24 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
towns situated on the coast. In the majority of places the land has been more 
or less cleared of virgin forest from the towns and villages, and secondary vege- 
tation rules. Near a few of the rivers and in the more inaccessible parts of the 
country large areas of forest and jungle still exist. 
At a distance of from twenty to thirty miles inland, in different places, the 
dense forests usually are found which cover the greater part of the hinterland 
of Liberia, except for the clearings, in which the various villages and farms or 
plantations are situated. Only in the extreme north and particularly in the 
vicinity of the Mandingo Plateau is there anything resembling park-like country. 
Johnston,! emphasizing the fact that Liberia is still the least known part of 
Africa, says that nowhere else are the forests so thick and luxuriant and so un- 
subdued by man, perhaps not even in the most eastern parts of the Congo Free 
State. Through some of the Liberian forests there is practically no travel of 
any kind. The botanical features of these forested regions and the conditions 
in the villages of the interior will be referred to later in this Report. 
As one travels into the interior of the country foothills begin to appear 
after a few miles. In fact, the land is nearly everywhere more or less hilly and 
in parts there are low mountains. The height of the highest of these, however, 
has obviously been greatly exaggerated.? The surface generally rises from the 
coast through a series of low broken ridges and rolling hills, among which are 
numerous narrow, shallow valleys. To illustrate the increasing altitude from 
the coast through the interior, it may be stated that at Reppo’s Town (see 
Map II) the altitude is already about 350 feet, and that at the village of Miamu, 
it is 860 feet. At Zeanschue it drops temporarily to 720 feet, and at Suahkoko 
(eighty miles from the coast) it is again 870 feet. At Paiata (eighty-five miles 
from the coast on the St. John River,) the altitude is 740 feet. Near Bakra- 
town it is approximately 1500 feet, and in places in the vicinity of Garmu it 
reaches in the neighborhood of 1800 feet. In the northeastern part of the 
country these hills terminate in the broad Mandingo Plateau already referred 
to, with an altitude of some 2500 feet. At the foot of most of the hills is a stream 
along which there is frequently a swamp or marsh. In travelling in the interior 
of Liberia, particularly in its central and eastern regions, one is almost continu- 
ally either ascending or descending these low hills between which streams flow. 
In a single day’s march, one may cross from forty to fifty low hills and ridges. 
The streams and brooks between the small villages are hence very numerous. 
However, there are no very extensive marshes or large fresh-water lakes in the 
interior. As the streams are fed by the heavy rainfall, there is nowhere in the 
country any dearth of water, but everywhere a great abundance of it, and it is 
usually limpid and potable. The clear-running streams in which there is an 
abundance of cool water are in the greatest contrast with what one finds, for 
example, in the eastern and central Congo regions, where one very rarely 
encounters clear water but usually only mud-colored water which it is often 
1 Johnston: Loc. cit., p. 8. 
2 Ibid., p. 482, refers to the highest point in the Nimba Mountains as 6,560 feet which, however, 
he says is mere guesswork. It is doubtful if there are any hills in Liberia rising even to 4000 feet. 

