^ Recent History 



rubber of all the public lands and forests throughout Liberia 

 to a firm in London. This concession had been re-drawn in 

 an amended form at the request of Lord Raglan, who visited 

 Liberia for this purpose in 1894. The royalty payable to the 

 Liberian Government on the rubber exported was to range 

 from twopence to fourpence a pound according to selling price, 

 and a considerable sum of money as additional bonus was to be 

 paid in instalments for the granting of this concession.^ 



Li 1879 Professor J. Biittikofer,^ at the suggestion of Dr. 

 Jentink of Leyden, started to begin his celebrated explorations 

 of the fauna of Liberia, which at that period was felt to be with 

 justice one of the least explored and yet most accessible parts 

 of Africa. Professor Battikofer travelled in Liberia from the 

 beginning of 1880 to the middle of 1882, and from the end of 

 1886 to the middle of 1887. On his return he published in 

 1890 at Leyden his Reisehilder aus Liberia'. 



Professor Bilttikofer was a Swiss by birth, employed in 

 Holland, where he still resides. There may have been good 

 reasons for his not publishing his work in Dutch. He decided 

 to write it in his native language, German. This, if one may 

 say so without unfairness, was unfortunate for those most 

 interested in Liberia, since German is a language too little under- 

 stood in England, not very commonly known in America, and 

 absolutely ignored in Liberia. There is little doubt that had 

 Biittikofer's work been published in French like Wauwermans's 

 book (which appeared in 1885) it would have had the extended 

 vogue which it thoroughly deserved, for it was, and is, one of 



" The rubber royalties were afterwards applied to the service of the 

 Liberian debt. The concession after passing through several hands was finally 

 bought by the Chartered Company, and has now become the Liberian Rubber 

 Corporation. 



^ Nowadays Director of the Zoological Gardens, Rotterdam ; formerly 

 Conservator of the Leyden Museum in Holland. 



VOL. I 289 19 



