"Now for Liberia," he continued. "The first settlement in the republic was made in 1820 by the American Colonization Society, which sent some emancipated negroes there. A 'declaration of independence' was made in 1847, and the Republic of Liberia was organized much after the form of the United States. The President holds office four years, the same as with us; there is a regular staff of cabinet officers, and a Senate and House of Representatives. The country extends about six hundred miles along the coast, and has a population of seven hundred and twenty thousand. Seven hundred thousand of them are aborigines, and the rest are negroes from the United States, and their descendants. [Illustration: MONROVIA, LIBERIA.] "Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, contains about thirteen thousand inhabitants, and has schools, colleges, churches, and the like, similar to Sierra Leone. The colony has been fairly prosperous, and the republic has made treaties of commerce with the principal nations of Europe and America. If you want to know more about it there are several books which give its history in detail." Frank said he had heard quite as much as he was likely to remember, and with this remark the lesson on the history of the colonies of Sierra Leone and Liberia came to an end. The Doctor asked Fred what he had learned relative to the healthiness of the African coast, or rather of that part of it which was under discussion. [Illustration: FREE TOWN, SIERRA LEONE.] "As to that," replied Fred, "there is no healthiness at all for the white man, but, 'on the contrary, quite the reverse.' From February to December, 1871, of the ninety-eight European residents at Free-town, in Sierra Leone, twenty-four died, and in other years the mortality has been in nearly the same proportion. Other points along the coast are pretty nearly as fatal to the white visitor, and also to the negro born and reared in temperate climates. Strangers soon after their arrival are attacked with a fever which seems to be caused by the malarious exhalations from the earth. The fever shows itself by loss of appetite, pains in the back, severe and long-continued headache, together with gastric troubles that develop into bilious remittent fever. Sometimes it yields to medical treatment, but more frequently it develops into the dreaded African fever, which is marked by intense headache and delirium. In this stage it is frequently fatal. The negro who escapes can consider himself acclimated; but the white man is liable to a return of the disease, as the first attack does not secure him against subsequent ones." "A very good lecture on the African fever," said the Doctor. "I don't think you are likely to encourage emigration in the direction of the Gold Coast." Fred bowed his acknowledgment of the Doctor's compliment, and said the more he read and heard of the West Coast of Africa, the less was his desire to go there, even for a very brief visit. [Illustration: A STREET IN COOMASSIE.]