t, but will work hard for a time; clever up to a certain point,
densely stupid beyond. The intelligence of an average negro is about
equal to that of a European child of ten years old. A few, a very few,
go beyond this, but these are exceptions, just as Shakespeare was an
exception to the ordinary intellect of an Englishman. They are fluent
talkers, but their ideas are borrowed. They are absolutely without
originality, absolutely without inventive power. Living among white men,
their imitative faculties enable them to attain a considerable amount
of civilization. Left alone to their own devices they retrograde into a
state little above their native savagery."

This was said as, after having fixed upon a boat and literally fought
their way into it, they were rowed towards the shore. On landing Frank
was delighted with the greenness of everything. The trees were heavy
with luxuriant foliage, the streets were green with grass as long and
bright as that in a country lane in England. The hill on which the
barracks stand was as bright a green as you would see on English slopes
after a wet April, while down the streets clear streams were running.
The town was alive with a chattering, laughing, good natured, excitable
population, all black, but with some slight variation in the dinginess
of the hue.

Never was there such a place for fun as Sierra Leone. Every one was
brimful of it. Every one laughed when he or she spoke, and every one
standing near joined freely in the conversation and laughed too. Frank
was delighted with the display of fruit in the market, which is probably
unequaled in the world. Great piles there were of delicious big oranges,
green but perfectly sweet, and of equally refreshing little green limes;
pineapples and bananas, green, yellow, and red, guava, and custard
apples, alligator pears, melons, and sour sops, and many other native
fruits.

Mr. Goodenough purchased a large basket of fruit, which they took with
them on board the ship. The next morning they started down the coast.
They passed Liberia, the republic formed of liberated slaves, and of
negroes from America, and brought up a mile or two off Monrovia, its
capital. The next day they anchored off Cape Palmas, the headquarters of
the Kroomen. A number of these men came off in their canoes, and caused
great amusement to Frank and the other passengers by their fun and
dexterity in the management of their little craft. These boats
are extremely light