44 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
as these communities are smaller, life is somewhat more primitive. Besides the 
Americo-Liberians and indigenous Africans there are in these towns, a few white 
people who are largely traders. The business life in them centers in trading; 
palm oil, palm kernels, piassava fiber, rubber, cacao, and coffee are chiefly 
exported. 
The terms ‘‘civilized”’ and “‘native”’ are still used colloquially by the Amer- 
ico-Liberians to designate respectively those people living on the seacoast and 
speaking the English language, and those still belonging to the indigenous Af- 
rican tribes that live in the interior and speak a native dialect. At present 
the seacoast of Liberia, inhabited by the “civilized” population, is divided up 
into counties — the Mesurado, Cape Mount, Sino, Grand Bassa, and Maryland, 
the territories of Cavalla, Marshall, and Careysburg, and the commonwealth 
district of Monrovia. Except for Mesurado, each county and the districts of 
Marshall and Careysburg are in charge of a Superintendent appointed by the 
President. 
The government of Monrovia is in the hands of a Commissioner and a Mu- 
nicipal Board composed of the Superintendent of Police, a Director of Public 
Works, and a Sanitary Inspector, who, however, has no medical or special 
sanitary knowledge. 
The revenues of the city are derived from a portion of the real estate and poll 
taxes collected, and from a large number of petty fees, including lawyers’ licenses 
at twelve dollars a head. One of the largest items in the recent budgets has 
been from liquor licenses, a sum that in 1926 was estimated to be $3800. In- 
stead of charging for the use of electric hght system by the meter, the city levies 
an electric light tax of one dollar a year on every native man in the vicinity of 
Monrovia, whether he uses electric hght or not. This taxation has been strongly 
objected to, especially by members of the Kru tribe who live in the adjacent 
Kru Town, and who do not use electricity. There is also an education tax of 
one dollar for the upkeep of the schools which, however, is not extensively 
collected. 
According to the assessed valuation, the property of the District of Monrovia 
should return to the government an annual tax of more than $65,000, but the 
real estate tax for the whole of Liberia in 1922 was only $1,053; and in 1923, 
but $721. In the County of Sino, thirty-nine Americo-Liberians in 1924 paid a tax 
of three cents each on their property, whereas the remaining taxes on the Amer- 
ico-Liberians ranged usually between ten and twenty-five cents. Following the 
administrative investigation in 1923-1924, the total tax was increased to $4,688. 
In comparison with this the hut taxes imposed on natives in the interior of the 
country in 1925 amounted to some $300,000. Each tax collector in the interior 
receives as a fee fifteen per cent of the tax collected but it is said that the collec- 
tors frequently divert the entire amount to their own use. Recently the appoint- 
ment of all tax collectors has been placed in the hands of the President. 
It is interesting to note that the hinterland of Liberia is not represented in 
the Liberian legislature, but upon the deposit of one hundred dollars a tribe may 
send a referee to watch the legislative proceedings of the Americo-Liberians at 
