RAILROAD SURVEY.――While the United States flagship Ticonderoga, Commodore Shufeldt, was on the West African coast, two of her officers, Lieut. Drake and Master Vreeland, assisted by eleven men from the ship and twenty-seven natives furnished by the Liberian Government, made a survey of the St. Paul’s river, and ran a line of levels along its northern bank and some distance inland, to determine the feasibility of constructing a railroad to connect Monrovia with the Soudan Valley, via Boporo. This reconnoissance proved that the engineering difficulties would be comparatively trifling. There is no doubt that Monrovia would be the most available point for the starting of such a road, as it would pass through an entirely virgin country and penetrate to a salubrious region, whose resources for trade, known to be prodigious, are as yet untouched. Such a connection with the interior, with the various appliances of civilization which must follow it, would be one of the most effective agencies for promoting a vigorous colonization of the immigrants, who would at once reach a healthy and fertile district, and it would prove a great practical power in the advancement of missionary work, and immediately become an important auxiliary in developing and controlling an immense and valuable commerce. This reconnoissance was the first made in that quarter, and it has done much toward bringing the interior tribes into commercial and friendly relations with the Liberians. Other surveys were conducted by the same bold and public-spirited officers, including that of the Sugaree and Marfa rivers. The presence of the Ticonderoga and Commodore Shufeldt will long be pleasantly remembered, and good continue to result. This accomplished officer, in a letter dated April 6, 1881, remarks: “In view of the many failures which have been recorded in every age of the world, Liberia may be regarded as a success. * * * This, the first effort of the African race to establish a free government upon its own soil, merits and should receive the sympathy and encouragement of every man, woman and child in America.”