treatment is better understood, and that proper accommodations and attendance are provided, it has ceased to be so much dreaded as formerly. Two or three deaths, indeed, usually happen out of every hundred emigrants who arrive; but it is observed that the fatal cases are almost always those of persons who were previously in bad health, or who neglected the simple precautions which are prescribed to new-comers. In many cases, on the other hand, the emigrants find their health sensibly improved by the change of country.

The vegetable productions of Liberia, natural and cultivated, are very numerous. In fact, it is said-and there is no reason for doubting the statement-that every species of tropical produce is found to thrive in that country. Rice is abundant, and is cultivated on the high lands as well as on the low grounds near the coast. Indian corn, sweet-potatoes, cassada or cassava root, beans, peas, water-melons, pine-apples, oranges, lemons, guavas, mangoes, plantains, bananas, papaws, tamarinds, pomegranates, and a great variety of other edibles, afford ample supplies for the tables of the inhabitants and for the demands of shipping. Among articles which already yield valuable exports, or are likely hereafter to do so, are mentioned coffee, cotton, sugar, ginger, pepper, indigo, ground-nuts, and arrow-root. Nearly all these productions are indigenous in the country. The wild coffee-tree may frequently be met with in the woods; it is the same species as that ordinarily reared in other parts of the world, but may be much improved by cultivation. Several of the colonists have applied themselves to this branch of agriculture, which may be carried on with smaller means than are required for the cultivation of sugar or cotton, though both of these have been tried by a few individuals, and with good success. Specimens of Liberian coffee, which have been sent to the United States, have been pronounced by good judges equal to the best received from the East or West Indies. It must be remembered, however, that the population of Liberia has hitherto been too small to warrant the expectation of any large amount of agricultural exports from the settlement. Some 8000 or 10,000 emigrants, of both sexes and all ages, have had to perform the work of founding a dozen settlements along 500 miles of coast-clearing away the forest, building habitations, raising food for themselves and for a continual accession of new settlers, preserving peace among the native tribes, framing and executing laws, and labouring as teachers, physicians, traders, and mechanics of every description. The duty of the first generation of settlers has been to prepare the country for the residence of the thousands of emigrants who are expected to follow them, and most of whom, as they arrive, will naturally direct their attention to the agricultural pursuits which they followed in America. There can be but little doubt that cotton, sugar, coffee, and other tropical products, will in a few years begin to be largely exported from Liberia. At present, the chief articles of export are palm-oil and the camwood,

from which a valuable dye is extracted. The value of the annual exports was estimated in 1839 at 700,000 dollars, or L.140,000; and that of the imports at 400,000 dollars, or L.80,000. Since that time the amount of both exports and imports has considerably increased. The recent establishment (in 1852) of a monthly line of steam-packets, from Plymouth to the settlements on the western coast of Africa, including Liberia, will doubtless be of considerable advantage to the commerce of the young republic. The American Congress has lately had under its consideration a proposal for a monthly line of large steamers, to run between the United States and Liberia, for the conveyance of emigrants and merchandise. The project has been received with considerable favour, and has been recommended by the legislatures of several states. It will probably be soon adopted, and must greatly promote the progress of the little republic.

Nearly all the common domesticated animals of this country are now reared in Liberia. Cows are numerous, but do not give much milk, probably from not being properly attended to. Oxen are coming into use for ploughing and as beasts of burden. The horses which have hitherto been brought into the settlement have not thriven well, and many of them have perished of a disease similar to the fever which attacks newly arrived emigrants. They do better, however, in the inland villages. A colonist, in a recently published letter, speaks of having four horses in his stables. Sheep and goats are easily raised-the former, however, being covered with short hair instead of wool. Swine do not thrive so well, but are raised in sufficient abundance to supply the wants of the people. Fowls of every description are very numerous and cheap.

Little is yet known of the geology or mineralogy of Liberia. As in other parts of Guinea, gold is occasionally found along the banks of the streams. A colonist once accidentally discovered a quantity valued at fifty dollars, and the natives occasionally bring it in for sale. As they have been acquainted with its value for centuries, it is fortunately not probable that any large surface deposits of this metal remain to be discovered. Some of the more useful minerals, particularly copper, iron, and coal, are found in other parts of Africa, and it may reasonably be expected that future researches will bring to light similar stores of natural riches in Liberia. At present, were any mines to be discovered, the want of means to work them would render the discovery of little advantage.

For political and judicial purposes, the republic is divided into counties, which are further subdivided into townships. The counties are three in number-Montserrado, Bassa, and Sinoe-to which Maryland in Liberia will probably soon be added as a fourth. The townships are commonly about eight miles in extent. Each town is a corporation, its affairs being managed by officers chosen by the inhabitants. Courts of monthly-sessions, and of quarter

sessions, are held in each county. The civil business of the county is administered by three commissioners. There were, in 1850, eleven towns in Liberia, besides a few smaller settlements. Monrovia, the capital, has already been noticed. Other towns in Montserrado County are Caldwell, Virginia, Millsburg, and New Georgia, on or near the St Paul's River; and Marshall, on the Junk River. In Bassa County are the flourishing towns of Bassa Cove, Edina, and Bexley, on the St John's River and its branches. The lastmentioned was named in honour of the late Lord Bexley, who took a warm interest in the colony, and presented to the American Colonisation Society, of which he was one of the vice-presidents, the sum of L.500 for the purchase of the land on which the town is situated. Edina, in like manner, was so named in token of gratitude for contributions received from Edinburgh at an early period of the colony's existence. In Sinoe County is the pretty town of Greenville, at the mouth of the Sinoe River; and not far from it is the village of Readsville, formed by slaves manumitted by Mrs Read, a benevolent lady of Mississippi.

A few statistical facts remain to be added to the foregoing statement. In 1843, when the last census was taken, there were twenty-three churches in Liberia, with an aggregate of 1474 communicants, of whom 1104 were emigrants from America and their children, and 469 were native Africans, who had been converted from heathenism. In 1849, the number of churches had increased to about thirty, with, it may be presumed, a proportionate increase of members. The principal religious denominations in the republic of Liberia are the Methodists, Baptists, and Presbyterians; the Protestant Episcopalians have churches and a mission in the colony of Maryland in Liberia, under the superintendence of a bishop. In 1843, there were sixteen schools, with 562 scholars. In 1849, the number of schools had been doubled, and the number of scholars exceeded 2000. There were, in 1851, three high schools' in Monrovia; and in 1852 an act was passed incorporating a board of trustees for a college, which is to be established in that town with the aid of funds from America.

In view of the facts embodied in the foregoing narrative and description, it is not surprising that the interest generally felt in the progress of Liberia should have greatly increased throughout the United States. The free coloured people who, as a body, have hitherto been unwilling to leave America, are now preparing to emigrate in great numbers. Many slaveholders have emancipated their slaves for the purpose of allowing them to emigrate; and many more have given notice of their intention of doing the same. The Irish and German emigrants, who are arriving in the United States in such vast numbers, are gradually displacing the free coloured labourers, and diminishing the value of slave labour. The annual emigration to Liberia, under the pressure of these various influences, is already numbered by thousands. It is becoming a general opinion in the United States, that in this

manner the whole negro population of that country will finally be transferred to the shores of Africa. The probability is, however, that long before this result can take place, all the slaves in America will be emancipated. The great obstacle in the way of their liberation has hitherto been the not unreasonable apprehension that they would be found incapable of self-government, and that the sudden introduction of three millions of semi-barbarous freedmen into the civil polity of the country would be fatal to the stability of its institutions. The successful experiment of Liberia must in a short time remove this apprehension. It is impossible to believe that an intelligent, benevolent, and high-spirited people like the Americans, will continue to hold their fellow-men in slavery after it has been clearly shewn that the emancipation of all the slaves in the Union might, with proper precautions, be effected without danger to the country.

It is deserving of notice, in this connection, that a decided change of public feeling is known to have recently taken place in Brazil on the subject of the slave-trade, which has almost entirely ceased. Manumissions have long been common in that country, and a large free coloured class already exists in it. The recent appointment of a minister to Liberia, and the project of founding a Brazilian colony of free blacks on the African coast, would seem to indicate the existence of some amount of anti-slavery feeling in that empire. When we consider the rapid diffusion of opinions in this age, and the marvellous progress of social improvement, it does not seem too much to expect that the present generation may be fortunate enough to witness the complete extinction of slavery in all nations professing the Christian religion. Should Liberia continue to prosper, this consummation may be regarded as certain. The existence of a powerful nation of civilised and Christian negroes in Africa, must speedily render the maintenance of negro slavery in America impossible. In the prospect of such a result, and of the vast changes in Africa which must accompany it, there seems ample warrant for the assertion, that the founding of the colony of Liberia is likely to be ranked hereafter among the greatest historical events of our age.

N the morning of the 23d of December 1793, the city of Berlin presented a scene of unusual gaiety and bustle. At an early hour, the whole of its inhabitants seemed to pour forth in living streams, joyful anticipation lighting up every countenance. Short but expressive greetings were exchanged. From all parts of the country there arrived crowds to swell the moving mass. Thousands of spectators were seen gazing from the windows and from the roofs of the houses, and the whole city was decked as for a festival; for on that day, at noon, two young and lovely princesses were to make their formal entrance into Berlin-the betrothed brides of the crown-prince and his younger brother. Public rumour had loudly vaunted the extreme beauty of her who was to be their future queen; and when the stately procession was seen at length to advance, amidst the loud sounding

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