AFRICA.

SOUTHERN DIVISION.

(FROM SENAGAMBIA AROUND THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE TO CAPE GUAR

DAFUI.)

SIERRA LEONE.

Report by Consul Lewis for the year 1881.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE,

Sierra Leone, March 31, 1882.

AGRICULTURE.

There is nothing of special importance to say in addition to report of last year regarding agriculture as pursued in this colony.

Mr. Grant (whom I alluded to in a former report), who has a large tract of land under cultivation, went to England in the summer of 1881 intending to procure sugar machinery, &c., to bring out to Sierra Leone, and advertised for every one to cultivate sugar-cane, as he would buy it and manufacture it into sugar, but died in England before completing his arrangements.

Samuel Lewis, esq., barrister-at-law (native), also took a large tract of land (about 1,000 acres), and has been working it vigorously during the past year. Mr. Lewis is a man of means and desires to test the question as to what the land, as worked by native labor, is capable of doing, and at the end of one year's trial he tells me that he believes it can be cultivated on a large scale at a profit, and after a lapse of sufficient time to bring the cola, cocoa-nut, and the coffee tree into full bearing (which is from five to ten years), that this pursuit will pay a very handsome profit.

I copy the following from a lecture on agriculture, delivered in Sierra Leone, April 14, 1881, by Mr. Lewis:

With the price of labor in Sierra Leone the cultivation of cotton, with a prospect of sale on the spot at 3d., will be remunerative.

Maize, or Indian corn, is becoming an important article in many parts of the world for exportation, and in many of the soils of this colony three crops are grown in a year. In the returns of this colony it seemed to have formed an exportable produce for a few years from 1835.

The castor-oil bean is a plant of hardy growth and thrives here, producing about 100 bushels of seed per acre.

Cocoanut has been neglected here, and although thousands of full-bearing trees are in yards, no serious attempt has been made to cultivate it. In fact, there is a superstition among the inhabitants respecting this article which prevents its being regularly cultivated. A plantation is in course of formation, in which the growing of this tree will receive a particular share of attention. For the encouragement of those who would wish to grow this article, it may be stated that, at the reduced price of £17 per ton now ruling in England for coprah-the dried kernel of the nut-it will repay the outlay of the cultivation. Calculating the ordinary annual yield of the Sierra Leone trees at twelve dozen per tree, it will require the produce of only forty-two trees to give the ton. In one street in Freetown--Percival street-there are now bearing in yards eighty-eight full-grown trees, the produce of which is hardly utilized. A firm in Sierra Leone is prepared to give £11 per ton, and we believe other merchants will pay a similar price; and by availing themselves of the market offer, the residents in

Percival street will save every year £22 to £34, now practically thrown away. The tree takes from five to eight years to bear fruit, and a plantation of it laid out at 25 feet distance would yield about 14 tons per acre annually.

Cola-nuts will take from eight to ten years to come to maturity. They grow in yards in Sierra Leone and yield about £2 annually per tree. If carefully cultivated, it would yield a greater result. The fact that this cola trade has increased from £5,764 in 1867 to £25,000 in 1880 makes its cultivation worthy of immediate attention.

EDUCATION.

Nothing special has occurred out of the ordinary routine in the department of education since my report of last year. All of the schools that were then in operation are still; and I don't know that any new ones have been organized during the year ending December 31, 1881.

About the same interest seems manifested throughout the schools. During the year there was delivered at the hall of the Wesleyan high school, under the supervision of Rev. J. C. May, principal, a course of six popular lectures, which were tolerably well attended. The following are the subjects discoursed upon:

Life and times of Martin Luther.

Peter Cartwright, the backwood preacher.

The agricultural position of Sierra Leone.

The Hamitic race in sacred and secular histories.

The rise of Methodism.

Africa and the Africans.

All the above lectures were delivered by Methodist clergymen (two Europeans and three natives), save the one on agriculture, which was delivered by Mr. Lewis.

HARBOR, ETC.,

remains the same as last report, with the addition of quite an amount of new sea wall, which has been substantially constructed during the year.

The customs and landing surveyor's offices have the same occupants, and the business is transacted in a very satisfactory manner.

Every item of information regarding shipping, &c., will be found in my report of shipping accompanying and marked A.

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS.

The total amount of imports to this colony during the year ending December 31, 1881, as shown by official customs report, was $1,672,326.10; exports, $1,756,136.56.

Of this amount the imports from the United States for the same period, as shown by invoices, were $187,003.17, and exports to the United States $168,264.46.

The imports from the United States being a little over 11 per cent. and the exports little less than 10 per cent. of the total imports and exports.

For 1880 the imports were 10 per cent. and the exports 13 per cent.; 1879, imports 13 per cent. and exports 8 per cent.

For full information regarding imports and exports see tabulated statements accompanying and marked respectively B and C, wherein each article is named, value given, duty paid, and the country from which imported or to which exported.

SANITARY..

The sanitary condition of the colony has been improving for the past three years, and everything is being done by the inspector, Mr. Alfred Revington, to increase the healthfulness of the place and to ward off any approach of epidemic disease.

Two years ago I reported that horses would not live here, although in former years many horses were kept and seemed to thrive. During the past year about ten horses have been imported, and seem to bear the climate tolerably well.

GENERAL TRADE.

The trade during the past year has only been an average one, not the best and fortunately not the worst.

More or less trouble is still experienced by the action of the native chiefs and their followers in warring with each other. Several towns in the Mellicourie River have been burned, with great loss to the traders, and for the present a total suspension of business.

Without the full co-operation of all the native chiefs and their people in all the surrounding country, for the purpose of promoting trade, then, of course, it dwindles to insignificant proportions. Consequently one of the most important things to be considered by the government here is the proper disposition and treatment of the chiefs, in order to discourage petty wars, and to keep the roads open from the interior to the towns, that trade may be uninterrupted. This is often a hard thing to do, and perhaps perplexes a governor more than anything else. They disregard treaties and try to throw the responsibility on others.

POPULATION AND CENSUS.

The European population is somewhat increased since last report. The estimated population of the colony for the past two or three years has been put down about 40,000; but in April last a very careful and complete census taken of the whole colony shows that the population now is 60,546.

For particulars of number of males, females, whites, blacks, native tribes, occupations, ages, religions, &c., you are respectfully referred to the tabular statement herewith inclosed, under the head of "recapitulation of census of 1881."

I copy the following regarding races, occupation, and religion from the census report of Sierra Leone for 1881, prepared by Hon. T. Riseley Griffith, colonial secretary:

RACES.

No one who attentively examines the census returns can fail to be impressed with the varieties of the African nationalities which form the population of Sierra Leone, and I venture to express the belief that there is no other colony throughout Her Majesty's possessions that contains so mixed a population as are assembled upon this peninsula. Some sixty languages are spoken in the streets of Freetown.

This peculiarity is much increased when it is explained that of the 35,530 classed under the head of “Liberated Africans and their descendants," is included a number of tribes whose origin is quite separate from the distinct tribes otherwise enumerated. It was found that it would be an endless labor to endeavor to classify so many extra tribes, and they were therefore inserted under the one heading before mentioned. The most numerous and important are the Akus and Eboes. The country of the former is in the neighborhood of Lagos, whilst the Eboes inhabit the banks of the Niger. Many others, such as the Congos, Popos, Mocos, Kakandahs, Calabars, &c., might be enumerated. Suffice it to say that with the numerous other strangers they observe

the laws and customs of the place, and tribal riots are now altogether unknown, the last fracas having occurred in 1834, in the second eastern district.

Of the neighboring tribes who dwell among us, the most numerous and important are the Timmanees, Mandingoes, Soosoos, Mendis, Sherbros, Loccos, and Kroomen. I will make no attempt to describe the geographical position of the countries of these people, a general idea of which can be formed upon looking at any map of this portion of the coast, none of which, however, are over-clearly defined.

The Timmances immediately adjoin us in Quiah. Though their country is divided into petty kingdoms, they speak the same language throughout, with but slight variation. They are pagans, possessing no religion, but are believers in fetichism, though some profess the religion of the Prophet in name, but not in practice. Though not hardworking themselves, they manage to make their slaves grow a great deal of produce; they bring large quantities of rice, ground-nuts, benniseed, and other articles into the settlement, which swells the exports of the colony. I would willingly ascribe to the nearest of our neighbors some virtues if they possessed any; but unfortunately, taken as a people, they have been too truly described by able and observant writers as dishonest and depraved, and many of them indolent. Though not naturally of a warlike disposition, they have engaged in many wars, both internal as well as incursionary, which have invariably been of a predatory nature.

The country of the Mandingoes covers a very large tract, but though large its inhabitants, who are of migratory habits, are to be met at Futah Jallon, Kankah, Sangarah, Korweah, and even Lego. They are Mohammedans in religion, and they follow various pursuits; they are skillful as tanners and blacksmiths; and as they are of a shrewd nature many of them become brokers and interchangers of produce in Freetown for the other less intelligent tribes. Their habits of life and their religion are productive of a better state of existence than other uncivilized tribes. I am assured by the assistant Arabic interpreter, who is a Mandingo by birth, that destitution is almost unknown in their country, and that age is treated with care and veneration. Of all the tribes who come to us the Mandingoes are least mendacious, and this accords with the accounts of travelers who have resided in their country. The care of their aged is a trait that the natives of this peninsula would do well to emulate, and leads one to the belief that there must be some good in a people who carry out the tenets of their faith in so practical and praiseworthy a manner.

The Foulahs may be said to be descended from the Arab tribes, and their features somewhat resemble those of Europeans. They reside mostly in the country known as Futah, or the Foulah country, the inhabitants of which were generally Soolimas. They are Mohammedans in religion, and bring us cattle and hides, gold, and beeswax. They are a fine-looking race, but unfortunately of unclean habits. They seem to have a natural aversion to clean clothes. As a race they may be briefly described as dirty, but rich.

The Soosoos were originally emigrants from the Mandingo tribes; they came to the Mellicourie, Fouricariah, and Soombuyah countries and intermarried with the aborigines, who were Bulloms, Tonko Limbas, and Baggas. Being better educated in the Koran, which appears to be the standard of education, they soon became powerful enough to command the country to which they had originally immigrated, and which is now their own.

Some time since we were obliged to help the Timmances against the Soosoos, notably in 1858-59, when they were unable to combat with this then powerful tribe, but more recently the Timmanees have acquired greater strength and matters are now reversed, the Soosoos being unable to stand against the Timmanees. The Soosoos bring us produce of all kinds, but particularly ground nuts, benniseed, and gum; they are reckoned, as Africans go, to be a hard-working people, and still continue Islamites in religion.

The Mendis are warriors. They almost live by war; they are ready to hire themselves out as war men to almost any tribe or nation willing to pay them for such services, or without pay where they can plunder for reward. The English have, however, found them to be most useful allies at times. They fought for us as far back as 1838, and upon several occasions since have their services been proffered and accepted. In the Ashantee war of 1873-74, about 300 of them were engaged on our side and gave every satisfaction. Only as lately as the recent Ashantee difficulty they made an offer of their services. They are out-and-out pagans, but are useful as neighbors in the Sherbro country, where they carry whatever produce they have to dispose of. They are glad to see a white man amongst them, and think highly of the English. Kroomen. Of the Kroomen as a race of hard-working men in the particular description of labor for which they are so well and deservedly known, I cannot say too much. Whether it was from discontent at their own country, or a knowledge of the increased prosperity that would result by emigrating to Sierra Leone, I cannot say but very shortly after the formation of this colony the Kroo-boys appear to have settled in large numbers in Freetown, and in the year 1816 an ordinance was passed