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LIBBBIA. 



LICHFIELD. 



BOO* fV" **> ^ narinbl* far inUnd. The chief rirer u the 

 St PmJ, which falU into the m« by Cap* Meaundo. The wuid-baiiki 

 at ita mouth leare only a narrow channel for lioata, with 7 feet of 

 wat«r in it at low-tide. It ia half a mile wide 40 miles from ita 

 month, haa a oonaidarable body of wat«r, flowi through an extrrmelr 

 fertite valley, and baa along ita banki numeroua natire Tillage* a* waU 

 aa aattlamenta of the Liberiana ; but its course is greatlv ob«tniot«d 

 by rapids ; boats of light draught can only ascend it for about 

 SS miles. The other most important stnama are the St. John, which 

 fiUls into the sea at Basaa Cots ; the Junk, which lies between the 

 St. Paul and St. John, and haa a rrry narrow channel through the bar 

 at its mouth ; the Cape Mount River, which falls into the sea at Cape 

 Mount, and has ita entianoe almost dosed by a narrow spit of sand ; 

 the Grand Cestos, some distance eastward ; and the Oroo, still farther 

 east, which has about 6 feet of water over its bar, deepening inside to 

 4 fathoroa. 



Thf climate is hot and oppreaaive. During the diy aeason, which 

 lasts from May to Novembn-, the temperature averages 86° ; but in 

 dM wat seaaon it falls to 75° or 74°. The extreme heat is alleviated 

 by geotle breeces, which blow daily from the sra. To whiles, 

 whether natives of Europe or America, the climate is very pmjudicial ; 

 but the negro colonists, though the deaoend&nts of families long 

 aettled in America, experience no inconvenience from it after they 

 hava paaaed through the ' seasoning,' or ' acclimatising fever,' which 

 visits all the newly-arrived alike, but is now comparatively seldom 

 fatal in its attacks. Nothing like an epidemic has ever appeared in 

 Liberia. 



The following brief 'extract from an ' Address of the Citizens of 

 liberia to the Free Coloured People of the United States,' 1847, may 

 serve, with allowance for a little heightening in the colouring, to 

 convey a tolerably clear idea of the character and capabilities of the 

 country : — 



" A more fertile soil, and a more productive countiy, no far aa it is 

 cultivated, there is not, we believe, on the face of the earth. Its hills 

 and ita plains are covered with a verdure which never fades ; the 

 productions of nature keep on in their growth through all seanons of 

 the year. Even the natives of the cutmtry, almost without farming 

 tools, without skill, and with very little labour, make more grain 

 and vegetablea than they can consume, and often more than they can 

 ■eU. Cattle, swine, fowl, ducks, goats, and sheep thrive without 

 feeding, requiriog no care but to keep them from straying. Cotton, 

 coffee, indigo, and the sugar-cane are all the spontaneous growth of 

 our forests, and may be cultivated at pleasure, to any extent, by such 

 as are disposed. The same may be said of rice, Indian com, Uuinea 

 com, millet, and too many species of fruit to enumerate. Add to all, 

 we have no dreary winter here. . . . Nature is constantly renewing 

 herself, and is also constantly pouring her treasures all the year round 

 into the laps of the industrious." 



It is thought that when labour becomes more abundant, sugar, 

 cotton (which yields two crops in the year), coffee, and indigo will 

 oome to be staple products of Liberia. The coffee-tree has already 

 been somewhat extensively planted ; at one place there is a plantation 

 of 30,000 trees. At present the chief articles of export, besides 

 fruits, vc^tables, and salted meats supplied to ships calling at the 

 ports, are palm oil, which has become an article of great importance, 

 dye-woods, ivory, and rice, with some gold, tortoise-shell, gums, hides, 

 wax, ground-nuts, ginger, and pepper ; agood proportion of which is 

 brought by natives from the interior. "The exports in the two yean 

 ending September, 1848, amounted to 25,767/., tiie imports to 32,880^ : 

 the exports are said now to average upwards of lOO.OOOt. annually. 

 The supply of dye-woods, especially cam-wood, appears to be in- 

 exhaustible. It is said that from about 80 miles east of Bassa Cove 

 there " extends a foreat-region of unknown extent, where scarcely any 

 tree is seen except cam-wood." Liberia has a considerable coasting- 

 trade, carried on by schooners belonging to the country ; and a large 

 trade with the interior. For home consumption as well aa export 

 there is a great variety of timber-trees suitable for building purpoees ; 

 good building-stone abounds ; aa do also shells for lime, and clay of 

 excellent quality for bricks. 



Liberia is divided into the counties of Mesurado, or Montserrado, 

 Bava, and Sinoe. The chief town is Monrovia, the capital, on Cape 

 Meanrado, a busy sea-port town and the principal place of trade. It 

 contains a court-house, a public library, two or three churches and 

 •ebools ; several stores, warehouses, and good wharfs ; a fort and a 

 lighthouse ; and has about 1600 inhabitants. The other larger towns 

 and settlements along the coast are Marshall at the mouth, and on 

 the right bank of the Junk River; Edina and Grand Bassa at the 

 month, but on the opposite banks of the St. John, in Bassa Cove ; 

 Bexley, and the new town of Cresson in the same neighbourhood ; 

 OiMnville on the Sinoe ; Trade Town, a populous place 4 mile* W. 

 ttom Young Cestce ; and Cesto^ or St. George's Point in Ceatos Bay. 

 The chief inUnd towns and settlements are Caldwell on the St Paul ; 

 New Oeotgia ; and MilUburg. Along the coast are several factoriea, 

 ehisfly fbr the trade in cam-wood, belonging to Liberiaos, and soma 

 to Emdiah and American merohaiita : and both along the coast and 

 inUDd ar* nmnannu native towns and viUages, some of them, as 

 Grand Cestos and Great Neefoo, of considerable aiia. 



On Cap* Pklmaa, the loatli-eaateni extremity of Liberia, is eata 



blished the colony of Maiyland-in-Libtria, consisting of free coloured 

 emigrants sent thither from the state of Maryland by the ' State 

 Colonisation Society.' The colony was founded in 1834, and a consi- 

 derable number of free ooloureil persons have sinoe been sent to it by 

 the Society, which is assisted in its operations by an annual grant 

 from the state legislature of 20,000 dollars. The colony, which ia 

 independent of Liberia, is governed by an agent, or govemor, appointed 

 by the Colonisation Society, and a council and other offioem elected 

 \>j the colonists ; and appears to be in a tolerably 6ourishiug condition. 

 uarptr, the chief town, contains about 700 inhabitants, and carries on 

 a good deal of trade. The Palmas River is about a hundred yard* 

 wide towards its mouth, but several rocks lie in the channel ; it has a 

 depth of 3 feet over the bar at low water. The colonists have erected a 

 lighthouse on Cape Palmas, which shows a fixed light 1 00 feet above 

 the setL. There are two or three villages and smaller settlementa. 



The constitution, adopted at the declaration of the independence 

 of Liberia, and said to have been drawn up by Profeaior Greenleaf, of 

 Harvard College, Massachusetts, is founded on that of the United 

 States, which it greatly resembles in its leading principles. It pro- 

 claims the equality of all men ; establishes perfect religious freedom, 

 and the liberty of the press; prohibits slavery; gives the right of 

 every one to be tried by a jury of his peers, of bdl, and of habeaa 

 corpus; makes nearly all offices elective, and gives the suffrage to 

 every male citizen 21 years of sge possessing rral estate — citizenship 

 belonging however exclusively to persons of colour ; and of such, at 

 present at least, only to the free coloured emigrants from the United 

 States, who immediately on arriving are admitted to full citizeui-hip, 

 and receive a gtant of five acres of land, with liberty to purchase 

 more. The executive government is vested iu a senate elected from 

 the counties, and a house of representatives elected after the American 

 system, according to a ratio of representative population; and a 

 president who is elect«d for two years, is to exercise supreme executive 

 power, is the commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and has a 

 qualified veto on the acts of the legislature. The judicature consists 

 of a supreme court, and districts courts : the judges are only remove- 

 able by the president on a vote of two-thirds of the houses of legis- 

 lature. The annual revenue and expenditure average about "lOdoL a 

 year each. The republic appears to be making steady progress. 



There were in 1847 in Liberia (without including the Maryland 

 colony) 23 churches with 1474 communicants, of whom 469 were 

 natives; there are now above 30 churches. Schools are provided for 

 all the children of citizena In 1847 there were 16 schools with 662 

 scholars, of whom 192 were the children of native Africans : in 1851 

 the scholars were said to exceed 2000. Three high-schools are in 

 operation in Monrovia ; and an Act has passed the legislature for the 

 establishment of a college. The ' Liberia Herald,' a very respectably 

 conducted newspaper, has now continued to be published for above 

 20 years : one or two others have been issued within the last few 

 years. 



{Cotutituiion <md Declaration qf Independence ef the Independent 

 Republic of Liberia ; PMicationi of the A merican Coloniiation Society ; 

 Parliamentaty Papen on African Slavery ; Africa Redeemed ; Travett 

 in Africa, &c.) 



LinOUKNE. [GiBONDE.] 



LIBYA. [AfricaJ 



LICHFIELD, Stafiordshire, an episcopal city, a county in itself, a 

 municipal and parliamentary borough, and the seat of a PoorLaw 

 Union, is situated on a small stream, a feeder of the Trent, in 52° 41' 

 N. lat., 1° 49' W. long., dbtant 18 mUes S.E. from Stafford, 119 miles 

 N.W. from London by road, and 116f miles by the London and Nortti- 

 Westem railway. The population of the city and borough of Lichfield 

 in 1851 was 7012. The borough is governed by 6 aldermen and 18 

 councillors, one of whom is mayor ; and returns two members to the 

 Imperial Parliament. The liviuKs are in the archdeaconry of Stafford 

 and diocese of Lichfield. Lichfield Poor-Law Union contains 30 

 parishes and townships, with an area of 68,701 acres, and a population 

 in 1851 of 25,278. 



The name Lichfield is Saxon. Edward 11. granted a charter of 

 incorporation to the city ; and Queen Mary in the first year of her reign 

 constituted the city and suburbs a distinct county. Charters wero 

 also granted by James I. and James IL The houses in the principal 

 streets are handsome and well built; the city ia well supplied with 

 water, and is paved and lighted. Among the public buildings are the 

 guildhall, the market-house, theatre, jail, and house of correction. A 

 county court is held in the town. 



The cathedral is partly of the early English, but much of it is of a 

 later period. It sustained considerable injury during the civil wars, 

 but was restored by Dr. Haoket in 1661 ; and very extensive repairs 

 and alterations have sinoe been effected. Its total length is 410 feet ; 

 the width along the transepts is 163 feet. It has three spires, of 

 which the oentnl rises to the height of 280 feet, the whole bemg oma- 

 mented with a profusion of very elaborate workmanship. As the 

 building occupies an elevated site it forms a prominent object in the 

 approach to the dty. In the interior of the cathedral are numerous 

 monuments, and among them is one of Dr. Samuel Johnson, who was 

 bom in this city, and to whose memory a statue has bem erected. 

 There are chapels for Independents and other Dissenters : a Free 

 Qrammkr school (not now free to any), said to have been founded by 



