in this direction. Unfortunately the climate of Liberia is said to be so unhealthy from the constant rains that there seems to be some ground for the suspicion. It is a real misfortune for the youthful colony, which otherwise is favoured by the unbounded fertility of the country around, and by its affluence in valuable tropical growth. The colony of Liberia however increases, although not rapidly, in population and trade, governed by rulers of its own election, and with churches, school-houses, printing-presses, warehouses, and shops. Three cities are already founded there.
Commodore Perry in his account of the condition of the American-African colony, describes the settlement at Monovia as especially promising for trade, and that at Cape Palms for agriculture. For the rest, he describes the negroes of the colony as devoted to small trade rather than to agriculture. And this seems to be the bias of the negroes in all the native colonies along the coast. “Some of the colonists,” says he, “have become wealthy through this small trade, whilst others again obtain merely a sufficient maintenance.”
“But,” adds the Commodore, “it is pleasant to see the comforts with which a great number of these people have surrounded themselves; many of them enjoy conveniences of life which were unknown to the first settlers in North America. Want seems not to exist among them. If some of them suffer, it must be in consequence of their own laziness.
“I had at Cape Palms an opportunity of seeing the small farms or clearings of the colonists. These exhibited considerable labour, and were beginning by degrees to assume the appearance of well cultivated fields. The roads through the whole of this settlement were remarkably good when the youth of the colony and its small means were taken into consideration.
“At all the various settlements the laws were faithfully
