THE WESTERN COAST. 
509 
the plaintiffs are usually in the proportion of four 
women to one man. The distance from Britain, 
besides the unhealthy nature of the settlement, and 
the very moderate amount of the salaries, make it 
scarcely possible to procure respectable and duly 
qualified persons to fill the different official situa- 
tions. 
Notwithstanding all these obstacles, a sensible 
improvement has taken place, and more may be ex- 
pected, as experience shews the best modes of con- 
ducting such a colony. 
According to a survey in April 1811, Sierra 
Leone contained three hundred and seventy-one 
houses, chiefly of wood, some wattled, and only 
three of stone. The population was one thousand 
nine hundred and seventeen ; of which number, 
twenty-eight were Europeans, nine hundred and 
seventy-two Nova Scotians, eight hundred and 
seven Maroons, and one hundred Africans. * 
The political state of the Gold Coast has been 
chiefly marked by the decline of the power of 
Aquamboe, which, instead of ruling over all the 
neighbouring states, now scarcely maintains its own 
independence. The predominance is at present in- 
disputably possessed by Ashantee, a power which 
was barely heard of by the early travellers under 
* Report of Select Committee on the African forts, (29th 
June 1816,) p. 133. 
