manumission: the unsophisticated _libertus_ himself would not dream of
claiming it. We have on board a white-headed negro in an old and
threadbare Dutch uniform, returning from Java on a yearly pension of
fifteen dollars. According to treaty he had been given by the King of
Ashanti to the Hollanders, and he had served them so long that he spoke
only Low German and Malay. He will be compelled to end his career
somewhere within the range of our fort-guns, or his owner's family will
claim and carry off their property.

At 8 A.M. we steamed against a fine fresh wind past mount Mesurado _en
route_ for Grand Bassá (Bassaw), distant fifty-five miles. To port lies
Montserrado County, where the shore-strip looks comparatively high and
healthy. The Bassás begin some thirty miles below the Jong River, and now
we enter the regions of Grand, Middle, and Little Piccaninny
(_pequenino_), Whole and Half, _i.e._ half-way. Thus we pass, going
south-wards, Bassá, Middle Bassá, Grand Bassá, and Bassá Cove, followed by
Cestos and Cess, Settra and Sesters, Whole and Half. The coast is well
known, while the interior is almost unexplored. Probably there is no
inducement to attract strangers.

We are grateful for small mercies, and note a picturesque view from the
open roadstead of Grand Bassá. The flats are knobbed with lumpy mounds;
North Saddle Hill, with its central seat; Tall Hill; the blue ridges of
the Bassá Hills, and St. John's Hill upon the line of its river. Nothing
can be healthier than these sites, which are well populated; and the
slopes are admirably fitted for that 'Arabian berry' whose proper home is
Africa. But, while hill-coffee has superior flavour lowland-coffee is
preferred in commerce, because the grain is larger and heavier.

Grand Bassá is the only tract in Liberia where the Sá Leonite is still