18245] 
of red rice a-day, (which makes only 
from one pound and a half to one 
pound and three quarters when clean 
and fit for use), and of this they will 
sell half when rice is'dear. ‘Though 
extremely fond ef rum when given to 
them, I believe that they never buy it. 
I speak generally ; for some will never 
drink it though offered tothem. Their 
clothing I have spoken of already: 
probably it does not cost them ten 
shillings in a year. The residue of 
their gains is converted carefully into 
such goods as are most valuable in 
their own country. 
In eighteen months or two years, a 
sufficient stock having been collected, 
the Krooman returns home with his 
wealth. A certain portion is given to 
the head men of the town; all his rela- 
tions and friends partake of his 
bounty, if there "be but a leaf of 
tobacco for each; his mother, if living, 
has a handsome present. All this is 
done in order “to get him a good 
name :” what remains is delivered to 
his father ‘‘to buy him a wife.” One 
so liberal does not long want a partner: 
the father obtains a wife for him; and 
after a few months of ease and indul- 
gence, he sets off afresh for Sierra 
Teone, or some of the factories on the 
coast, to get more money. By this 
time he is proud of being acquainted 
with “‘ white man’s fashion ;” and takes 
with him some raw inexperienced 
youngster, whom he initiates into his 
ewn profession, taking no small por- 
tion of the wages of the éléve for his 
trouble. In due time his coffers arc 
replenished; he returns home; con- 
firms his former character for libera- 
lity; and gives the residue of his 
wealth {o his father to ‘get him 
another wife.” In this way he proceeds 
perhaps for ten or twelve years, or 
more, increasing the number of his 
wives, and establishing a great charac- 
teramong his countrymen; but scarcely 
a particle of his earnings is at any time 
applied to his own use. I have heard 
of one Krooman who had eighteen 
Wives: twelve and fourteen I am told 
are not uncomnion: the Kroomen who 
returned home in the Crocodile fri- 
gate, when that vessel went down the 
African coast with the commissioners 
f African Inquiry, had mostly three or 
our. 
_ One of the Kroomen on-board hay- 
ing been asked what he would do with 
so much money as he was possessed 
of, replied, that he hoped he had 
Account of a Tribe of People called Kroomen. 
493 
enough to buy him two wives, toadd to 
the two he already had acquired. 
When he had got the additional two, 
he would returm to Sierra Leone and 
get more money. His father, who 
was still living, he said, ‘had got 
eighteen wives.” ‘The wives, of course, 
are servants who labour for him in the , 
field as well as in the house. ah 
The number of Kroo canoes which 
push off to trading vessels, many miles 
from Jand, with trifling articles for sale, 
is another proof that they do not spare 
their labour if they have the slightest 
hope of profit. Two or three pounds of 
tobacco is, perhaps, the utmost. they 
can get in exchange for their goods; 
and for this trifle they will sometimes 
row out to sea ten, twelve, or fifteen, 
miles. We had not less than twenty 
canoes at a time about the Crocodile, 
one afternoon, offering their fish for 
sale; and they kept up with us, by 
means of their paddles, more than an 
hour, while the Crocodile was going 
from five to six knots by the lor. A 
leaf or two of tobacco was all they gut 
for a fish; and few of them had any 
considerable number for sale. In 
coming up with the vessel it was esti- 
mated that they could not go at a less 
rate than seven knots au hour: yet in 
many instances the canoe was paddled 
by only two men. ; 
One of the greatest drawbacks from 
the usefulness of the Kroomen, as hired 
labourers, at Sierra Leone, arises from 
their readiness rather to suffer in their 
own persons than to bear testimony 
against each other. Detection is ren- 
dered so difficult, and a thief of conse- 
quence can command so many accom-: 
plices (for they scarcely dare refuse 
their aid, and never dare to inform), 
that’ the temptation to steal is in- 
creased ien-fold.. The public punish- 
ment which our laws impose is far less 
feared than the sure and secret ven- 
geance of the magician. 
All this is supported by superstition ; 
and under the cloak of superstition 
they bear cruelty and injustice. Who 
shall break through these shackles? 
Premiums have becn proposed to 
Kroomen, if they would. settle in 
Sierra Leone; but take away from the 
Krooman his desire of respect and 
distinction in his own country, and you 
take away his very motive for that in- 
dustry and self-denial which procure 
for him, at present, a preference over 
other natives. 
The indifference of Kroomen to 
Huropean 
