The governor, relying on the reputation for power and good faith which the colony had acquired, resolved to head in person an expedition of exploration along the St. Paul’s River. Taking a small number of men with him, he proceeded up the river, visited the camwood country, about seventy miles inland, and found the forests greatly wasted, and the main source of supply at that time one hundred miles farther back. Kings were visited and relieved of their fears, although not of their wonder, that “the governor should be at that distance from home without engaging in war.” The party had left the canoe, and after a circuit round to the eastward, they reached “Captain Sam’s” town, one hundred and twenty miles east of Monrovia. Several kings met with the president in his excursion, with whom a conversation was held, “on the subject of trade, the course and extent of the river, native wars, religion, &c.” One, “who was seated in state, on a sofa of raised earth, gave us a hearty shake of the hand, and said he was glad to see us;” adding, “this country be your country, all this people be your countryman, you be first king.” This king was informed by the president, “that he and his people must agree to abandon the slave-trade, to discontinue the use of sassywood, engage in no war except by permission of the colonial government.” On one occasion, “Ballasada, the principal war-man of the Golah tribe, made his appearance; he entered the gate of the barricade, at the head of some twenty or thirty armed warriors, with drums beating, horns blowing, dressed in a large robe, and stepping with all the majesty of a great monarch.” At Yando’s town, arrangements were made for establishing a school. At Gelby, one of the missionaries preached to a large congregation--the king with most of his people being present. The audience was attentive, and, with the king, gave “a nod of the head at almost every word uttered by the interpreter.” At “Captain Sam’s town,” a place of great trade, they met three strangers from different tribes, anxious to have a question settled, viz.: “whether, if they carried their produce to the American settlement for sale, the colonists would beat them, take their property away, and put them in jail.” Their intermediate friends had persuaded them that such would be the case, and consequently had themselves, in the mean time, become their agents, and plundered them at discretion. They had, at that time, brought a considerable quantity of produce for sale, and some of them had been kept waiting for many months. All this was fully cleared up to their satisfaction, and great extension of trade was promised. The governor says: “I have travelled considerably in the United States, but have never seen anywhere a more beautiful country than the one passed through, well timbered and watered, and the soil, I venture to assert, equal to any in the world.”