colonists in friendly alliance. This territory
spread over both banks of the Cavally River, and from the ocean to the
town of Netea, which is thirty miles from the mouth of the river. In
the immediate vicinity of Cape Palmas,--say within an area of twenty
miles,--there was a native population of twenty-five thousand. Were we
to go toward the interior from the Cape about forty-five or fifty
miles, we should find a population of at least seventy thousand
natives, the majority of whom we are sure are anxious to enjoy the
blessings of education, trade, civilization, and Christianity. The
country about Cape Palmas is very beautiful and fertile. The cape
extends out into the sea nearly a mile, the highest place being about
one hundred and twenty-five feet. Looking from the beach, the ground
rises gradually until its distant heights are crowned with heavy,
luxuriant foliage and dense forest timber. And to plant this colony
the Maryland Legislature appropriated the sum of two hundred thousand
dollars! And the colony has done worthily, has grown rapidly, and at
present enjoys all the blessings of a Christian community. Not many
years ago it declared its independence.

But Liberia, in the proper use of the term, is applied to all the
settlements along the West Coast of Africa that were founded by
Colored people from the United States. It is the most beautiful spot
on the entire coast. The view is charming in approaching this country,
Rev. Charles Rockwell says,--

"One is struck with the dark green hue which the rank and
luxuriant growth of forest and of field everywhere presents.
In this it respect it strongly resembles in appearance the
dark forests of evergreens which line a portion of the coast
of Eastern Virginia ... At different points there are capes
or promontories rising from thirty to forty to one or two
hundred feet above the level of the sea; while at other
places the land, though somewhatuneven, has not, near the
sea, any considerable hills. In some places near the mouths
of the rivers are thickly wooded marshes; but on entering
the interior of the country the ground gradually rises, the
streams become rapid, and at the distance of twenty miles or
more from the sea, hills, and beyond them mountains, are
often met with."

The physical, social, and political bondage of the Colored people in
America before the war was most discouraging. They were