Liberia '^ 



white man were practically naked, or decked themselves with 

 bark-cloth, dried grass, or palm filaments. The white man soon 

 began to bring to this coast the products of the looms of Europe 

 —first woollen cloth and linen, then cotton goods — so that the 

 Km races were not impelled by a desire for clothes to learn to 

 weave and spin in their land, since, with the desire to be clothed 

 came the white man with his cheap stuffs. 



At the present time native cotton manufactures still hold 

 their own in Western and Northern Liberia. This is due to 

 some inherent good taste in the minds of the Muhammadanised 

 people, and to the great durability and stoutness of the native 

 cotton cloth. 



Amongst the western Liberians cotton-spinning is done 

 entirely by the women. The seeds are laboriously picked out 

 of the wool by hand, and the cotton-wool is then dried in the 

 sun, after which it is " carded " with a tense bow-string. The 

 women wind loosely on to a rounded stick of wood swathes of 

 carded cotton- wool. This spool is held high in the left hand. 

 The thread is drawn away by the right hand with a twisting, 

 turning motion, and is wound off on to another spool. The right- 

 hand spool is weighted at one end with baked clay in the shape 

 of a wheel. The spindle is worked with the right hand. The 

 thread which it is desired to use coloured is dyed blue with 

 indigo, red with camwood, and yellow with the introduced annatto, 

 and also with the bark of certain indigenous trees. The 

 commonest colour is blue ; but white clothes are also much 

 affected, especially by the Muhammadans. 



A very good idea of the average hand-loom in Western 

 Liberia is given by the photograph on p. 1015, taken near 

 the Liberian frontier by Mr. Firmin. Unlike the carding and 

 spinning, which are the work of the women, the weaving is done 

 entirely by men. The widths of the cloth woven are very 



