Extract of a letter from Bro. Bowen, circa 1850

Africa Extract of Letter from Bro. Bowen When brother Bowen last wrote, he was at Monrovia. He will probably remain there until the fall, and then proceed by the best route to the interior. He thus describes the country on the coast: — “Western Africa is hilly and undulating, much like Virginia, for forty miles above Richmond. The streams are numerous, rocky or sandy, and clear; prevailing rocks, amorphous trap and iron ore; soil generally of second and third quality, rather stubborn, owing to the presence of innumerable pimples. The interior is good for corn; cotton is very inferior; sweet potatoes bad; wild fruit abundant, but not often eatable. The whole land is covered with a tangled thicket of bushes and vines. There is abundance of timber, some heavy and desirable, some tough as hickory, but I have seen no fine wood. Cam wood is scarce, so is ivory. “To natives and acclimated persons Liberia is as healthy as the southern States. But the settlements are in the very worst locations, being near the juncture of salt and fresh water. There is very little swamp in the country. If villages were built thirty or forty miles back, and surrounded by plantations, I have no doubt that the health of emigrants would be two or three hundred per cent, better than it is. When the country is cleared and cultivated, I believe the climate of Liberia will no longer be a terror. “I was on Gebby island, in St. Paul’s river (see map to Alexander’s History of African Colonization). All this region is a noble, elevated country, almost free from palm trees, and with various other indications of wealth. The stream east of the island is about eight yards wide, the other about two hundred. The river is full of rocks and rapids. “I have not been long enough in the country to learn much about the state of the churches. There is no ordained minister in the Monrovia district. “The principal native tribes in this section are the Golahs (very extensive); the Veys (principally on the coast from this to