Return to Monrovia--Sail for Porto Praya--The Union Hotel--Reminiscences
of famine at the Cape de Verds--Frolics of Whalemen--Visit to the island
of St. Antonio--A dance--Fertility of the island--A Yankee clock-maker--A
mountain ride--City of Poverson--Point de Sol--Kindness of the women--The
handsome commandant--A Portuguese dinner.


_August_ 14.--Passed near Sinoe, a colonial settlement, but did not show
our colors. An English merchant brig was at anchor. Our pilot observed,
that this settlement was not in a flourishing condition, because it
received no great "_resistance_" from the Colonization Society. Of
course, he meant to say, "_assistance_;" but there was an unintentional
philosophy in the remark. Many plants thrive best in adversity.

Anchored at the river Sesters, and sent a boat ashore. Two canoes paddled
alongside, and their head-men came on board. One was a beautifully formed
man, and walked the deck with a picturesque dignity of aspect and motion.
He had more the movement of an Indian, than any negro I ever saw. Two men
were left in each boat, to keep her alongside, and wait the movements of
their master. They kneel in the boat, and sit on their heels. When a
biscuit is thrown to them, they put it on their thighs, and thence eat it
at their leisure.

16.--Ashore at Monrovia. The buildings look dilapidated, and the wooden
walls are in a state of decay. Houses of stone are coming into vogue.
There is a large stone court-house, intended likewise for a Legislative
Hall. What most interested me, was an African pony, a beautiful animal,
snow white, with a head as black as ebony. I also saw five men chained
together, by the neck; three colonists and two natives, with an overseer
superintending them. They had been splitting stone for Government.