Liberia <♦- 



struck on rocks or drifted ashore. It is still the custom of 

 natives in those parts to regard a shipwrecked vessel as a gift 

 from the gods, and attempts on the part of the IJberian or Mary- 

 land Governments to enforce proper treatment of stranded ships 

 generally resulted in conflicts in which a very doubtful victory 

 was obtained by the civilised Government. This condition of 

 affairs on several occasions during the latter part of the nine- 

 teenth century led to sharp reprisals from Germany or Britain. 

 By 1855 it is stated by Roberts that there were "four 

 English steam-propellers" keeping up a regular communication 

 between England and Liberia. These were the pioneer vessels 

 of the African Steamship Company, which in conjunction with 

 the firm of Elder Dempster was to become the great carrying 

 agency on the West Coast of Africa, existing almost without a 

 rival until the Hamburg Woermann Line started in 1875. 



24c 



