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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph from Harry A. McBride 



"jESSANDREw" 



A well-known native eccentric often seen on 

 the streets of Monrovia — a most happy indi- 

 vidual, despite the fact that he is deaf and 

 dumb. 



its one immense baobab tree towering 

 over a cluster of mud huts, to the Mon- 

 rovia landing, half a mile from the bar. 

 It is possible that the harrowing experi- 

 ence of crossing the bar lias something to 

 do with making Monrovia look so charm- 

 ingly inviting. 



The landing is disappointing. The 

 wharf is small and untidy and the main 

 business street along the waterfront — 

 Water Street — is none too wide, none 

 too straight, none too well paved, and 

 none too clean. 



The business premises, most of the 

 more pretentious kept by British, French, 

 and Dutch firms, are poor, with the first 

 floor usually built of cement and the roof 

 of corrugated iron. Water Street could, 

 however, easily be made to compare more 

 favorably with the main business centers 

 of Freetown or Dakar. 



RESIDENTIAL SECTION BUILT IN AMER- 

 ICAN COLONIAL STYLE 



Climbing the hill, two or three blocks, 

 one comes to Ashman Street, the chief 

 residential thoroughfare, which is very 

 pleasing in aspect. The Executive Man- 

 sion, the foreign legations and consulates, 

 the War Department Building, and the 

 Representatives Hall lend to its impor- 

 tance. On this street are also several of 

 the best residences, well constructed of 

 brick, after the fashion of American 

 houses of the Colonial days, with columns 

 along the front. 



The Executive Mansion is a large, 

 white, three-story structure — and it has 

 its "East Room." 



In the reception-room are portraits of 

 some of Liberia's presidents and the 

 framed photograph of one foreigner. 

 This foreigner — a hero in Liberian his- 

 tory — is Captain Frank H. Schofield, of 

 the United States Navy, who, while in 

 command of an American cruiser, quelled 

 a native uprising on the coast a few years 

 ago. He also landed a supply of rifles to 

 enable the Liberian Frontier Force, a 

 well-trained tiny army of 800 native sol- 

 diers, to keep the peace thereafter. 



In Liberia, army rifles have ever since 

 been called "Schofield rifles," and the 

 government forms of the War Depart- 

 ment list so many "Schofields" as being 

 in the possession of each company. 



Liberia occupies that corner of West 



