British cruiser and two American ships of war.

The weather resumed its old mood, a mixture in equal parts of 'Smokes' and
of Harmatan or Scirocco. At noon next day we steamed by Cape Mount, the
northernmost boundary of Liberia, [Footnote: The 'liberateds' of Liberia,
who lose nothing by not asking, claim the shore from the Sam Pedro River
southwards to the Jong, an affluent of the Shebar or Sherbro stream, 90
miles north of Cape Mount. We admit their pretensions as far only as the
Sugary River, four miles above the Máfá (Mafaw), or Cape Mount stream.] a
noble landmark and a place with a future. Approaching it, we first see the
dwarf bar of the Máfá, draining a huge lagoon ('Fisherman's Lake'). On the
banks and streams are sundry little villages, Kru Town and Port Robert,
the American mission-ground. The harbour is held to be the first of five,
the others being Monrovia; Grand Bassá (Bassaw), with Edina; Sinou, and
Cape Palmas.

The Mount is an isolated rocky tongue rising suddenly like an island from
the low levels, and trending north-west to south-east. The site is
perfectly healthy; the ground is gravel, not clay, and the stone is
basalt. The upper heights are forested and full of game; the lower are
cleared and await the colonist. With the pure and keen Atlantic breeze
ever blowing over it, the Mount is a ready-made sanatorium. Its youth has
been disreputable. Here Captain Canot, [Footnote: _Wanderings in West
Africa_, vol. i. chap. v.] the Franco-Italian lieutenant of Pedro Blanco,
sold the coast till compelled by H.M. cruisers to fall back upon honest
trade. His name survives in 'Canot's Tree,' under whose shade he held his
palavers. Let us hope that the respectable middle age of Cape Mount will
be devoted to curing the sick coaster.

Beyond this fine headland, a handsome likeness of Holyhead seen from the