"To punish this worthy was the object of the expedition. Wilkedi is situated about eighty miles up the river Nunez. Here the Dolphin and Grampus took a position in which they could soon have reduced the place to ashes. Satisfaction was demanded, and after some boasting and bragging on the part of his sable majesty, it appears he complied with all the demands made on the part of our Government, and the two vesse's safely descended the Nunez, and arrived all well, at Sierra Leone. The river Nunez is so little known, that on the best maps we do not find the name of a single town laid down.

"The pirates on the river had, however, made themselves so notorious and offensive, that our Government deemed it of importance to put an end to their depredations, and we are happy to hear that Captain BELL has so successfully and meritoriously effected the objects of the expedition."New York American.

ELEPHANTS IN LIBERIA.

WITHIN the last few years, many elephants have been seen in the vicinity of the Colony, and some killed by the Colonists. The country where they abound is east of the mountain range. Should their visits become so frequent to the Colony as to be annoying, we doubt not that the Liberians will soon find means to destroy them, and hunt them as a source of profit.

Extract of a letter from Dr. TAYLOR, dated

WHITE PLAINS, OCT. 9TH, 1840. "The Elephant.-A very large elephant has been within the precincts of the town of Millsburg, for four or five days. He came into the town and strutted about as it suited him, destroying great quantities of cassada and plantains. He went up on the top of Mr. KENNEDY'S hill, and there raised his ears, and waved his proboscis, as though he bid defiance to the whole town. He exhibited himself as long as he supposed they would be pleased to look at him, and then turned off like a small house and went into the swamp. Several men then followed him; but the sagacity, as well as the terrific appearance of the animal, prevented their approaching him sufficiently close in safety to shoot him. The bushes and weeds were so very thick that it was impossible to retreat, if the elephant pursued. At one time, they came so close to him, as that when he pulled up a sapling and threw it aside to clear away a place around him, the boughs fell about their heads; and they had to drop their guns and creep into a thick bunch of thorns, &c., to avoid his quick, and fierce penetrating gaze. Brother HARRIS told me that he was at one time so near him as to see distinctly his small eye, and to judge of the size of his tusks. He says, he expected every moment when the elephant would discover him, and reach out his snout and pull him out from his hiding place, or sweep around the bush and cover him up and walk over him and mash him to death. But his majesty was pleased to turn in another direction, and he was thus providentially saved from a horrible death. After being thus interrupted and fired upon in the course of the day, he concluded to retire; and taking the road that leads to GATOOMBA's, he made his exit under cover of the night. I have heard some strange conjectures and superstitions relative to this creature's appearance in the place; the most ridiculous of all is, that it is GAY himself, turned into an elephant, and come to the place to avenge his enemies."—African paper.

1

THE PATH TO THE BUSH.

Mr. READ, the missionary of the Kat River settlement, in South Africa, related, while in England, the following fact:

It is the practice of some of the Christianized Hottentots at one of the stations, in order to enjoy the privilege of private prayer with greater privacy and freedom than they could do in their own confined dwellings, to retire among the trees and bushes in the vicinity; and, that they might carry on their devotions without being intruded on by others, and at the same time derive all that tranquilizing influence which would be produced by a spot with which no other thoughts were associated but such as are holy, each person selects for his own use, a particular bush, behind which he might pour out to God the pious breathings of his soul. The rest considered this bush as an oratory, sacred to the brother or sister who had appropriated it, and which, therefore, was never to be violated by the foot or gaze of a stranger, during the season of occupancy by its proprietor. The constant tread of the worshippers in their diurnal visits to this hallowed spot, would of necessity wear a path in the thin grass which lay between their huts and the scene of their communion with God. On one occasion, a Christian Hottentot woman said to a female member of the Church, "Sister, I am afraid you are somewhat declining in religion." The fear was expressed with a look of affection, and with a tone which savored nothing of railing accusation, nor of reproachful severity, but altogether of tender fidelity. The individual thus addressed, was too conscious of its truth to deny the fact, and too much melted by the meekness of wisdom with which the solicitude was expressed, to be offended, and meekly asked what led her friend to the opinion she had expressed. "Because," said the other, "the grass has grown over your path to the bush." The backslider fell under the rebuke, confessed that secret prayer had been neglected, and that her heart had been turned away from the Lord. The admonition thus had its desired effect, and the faithful Hottentot had the satisfaction of restoring the wanderer, not only to the path to the bush, but to that God with whom she there communed in secret.

Each party is deserving of our admiration and imitation; the reprover for her fidelity, and for the gentleness of love with which she exercised her sisterly vigilance; and the object of her solicitude, for the meekness and practical improvement with which she bowed to the voice of affectionate reproof.

And these were Hottentots? Beings who, but a little while before the event occurred, were searcely admitted by some calumniators of God's varied offspring to the fellowship of rational creatures, and declared worthy only to be the companions of baboons, or at best only fit to be the slaves of those who bear a whiter skin. Where, in all the annals of the Christian church, as that Church has existed in America, in England, or in other civilized countries, shall be found a more beautiful exemplification of the vigilance and humility of brotherly love, than in these two African females, reclaimed by the grace of God, from barbarism and oppression? Where shall we find among their more polished and cultivated sisters on either side of the Atlantic, more tenderness, delicacy, or refinement, than in these two daughters of Ham. Here indeed is the image of God, and exhibited in Africa. Episcopal Recorder,

THE AFRICAN REPOSITORY,

AND

COLONIAL JOURNAL.

Published semi-monthly, at $1 50 in advance, when sent by mail, or $2 00 if not paid till after the expiration of six months, or when delivered to subscribers in cities..

VOL. XVIII.]

WASHINGTON, MAY 1, 1841.

LIBERIA.

[No. 9.

THE following appeal, coming as it does from one of the most esteemed philanthropists, as well as one of the most eminent scholars, in our country, we hope will not be in vain.

On receiving the first intimation of the new plan of the British for extending their trade and jurisdiction in Western Africa, we were struck with the importance of securing to the American Colonization Society those parts of the Liberian coast lying between our settlements; and immediately on receiving Mr. BUXTON's work, in which the British policy in relation to Africa was fully developed, we presented our views to the public. We have continued to press this subject upon their attention, and earnestly to solicit the means of purchasing the desired territory. The responsibility of failing to secure this object, so essential to the future prosperity of our Liberia Colonies, must rest upon those who neglect to improve the present crisis. We hope that it is not now too late to secure the object of our solicitude, and that means will be furnished for its speedy accomplishment. We feel greatly indebted to the writer of the following article, for thus coming to our aid, and trust soon to reap the fruits of his effort. In order to acquire the control of the territory intervening between our settlements, it is only necessary to purchase the commanding points on the coast, about the entrances of rivers, &c.

TO THE FRIENDS OF AFRICAN COLONIZATION.

Our object in this address, is not to enter into any discussion of the general principles of Colonization, or to attempt any vindication of the plans and proceedings of the American Colonization Society. Enough has probably been spoken and written on this subject. The enemies of the Society are too far committed against it, and too much blinded by prejudice, to be profited by the most cogent arguments, or even to be capable of yielding assent to the best authenticated facts; and the friends of this enterprise are in no need of new arguments to convince them of the wisdom, benevolence, and grandeur of the Colonization scheme. No enter

prise has been proposed, for centuries, which more deserves the cordial approbation and energetic co-operation of the Christian philanthropist. It involves deeply the vital interests of two continents. And it is a scheme of that kind, that even its contemplation and design has a tendency to enlarge and elevate the mind; and its achievement would be a new era in the history of the world. And so exempt is it from any mixture of evil, either in conception or execution, that even an utter failure would leave things in a condition no worse than they were before. But it is too late to speak of a failure; the most formidable obstacles have already been overcome. A success, unprecedented in the annals of Colonization, has attended the benevolent efforts of a Society which has possessed no other resources than the voluntary contributions of the friends of the cause. Twenty-five years ago, when Dr. FINLEY first mentioned the subject, we were struck with the grandeur of the scheme, and the manifold important interests embraced in it; and the only objection which we could conceive against it was its apparent impracticability. If then we could have foreseen what has actually been accomplished, we would have entered into the projected enterprise with a zeal far beyond what we really felt; and if the founder of the American Colonization Society had been permitted to live to see on the coast of Africa, several flourishing, industrious, and happy Colonies, in which good order, pure morality, exemplary temperance, and fervent religion were conspicuous, it would have filled his benevolent heart with the overflowings of the purest joy.

But although a great good has been accomplished, yet it is but the germ of a tree, which, we trust, will cover Africa with its refreshing shade, and extend its fruitful branches to populous nations, in that dark continent, whose names are not yet known in Europe or America. When centuries shall have rolled round, and the impartial historian of those future ages shall take a retrospect of the age in which we live, and shall record the wonderful improvements in the arts, and especially in the facilities of locomotion, he will be led also to contemplate, with admiration, the benevolent enterprise of African Colonization, and will consider this as the brightest spot on the page of the history of this country and Africa. When a great Republic of colored men shall have spread over the whole Western coast of Africa, and shall have extended its influence to the very centre of that unexplored continent; when its history is traced back to its origin, then will this feeble Society come into permanent notice, and will receive the honor of having laid the foundation of a great empire, and of having introduced and diffused among the numerous barbarous tribes of that continent, all the arts and comforts of civilized life, together with the inestimable blessing of freedom, regulated by wise and salutary laws. But above all, THE LIGHT OF DIVINE TRUTH, which will then have penetrated into the darkest recesses of this dark continent, will be easily traced to the patient and persevering efforts of the American Colonization Society, under whose patronage the several religious denominations were enabled to erect, on the shores of Africa, the banner of the Cross.

There have been seasons of darkness in the history of Liberia which occasioned even zealous friends to despond, if not despair of the Colony; but there were still found friends of the cause so determined, as never to relinquish the glorious enterprise, so long as a hope remained of ultimate success. They hoped even against hope," and a gracious Providence has rewarded their invincible perseverance, by granting, from time to time, the most extraordinary relief. Now the Colony flourishes, and has become important, even in a commercial view; and, after all the dark storms which beat upon it, has emerged with renewed vigor from them all; and the

bow of promise appears, at this time, encircling with vivid colors, that asylum for the oppressed, and home for the wretched.

But the necessity for energetic exertion, and increased libera'ity, has not ceased. There often occurs a crisis in the affairs of nations as well as individuals. Opportunities occur when, by prompt and vigorous action, advantages can be obtained and secured, which, if suffered to pass without improvement, never return. Such, in our opinion, is the present state of Liberia. Not that any peculiar danger is iminent at this moment, but an opportunity now exists of acquiring a territory, absolutely necessary to the unity and perfect prosperity of that Republic. Let the intelligent reader cast his eye over a map of our settlements on the Western coast of Africa; and he will see, that we have four distinct Colonies, separated from each other by intervals of considerable extent. These are Monrovia, and its neighboring villages; Bassa, and its interior settlements; Sinou; and New Maryland or Cape Palmas. Between Monrovia and Bassa there is very little danger of the interferance of any other nation; but on the coast between Bassa and Sinou, and between the last-mentioned place and Cape Palmas, there is an interval of more than two hundred miles. Until lately it seemed unnecessary to be very solicitous about possessing this territory, by which our settlements are separated; as it was presumed, that by our having favorable opportunities of purchase, we should be able to acquire from the native princes, all this land, as soon as it should be needed. But the state of things is now much altered, since the English have adopted the plan of entering all Africa, at every accessible point; and have resolved to establish trading houses, and make use of other means of enlightening and improving the natives, with a view of suppressing the cruel trade in slaves, which all their naval prowess has not enabled them hitherto even to diminish. Now, in regard to this extensive plan, which has not only enlisted in its favor much of the wealth and influence of the English nation, but moreover, has received the decided approbation of the Government, we entertain no feelings of hostility, nor even of jealousy. We think it a noble enterprise, and cordially wish it success. But as the unoccupied territory between our little Colonies furnish eligible points for their design of establishing trading factories, if we neglect to acquire and occupy this part of the coast now, it will be entirely out of our reach. Indeed, there seems to be some reason to fear, from Governor BUCHANAN's late despatches, that the incipient step has already been taken, where they have recently broken up a slave trader's establishment. If, however, prompt measures are immediately taken, it is believed, that at least the jurisdiction of all the territory on the aforesaid coast can, by negotiation or purchase, be acquired. But if our settlements should be severed from each other by the establishment of a nation, not at all friendly to the American scheme, any one can see at a glance, what a lasting injury would be inflicted on the whole scheme of the American Colonization Society. We give the friends of the Colonization cause in this country, fair warning of its danger; let them not hereafter reflect on the Society if the object is not secured. Governor BUCHANAN is deeply solicitous about this matter; and the same solicitude pervades the Board of Managers and other friends of the cause. But they cannot move in this matter without the requisite A large sum will be required immediately to meet this exigence. Perhaps there never will again occur an occasion when liberal contributions would be so efficient in promoting the prosperity of Liberia. Let the friends of the African race, and of the cause of Colonization, arouse, and receive the due impression of the real importance of the exigence. Let there be no delay, for in this case, prompt action will be efficient ac