Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-10-17
ABOUT SIERRA I CONE.
IA Letter from a Country Of Nv Iaies,
Little IEas Reen Written.
! 1IAfrtean Cor. exas Siiftings.

| Lftfie IEas Been written.
/ AFRICAN Cor Texas Siftings.J
Sierra Leone, IN the west coast Of
Africa, is probably d place that very ffs s..
Americans know anything about. 5 1T
| is : tie.ssiees north from tic esua5o and
se,s118 oRlre is WARM nn car iouIl.ss.
dry. Tie Het begins about May aud
lasts for six months: the pther s.i
| nloatl;s being dry The temperature
rarely goes is.,.,v degrees iii Tie shade
| ;.lid i;;lely below rs degrees. s sZ.gs
sierra Leona ia,s improved very
greatly in a sanitary point Of view DUR
Ting the past ten years. It is now sup
piled with an abundance of cool Watt4
brought in pipes from the mountains and
distributed generously throughout the
town. This, together with the thor
ough sanitary measures which are in
force, has greutly improved the place =:
so the death among white men is very
greatly reduced, and although the eli.
mate is dabilitati Jag constantly redtic-
ing the system. and making o change, at
least once in eighteen months, necessary,
yet it is not altogether a bad place to
hive in. T. s q. . vi + %5f
have now been nearly six years a
misunderstanding been home to the
United States twice in that time, and an
about ready to 60 again. 1t is stlrpris.
ing to nae, when visiting my native land
for the recuperatian of my health, to be
questioned BY man, woman and child re-
gartling Sierra Leone. It seems import
ant that people should know 50 little of
Afric;,-after SO many books have been
published, but none Of them seem to
| answer the questions which a Vermont
Yankee can ask. 81 III: p
The questions asked the writer become
painfully OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES they are
asked over and over again by different
persons in various places | sometimes
think, don't they know anything about
Sierra LeoneY' But how should they2
knew nothing about the place until
/ came here to live, What does the
school geography say about Sierra
Leonef Simply that it is British col
ony, which was founded in 1878, rs a
refuge for liberated slaves.
The brevity of this information is its
only redeeming feature. carhot go
into detail to answer all the questions in
this letter, but l would say that we do
all live in houses, and some very good
! ones; we have plenty to eat, all cooked
by black, men cooks; we dress well, and
it anybody thinks The black people can't
dress well they ought to see then, on
Sunday--on other days all except the
upper crust, 60 barefoot. We never have
frosts, for how can we, when the coolest
is rs degrees above zero; we have most
all kinds of tropical fruits, oranges,
limes pine apples, bananas, manages,
sweet sap and sour sap, plantains, and a
score of other kinds l.. II, $
The principal articles Of export are:
palm oil, palm kernels, ground nuts,
india rubber, benni seed, dry hides (of
cattle), ivory, gold, ginger root, etc.
{. The United States gets from 10 to -
per cent of the trade, both of imports
and exports. Most of the lumber, ker-
osene oil, provisions and leaf tobacco
imported, are from the United States
while nearly all the dry hides exported,
about 100000, and part Of the ginger
| and rubber 60 to the United States.
! "A mail goes eacn way every week.
Single postage from here to the states,
8 cents; from the states here, cents.
The government OF course is English
the head is a governor appointed by the
| crown, with all the other officials APP
pointed on recommendation Of the
! governor.
q There are about 100 white people, all
told, and the balance, of course, are
black, varying in shade. from, very light
to full-blooded negroes, and hence let me
say the black men are no special friends
| or champions Of the Mulatto--wAom
they claim is neither one thing nor the
Isother, and, believe, in the Negro Re-
public Of Liberia, $50 miles south from
here, this was the division line in pres
| idential contest: Black VS.. Mulattu.
There are plenty OF churches and
schools mere, and most Of the children,
at least a fair proportion Of them, attend
and although it is an English speaking
community, still the people never will
learn to talk Englisil-they all become
tongue-tied in trying TO speak what is
termed Sierra Leone English" and this
can never be described on paper.