344 Transactions of the American Institute. 



lion in this countiy, has induced many to engage more extensively 

 in its cultivation. There are about -four million coffee trees in the 

 whole Republic, and probably between one million and two million 

 in bearing. The first year the tree yields but a very little, increas- 

 ing each year, until it bears from three to six pounds per annum. 

 It is a lamentable fact that about one-third of the coffee crop of 

 Liberia goes to waste for want of proper picking. Liberian coffee 

 ranks with the best brands, but it is bought up by private individ- 

 uals in Europe and America, and seldom reaches the general 

 market. Sufficient capital, if properly directed, would make 

 Liberia one of the best, if not the first, coffee-growing countries in 

 the world. It is a great pity that the majority of emigrants to 

 Liberia are poor in pocket and limited in understanding. An-ow- 

 root of this section is equal in quality to that from Bermuda, but 

 the Liberians have not yet attained an equal proficiency in its pre- 

 pamtion for the market. The ginger is as good as that raised in 

 Sierra Leone, and commands as high prices. Ginger is largely 

 exported from the West Coast of Africa. Our soil is well adapted 

 to pepper, which is being produced in large quantities. Gentle- 

 men, rejoice with me that Africa is on the forward and upward 

 march to a higher and nobler position in the civilized world. 

 Cotton is also one of the products of Liberia, but the reason why 

 it is not exported is, because the natives use it for making cloth, 

 which is better known as the African blanket, which they wear 

 during the wet season. These blankets are bought up in large 

 quantities by the English traders, and shipped to different parts 

 of the coast. The course that John Bull is pursuing in relation to 

 Liberia, is certainly strange. With all his power, Christianity and 

 civilization, he now claims nearly all the valuable country north- 

 west of Cape Mount, asserting that Liberia did not buy it from the 

 natives; but we claim the right of possession, whether from pur- 

 chase or political jurisdiction. 



" The truth is, that it is the key and valley-pass of unknown 

 Ethiopia, and if the American people will do their duty toward 

 those who emigrated from their soil to erect a great black nation- 

 ality in Africa, and if we continue in our present views, which, by 

 the help of God, we intend to do, there will be a grand cotillon 

 party the day the English attempt to take possession. Our fathers 

 were forcibly brought from Africa, and some of their descendants 

 in the spirit of the Pilgrim fathers, who settled in America, are 

 determined to establish the fact that the negro is, and of right 



