Liberia *- 



of the Cestos River seems to refer to a Kpwesi dialect rather 

 than the Kru language which would be spoken there now. 



The Kru people appear to have come from the north-east 

 and east, to have reached the coast regions in the vicinity of 

 the Cavalla River, and then to have pushed westwards along 

 the coast, till their avant-garde^ the De, found themselves 

 stopped by the Vai, Kisi, and Gora in the vicinity of Boporo 

 and the Lofa River. 



The Rev. J. Payne gives the following history of the Grebo 

 people of Eastern Liberia, who speak a dialect nearly related to 

 that of the Krumen, and who are the present inhabitants of 

 Southern Maryland. (Closely related to the Kru, they belong 

 to that considerable congeries of tribes speaking languages 

 related to Kru, and offering the common feature of terminating 

 their tribal names with the suffix -o, -bo, -po, -pio, or -bwe 

 and -pwe. Glancing at the map of Eastern Liberia, it will be 

 seen that this u Bo " group of peoples extends into the western 

 regions of the Ivory Coast territory and far up the Cavalla 

 River.) 



" The Grebo [in the 'forties of the nineteenth century] 

 extend along the Maryland coast for about thirty miles from 

 the mouth of the Cavalla River to Fishtown River [to the west 

 of Garawe]. They emigrated from the eastward probably about 

 one hundred and fifty years ago, to the territory now occupied 

 by them. They lived a short distance from the coast, and 

 constituted part of a tribe still living in that region known as the 

 \Vorebo. A crowded population appears to have led to the 

 emigration. 



"The name Grebo is composed of Gn l and bo. The latter 



1 Some authorities assert that this vocable should he written (He or (ide. 

 Payne's etymology may he at fault and the vocable die or (ire maybe cognate 

 with the Kla or Kra of Klawo, Krao, the original name of the Kru people. H. II. J. 



922 



