Patriarchal Government.--Construction of Villages.--Negro Architecture.--Election of Kings.--Coronation Ceremony.--Succession.--African Queens.--Law, Civil and Criminal.--Priests.--Their Functions.--Marriage.--Warfare.--Agriculture.--Mechanic Arts.--Blacksmiths. 50 CHAPTER VIII. LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND RELIGION. Structure of African Languages.--The Mpongwe, Mandingo, and Grebo.--Poetry: Epic, Idyllic, and Miscellaneous.--Religions and Superstitions. 66 CHAPTER IX. SIERRA LEONE. Its Discovery and Situation.--Natural Beauty.--Founding of a Negro Colony.--The Sierra Leone Company.--Fever and Insubordination.--It becomes an English Province.--Character of its Inhabitants.--Christian Missions, etc. 85 CHAPTER X. THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA. Liberia.--Its Location.--Extent.--Rivers and Mountains.--History of the First Colony.--The Noble Men who laid the Foundation of the Liberian Republic.--Native Tribes.--Translation of the New Testament into the Vei Language.--The Beginning and Triumph of Christian Missions to Liberia.--History of the Different Denominations on the Field.--A Missionary Republic of Negroes.--Testimony of Officers of the Royal Navy as to the Efficiency of the Republic in suppressing the Slave-Trade.--The Work of the Future. 95 CHAPTER XI. RESUME. The Unity of the Human Family re-affirmed.--God gave all Races of Men Civilization.--The Antiquity of the Negro beyond Dispute.--Idolatry the Cause of the Degradation of the African Races.--He has always had a Place in History, though Incidental.--Negro Type caused by Degradation.--Negro Empires an Evidence of Crude Ability for Self-Government.--Influence of the two Christian Governments on the West Coast upon the Heathen.--Oration on Early Christianity in Africa.--The Duty of Christianity to evangelize Africa. 108 * * * * * Part II. _SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES_. CHAPTER XII. THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA. 1619-1775.