The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-06-01
LYBERIA's FIRST sIEAMBoIE
1t was Formerly sugar Mill. and the
People are Having Lots OF Fun with II.

1t was Formerly "a sugar Mil. and the
People Having Lots OF Fun with II.
The bark Liberia arrived in port yesterday
thirty-four days out from Sierra Leone. L. T.
Page. her Captain, came across the United
States man of-war Pensacola Off Sierra Leone.
He was the guest Of Paymaster Bliss on the
Pensacola, and was present In Sierra Leone
when tho eclipse astronomers captured the
town. Tho antics Of the eclipse party about
the English church in Sierra Leone are still
town talk there. Never WAS there such q num-
Der of cameras trained before on one inofren-
sive little church it is said, as there was on
this one in Sierra Leone After taking photo
graphs OF every coored person in Sierra Leone.
and having got her supply OF coal. the Pensa-
cola started down the coast.
Capt Page saws that the Liberians. after
being forty-four years building up their Gov
eminent to top notch. only recently started In
the steamboat business. They have launched
the Grand Republic, which is quite unlike the
steamer known here by that name. 1t was
once n sugar mill, and the engine that gro und
the sugar now moves the boat II propels two
Wheels each Of which has four paddles. There
were fireworks and torchlight procession
upon the occasion Of tho first departure Of tho
Grand Republic up the st. Paul River. 1t goes
up fifteen miles one duy and returns the next.
Getting the Grand Republic up To her wharf,
Capt rage says, is an awful Job, and sometimes
requires the united services o. the colored male
population OF the town on which the boat lies.
The Norwegian man. oi-war Aida recently
arrived in Liberia aid fired salute OF twenty
one guns. The Liberian President, Hilary
Johnson. not to be outdono IN etiquette,
secured MUnrova the Liberian capital, for
Norwegian flag. lie found one in the Norwe-
Gian Consulate, and borrowed il for half an
hour. When the nag was ready Tor unfurlinR
some one called attention to the fact that 1t
was the Norwe. an Consular nag and not the
naval flag, which has pieces chopped out OF its
outer edge. President johnson with a knife
cut the flag into shape and then assisted in
flying it. The flying of the flag. tough
Job as it was was nothing compared to the
firing of the salute from the LiberiRn
fort. When the Government was founded
and the fort built twenty-one gu0s were
placed upon it. But tho masonry had not
grown stronger with age, SO the twenty-one
guns had i4llen in tho mud. Two OF them were
lshed out und one placed In the crotch OF q
cocoanut tree and the other held up between
two boards 1t was an awful lob to fire the
salute OF twenty-one guns i'll return. but Pres
ident Johnson. Capt. PHGe SAYS. stood by and
vowed that the Norwegian man Of war would
be honored, or he would know why. Instead
OF half an hour it was three and one half hours
before the flag was returned to the Norwegian
Consul lie refused to accept II then. saying
that IL had been ruined. He tried to got the
Iiborlan Government TO buy him a new flag
but the task was such Il difficult one that he
finally compromised upon repairing the old one
numner oil returning emigrants came in
ia l