LIBERIA
A more fertile soil, and a more productive country, so far as it is cultivated, there is not, we believe, on the face of the earth. Its hills and its plains are covered with a verdure which never fades; the productions of nature keep on in their growth through all the seasons of the year. Even the natives of the country, almost without farming tools, without skill, and with very little labor, raise more grain and vegetables than they can consume, and often more than they can sell. Cattle, swine, fowls, ducks, goats, and sheep, thrive without feeding, and require no other care than to keep them from straying. Cotton, coffee, indigo, and the sugar cane, are all the spontaneous growth of our forests, and may be cultivated at pleasure, to any extent, by such as are disposed. The same may be said of rice, Indian corn, Guinea corn, millet, and too many species of fruits and vegetables to be enumerated. Add to all this, we have no dreary winter here, for one-half of the year to consume the productions of the other half. Nature is constantly renewing herself, and constantly pouring her treasures, all the year round, into the laps of the industrious.—Address by Liberians: 1827.
DESCRIPTION
Physiography
—1. There are various inherent difficulties in African Geography. The population of the Dark Continent is composed of an enormous number of separate tribes, each with its own name, each with its own language. Most of these tribes are small and occupy but small areas. For a mountain, or other conspicuous natural landmark, each tribe will have its own name. What name is given by a traveler to the feature will be a matter of accident, depending upon the tribe among which he may be at the time that he inquires about the name; different names may thus be easily applied to the same place, and confusion of course results. Even within the limits of a single tribe different names in the one language may be applied to the same place; thus, it is regular for rivers to have different names in different parts of their course; it is nothing uncommon for the same river to have four or five names among the people of a single tribe, for this reason. Throughout Negro Africa, towns are generally called by the name of the chief; when he dies, the name of the town changes, that of the new chief being assumed. Again, throughout Africa, towns change location frequently; they may be rebuilt upon almost the same spot as they before occupied, or they may be placed in distant and totally new surroundings. For all these reasons, it is difficult to follow the itinerary of any traveler a few years after his report has been published. All these difficulties exist in Liberia, as in other parts of Africa. More than that, Liberia has itself been sadly neglected by explorers. Few expeditions into the interior have been so reported as to give adequate information. Sir Harry Johnston says that the interior of Liberia is the “least known part of Africa.”
2. Liberia is situated on the west coast of Africa, in the western part of what on old maps was known as Upper Guinea. Both Upper and Lower Guinea have long been frequented by European traders; different parts of the long coast line have received special names according to the natural products which form their characteristic feature in trade; thus we have the Grain Coast, Ivory Coast, Slave Coast, Gold Coast. Liberia is the same as the old Grain Coast and was so called because from it were taken the grains of “Malagueta Pepper,” once a notable import in Europe. Liberia has a coast line of some 350 miles, from the Mano River on the west to the Caballa River on the east and includes the country extending from 7° 33′ west to 11° 32′ west longitude, and from 4° 22′ north to 8° 50′ north latitude. Its area is approximately 43,000 square miles—a little more than that of the state of Ohio.
3. The coast of Liberia is for the most part low and singularly uninteresting. Throughout most of its extent a rather narrow sandy beach is exposed to an almost continuous beating of surf; there is not a single good natural harbor; where rivers enter the sea there is regularly a dangerous bar; here and there, ragged reefs of rocks render entrance difficult. There is no place where vessels actually attempt to make an entrance; they regularly anchor at a considerable distance from the shore and load and unload by means of canoes and small boats sent out from the towns. At Cape Mount near the western limit of the country a promontory rises to a height of 1068 feet above the sea. It is the most striking feature of the whole coast. There is no other until Cape Mesurado, upon which the city of Monrovia stands; it is a notable cliff, but rises only to a height of 290 feet. At Bafu Point, east of the Sanguin River, there is a noticeable height. These three, diminishing from west to east, are the only three actual interruptions in the monotonous coast line.
4. Five-sixths of the total area of the Republic is covered with a forest, dense even for the tropics. Almost everywhere this forest comes close down to the sandy beach and the impression made upon the traveler who sails along the coast is one of perpetual verdure. The highest lands are found in the east half of the country. In the region of the Upper Caballa River just outside of Liberia, French authorities claim that Mount Druple rises to a height of 3000 meters. The same authorities claim that the highest point of the Nimba Mountains, which occurs within the limits of Liberia, is about 2000 meters (6560 feet). Further south is the Satro-Nidi-Kelipo mass of highlands bordering the Caballa basin on the southwest; Sir Harry Johnson claims that it offers nothing more than 4000 feet in height. Northeast of the Caballa are Gamutro and Duna which rise to 5000 feet. There are no heights comparable to these found in the western half of the Republic, though there are peaks of significance among the upper waters of the St. Paul’s River and its tributaries. In the lower half of this river’s course there is a hilly or mountainous region known as the Po Hills, where possible heights of 3000 feet may be reached. In the northwestern part of the country the forest gives way to the Mandingo Plateau, high grass-land. Benjamin Anderson, a Liberian explorer, says that he emerged from the forest at Bulota where the ground rose to the height of 2253 feet. This plateau region is open park-like country of tall grass with few trees.
Very little as yet is known of the geology of Liberia. On the whole, its rocks appear to be ancient metamorphic rocks—gneiss, granulite, amphibolite, granites, pegmatite, all abundantly intersected by quartz veins. Decomposition products from these rocks overlie most of the country. The material and structure of the coast region is concealed by deposits of recent alluvium and the dense growth of forest; a conspicuous lithological phenomenon is laterite which covers very considerable areas and is the result of the disintegration of gneiss. As yet little is known of actual mineral values. Gold certainly occurs; magnetite and limonite appear to be widely distributed and are no doubt in abundant quantity; copper, perhaps native, certainly in good ores, occurs in the western part of the country; various localities of corundum are known, and it is claimed that rubies of good quality have been found; companies have been organized for the mining of diamonds, and it is claimed that actual gems are obtained.