Liberia and the Colonization Society, Part 2 [pp. 336-344]

338
LIBERIA AND THE COLONIZATION SOCIETY.
Rev. Mr. Ashmun (United States agent and also governor of
Liberia), quoted by M. Carey:
"For beauty and fertility, the country is surpassed by none in the world.
The original growth is exuberant, and the soil a rich, deep, and loose loam, entirely destitute of stones; exhibiting, in some places, a prevalence of sand, and
in others of fat clay-but all about equally productive"
The Rev. Mr. Ashmun also reported that the whole country, between Cape Mount and Tradetown is rich in soil, and capable of sustainin, a numerous and civilized population, beyond almnost any country
0
on earth.
"The country directly on the sea, although verdant and fruitful to a high
degree, is found evervwhere to yield, in both these respects, to the interior"
(at a distance of a very few miles from seaboard, as explained in connection).
From the same Address of the Colonists, embodied in the Eleventh
Annual Report (1828) of the Mantagers of the Colonization Society:
" A more fertile soil and a more productive country, so far as it is cultivated,
there is not, we believe, on the face of the earth. Even the natives of the coun
try, almost without farming tools, without skill, and with very little labor,
makle more grain and vegetables than they can consume, and often more than
they can sell. Cattle, swine, fowls, ducks, goats, and sheep, thrive without feeding,
and require no other care than to keep them from straying. Cotton, coffee, indigo, and the sugar-cane, are all the spontaneous growths of our forests, and may
be cultivated at pleasure, to any extent, by all who are disposed. The same may
be said of rice, Guinea corn [dhourra], millet, and too many species of fruits
and vegetables to be enumerated." Yet the same report adds: "Agriculture,
it mnust be confessed, has received too little attention. The reasons for this are
found in the perplexed and difficult circumstances of t'le early settlers; the unfavorable nature of the lands of the Cape [Montserado, the earliest place of
permanent settlement]; the habits of many who first emigrated, acquired by
their long residence in our large cities, and the ignorance of all the modes of
cultivation best adapted to the climate and productions of Africa; the necessity
of employing time in the erection of houses and fortifications; and, above all,
the strong temptation to engage in the very profitable trade of the country."
' Truly we have a goodly heritage; and if there is anything lacking in the
character and condition of the people of this colony, it can never be charged to
the account of the country; it must be the fruits oj our own mismanagement, or
slothfuldness, or vices."
"The agricultural habits of the present occupants of this tract [the lands on
the St. Paul's River], concur with the advantages of their situation in affording
promise of success to their exertions. Nothing, says the colonial agent, but circumstances of the most extraordinary nature, can prevent them from making
their way directly to respectability and abundance."'
The Colonial agent, Dr. Mechlin, says:
" For fertility of soil, and the facilities for procuring articles of trade and subsistence, I know of no place within our limits that can compare with the country in the vicinity of St. John's River." (Seventeenth Col. Report. )
Dr. James Hall, an agent sent out to examine and report facts,
and also a munificent benefactor to the colony, in 1842 says:
" With regard to the fertility of the soil, it is unequalled in richness. and
abundantly productive of all the great variety of tropical fruits and vegetables,
and of the most valuable staples of export in the world."