elapsed before it was determined to form a new settlement there. The first settlers sailed on the 8th of April, 1787. What the condition of the place had been just previously may be gathered from a letter of Lieut. John Matthews, R.N., who had resided there in a mercantile capacity, "slaves being the circulating medium." He had been negotiating for a place to erect stores and workmen's houses. "The same place," he says, was purchased by a former agent to the same company by which I am employed, whom the Natives murdered in a most horrid manner; since which time (not fourteen years ago) not a white man has dared to put his foot on shore, and prior to that period they had destroyed the crews of several vessels, and had plundered their cargoes." Lieut. Matthews, after giving a vivid description of his attempt to renew intercourse, describes a horrid act of atrocity upon an old man, who seems to have been produced as a sort of scape-goat upon whom the blame of their own cruelty was laid. What the condition of Africans in England was about the same time we cannot easily realize in the present day. Some very faint conception may be formed of it by those who were familiar with the condition of Orientals in London and the provinces before Lieut.-Col. Hughes and other benevolent individuals undertook the erection of the Strangers' Home for Asiatics. It would be strange reading in the advertisement columns of the Times, for those who now attend the Committees in Salisbury Square, or who flock to St. Bride's or Exeter Hall, to read the following announcement: "To be sold, a black girl, the property of T. B——, eleven years of age, who is extremely handy, works at her needle tolerably, speaks English perfectly well. Inquire of Mr. Owen, at the Angel Inn, behind St. Clement's Church, in the Strand." A little more than a hundred years ago a country clergyman or squire might have gone to the Angel in the Strand (we do not know whether it still exists) and have bought the little African to be a slave in a parsonage or in a country mansion. At that time there were many destitute negroes in London. Some had been discarded by their masters in consequence of the decision in the case of the negro Somerset, decided in 1772; many more had served in the army and navy during the American war, and having imprudently spent all their earnings had fallen into extreme poverty. Unable to earn their bread, and having no parish to fall back upon, they wandered about the streets in extreme destitution. It became, therefore, an anxious question what to do with them, for they could only partially be relieved by schemes of private benevolence. At the suggestion of a Mr. Smeatham, who had lived for some time at the foot of the Sierra Leone Mountains, it was proposed that they should form a free settlement on the West African coast. Mr. Granville Sharp was consulted with. The project was one with which his mind had already been familiarized. Many of the negroes who had been there vouched for the suitableness of the locality to their wants. This migration formed the nucleus of what is now a colony of Great Britain, and has been for years the source whence light, civilization, and Christianity have been in any degree imparted to Western Africa. Even those who have been most disposed to carp in a hostile spirit at Sierra Leone, would find it hopeless to discover any other quarter from which these blessings have been originally dispensed. It has been at no small cost of men and money that the triumphs have been achieved on which Christians rest with reasonable satisfaction. Sierra Leone had been a land of martyrs "where faithful men have gone, bearing with them the precious seed of God's truth, and counting not their lives dear unto themselves, if so be that they might finish their course with joy, and the ministry which they had received of the Lord Jesus." In the course of forty years, eightyseven missionaries and catechists went forth from England to West Africa in the service of the C.M.S., and of this number thirty-eight died. In the year 1829, out of five who went out, four died within six months; yet two years afterwards six presented themselves, three being English clergymen, for that Mission. They went to Africa, and two fell within a month of their landing, while a third was hurried away in extreme illness. In the next year three more went forth, two of whom died within six months. Still fresh labourers willingly offered themselves in each succeeding year to the full extent of the ability of the Society to send them out. Yet sneers are indulged in at missionaries as self-seeking men, and Protestant Missions are sometimes taunted with, even from those who ought to know better, "Where is their selfdevotion? where their Christian heroism?" It is matter for extreme thankfulness that since that early period the climate of Sierra Leone has much improved in healthfulness and is better understood, so that the risks are far from being so formidable as they used to be. The Report of the Census states that from first to last the C.M.S. has spent close upon half a million of pounds in Sierra Leone for the welfare of the African race. In 1808 Sierra Leone became a crown colony, and was thenceforward the chief location of Africans recaptured by British cruisers from Spanish and Portuguese slavers. It would be difficult for the imagination to exaggerate the miseries endured by these unhappy creatures, or the horrible state in which they were cast upon the care and the humanity of Christian missionaries. Deplorable, however, as were their physical sufferings, far more fearful was their moral and spiritual degradation. The difficulty of Christian labour in such a sphere must be obvious. Not only had a baleful climate to be encountered, but at every step of progress the work was thrown back by continued inundations of heathenism of the rudest kind poured into the nascent Christianity of the place. Those who could only be imperfectly and partially weaned from native superstitions were exposed to fresh and ever-recurring temptations from their fellow-countrymen in the last stage of degradation and barbarism. There was not fair play for whatever kindly qualities distinguish the African in his natural state, so much had he suffered from the hands of cruel men. This should never be forgotten in any just estimate of the work of Christian Missions in Sierra Leone, and with the candid and unprejudiced would furnish more than sufficient explanation for any short-comings which might be detected in the Christian conduct of a community emerging from a mass of surrounding heathenism. Although at present the frightful scenes formerly to be witnessed, when living freights of festering humanity were perpetually being cast into the midst of the Christian population, have ceased, yet, as the census discloses, there are many counteracting influences from heathenism and Mohammedanism requiring more than ordinary vigilance to cope with. Notwithstanding all such drawbacks, Sierra Leone is a bright spot in the midst of a vast extent of surrounding darkness to which both the philanthropist and the Christian can point with reasonable satisfaction. It has largely accomplished the objects for which it was originally called into existence, and is still a centre of light, of life, and of liberty. Some ten years ago there was an impression that there had been a serious decrease in the population of Sierra Leone. It was then estimated at about 37,000 souls, which showed a great falling off from 1860, when the population was returned at 41,624. There seemed to be some difficulty in accounting for this. A partial explanation was that many who had been recaptured had returned to their own homes, or had gone elsewhere in search of employment. This is true to a considerable extent. Large numbers are reported as having emigrated to various parts of the Western Coast, some as labourers, and very many as traders. The adjoining northern rivers contain many Sierra Leone traders, and a great number have carried their trading operations into portions of Quiah and the surrounding country, including Sherbro. But the chief cause of difference seems to be that the census of 1871 was imperfectly taken. It is quite conceivable that the census of 1861 might have been somewhat exaggerated. The present census master, with laudable precaution, does not pretend to vouch for the thorough accuracy of the present returns, although evidently all possible care has been taken to secure their correctness. The population on the Peninsula of Sierra Leone, including British Quiah, is now returned at 53,862, which, when the adjacent islands and British Sherbro are included, is raised to a total of 60,546. If instead of relying too much upon the supposed perfection of returns we accept them as approximate, it will be seen that there is clearly a distinct advance upon the condition of things twenty years ago, although it cannot be formulated precisely. It may be convenient here to enter the items of the returns, which as it will be seen embrace places beyond what we usually reckon as Sierra Leone: : The Peninsula of Sierra Leone, in which is included British Quiah The occupiers of factories in the Sierra Leone River paying rent to Government 53,862 1,371 52 100 The Island of Tasso, in the Sierra Leone River 828 British Sherbro, including the following places: Bonthe, Mocolo, Mokate, 4,333 60,546 As compared with the census of 1871 there is a large increase of above 7000 in the return for St. George, Freetown, and also of nearly 900 in the Western District. In 1871 British Quiah had not been returned. The census commissioner admits that the returns from British Sherbro are "quite unreliable"; he estimates the population there at between 7000 and 8000. We have to notice that there is now a considerable and increased number of transient traders and strangers from neighbouring tribes who, from various causes, resort occasionally, or rather in a constant but shifting stream, to Sierra Leone. These persons of course figure in a census taken upon a particular day, but from their migratory habits cannot be considered as constituting the population of the settlement. They can be but slightly affected by the moral, civilizing, or religious influences of the place, though they may carry away something of them to their own proper homes. In the meantime they swell the heathen and Mohammedan population. To the Christians they probably do more harm than they receive good from them. The census commissioner notes with much satisfaction the considerable improvement in the dwellings of the people. There has been a most marked decrease in the number of wattle and daub houses which, even so late as 1871, formed the mass of native houses. Very nearly one-half are now stone or frame houses, built of stone up to a certain height, while the rest of the superstructure is woodwork. A great number of better-class houses has sprung up in Sierra Leone of late years. It is stated to be a feature with the people of Sierra Leone that they invest their savings from tradings in house property; most of them desire to procure a house of their own, or at any rate lay out money in stone, mortar, and timber. One misfortune connected with this is that in a colony where the average rainfall is 160 inches, and house proprietors have not always the means forthcoming for necessary repairs, symptoms of dilapidation are too often painfully conspicuous. The white population of the colony and its dependencies, including the ships in harbour, does not exceed 271, of whom only 163 can be termed residents. Of these residents 113 are British, while the rest are comprised of various nationalities, fifteen of them being French; only four Portuguese and no Spaniards are to be found in this part of Western Africa. The commissioner remarks on the singularly mixed character of the population, which he thinks unsurpassed in any other colony in her Majesty's dominions. "Some sixty languages are spoken in the streets of Freetown." In point of fact it was found impossible to disentangle the various tribes; some could be classified, but the rest were lumped under the head of "Liberated Africans and their descendants." As these amount to 35,430, the true origin of the colony becomes clearly manifest. So completely have they become fused, mainly as we hold under the influence of Christianity, and coalesced into one people, that nearly fifty years have elapsed since a tribal riot has occurred. It relates to the past of the colony, but we cannot refrain from inserting here an extract from the Journal of the Rev. W. A. B. Johnson, the evangelist of Sierra Leone, written at the close of 1822:-"On Tuesday evening I went, in company with Messrs. Nylander, Davy, and Taylor to Kissy, and returned to Freetown, where we had to attend the Quarter Sessions. His Honour the Chief Justice observed, when addressing the inquest, that ten years ago, when the population of the colony was only 4000, there were forty cases on the calendar for trial, and now the population was 16,000 there were only six cases on the calendar; and he congratulated the grand jury on the moral improvement of the colony. It was remarkable that there was not a single case from any of the villages under the superintendence of a missionary or a schoolmaster. When his Honour found that this was the case he dismissed us and our constables in a polite manner, as having no business to attend to at the sessions, and we departed well pleased." It would be impossible to state this with truth of Ireland, quite apart from religious dissensions. The survival of tribal feuds in that country is still one of the painful features of its condition. It may be interesting to our readers to be informed of the moral characteristics of the various heathen tribes who frequent Sierra Leone, more or less continuously, and form pro tempore the shifting portion of the population. The Timmanees numerically form a considerable element. They adjoin us immediately in Quiah. The commissioner would gladly ascribe to them virtues "if they had any," but he reports them as dishonest, depraved, and indolent. Of the Mandingoes he reports favourably. His information is derived from the assistant Arabic interpreter, who is himself a Mandingo, but the commissioner may have been enabled to judge for himself of their shrewdness and industry. The Foulahs are characterized as "dirty but rich." The Soosoos are reckoned, as Africans go, to be a hard-working people. The Mendis are warriors, well disposed towards the English; only recently they were ready to help us in the Ashantee war. The Kroomen, so well known on board ship in various parts of the world, have since 1816 settled in large numbers in Freetown. They seem in the colony, and indeed wherever they are, to delight in governing themselves by an imperium in imperio of their own. They have a king or headman in Sierra Leone who settles their own disputes, and even in the midst of the strict discipline of a man-of-war, by a certain amount of connivance, the Kroo headman preserves order among his boys often by summary punishments of his own. They look up to the English, and are said to be indispensable to commerce on the African coast. Many of those resident in Sierra Leone have embraced Christianity. The occupation of the people is not in the opinion of the census commissioner in all respects satisfactory. There is a tendency in the colony to assume titles which cannot be justified by facts: merchants in numerous cases would in England be reckoned as shopkeepers or traders; individuals claiming to be mechanics have neither the claim nor the experience qualifying them for such a designation; youths whe are learning the rudiments of their trades set themselves up as masters of their professions. This is much to be regretted, for the natural capacity of the people is in this direction considerable. With care and |