On his return to his country (and he will not stay away longer than a year) the Liberian government exacts a portion of his goods. A large part of the remainder goes to the elders of his tribe who have protected his wives in his absence. If he refuses this demand, which is usually exorbitant, or if he stays away too long from his country, the wives themselves are confiscated. Goods, however, that are made up into clothing are never demanded; and this accounts for a habit of the Kruboy which sometimes amazes ship-passengers. On his return as a deck-passenger after serving a year down the coast he turns tailor and employs all his time in making clothes, cutting them out and sewing them, on the deck. If there are many Kruboys thus travelling the lower deck presents an aspect of fantastic activity. In late years they have not gone far down the coast except as ship-hands. The Kru people are peculiarly inaccessible to Christian influence. This is in part owing to the fact that they are away so much of the time. The life that they live when thus separated from their people and the nature of their contact with white men are not conducive to their moral welfare. But, as a matter of fact, very little missionary work has been done among them. They are extremely superstitious. The surf, with which the Kruboy fights desperate battles for his life, is full of malignant spirits; and so of everything that opposes or hurts him. His soul leaves him when he sleeps, and often some witch catches it in a trap; whereupon he takes sick and soon dies. Sometimes the witch inflicts a fatal wound upon the soul; and sometimes he hangs the trap over the fire and the soul shrinks and dies, himself failing and dying at the same time. Occasionally, however, the wandering soul stays away of its own accord. A witch-doctor may catch it and put it back into him for a consideration. Sometimes when the soul of the sleeper would return in the morning it finds its place taken by some malicious spirit which inflicts sickness. The witch-doctor must first expel this spirit before restoring the man’s soul. When a person of any importance dies the Kru custom is to kill a number of others to accompany him to the underworld. The underworld is somewhat like this, and the inhabitants there pass their time somewhat as we do here; much of it is therefore spent in talking palavers. Sometimes they even talk palavers which began in this life and were not settled or were decided unjustly. For this purpose they often need the testimony of persons still living, and such persons immediately die in order to go to the underworld and give testimony. This is a common explanation when a number of persons die about the same time.