KROOMEN AND FISIIMEN. 35 



Town ; and every ship, immediately she arrives, 

 is boarded by them with their boys clamouring 

 for employment. The agreement is made with 

 the headman, who selects the number of boys 

 required, and trots them out for inspection ; and 

 as they are not much encumbered with clothing, 

 a single glance is sufficient to discover those 

 that will suit. Three yards of cloth suffice for 

 the equipment of each, and they are ready to 

 go to sea immediately. The wages at Sierra 

 Leone are four dollars per month paid in goods, 

 or about two and a half dollars sterling. These 

 people have the common failing of negroes — they 

 are given to lying and pilfering; but they never 

 desert their employers in danger or distress; 

 they are constitutionally brave, and are easily 

 kept in order: they are the life and soul of the 

 trade on the coast ; without them the cargoes 

 could not be stowed, nor could boats be manned. 

 The Kroomen are the principal woodcutters 

 in Sierra Leone, and great numbers are con- 

 stantly employed in the squaring and floating of 

 African teak to the ships. This timber is found 

 in great abundance on the banks of the river of 

 Sierra Leone and its tributaries, and is in fact 

 the only production of the colony that forms an 



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