them, treating the theft as a matter of course.

The citizens gave me sundry details about the 'rubber'-trade, which began
in 1877. Monrovia now exports to England and the Continent some 100,000
lbs., which sell at 1_s_. 4_d_. each. Gum-elastic is gathered chiefly by
the Bassá people, who are, however, too lazy to keep it clean; they store
it in grass-bags and transport it in canoes. Liberian coffee is, or rather
would be, famous if produced in sufficient quantities to satisfy demand.
At present it goes chiefly to the United States, where, like Mocha, it
serves to flavour burnt maize. Messieurs Spiers and Pond would buy any
quantity of it, and of late years Brazilian coffee-planters have taken
shoots to be grown at home. Here it fetches 1_s_. per lb.; in England the
price doubles. This coffee requires keeping for many months, or the
infusion is potent enough to cause the 'shakes;' it is the same with
Brazilian green tea. The bouquet is excellent, and the flavour pretty
good. There is a great difference in the shape of the beans, which range
between the broad flat Harar and the small, round, horny Mocha.

I could obtain few details concerning the 'Black Devil Society,' which
suggests the old 'Know-nothings.' It has been, they say, somewhat active
in flogging strangers, especially Sá Leone men. Most of the latter,
however, have been expelled for refusing to change their style from
'subjects' to 'citizens'--a foreign word in English and Anglo-African
ears.

At the time of our visit the republic was in a parlous state. H.E. Mr.
Gardiner, the new President, refused to swear in the Upper House, and the
Lower refused to acknowledge the Presidential authority. Consequently
business had been at a standstill for six weeks. We were disappointed in
our hopes of being accompanied by the Honourable Professor E. W. Blyden,