deposit, while the only two servants who
continued faithful were secured to me as apprentices by the court.
Scarcely more than two months ago, the people of this quiet village
were disturbed from sleep by the roll of drums beating for recruits to
march against "_the slaver Canot_;" to-day I dine with the chief of
the colony and am welcomed as a brother! This is another of those
remarkable vicissitudes that abound in this work, and which the
critics, in all likelihood, may consider too often repeated. To my
mind, however, it is only another illustration of the probability of
the odd and the strangeness of _truth_!

I had no difficulty in finding all sorts of workmen in Monrovia, for
the colonists brought with them all the mechanical ingenuity and
thrift that characterize the American people. In four months, with the
assistance of a few carpenters, sawyers and blacksmiths, I built a
charming little craft of twenty-five tons, which, in honor of my
British protector, I dubbed the "Termagant." I notice the construction
of this vessel, merely to show that the colony and its people were
long ago capable of producing every thing that may be required by a
commercial state in the tropics. When my cutter touched the water, she
was indebted to foreign countries for nothing but her copper, chains
and sails, every thing else being the product of Africa and _colonial_
labor. Had nature bestowed a better harbor on the Mesurado river, and
afforded a safer entrance for large vessels, Monrovia would now be
second only to Sierra Leone. Following the beautiful border of the
Saint Paul's, a few miles from Monrovia the eye rests on extensive
plains teeming with luxurious vegetation. The amplest proof has been
given of the soil's fertility in the production of coffee, sugar,
cotton and rice. I have frequently seen cane fourteen feet high, and
as thick as any I ever met with in the Indies. Coffee-trees grow much
larger than on this side of the Atlantic; single trees often yielding
sixteen pounds, which is about seven more than the average product in
the West Indies.[H] Throughout the entire jurisdiction between Cape
Mount and Cape Palmas, to the St. Andrew's, the soil is equally
prolific. Oranges, lemons, cocoanuts, pine-apples, mangoes, plums,
granadillas, sour and sweet sop, plantains, bananas, guyavas,
tamarinds, ginger, sweet potatoes, yams, cassava, and corn, are found
in abundance; while the industry of American settlers has lately added