IV 
THE INHABITANTS AND CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH 
THEY LIVE 
In 1816 the American Colonization Society was founded in the United States 
for the purpose of devoting itself to the welfare of some 200,000 slaves who had 
become free for the most part, either through the voluntary action or the death 
of their owners. It was thought that the most promising plan was to return 
them to their native land, and there to found for them a free colony on the west 
coast of Africa, where they could ever enjoy the benefits of liberty. General 
Robert Harper of Maryland, who was interested in the proposal, later suggested 
the name of Liberia (the land of freedom) for the Colony, and for its capital, 
that of Monrovia, after President Monroe, whose interest and support was 
evidently desired for the successful establishment of the Colony. After pre- 
liminary investigations by the agents of this society in 1818, who visited the 
coast of Gambia, Sierra Leone and Sherbroo Island on the West coast of Africa, 
the first consignment of eighty-eight freed negroes sailed for Africa in charge of 
three white Americans. One of them, a man named Bacon, was an agent of the 
United States Government who was sent to observe and report upon the or- 
ganization of the Colony, while another, named Crozer, was to act as the 
Agent of the Colonization Society. The party finally reached Sierra Leone, 
and then passed down to Sherbroo Island where they landed with a view to 
colonizing. Within a short time, however, many of them were attacked by sick- 
ness and all the Americans, together with a large proportion of the negroes, 
succumbed. 
The following year the ship ‘“ Nautilus,” chartered by the United States 
Government, proceeded to Africa, with two government agents and two officials 
of the Colonization Society and a further group of emigrants. These people 
were allowed by the authorities of Sierra Leone to remain at Fura Bay near Free- 
town until a site suitable for their colony could be selected. 
In the year 1821, Dr. El Ayres was appointed Chief Agent of the Coloniza- 
tion Society, and proceeded to Africa with another group of emigrants on board 
the United States schooner “Alligator.” He arrived off Cape Mont Serrado 
(today usually called Mesurado) with a view to obtaining land for the Liberian 
Colony. Apparently the first landing of this group was made on what is now 
known as Providence Island, situated just inside the mouth of the St. Paul 
River. After some negotiations with the native chiefs, Ayres succeeded in ob- 
taining the whole of the cape on which Monrovia has since been built. 
By the beginning of the following April all of the immigrants had been trans- 
ferred from Fura Bay to the new domain. These colonists, however, also soon 
32 
