50 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
entered into originally by a convention arranged by the Liberian and Spanish 
governments.! The recruiting agent in Liberia is paid five dollars for each Kru 
boy recruited. The boys are brought to the steamer three days before she sails. 
The maximum length of contract is two years and the mimimum one year. Half 
the wage is paid monthly to the laborer at Fernando Po. The second half is to 
be paid the boy on the termination of the contract. Whether he receives this 
half on his return to Monrovia is said to depend on the honesty of the officials 
concerned at the Spanish Consulate, and of the Liberian agent. The boys do 
not, as a rule, read or write. So much dissatisfaction has resulted from the 
arrangement, and there has been so much criticism regarding compulsion, that 
fewer and fewer Krus are being sent to Fernando Po under the convention. 
The Bassas are another tribe related to the Krus and are somewhat similar 
in appearance. They often have broad noses, are prognathous and thick-lipped. 
However, they speak their own dialect, though it has resemblances to that of the 
Krus. They live chiefly to the east of the St. Paul River behind Monrovia, and 
in south-central Liberia as far eastward as the Sangwin River. They are particu- 
larly numerous in the basin of the St. John River. The Farmington River forms 
roughly the northern boundary of their country. Although they do not seem 
to be particularly intelligent as a race, there have been exceptions; recently one 
of the cabinet ministers and a member of the faculty of the Liberian College were 
both educated Bassas. In fact, the Krus and Bassas have apparently produced 
more highly educated men than the other tribes in the interior of Liberia. The 
Bassas make good sturdy laborers. They have the same tribal mark on the fore- 
head as the coastal Krus, but they frequently tattoo their chests with two blue 
stars and a broad horizontal line. 
The Grebos, a third branch of the Kru group, who also have their own dia- 
lect, are found mainly in the territory round Cape Palmas and up the Cavalla 
River. Like the other Krus they are sturdy and black or dark brown in color. 
They have devoted themselves particularly to farming, hunting, and fishing. 
They seem to be a people among which the work of the missionaries has latterly 
found special encouragement; many of them near the coast are now Christians 
and have received education in the mission schools. One of the Grebos has be- 
come County Attorney at Mesurado Colony, and two are judges, one at Grand 
Bassa and one at Cape Palmas. The less educated members of the tribe have 
in the past been especially superstitious, and have assumed more or less inde- 
pendent attitudes toward the other people living in the vicinity. Among them 
great stress has been laid upon the medicine man and the devil man, or “deya”’ 
who is supposed to be able to find out anything, and is especially able to detect 
the person guilty of a crime. Death among the Grebos is believed to be caused 
generally by witchcraft; any one of the tribe may be suspected of causing the 
death and run the risk of being examined and convicted by the ‘‘deya.”’ Their 
medicine men are also said to have a wide knowledge of roots and herbs and 
especially of those that are poisonous. In addition they often act as advisers 
to the Chiefs. The Grebos have many tribal customs among which is a special 
1 Message of the President of Liberia (1914), p. 12. 
