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The Laneuap'es of Liberia 



Bukere's system. Apparently, instead of more than one type 

 of character to be useci at will for each syllable, modern teaching 

 restricts very wisely the use to one single sign, and the form 

 of these syllabic letters is simplified and better adapted for 

 cursive writing. Their addiction to this system is somewhat 

 of a protest against " Christian " or missionary influence (the 

 Vai are Muhammadan), and it is also due to their desire to 

 carry on a correspondence not readily deciphered by the 

 American Negro who rules their country. The Liberian 

 Government can only combat this movement by adopting a 

 simple and logical orthography in Roman letters for rendering 

 Vai and other native languages, and then by spreading the know- 

 ledge of reading and writing in the Roman character among 

 its native races as part of a secular education carried on by the 

 State, and not associated with the teaching of doctrinal religion. 



In the following pages 1 have added to the old syllabarium ot 

 Forbes and Koelle the modern types of the letters as accurately as 

 I could obtain them from Vai scholars. I also reproduce specimens 

 •of Vai script to illustrate the cursive form of the alphabet. 



It would seem as though the Vai were not the only 

 Liberian people to attempt the invention of a system of writing. 

 Captain d'Ollone in his book De la Cote iflvoire au Soudan^ 

 ■etc. (p. 302), describes inscriptions of Greek and Roman 

 character on the walls of huts in the Palube country (western 

 bend of the Cavalla River) more than one hundred and fifty 

 miles from the coast. But the explanation given by the natives was 

 probably the true one, that these signs had been reproduced by 

 young men of the tribe who in working with Europeans on the 

 coast had imitated letters and signs in use there. Probably these 

 were nothing more than the trade marks and signs on boxes and 

 bales : and the Greek delta which so much puzzled Captain 

 d'Ollone is in common use for this purpose. 



