Arrival of the Macedonian--Return to the Coast of Africa--Emigrants to
Liberia--Tornadoes--Maryland in Liberia--Nature of its Government--Perils
of the Bar--Mr. Russwurm--The Grebo Tribe--Manner of disposing of their
Dead.
_September_ 9.--Weighed anchor, and stood out to sea. At 8 o'clock A.M.,
made the frigate Macedonian. She saluted the broad pennant, and both ships
bore up for Porto Grande, where we anchored, and read the news from home.
11.--The Commodore left the ship, and hoisted his broad pennant on board
the Macedonian.
16.--Sailed at 6 o'clock P.M., for Porto Praya.
17.--Anchored at Porto Praya, where we find the Decatur, which arrived
yesterday, after a passage of forty-five days from Norfolk.
22.--Sailed in the evening for the coast.
_October_ 7.--Off Cape Mount.
8.--Ashore at Monrovia. It being Sunday, we attended the Methodist Church.
Mr. Teage, editor of the Liberia Herald, preached an appropriate and
well-written discourse, on occasion of admitting three men and a woman to
church-membership. One of the males was a white, who had married a colored
woman in America, and came out to the colony with Mr. McDonough's people,
some time ago. His wife being dead, he has married another woman of color,
and is determined to live and die here.
10.--Dined with the Governor. Visited the house of a poor colonist, a
woman with two children and no husband. She endeavors to support her
family by washing. Two or three, other women of the neighborhood dropped
in. It is said that the proportion of female emigrants to males is as
three and a half to one. Unless it be expected that these women are to
work in the fields, it is difficult to imagine how they are to earn a
subsistence. A little chance washing and sewing, not enough to employ one
in ten, is all they have to depend upon. The consequence is, that every
person, of even moderate means of living, has two or three women to feed
and clothe. They do not need their services, but cannot let them starve.
This is one of the drawbacks upon Colonization.
Even the able-bodied men are generally unfit for promoting the prosperity
of the colony. A very large proportion of them are slaves, just liberated.
Accustomed to be ruled and taken care of by others, they are no better
than mere children, as respects the conduct and economy of life. In
America, their clothes, food, medicines, and all other necessaries, have
been furnished without a thought on their own part; and when sent to
Liberia, with high notions of freedom and exemption from labor (ideas
which with many are synonymous), they prove totally inadequate to sustain
themselves. I perceive, in Colonization reports, that the owners of slaves
frequently offer to liberate them, on condition of their being sent to
Liberia; and that the Society has contracted debts, and embarrassed itself
in various ways, rather than let such offers pass. In my opinion, many of
the slaves, thus offered, are of little value to the donors, and of even
less to the cause of Colonization. Better to discriminate carefully in the
selection of emigrants, than to send out such numbers of the least
eligible class, to become burdens upon the industrious and intelligent,
who might otherwise enjoy comfort and independence. Many a colonist, at
this moment, sacrifices his interest to his humanity, and feels himself
kept back in life by the urgent claims of compassion.
The Society allows to new emigrants provisions for six months. After that
period, if unable to take care of themselves, they must either starve, or
be supported by the charitable. Fifty young or middle-aged men, who had
been accustomed to self-guidance in America, would do more to promote the
prosperity of the colony, than five hundred such emigrants as are usually
sent out. The thievish propensity of many of the poor and indolent
colonists is much complained of by the industrious. On this account, more
than any other, it is difficult to raise stock. The vice has been acquired
in America, and is not forgotten in Africa.
13.--A rainy morning. Last night we were all roused from sleep by the sea
coming into the starboard air-ports. We of the larboard side laughed at
the misfortune of our comrades, and closed our own ports, without taking
the precaution to screw them in. Half an hour afterwards, a very heavy
swell assailed us on the larboard, beat in all the loose ports, and
deluged the rooms. I found myself suddenly awakened and cooled by a
cataract of water pouring over me. Out jumped the larboard sleepers, in
dripping night-gear, and shouted lustily for lights, buckets, and swabs;
while the starboard gentlemen laughed long and loud, in their turn.
14.--Sailed for the leeward.
17.--Beautiful weather. This afternoon all hands were called to shorten
sail, in those earnest, startling tones, which are prompted by the sense
of danger alone. Every man sprang to his station with the instinctive
readiness of disciplined seamen. The idlers were all on deck, and looked
about for the cause. Had a man fallen overboard? No! Nor was there any
particular appearance of a squall. But the earnest gaze of the commander
and a passenger, towards the shore, drew all eyes in the same direction;
and, behold! a smoke was seen rising from the land, which had been
mistaken for the cloud that precedes the tornado. It is necessary to
prepare for many blows that do not come. In the tornado-seasons (which may
be estimated at four or five weeks, about the months of March and
November), there are frequent appearances of squalls, sometimes as often
as twice or thrice in twenty-four hours. The horizon grows black, with
very much the aspect of a thunder-shower in America. Generally, the
violence of the wind does not equal the apprehensions always entertained.
We could have carried royals through nineteen out of twenty of the
tornadoes that assailed our ship; but the twentieth might have taken the
sticks out of us. The harmless, as well as the heavy tornadoes, have the
same black and threatening aspect. They usually blow from the land,
although once, while at anchor, we experienced one from seaward.
19.--Anchored at Cape Palmas. This colony is independent, of Liberia
proper, and is under the jurisdiction and patronage of the Maryland State
Colonization Society. Its title is Maryland in Liberia. The local
government is composed of an agent and an assistant agent, both to be
appointed by the Society at home, for two years; a secretary, to be
appointed by the agent annually; and a vice-agent, two counsellors, a
register, a sheriff, a treasurer, and a committee on new emigrants, to be
chosen by the people. Several minor officers are appointed by the agent,
who is entrusted with great powers. The judiciary consists of the agent,
and a competent number of justices of the peace, who are appointed by him,
and two of whom, together with the agent, constitute the Supreme Court. A
single justice has jurisdiction in small criminal cases, and in all civil
cases where the claim does not exceed twenty dollars.
Male colored people, at twenty years of age, are entitled to vote, if they
hold land in their own right, or pay a tax of one dollar. Every emigrant
must sign a pledge to support the constitution, and to refrain from the
use of ardent spirits, except in case of sickness. By a provision of the
constitution, emigration is never to be prohibited.
Our boat attempted to land at some rocks, just outside of the port, in
order to avoid crossing the bar; but as the tide was low, and the surf
troublesome, we found it impracticable. I hate a bar; there is no fair
play about it. The long rollers come in from the sea, and, in consequence
of the shallowness of the water, seem to pile themselves up so as
inevitably to overwhelm you, unless you have skilful rowers, a good
helmsman, and a lively boat. At one moment, your keel, perhaps, touches
the sand; the next, you are lifted upon a wave and borne swiftly along for
many yards, while the men lie on their oars, or only pull an occasional
stroke, to keep the boat's head right. Now they give way with a will, to
escape a white-crested wave that comes trembling and roaring after them;
and now again they cease rowing, or back water, awaiting a favorable
moment to cross. Should you get into a trough of the sea, you stand a very
pretty chance to be swamped, and have your boat rolled over and over upon
its crew; while, perchance, a hungry shark may help himself to a leg or
arm.
Pulling across this ugly barrier, we landed at the only wharf of which the
colony can boast. There is here a stone warehouse, but of no great size.
In front of it lay a large log, some thirty feet long, on which twelve or
fourteen full grown natives were roosting, precisely like turkeys on a
pole. They are accustomed to sit for hours together in this position,
resting upon their heels. A girl presented us with a note, informing all
whom it might concern, that Mrs. ---- would do our washing; but, as the
ship's stay was to be short, we turned our attention to the cattle, of
which a score or two were feeding in the vicinity. They are small, but,
having been acclimated, are sleek and well-conditioned. As I have before
observed, it is a well-established fact, that all four-footed emigrants
are not less subject to the coast fever than bipeds. Horses, cattle, and
even fowls, whether imported or brought from the interior to the coast,
speedily sicken, and often die.
I dined with Mr. Russwurm, the colonial agent, a man of distinguished
ability and of collegiate education. He gave me, some monkey-skins and
other curiosities, and favored me with much information respecting the
establishment. The mean temperature of the place is eighty degrees of
Fahrenheit, which is something less than that of Monrovia, on account of
its being more open to the sea. The colony comprises six hundred and fifty
inhabitants, all of whom dwell within four miles of the Cape. Besides the
settlement of Harper, situated on the Cape itself, there is that of Mount
Tubman (named in honor of Mr. T. of Georgia), which lies beyond Mount
Vaughan, and three and a half miles from Cape Palmas. There is no road to
the interior of the country, except a native path. The agent, with a party
of twenty, recently penetrated about seventy miles into the Bush, passing
through two tribes, and coming to a third, of large numbers and strength.
The king of the latter tribe has a large town, where many manufactures are
carried on, such as iron implements and wooden furniture of various kinds.
He refused Mr. Russwurm an escort, alleging that there was war, but sent
his son to the coast, to see the _black-white_ people and their
improvements.
A large native tribe, the Grebo, dwells at Cape Palmas in the midst of the
colonists. Their conical huts, to the number of some hundreds, present the
most interesting part of the scene. Opposite the town, upon an uninhabited
island at no great distance, the dead are exposed, clad in their best
apparel, and furnished with food, cloth, crockery, and other articles. A
canoe is placed over the body. This island of the dead is called by a
name, which, in the plainest of English, signifies "Go-to-Hell;" a
circumstance that seems to imply very gloomy anticipations as to the fate
of their deceased brethren, on the part of these poor Grebos. As a badge
of mourning, they wear cloth of dark blue, instead of gayer colors. Dark
blue is universally, along the coast, the hue indicative of mourning.
The Fishmen, at Cape Palmas, as well as at most other places on the coast,
refuse to sell fish to be eaten on board of vessels, believing that the
remains of the dead fish will frighten away the living ones.
21.--Sailed at 5 o'clock A.M., with a good wind, and anchored at Sinoe at
6 P.M.