Liberia <«- 



they have placed on the map the source of the mysterious 

 River Lofa, the ultimate destination of which is one of the 

 many unsolved problems of Liberian geography — it may be 

 the upper waters of the Tuma or Toma River and the principal 

 affluent of the St. Paul's ; or it may flow into either the 

 Little Cape Mount River or the Mano (Bewa) ; or it may 

 even be the easternmost affluent of the important Moa 

 or Makona. The ultimate source of the Makona is in about 

 9° 5' N. lat. It flows south-east, south-west, and then 

 nearly due west, until after its junction with the Meli it 

 turns once more to the south-west and enters the sea in 

 Sierra Leone territory under the name of SuHma.^ The Makona 

 system drains the north-western part of Liberia, and when 

 nearly all the affluents are united in a single stream it passes 

 into the colony of Sierra Leone. The northern part of the 

 Makona basin may probably become French in return for cessions 

 from France to Liberia in the Cavalla basin. 



To the west of the lower half of the St. Paul's River, 

 south of the Tuma, is a diversified, hilly, or even mountainous 

 stretch of country, with ranges that are called the Po Hills. 

 There is probably no altitude exceeding 3,000 feet in this 

 direction. In this district is the important town of Boporo, 

 which has been known by name to Europeans for something 

 like eighty years. Boporo would seem to have reached its 

 importance through having become a Mandingo colony. There 

 are a good many trading stations of Mandingos in the country 

 west of the St. Paul's River, from the Mandingo Plateau 

 to the verge of the Americo-Liberian plantations. Benjamin 

 Anderson visited Boporo in 1868, and calculated its altitude 

 at 564 feet above sea level. According to Anderson's account, 

 he crossed the St. Paul's River (more probably its affluent 



' Often called in past times Solyma. 

 488 



