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put a school into operation the last year, for the education of their children, but from causes unknown to us, closed it after six months.

New Haven, Conn.-With a coloured population of eight hundred, provides two schools, during three months in the year, under the care of a master and mistress.

Philadelphia.-With a coloured population of twenty thousand, provides three schools for the instruction of their children, under the care of four teachers.

New York-With a coloured population of fifteen thousand, provides two schools for the instruction of their children, under the care of a master and mistress. Parents, we learn, who are able, are obliged to pay one dollar per quarter for each child. [Freedom's Journal.

Curiosities from Liberia.

The following letter from Mr. Ashmun, gives a description of various spe cimens of African products and ingenuity now in our office; and to which we hope many others may be added by the return of the vessels employed in our service.

MONROVIA, JUNE 11th, 1827.

GENTLEMEN: You will receive by the Doris, a box containing the African Specimens described below, together with a spear and scabbard, which cannot be introduced into the box, viz:

Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.-Country cloths, of the common quality of the article, as manufactured and worn by the natives of Africa, between the Rio Grande, and Bassa. The average price at which they sell, is one Bar. The cotton of which these cloths are fabricated, is of the fineness of the Sea-Island, but has a longer staple. The plant produces a crop in eight or nine months from the seed-but bears for at least five years, and attains to the height of an apple tree, but has a less spreading top. The material of the trunk, is properly ligneous, and the appearance of the tree standing in the forest, has little to distinguish it from others, except the leaf and ramification, which remain those of the American cotton plant.

Nos. 6, 7.-Two spools of Cotton Yarn, wound upon the spindles, as spun in the manufacture of the article. These spools are at once, spindle, spool, and shuttle; the raw cotton being combed and roped in much the same way as in the preparatory process it undergoes in the European and American manufacture, is then spun upon the point of the stick passing through the centre of these specimens, the other resting on the ground. The spindle is held upright by the left hand, and twirled and fed by the other. One of these spools may be considered as a full day's work for an expert spinner. The operation of weaving is always performed in the open air. is stretched between two stakes set in the ground, at the distance of ten yards asunder-and the threads alternately passed through two sets of inversely knotted harness, and lifted and depressed by their means, by the hand and foot, much on the same principle as in the common loom. Men are the weavers, and I believe can accomplish about ten yards in a day. The web will be seen by specimens 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, to be about 4 inches in width. Not less than nine of these breadths, each one fathom in length, well stitched, make a merchantable cloth.

The warp

No. 8.-A Knife and Sheath-such as is worn by all the country people above the quality of slaves. The iron of the blade and handle is African, and of a much softer and more ductile quality, than either English or American. It oxydizes in this climate less freely, and is for that reason, preferred by the natives for all ornamental uses, and for the manufacture of their implements of war. The leather of the scabbard is country tanned, and the whole article, having come from the interior, is better done than similar work on the coast.

No. 9.-Some Splinters from the ruins of my house at Caldwell. The composition seen on one of the shingles, is formed of an ochre, prepared in our settlements in great quantities, and at a very cheap rate-the only expense being the grinding of itlaid on with boiled palm oil. The roofs of nearly all the public buildings are coated with this composition, which is esteemed superior to Spanish Brown, laid on with linseed oil.

No. 10. A Mandingo Havre-sack. The material is goatskin, trimmed with ordinary tanned leather, of the country. The brown of this latter article is produced by the tanning pro

cess.

The black ornamental figures appear to be done with

the ink and pen, employed by the Mandingoes in writing.

No. 11.-A specimen of the 'African Millet, in the ear. No. 12.-A specimen of the Guinea Corn, in the ear. Note.-The Indian Corn, of an inferior species, grows in this country, but we have never obtained a crop to repay the labour of cultivating it. The ear, except of a small species, about six inches in length, does not fill, and few stalks produce more than one ear each.

It

No. 13.-A specimen of the Bird Pepper, of the coast. grows spontaneously, and propagates itself, after once planted. It is equal in quality to the Cayenne-and a good article of trade with European vessels.

No. 14.-Specimens of the osseous part of the African squid, reduced to powder; it forms the common pounce, for the writing desk.

No. 15.-A root, of which the scientifical name is not ascertained. Its use in this country, is universal as a stomachic, and gentle laxative. The taste of a decoction from it, is an agreeable bitter-and, I believe, it possesses all the medical virtues of the Gentian Root; a decoction in Madeira wine or brandy, forms a pleasant bitter.

No. 16.-A country Flagellum-an article of domestic use, which is never wanting in the families of African gentlemen. It is not applied to children, who are never disciplined in this country. Domestic slaves, and women, are those who derive from the implement, the chief advantages of its application, which, particularly as respects the latter, is neither slight nor seldom. The master of a large family commonly wears it in his girdle, and seldom draws it to inflict fewer than half a hundred.

No. 17.-A small War Horn.-This horn in a concert, plays tenor-one horn sustaining only a single part.

No. 18.-A piece of African Wampum. This specimen will discover one of the uses to which the immense quantities of beads imported into this country, is applied. The species of beads, in the piece, also show the only sort which are saleable in this district of the coast. Female children, till nine years old, (and those of the better sort,) wear commonly no other covering or ornament, except this belt, just above, and support

ed by the hips. After nine, till their marriage, females add a slip of cloth, four inches wide, and two to four feet long. At marriage, all assume a cloth.

The thread by which the beads of this belt are connected together, is the strongest of the size, which can be fabricated out of any material with which I am acquainted. It is of the cuticle lining the inner side of the fold or doubling of the palm leaf, and is stripped off in the form of a ribbon, about half an inch wide, and from two to four feet in length, according to the length of the leaf.

No. 19.-The ordinary Fishing Line of the coast, made of the inner cuticle of the palm leaf, (see article No. 18,) and twisted by hand. These lines are used in canoes, commonly from one to ten miles from the shore.-It is stronger than a hemp or linen line of twice or thrice the size.

No. 20-A country Necklace, formed of a species of tough reed or grass, and dyed black-used by females who cannot afford to buy European beads.

No. 21.-Three Bark Sacks-woven entire on a block, and formed out of the inner cuticle of the palm leaf. (See No. 18.) These scrips are used by men and women, in much the same way as our ladies' reticles.

No. 22.-A Royal Snuff Box-alias-a Goat's Horn.

No. 23.-The Skull-cap of a large marsh-fowl of the country.

No. 24.-A Hat, such as are in common use to the leeward. I took it from the head of one of King West's sons, at Trade Town, and paid a head of tobacco.

No. 25.-A Javelin, used as a missile-and good for á mark of the size of a man, about twenty paces. Country iron.

No. 27.-A country Gig, or Spear-made at a distance in the interior-and used in the wars of the country, more than all other weapons.

No. 28.-A specimen of a Spice, which has in a great measure taken place, in our consumption, of Black Pepper, to which it will be found equal in pungency, and of a more aromatic flavour. It is the produce of a vine growing wild in the forest. No. 29.-One Powder Flask-stopped with a plug, cemented with country pitch.

Extracts from the Colonial Agent's Diary.

The incidents recorded in these extracts, are in themselves interesting, and particularly recommended by the manner and style in which they are related. The skin of the Leopard, which proved so formidable an enemy, was preserved by Mr. Ashmun, and sent out to us by the Doris, and may now be seen at our office.

Monday, April 5th, 1826. Easter Monday, the Anniversary Meeting of the Liberia Missionary Society was held after a sermon, in the Baptist Meeting House. The Agent left his residence at Caldwell, in the morning, for the purpose of attending on this occasion. Four other persons, at the time composing a part of his family, were drawn away from his residence by the same cause. To this circumstance, under the direction of a merciful Providence, all are indebted for the preservation of their lives. At half past. 6, P. M. an angry thunder cloud came over from the northeast, and at about 7 discharged a bolt, which seemed to have been attracted by the central post surmounting the cupola of the Agency House of Caldwell-and in an instant reduced the cupola and upper story of the house to ruins, and shattered and materially injured the whole building, quite to its foundations. The housekeeper, Sally Taylor, a single woman, 28 years of age, was the only person in the house at the moment-and appears to have been standing at a window in the parlour of the second story, in the act of settling a sash, when the fatal fluid, which was to her an instant summons into eternity, came to do its work. She was standing directly in the route of the principal bolt, on its descent through the building-was considerably lacerated and burnt in her person, and from having made no struggle, and reached the floor before the shower of plaster, splinters, and fragments, which nearly covered her corpse, must have been instantaneously deprived of sensation and life.—The three little boys belonging to the Agent's family had just retired to bed in a detached building, and escaped injury.—In their alarm, they ran into the yard, and called to the house-keeper, but were afraid to enter the house. The melancholy event was known to no person before day light on the following morning.-The house has been since repaired at an ex

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