a few standing sticks; then comes the
cylinder, the round hovel of the northern and southern regions, with the
extinguisher or the oven-shaped thatch-roof; and, lastly, the square or
oblong form which marks growing civilisation. The American missionaries
laboured strenuously to build St. Mark's Hospital and Church, the latter a
very creditable piece of lumber-work, with 500 seats in nave and aisles.
But now everything hereabouts is 'down in its luck.
Pages:
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80