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 ONE BLOOD
A BLOOD WORLD NOVEL

BOOK 11

TAMARA ROSE BLODGETT

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 SYNOPSIS

Jen is one of ten Singer "pioneers" who sojourn to faery to honor the promise of finding sidhe mates. When the cultural differences and
arrogance of the sidhe clash with those of the Singers, Jen wonders if she's made the gravest of errors.
Tessa and Adi bear babies who are desperately needed to replenish the ranks of a struggling species, only to find their offspring is
more than they seem.
Tahlia flees those who pursue her - until the one she wants most captures more than her body, but her heart.
Truman and Cyn make their way to the Northwestern without realizing rogue Were are bent on destroying the very den they believe
will provide them sanctuary.
Can the supernaturals settle with their mates before the forces of evil converge to rob them of the opportunity?
 CONTENTS
Music

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28

Bonus Chapter
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Tamara Rose Blodgett
 MUSIC

Music that inspired me during the writing of ONE BLOOD:

Flowers on a Grave
by
Bush
 CHAPTER 1
TAHLIA

T ahlia wakes as sharp, piercing pain surfaces her to consciousness.

Her eyelids crack open as she is dragged across rough ground by bound wrists.
Instantly, survival mode kicks in, and her bird form attempts to escape her from this new insult.
Gooseflesh riots over the exposed skin of her throat, lower forearms, and even the top of her
palms in her attempt to shift.
Nothing.
An instant later, the obvious occurs to her. I’m in heat, she mentally groans.
With another surge of determination, the smooth transition to quarter-change washes over her
instead of the more ideal bird form.
Grunting from the change, Tahlia curls her body, mid-drag, slapping her wrists downward.
The pain is instant—excruciating, yet, the result is predictably perfect.
Her unknown captor stumbles backward.
He pivots hard to face her.
Tahlia wastes no time and bites the closest body part, attempting to meet her teeth together.
“Fuck!” the male turn screeches; the fact that he is a turned Were, and not born, fills her nostrils.
His hand blurs toward her face but Tahlia is faster, reflexively releasing her teeth from his arm
and jerking her jaw back in avoidance even as the turn's horrible, rank smell has her gagging thickly.
Tahlia's teeth clench as she yanks him to her with bound wrists, smacking her harder skull against
his.
He slumps, causing their combined weight to tumble to the ground together.
Tahlia extracts her limbs from his and rolls to her side. Using her bound hands, she shoves to a
staggering stand.
Her body's adrenaline sings through her like a sickening electrical current.
She stares down at the turn, pleased by the reversal of their positions.
Excellent.
His pale hair is silvered from the light of the waxing moon, body a dead weight that hangs from
her because of the unfortunate binding.
A furtive noise has her spinning when another turn jumps Tahlia from behind, riding her body to
the ground.
Tahlia lands hard, screaming.
She bucks him off with an expert shift of her body, quickly scrambling over the top of the
unconscious one who still holds her bindings inside his hand.
Giving her arms a hard upward jerk, she only succeeds in tightening their tether, pain striking from
wrist to shoulder.
Moon.
The unconscious turn has effectively anchored her to the spot.
Resigned, Tahlia spins and simultaneously crouches, coming against the new threat.
Her acute nocturnal sight soaks in details of a tall turn she does not recognize. Tahlia instinctively
mirrors his moves as they circle each other while she mentally curses the bindings constraining her
defenses.
“Fucking comply, bitch,” the male spits at her feet.
Tahlia straightens, growling her answer, “No. Honorless male.”
He pulls a face of pure disbelief. “I will—Fuck. You. Up.” He spreads his arms away from his
lean torso. “Just saying.”
Tahlia easily makes his cocked head even in the near-dark—his certain bravado.
“Don’t be a cunt, and I won’t have to keep you in line.” His eyebrows slash up.
Foul male. Straining, Tahlia finally tears her arms apart, breaking the rope and causing the turn’s
brows to plummet over his crudely-fashioned beady eyes, features frozen in comical surprise.
He has clearly not dealt with enough Alpha females.
Then a familiar scent strikes Tahlia.
Neil.
Tahlia kicks back with her right leg, hearing the impact of a satisfying crunch of brutal contact.
The turn thinks to move in, snatching at her freed wrists with all the finesse of his station.
With savage precision, jaws wide, Tahlia whips her teeth back and forth across his upper arms,
yanking her face from side to side and shredding the defenseless bare skin of his biceps as he attempts
to retain his hold on her.
Hot blood arcs from the rapid savagery, covering them both with hot metallic rain.
“Holy fucking Moses, this bitch!” the turn screams, belatedly attempting to pull free, the amateur
movement causing more damage, not less.
Tahlia does not stop, burying her elongated face and swiping, continually swiping.
Even when Neil grabs her from behind, bodily lifting Tahlia from the ground, she claims some of
the turn’s flesh with a final tearing pull.
Throwing her head back, she brains Neil soundly.
With a surprised grunt, Neil’s hold loosens, and Tahlia spits out the rancid chunk of arm she tore
from the turn’s limb.
From the ground, Neil latches onto her shins.
No!
Unbalanced, Tahlia falls to the ground with a teeth-jarring thud.
Her eyes take in the turn as he lifts the ground hamburger of his arm, fist rocketing toward her
vulnerable face.
Whipping her head away, she suffers only a glancing blow that still manages to rock her face
back.
Plunging her fingers into the sharp grass, Tahlia snaps a leg forward, kicking Neil in his smug
face.
His roar of fury follows Tahlia as she attempts to crawl from between the two.
The turn jumps on her back, kicking her legs apart.
A hoarse shout breaks the seal of her lips as panic sinks its teeth into Tahlia.
Rape is the scent her nostrils burn with.
She thinks of Brent—Drek, mewling in frustration.
Tahlia will not be defiled—her first rut will not be with a turn who cannot think for breeding an
Alpha female.
He is abruptly torn from Tahlia, and a strong hand cups her nape, pinning her face against the
ground, the razor blades of grass spearing the tender flesh of her cheek.
Tahlia's scream is a muffled shout.
The pain of Neil’s teeth clamping at her shoulder combines with a sick wash of Alpha Lanarre
power that rolls through Tahlia with nauseating precision.
However, Tahlia is Lanarre royalty, and though his power stings like a million fire ants—his is
not a greater power than her own.
Only his arrogance would cause Neil to forget this.
Neil unclamps his teeth and triumphantly rolls Tahlia to her back, pinning her thighs with his more
powerful legs.
Tahlia releases the power that makes her Lanarre.
Neil bares his teeth, fighting her compulsion that he free her.
Slowly, as Neil fights her command—literally, fang and talon—his fingers creep to her neck just
as Tahlia’s hands encircle Neil’s throat.
He whacks her arms apart and, growling, lunges at her upper chest, canines sinking deep.
Tahlia bucks, unable to scream as she thrashes beneath Neil's sheer brutality.
“Submit, bitch,” the turn says from above her head.
Her eyes move to the turn's form, which from her vantage point, has him upside down; Tahlia
shifts the focus of her power from Neil to him.
The turn drops to his knees under the wash of her power. “Fuck!” he howls, his grating is a
horrible bellow filling her eardrums where Tahlia lies beneath Neil's brutal dominance play.
With a free hand, Tahlia slides her fingers through Neil’s hair and grips, attempting to pry him
from her upper chest.
He doubles-down.
The pain is crushing. Her body’s healing burn singes where Neil's bite continues, attempting to
heal the wound even as the debauched Alpha injures her for control's sake.
An albino turn joins the other above Tahlia. She instinctively splits the compulsion between the
two, aggressively and completely concentrating her mental directive upon the two turns.
The albino turn robotically pivots to where Neil is crouched above her, and, lacing his fingers
together, he squats, bringing his laced fingers down like a hammer on the back of Neil’s neck.
With a groan, Neil slumps on top of her.
“Ooff,” Tahlia's breath shoots out from the load of his dead weight. As she yanks Neil's mouth
from the wound of her upper chest, her eyes sight down on the turn as she shoves Neil off.
Tahlia blindly reaches for the turn, grabbing onto one of his knees. Tahlia needs healing, and she
needs it now.
Biology takes over, and the turn hauls Tahlia onto his lap, burying his fangs into the wound made
by Neil.
 The pain is immediate—visceral, and she arches her back. A handful of heartbeats measure the
agony until Tahlia whimpers in relief when cooling essence, though not of superior quality, drowns
out the pain.
Tahlia’s head rolls against the turn’s shoulder.
Thank Moon.
His body reeks of dirt, body order, and the inferiority of not being a born Were.
Regardless, his male essence will suffice to patch her up in the now.
The fact is: A male Were, born or turned, has the ability to heal a female.
The albino Were continues to pound an unconscious Neil.
Tahlia gladly allows this mindless beating of Neil to continue as it works in her favor.
The turn shakily removes his fangs from her ruined chest and pulls away.
They stare at each other.
Finally, after clearing his throat twice, he asks, “What the fuck was that?”
“Me—compelling you—to forcibly heal me,” Tahlia manages the hoarse reply as she tries to
ignore the throbbing mass of agony at her chest.
“God.” Without realizing what he's doing, the turn adjusts her on his lap so she is more
comfortable. “Why—fuck—what the hell is wrong with me?”
Tahlia sighs. Sometimes, though the change is rare if it happens, a turn can become something
more powerful if they share, impart or otherwise come into contact with a pure Lanarre of royal lines.
Some buried genetics just surface, and there's no way to know who it might happen to or how it
does happen.
In her case, being female, Tahlia unwittingly began a chain of events because her survival was at
stake. Otherwise, she would have never committed the act of this turn's healing of her.
Of course, because he’s not attempting violence but holds her protectively, it translates into this
particular turned Were being more than he seems.
Of all the miserable luck.
The albino Were falls on his butt, completely exhausted from bashing Neil's skull in.
Marvelous.
A relieved exhale eases from Tahlia. Neil's injuries have bought her time. “He will heal,” Tahlia
reflects from against the crook of the turn’s shoulder and biceps.
“I’ll kill his ass,” he growls and smoothly stands with Tahlia in his arms. “No fucker is going to
touch you but me.”
Oh, dear moon, he’s under Lanarre lust.
The albino turn sights in on the turn who holds her like a laser.
Tahlia intuits what will happen before it does.
Her eyes flick to Neil.
He already heals, his sunken head looking plumper by the second.
“Set me down,” Tahlia says at the same time the albino barrels into the turn who holds her.
They go flying in a tangle of limbs before he can release her.
The Were who holds Tahlia protects her body with his own, caging and rolling them in a “soft”
tumble where he releases Tahlia at the last possible moment.
Tahlia gratefully crawls away as they fight.
When she is a scant yard or two from their position, she looks ahead and takes in the turned
female, Devin.
Her eyes are dazed and wide as the female takes in the scene of the battling Were.
 Tahlia wearily shuts her eyes then opens them. She must not quit even when weariness drags her
down to the ground.
Planting her palms, she cries out as the still-healing wound between her collarbone and upper
breast lights up.
Tahlia pushes from the ground in a burst of willpower.
Performing a drunken-like stumble toward the female who is tied against a tree trunk, Tahlia notes
a rag of some kind has been stuffed into her mouth.
Tahlia’s throat burns like fire, the healing trying to overtake the wound.
Thank Moon.
Finally reaching the tree, Tahlia slaps the thick trunk, painfully gasping in her next inhalation.
Tahlia uses her free hand, grabbing the same type of rope used to bind her wrists.
Her eyes search the tight length that bisects the small waist of the lean female and understands it
would injure Devin to tear it from the tree while she's still bound by it.
Tears burn Tahlia's eyeballs. I am Lanarre, she recites.
But even that mantra might not be sufficient for this.
Bending at the waist, tears blinding her, Tahlia presses her sharp canines against the rope.
Her teeth latch onto the abrading material, and she jerks her face to the right.
The rope falls away.
Devin pitches forward, catching herself on the ground, and pulls the rag from her mouth.
“Oh my God, we have to get out of here!” she says, eyeballs roving everywhere at once.
Indeed.
Over Devin's shoulder, Tahlia sights Neil having shifted position to his hands and knees, a
comical dent rapidly filling at the side of his head.
Oh no. Whipping her head to the fighting turns Tahlia commands, “Kill Neil!” shoving her Were
power like a spear of compulsion at the pair of turns.
Instantly, their hands drop from exchanging blows and lurch awkwardly as a unit in Neil's
direction.
Neil manages to stumble to his feet in a clear attempt to defend himself, bashed-in head or no.
The turns viciously attack him.
Grabbing Devin’s hand, Tahlia hauls her from the ground. Sways. “Come on!”
After a minute of getting her bearings and the vaguest scent of the Northwestern from a southerly
direction, Tahlia issues a low hiss, “Run!”
Releasing her hand, Tahlia runs, never more aware of her lack of changeable form than she is
now. Moon-damned heat.
The ragged wound's healing slows to a crawl as Tahlia presses her body into service after such a
grave injury.
The woods become an inky green smear in her periphery. The three-quarter moon lends Her light
as Tahlia flees through the forest, keeping Devin within her periphery as they sidestep trees in a
blinding rush of wind and instinct.
Finally, after what seems like forever but is probably only a half-hour, Tahlia must stop to catch
her breath. Snagging a tree trunk and arresting her own headlong sprint... she shudders to a stop.
Devin runs a few paces in front of her then pivots, the whites of her eyes appearing to glow within
the murk of the forest. “Why are we stopping?” she gasps out.
Tahlia cannot speak. Her throat is so raw she is surprised breath is available. If it weren’t for the
essence from the male turn, she’d be dead. She fully understands Neil would have healed her
completely. For a price—a binding price. Worse than rape—being tied to a male with the obvious
motivations that criminal Lanarre holds.
And on the heels of that revelation—Drek is alive.
Tahlia almost had binding sex with a former human, though Brent is far more than he seems as
well.
Tahlia uses her thoughts to stall. They should still be fleeing. Deep down, Tahlia knows she has
come to the end of what she can physically manage. Too much damage in too short a span of time. The
injuries continue to layer on Tahlia.
Devin walks slowly back to her. “Not a good time to stop—we have to get back to the
Northwestern.” Her frightened eyes trip to some point behind Tahlia as though Neil and the turns have
shaken off their problems and are in hot pursuit.
It's not unlikely, she concedes.
Tahlia takes a painful swallow. Finally, after a half-minute has pounded by, she manages, “Cannot.
My throat.” Tahlia touches the torn wound just beneath her neck, simultaneously gauging the healing.
Only the thinnest brand-new membrane of skin skims over the ragged tear.
Her throat develops a lump that sticks.
She has not felt this hopeless since she hid in the bathroom as the sounds of Tony Laurent
murdering her guardians reached her.
What Tahlia really needs is more essence, food, and rest.
Not very likely. Tahlia gives a sad little hiccup of a laugh at the horrible state of affairs she finds
herself in.
“That fucker did that to you?” Devin's eyes grow big as they take in the ruin of her upper chest.
Tahlia can only imagine the wound is as bad-looking as it feels, given Devin's expression.
She leans back against the nearest tree trunk, head gently tipped back, not bothering to answer, not
possessing the strength to answer.
Trying to catch her breath, desperate not to entertain how close their pursuers must be and unable
to unthink it.
Sorrow washes over Tahlia, threatening to undo her.
She meets Devin's eyes and decides her emotions can wait; this female has a whelp to consider.
Tahlia has nothing.
“Do ya know how much farther, Tahlia?”
Leveling her stare at Devin, Tahlia performs a loose roll of her body along the trunk until one
shoulder is all the connection to remain. “Maybe another hour’s run?”
“Can you make it?”
Tahlia takes in the naked fear covering the half-breed's face. Devin reeks of unease, the whites of
her eyes gleaming with the primitive emotion.
No, I cannot ʻmake it,' Tahlia thinks.
Devin stares at her, breath clearly held.
Tahlia lies with a dip of her chin.
“I have to get back to my little girl,” Devin apologizes, spreading her upturned palms far from her
sides.
Suddenly, the scents that had swirled around the turns make better sense, and she now identifies
them.
The one under lust for her is Bray—the sire to Ella, the whelpling.
Dear Moon.
 Tahlia pushes away from the tree, her vision narrowing into a sickening watercolor blur at her
periphery, consciousness not assured.
She begins a loping jog—pointedly steering them in the direction of the Northwestern.
She and Devin must get within five miles of the den and hope some of the scouts scent them.
A simpleton's task, for they are both in heat.
The ones who had come from Drek’s pack of the Hoh had not survived Neil’s subterfuge.
And Neil’s turns had bludgeoned Tahlia before she could ascertain what transpired between Drek
and Brent.
Nothing good. Of that, she is certain.
Tahlia runs shoulder to shoulder with the much-taller Devin, waiting for a scent—a sound—to
reach her ears as proof that Neil, Bray, and the other turn pursue them as Tahlia's life slowly bleeds
away.
Because Tahlia will not delude herself into complacency—they are absolutely in pursuit.
It is not if; it is when.
 CHAPTER 2
DREK

M ighty arms tear him from the fresh turn, jaws snapping, spittle flying from his need to render the
turn's flesh asunder.
A turn who had but one purpose: breeding his intended.
For that, he must die.
Drek lunges again, only to be spun and held down by what he scents is a Red and another, who he
does not know.
Jerking his head to the side, Drek takes in what he can. With a palm mashed against his cheek, he
is in no position to do much of anything.
Yet.
His eyes ache as he fights to watch the two Were who circle the turn.
The turn—obviously a Red—crouches, growling. His attention split between the trio in an attempt
to keep them within his purview.
Finding a gap in the turn's attention, an Alpha of the three surges in from behind, bashing the turn
at the nape with brutal efficiency.
Staggering, the turn strikes as he pivots toward the Alpha, knocking the Alpha on his ass.
Well, well.
The turn, who fought so ferociously against Drek, has two betas on their feet to deal with.
The promise of his death teases Drek's nostrils. His lips curl against the hard ground. They will
kill him.
“Let me up,” Drek barks from his squeezed, blowfish lips.
“Not quite yet, Alpha,” comes the gravelly reply from above the prince.
He cannot smell Laz before he acts... and neither can the one who holds Drek.
A pale red hand, imbued with the strength of hell, clamps on his aggressor's shoulder, and the
body that weighed down his own lifts.
“Laz, no!” Lazarus's female wails.
“Slash!” a female Alpha shrieks.
Drek springs to his feet and enters the fray.
 Brent

What the fuck?

Brent backs away from the two clowns—he thinks one is named Sebastian—the other, Dare.
And Jake—king clown.
Dicks, all three.
Brent wants to keep the biggest dick of the three musketeers in his direct line of sight.
He's the one who came in and beat Brent for sport. Or, that's what it seemed like, ruthlessly
cutting Brent's throat open to bleed him out as Tahlia's aggrieved cerulean eyes took in the death
stroke.
Jake.
Only, Tahlia turning Brent into a werewolf had saved his life.
For now.
Brent can see his music-making days are over. All he can think about is Tahlia.
That pathetic prick had said she was gone.
Who took her?
Then the scents had struck him.
The scent of each werewolf was as distinct as seeing their faces. One whiff and he recognized
them.
Now these chodes want to waste time killing Brent when they could be finding Tahlia.
Fuck this. They got some priority mismanagement. Don't they see what's really important?
His nostrils flare.
Unfamiliar werewolves' distinct scent signatures are fading as he defends himself.
And Brent's bell has been rung—again. That fucker Jake had taken a cowardly backdoor swing at
him.
Jake's on the ground now like a tripped bull, swinging his head back and forth.
Brent had knocked that dick on his ass, and on the way, he'd conveniently whacked his hard skull
on the cement walk.
Sometimes wrinkles get ironed out.
The guy he'd first been fighting rushes toward him.
And sometimes they don't.
Women start screaming, and his new werewolf spidey sense tells him terror has found its way into
their jolly little group.
Brent recognizes the dude Tahlia was supposed to marry (mate).
Instead of finishing what he'd begun with Brent, he breezes past Brent and, with a hand on each
wereguy, shoves.
They fly ten feet, landing on their asses, much like Jake had.
He turns to Brent.
They face off.
Jake stands quietly behind this guy.
Brent's eyes flick to Jake.
 The guy who about killed him slams his elbow backward, punching Jake in the gut.
He bends at the waist, hoarsely coughing. Then that's followed by a stream of puke.
Brent doesn't take his eyes off this fucker because he means business. That, Brent knows because
he's standing there in various states of fresh and healing injuries.
“I want Tahlia protected,” the guy says without ceremony.
Brent blinks, straightening from his instinctive crouch. “Me too, pal.” Finally, someone has said
something smart.
A loose group of others begins to surround them, and Brent realizes his window to escape this
place and his imminent death has closed.
Fuck, his mind wails, thinking about Tahlia out there somewhere. Unprotected.
Tahlia's fiancé, or whatever, inclines his chin. “I am Drek, a Lanarre prince of the Hoh.”
Brent's chest heaves, the back of his neck throbbing like a bitch as he does an eye sweep, taking
the time to turn all the way around.
His eyes sorta trip over a guy who doesn't fit at all. Pale red flesh, icy blue eyes, steam rising
from his skin—otherworldly lookin'.
Of course, now that Brent is privy to the idea that he's a werewolf (Lycan, Were—whatever) he's
one hundred percent sure there must be other supernatural creepy-crawlies littering the planet.
Devil-dude stands beside another guy—werewolf for sure, Brent's nose tells him—and Jake
remembers his name a second later: Slash.
Slash is beat up with a gnarly scar bisecting his face like a flesh lightning strike.
The red dude is worse for wear too.
Brent's perusal takes seconds before his gaze returns to Drek. “I'm Brent of Tacoma.”
He smirks.
Drek's expression doesn't change.
These guys. To hell with it, Brent gets down to the brass tacks, “We're wasting time while
Tahlia's off—getting hurt.”
Raped.
Beaten.
Worse.
He gives a brusque nod. “I smell your truth, Brent.”
Duh. “Then why did you try to kill my ass?” he asks harshly. “I could have saved Tahlia had you
not been distracting shit six ways to Sunday.” He lifts his shoulders then slaps both hands on his skin-
tight athletic pants.
Brent checks out the small crowd. All the guys wear the same pants that he's been stuffed into.
Werewolf uniform.
Fucking weirdness.
“Tahlia is my betrothed, and you were in a lust-frenzy.”
As if that explains him trying to kill me.
Brent tears his eyes back to Drek, refraining from a supreme eye roll. Is this dude for real? “I'll
let you figure all this werewolf political shit out while I take off after Tahlia.” He taps the side of his
nose. “Because I can smell her, prince of the ho-ho and ding dongs.”
Drek's eyes widen, and he turns his head, addressing Slash. “Has he been taught nothing?”
Slash lifts a shoulder, shooting a weary glance at Brent.
Fine. Whatevers. Brent is tired. Tired of being beat up.
Lied to.
 Underfed and overall treated like garbage because he had the bad luck to fall for a girl who was a
werewolf of all goddamned things.
So fucking shoot me.
That's right, this troop of snouts won't do that; they'll just talon Brent to death.
Perfect.
Brent's gaze takes them all in, scenting a new gal he knows is pregnant with... something, and
behind the red dude is a red dudette.
Shit just keeps getting more and more bizarre
Fine. Bye-bye, everyone. It's been fun.
Not.
“I'm going. I don't give one shit about werewolf niceties. Tahlia's out there with some
werewolves who don't follow your rules, apparently.” His nostrils flare. Hard. “And I smell her
injuries. Those dicks who have her hurt her to get the job done.”
Drek drops his chin like a bull ready to charge. Speaking of bulls—Jake has managed to stagger
back into the inner circle, caging his gut with loose hands.
That Drek packs some weight.
He knows first hand.
Drek's lips lift. “She is mine, turn.”
He says “turn” like an elegant fuck you, Brent notes.
Brent grins at Drek and wags his finger in a dangerous taunt. “Here's where I have the advantage.
I'm ignorant of all the pecking order bullshit you werewolves take so seriously. I don't care.” Brent
takes a slow spin. “I care about the only thing that matters.” He turns to face Drek once more. “You
stay here and overthink your shit, and I'll be gone.”
With that, Brent spins in the direction of Tahlia's scent.
Sprints.
He runs like he's never run in his life. Sure, Brent had always been fast—but not like this.
Threads of green smear the edges of Brent's vision as he races with new energy.
The priority is to get to Tahlia, kill anyone who threatens her, and finish what they'd started.
Drek be damned. And betrothed? What does that even mean? For Brent, the answer is simple:
She hasn't been taken by another guy but a werewolf.
And Brent will die before he lets another dude have her. Just the thought gains him even more
speed until the colors in his periphery are colorless, grayed out.
His eyes can't catalog what's too fast to see.
Tahlia's his. And, for the record, she seemed to want him too, until Prince Passionless showed up,
trying to throw his royal weight around.
In the far distance, Brent hears the crashing as someone—or several someones—close in.

Tahlia

A whistling reaches her through ears closed off to all sound but their relentless push through the
woods.
Her vision's reduced to a pinpoint of light at the center, behaving like the proverbial end-of-a-
tunnel. Tahlia feels, though she technically runs, she is actually floating.
The heat she finds herself saddled with is relentless, beating down on Tahlia even when there is
no one to breed her.
The moon is high, exactly three-quarters to full.
Perfect and unyielding, it summons Tahlia to find a male, any male. Tahlia had heard of Her
power from other she-Were, but to experience the ferocious calling is another thing altogether.
“Tahlia!” Devin gasps beside her.
“What?” Tahlia attempts to answer. Cannot. Because the whistling is not coming from somewhere
distant but from the hole in her chest.
Tahlia's next step is a stumble. Then she's rolling, so tired and injured she can't even protect her
fall.
A nearby ravine gobbles her tumble of limbs as Tahlia somersaults down the steep slope to an
abrupt halt.
The small pebbles in the stream bite into her tender back, the water instantly soaking her clothing.
Her lower body is half-in and half-out of a small creek where the water promptly freezes every
bit of skin it comes into contact with.
Tahlia blinks, gazing at the thin ribbon of sky revealed through a wavering breach within the dark
canopy of forest, stars twinkling between where the branches reach for one another.
Too tired to move, too weary to fight the enemies from all sides, Tahlia does not even bother to
turn her head when Devin reaches her side.
Dropping to her knees, Devin's compassionate eyes roam Tahlia's form. Then she places a gentle
palm on the place where she sees a hole in Tahlia's chest.
Her breath wheezes in and out like an insane buzzsaw.
“Oh my God, what do I do?” Devin cries.
Ever-practical, Tahlia whispers a soft command, “Run,” then, “return,” Tahlia gives a painful
swallow, forcing herself to be quiet for a moment as she collects sufficient breath to finish, “to the
Northwestern and your whelp.”
“I can't leave you,” Devin says, voice tight.
Her tears feel warm on Tahlia's chilled flesh.
“Leave me.” Tahlia shuts her eyes to Devin. A true Were despite her turned status. She has proven
this with her pureblood whelp and is valuable to Lycan.
Even as Tahlia lay dying, the motive to save Devin has merit. Tahlia is a brutally practical Were.
Devin begins to sob quietly, but Tahlia scents the turn's decision, though Devin might not even
realize she's made one.
“I'm an awful person,” Devin laments.
Tahlia almost smiles at this. “You are not a person but a Were female who must now make hard
choices.” Tahlia shores herself up and adds, “For Ella.”
Their eyes meet, and Tahlia finds she desperately wants to discern the color, for reasons
unknown.
Strong hands grip her wrists as Devin drags Tahlia from the creek and onto a patch of dry moss.
“Thank you.” Tahlia sighs. as the chill leeches into her bones.
Devin stands uncertainly, her gaze divided between the top of the ravine and eventual escape.
Tahlia's eyes bug. “I smell Were. Go!” she barks harshly.
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to Cape Palmas soon to serve this company. It is very strange that
this company finds it necessary to employ natives from the colony of
Sierra Leone, when in Liberia is the largest market for unskilled
laborers in Western Africa, supplying, as it does, most, if not all, of
that class of labor employed in the various enterprises in British,
French, and German African colonies. We hope this is no new coup.”
The Frontier Force has continued in its development. The present
plans involve the organization of a battalion of 600 men under a
major; each of the two companies of 300 soldiers will be under a
captain; and each company will have three Liberian lieutenants; the
three chief officers will be Americans loaned to the Liberian
Government by the United States. The general duties of the force
will be those of a constabulary for the maintenance of law and order
throughout the Republic and for the prevention and the detection of
crime; it will also be used as a customs guard in such numbers and
at such places as may be agreed upon by the Secretary of War and
the general receiver of customs. Its estimated cost for the year 1913
was $86,159.60. The American officers arrived in the Republic in the
spring of 1912. They were Major Ballard and Captains Brown and
Newton. In entering upon their new duties of developing and
organizing the Frontier Force, they had the great advantage of the
advice and interest of Major Charles Young of the United States
Army, who was in Monrovia as military attaché of our legation. We
had ample opportunity of investigating this Frontier Force. It is
composed for the most part of natives fresh from the interior; two
hundred of them passed through our hands for examination and
measurement; they were fine fellows, well built and in good physical
condition; few of them understood English, and among them several
languages were represented; they were proud of their position and
anxious to improve; they were easily led, particularly by officers who
treated them with kindness; we saw two parties of these soldiers
started off for service; they made a good appearance. While we
were there—as is true indeed much of the time—their payments
were behind, and they were expressing some dissatisfaction, but
were easily controlled; there is, however, always a danger of mutiny
when the Government is behind in meeting its obligations to them; I
quote from one who was in Monrovia October 10, 1911; he says: “I
heard quite an altercation in the street. Upon going out I saw about
120 men moving through the street in a disorderly mass toward the
office of the Secretary of War. Upon arriving at the office, there was
quite a demonstration and matters looked serious. After a great deal
of persuasion on the part of the Secretary and the one officer from
the camp, the men moved away in the direction of Camp Johnson. I
was informed that the men were demanding their pay.” There is also
great danger of the Frontier Force, when marching through the
interior, looting and destroying the fields and villages through which
they pass; this is so much in the nature of ordinary native warfare
that it must be particularly guarded against; the Frontier Force,
however, is necessary, and it seems to be making a promising
development.
 Compare, you say, the present with the past. Where are the schooners and
cutters that were used to be built right here in Liberia, when nearly every
responsible man had his own? Where are the tons of sugar that used to be
shipped to foreign parts by our fathers, and the barrels of molasses, and the
tons of camwood? Where are the financial men of the country that looked
upon the holding of public offices almost beneath them, who had to be
begged to fill the offices? Where are those who when they (had) made their
farms lived off the farms? Oh, where are the honest, upright and loyal
government officials of 1847? You answer for yourselves. Where are the great
Liberian merchants of Monrovia, Grand Bassa, Sinoe, and Cape Palmas?
Gone!—S. D. Ferguson, Jr.

TRADE DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORTATION.

Liberia’s very existence depends upon her development of trade. If

the Liberians push forward in this direction, her future may be assured.
If, however, she neglects it, her neighbors, France and England, can not
be expected to permit their opportunity to pass. The area of the Black
Republic is far too rich by nature to be overlooked; if its legitimate
owners fail to develop it, others will do so.
The past of Liberia was built on trade in wild produce; its immediate
prosperity must depend upon the same source of wealth. For the
moment the trade of Liberia must be in such things as palm nuts,
piassava, and rubber.
The oil palm has been the most important source of wealth Liberia
has. The tree produces great quantities of nuts, growing in large
clusters, from which an oil is easily extracted, which finds enormous use
in soap- and candle-making. This oil is derived from the stringy, fleshy
coating of the nut; the nuts are thrown into pits dug in the ground,
where they are allowed to ferment for some time; the mass of
fermented nuts is then squeezed in a sort of press run by hand, and the
oil is extracted. This is the primitive, native style of production. The oil
may also be produced by boiling and pounding the nuts and then
stone-boiling the mass in wooden troughs, the oil being skimmed off
from the surface of the water. In Liberia palm oil is chiefly produced in
the counties of Bassa and Sinoe. Liberian oil is not the best quality on
the market, as carelessness in preparation leaves considerable dirt and
impurities in it; it has, however, brought good prices—up to £24.10.0 a
ton. Inside the palm nut is a hard kernel which remains after the oil has
been extracted; this kernel at first was wasted; to-day it is known to
yield a finer oil than the pulp; the idea of exporting palm nut kernels
originated with a Liberian, and the first shipment was made in 1850; to-
day there is a large demand for palm kernels which sell at prices
ranging from $60 to $68 per ton, the oil derived from them selling at
$130 to $133 per ton.
Second, certainly, in importance, among the raw products exported
from Liberia is piassava; it is the fiber of a palm—raphia vinifera. Large
use is made of this extremely resistant fiber for brooms and brushes for
street sweeping and the like; its use, too, was suggested by a Liberian
in 1889; it was first exported in 1890 and for a time brought the
astonishingly high price of from $300 to $350 per ton; as the fiber was
easy to prepare and the trees were plentiful, a rapid development took
place; Liberia was for a long time the only source of supply;
carelessness ensued in the preparation of the fiber, the demand
lessened and the price dropped; it went down to £10 per ton; at
present the price is somewhat better and is stationary at £20. Sir Harry
Johnston, from whom these details are borrowed, says that it is difficult
to judge the quality of raphia, that it shrinks in weight, and that trade in
it is somewhat speculative and uncertain; still, piassava fiber occupies
an important position in the Liberian trade to-day.
Africa appears to be the continent which presents the greatest
number of rubber-yielding plants; in Liberia the precious exudation is
obtained from some sixteen different kinds of trees and vines, varying
as to the quality and character of rubber yielded. The rubber of Liberia
is not considered of the highest class, but it is of good grade; the
natives of the interior are skilled in its collection; there is no doubt that
great quantities of wild rubber are still to be obtained within the limits
of the Republic and experiments in rubber-planting have already been
made with promise.
Sir Harry Johnston gives a long list of other natural products which
have been exported from Liberia at one time or another in varying
quantities. There was a time when camwood found a ready market and
formed perhaps the most important element in Liberian trade—of
course with the invention of other dye-stuffs, the use of camwood,
annatto, etc., has practically ceased; the name “Grain Coast” or “Pepper
Coast” was long given to this country on account of the malagueta
pepper which was exported in great quantities—this, too, has ceased to
be a product of practical importance; kola nuts are to some degree
exported from Liberia, and with the ever-increasing use of the kola in
America and European countries, trade along this line should develop;
ivory has always been among the export products of Liberia, though it
has never had great significance; vegetable ivory nuts are produced
here and to some extent form an article of trade—the demand for them
in button-making is large and increasing, and exportation of them may
reasonably be developed; hides and oil-yielding seeds complete the list
of actual native export products. Sir Harry Johnston calls attention to
the fact that the country is rich in ebony, mahogany, and other fine
woods, in copal and other gums, in ground nuts, fruits, and minerals;
these, however, have never been actual materials for export; all are
valuable, however, and trade in them might be developed.
All of these raw products of natural production are valuable, but that
they shall form an element in trade depends upon the natives. These
things all come from the forests of the interior; if they are to be traded
to the outside world, they must be collected and transported by the
people within whose territory they are found; this dependence is an
uncertain thing. The natives have few needs; in their little towns they
take life easily; they have no sentimental interest in the development of
trade as such nor in the upbuilding of the country; they care
comparatively little for the returns of trade; they will work when
necessary, but only as they please; when they need some money for
buying wives, they will prepare some piassava fiber or dig a pit, ferment
some nuts, and squeeze some oil. When they have enough for the
immediate and pressing necessity, work stops, and with it the supply of
oil or fiber or whatever they may have seen fit to produce. More than
this, the native is little concerned about the quality of his production. So
long as he can sell it and raise the resources that he needs, he does not
care whether the oil is clean, whether the piassava fiber is of good
quality, or whether the rubber contains dirt and stones. Impurity,
however, of products is a very serious matter to the outside world; a
district which neglects quality loses trade. Liberian oil, fiber, rubber, all
are at a disadvantage at present through the carelessness of the
producers.
It must, then, be the policy of the Liberian Government to encourage,
by every legitimate means within its power, the increase of the
production of the natural resources. Nor is the simple question of
production the whole difficulty. Transportation is quite as important. The
product, no matter how good or how precious, has no value as long as
it remains in the bush. There are different methods of dealing with this
matter of getting the natural products down to the coast settlements.
The simplest and most natural is to let the native bring it out—but the
natives are as little inclined to travel and carry as they are to produce;
they will fetch down their product when they feel inclined—but the
demand from without is constant. Liberians may go into the bush to
bring out the products; there are always little traders who divide their
time between the settlements and the interior; they travel in, sit down
for several days at native towns, trade with the natives for whatever
stuff they have on hand, then have it carried out; such traders are
usually independent men of small means who are trading on their own
account. It is not uncommon for the large trading-houses to hire
agents,—Liberians or natives,—and send them into the interior to buy
up and bring down products. Another method—which, in the long run,
will prove no doubt the most satisfactory,—is to establish here and
there in the interior permanent trading stations, supplied with a fair
stock of goods, to be traded with the natives against their raw products
—trading stations of this kind are already established by the Monrovia
Rubber Company and by various of the great trading-houses.
In some way or other the Government should adopt a method of
encouraging the natives of the interior to gather, to properly prepare,
and to bring in raw produce; a definite scheme of practical education
and encouragement must be devised.
While raw products offered by nature have been and are the chief
element in Liberian trade, another element is immediate, and will
ultimately be the chief dependence of the nation. Agriculture, though
far from being in a satisfactory condition, has always contributed
material for export. The country can not forever count upon a supply of
raw products. Gradually the value of the forests will become secondary
to that of produce of the fields. There is no reason why the Liberian
coffee should not be fully re-established in the foreign market. The tree
seems to be a native of the country; Ashmun reported that it was found
everywhere near the seacoast and to an unknown distance back from
there. Under natural conditions, the tree grew often to a height of thirty
feet and a girth of fifteen inches. Coffee berries from wild trees were
brought in by hundreds of bushels to the early settlers by the natives.
Plantations were soon established, and many of them met with great
success; in fact, coffee was once the principal export of the Republic; it
was mainly shipped from Monrovia and Cape Mount; the more
important plantations were located along the St. Paul’s River. Liberian
coffee was much appreciated in the European market; at its period of
greatest vogue it used to bring twenty-five cents a pound; the price has
now fallen so low as eight or nine cents a pound. This decline is due, in
part, of course, to the enormous development of the Brazilian coffee
trade; it is, however, largely due to the carelessness of the Liberian
planters, who had only primitive machinery for its preparation and who
neglected proper care, with the result that the coffee berries reached
the market broken and impaired. It is a delicious coffee, of full flavor,
and improves with age. Sir Harry Johnston claims that about 1,500,000
pounds are annually produced, and reports that the output is increasing
slightly. At the Muhlenberg Mission School, coffee is cultivated; care is
taken in its preparation, and the price is rising; if the Liberians will give
serious attention to the matter, there is no question that the old
importance of the culture may be restored. It will require improved
methods of cultivation, the use of better machinery, greater care in the
preparation of the berry, and constant attention to proper packing and
handling.
Discouraged at the fall in price of coffee, some Liberian planters
introduced the culture of cacao, from which our chocolate and cocoa
are derived; this culture has long been successful in some of the
Spanish possessions of West Africa; in Liberia the plant grows well, and
the cacao seems to be of superior quality; it is said that a good price for
it may be received in Liverpool. This culture must be considered as only
in its infancy, but there appears to be no reason why it should not
become of great importance.
The rubber so far sent out from Liberia has been wild rubber; it
would seem that a wise policy in national development would be to
encourage the establishment of plantations of rubber trees or vines.
One such plantation has already been established by an English
company, who hoped to gather the first harvest of latex in 1912; one
would suppose that the best tree for planting would be the funtumia
which is native to the country and a good yielder; it is chiefly this plant
which is being set out by the Belgians in the Congo colony; the English
company in Liberia, however, claims that their experiments with
funtumia were not encouraging, and the species actually planted is the
hevea—the one which yields the famous Para rubber. While coffee,
cacao, and rubber will no doubt be the earliest important plantations to
be developed in the country, other products should not be neglected.
Ginger has already been well tested in the Republic—there have been
times when it was quite an important article of export; sugar-cane
grows well, and from the earliest days plantations of it have yielded
something for local consumption—if capital were available, there seems
no reason why profitable plantations of cane might not be made;
cassava has always been to some degree an article of export in the
past,—it is of course the main food product of the natives—it is the
source of tapioca and other food materials abundantly in use among
ourselves. Liberia at present imports rice from abroad, yet rice of
excellent quality is easily cultivated in the Republic and forms a staple
food in native towns—effort to increase its local production would be
good economy from every point of view; fruits of many kinds—both
native and imported—grow to perfection in Liberia; experiments have
been made, without particular results, in cotton raising—there are
species of wild cotton in the country and experiments with both wild
and foreign grades would determine to what degree culture of this
useful fiber might be profitably carried on. This list of cultivated
vegetable products might be enormously extended; we are only
interested here in indicating those plants which would be important as
trade products if their cultivation were seriously undertaken. In the
matter of fruits, we may add a word; here is the suggestion of a
beginning of manufacturing interests in the country; some of these
fruits are capable of profitable canning or preservation, others might be
dried, while still others yield materials which could be utilized outside; it
would seem as if the natural beginning of manufacturing interests in
the Republic would be in the establishment of factories to deal with
these fruits and various derived vegetable materials.
It is to be anticipated that there will be a development in mining in
Liberia; it is not an unmixed blessing to a country to possess mineral
wealth; it may be disadvantageous to a little country, of relative political
insignificance and actually weak, to possess great wealth of this sort.
But there are certainly deposits of gold and diamonds in the Republic;
these will in time be known, and their development will be undertaken.
When that time comes, ores and other mineral products will form an
element in national trade.
Closely associated with the matter of production is the question of
transportation. It is one of the most serious that faces Liberia.
If produce can not be taken to the coast, it is of no value in the
development of trade. There are practically no roads in Liberia to-day.
As in the Dark Continent generally, narrow foot-trails go from town to
town. The travel over them is always in single file, the path is but a few
inches wide and has been sharply worn into the soil to a depth of
several inches by the passage of many human feet. As long as
transportation is entirely by human carriers, such trails are serviceable,
provided they be kept open. A neglected trail, however, is soon
overgrown and becomes extremely difficult to pass; that a trail should
be good, it is necessary that the brushwood and other growth be cut
out at fairly frequent intervals. Often, however, the chief of a given
village does not care to remain in communication with his neighbors
and intentionally permits the trail to fall into disuse. There is a feeling
too, surviving from old customs, that trails are only passable with the
permission and consent of the chiefs of the towns through which they
run; chiefs have always exercised the right of closing trails whenever it
pleased them; they have expected presents (“dashes”) for the privilege
of passing. If now, large trade is to be developed in the matter of
native produce, it is absolutely necessary that the trails be kept in good
condition and that free passage over them be granted to all. Much of
the energy of the Government must of necessity be directed toward
these ends. At the best, however, there is a limit to the distance over
which produce can be profitably transported on human backs; there
must be very large inherent value in such produce to warrant its being
carried more than a three days’ journey by human carriers. It is not
only the labor involved in the transportation, but the loss of time which
renders this problem important. The richest resources lie at a great
distance in the interior; even with good trails it is impossible to utilize
them.
In time, of course, the foot-trails must be developed into actual
roads; some other mode of transportation must be devised than that of
the human beast of burden. Horses have never prospered in the
neighborhood of Monrovia; yet there are plenty of them raised and, it is
said, of good quality, among the Mandingo. Serious efforts should be
made to introduce their use as beasts of draft and burden; if, as is
likely, these experiments should come to naught, attempts should be
made to use oxen for hauling produce to the market. Improved trails
and roads are of the highest importance to the Republic for several
reasons. (a) For intercourse: only by means of them can ready and
constant intercourse be developed between the different elements of
population; no great development of trade, no significant advance, can
be made without constant intercourse; it must be easy for the
Government to reach and deal with the remotest natives of the far
interior; it is equally important that peoples of neighboring towns have
more frequent and intimate contact with each other; it is necessary that
the members of different tribes come to know other tribes by daily
contact. (b) For transportation; there is no reason why even the
existing trails should not be covered with caravans carrying produce to
the coast. (c) For protection; at present the movement of the Frontier
Force from place to place is a matter of the highest difficulty; if trouble
on the border necessitates the sending of an armed force, weeks must
elapse before the enterprise can be accomplished; until the present
unsatisfactory condition of trails be done away with, Liberia is in no
position to protect her frontiers.
The construction by the English of the Sierra Leone Railroad running
from the port of Freetown across the colony through the interior to the
very border of Liberia, was a master stroke of policy; it not only
developed the resources of the British area through which it passed and
carried British products to the sea, but it tapped the richest part of the
Liberian territory; formerly the production of that wealthy and well
populated area found its way to Cape Mount and Monrovia; now it all
goes out through a British port, in British hands. No single work would
better repay an outlay by the Liberian Government than a good road
running from Monrovia up the St. Paul’s River, out to Boporo, and on
through the country of the Mandingo to the region where this British
road ends. Such a road would bring back into Liberia her part of a trade
which has always been legitimately her own. The idea would be to
construct upon such a road-bed a light railroad; such an enterprise
would very probably soon be upon a paying basis.
With the exception of one or two short stretches built by foreign
companies for their own uses, there are neither roads nor railroads at
the present time in the Republic. In 1912 the legislature granted a
concession to the Cavalla River Company to make roads along the
Cavalla River, to negotiate with the inhabitants of those parts for the
development of the rice industry, etc. At the same session the right was
granted to Wichers and Helm to negotiate a railroad scheme for the
construction of a light railway from White Plains to Careysburg, and
from Millsburg to Boporo, the right was also granted to construct a
railroad from Harper to Dimalu in Maryland County. It is to be hoped
that these three enterprises may all develop; they would mean much
for the progress of the country.
We have spoken of the exports of Liberia; the imports consist chiefly
of cotton goods, hardware, tobacco, silks, crockery, guns, gun-powder,
rice, stock-fish, herrings, and salt. Most of these items are the staples
which for centuries have maintained the trade of Western Africa. The
total value of this import trade is estimated by Sir Harry Johnston at
about $1,000,000 annually. It is curious that rice should need to be
imported; 150,000 bags, equal to 700 tons are brought in every year;
this rice is used entirely by the civilized Liberians; certainly they should
be raising their own rice or buying it from natives. That salt should be
introduced into a coast district where salt, by evaporation from
seawater might be easily produced, is less strange than would appear
at first sight; the salt from Europe is, on the whole, better in quality and
is more cheaply produced than the local article of Liberia. The stock-fish
is brought from Norway and is especially in demand among the Kru.
Intoxicating drinks do not occur in the list above quoted; Sir Harry
Johnston says that gin and rum are introduced, but that there is not
much drunkenness among the people. Measures are taken to prevent
the introduction of gin among the natives, but a great deal must be
surreptitiously introduced among them; when we were in the Bassa
country, our interpreter’s constant regret was that we had not loaded
up with a large supply of gin which, he assured us, would accomplish
much more with the chiefs of the interior towns than any other form of
trade-stuff. The bulk of the cotton goods taken into Liberia is intended
for trade with the interior natives; the patterns brought vary but little
and are extremely old-fashioned—taste having been long ago
established and the natives being conservative in such things.
As to the actual volume of trade and its movement, some words are
necessary. Recent figures are supplied in a little table issued by the
Republic in a small pamphlet entitled Some Trade Facts; it covers the
period extending from 1905 to 1912. As will be seen, during that period
of time, the customs revenue of the Republic more than doubled. Part
of this favorable result undoubtedly was due to the fact that the
administration of the customs service was for that time largely in the
hands of a British Chief Inspector of Customs. There is no reason why
this encouraging movement of trade should not continue. There is
wealth enough in Liberia, if it can only be properly developed. The
resources are enormous; the difficulties have been in handling them.
The Republic has usually been in financial difficulties; it has been hard
work to make ends meet; but there is no question that with good
management and legitimate encouragement the national income may
be more than necessary to meet all obligations, to pursue conservative
policies of development, and to attract favorable assistance from the
outside world.

STATEMENT OF CUSTOMS REVENUE OF THE REPUBLIC

OF LIBERIA FOR YEARS 1905-1912
(1st April-31st March)
Port 1905-6 1906-7 1907-8 1908-9 1909-10 1910-11 1911-12
Monrovia $114,098 $129,077 $128,030 $117,524 $135,916 $144,292
Cape
Mount,
etc. 38,128 31,901 19,327 25,907 27,809 36,125
Marshall 11,195 18,412 16,666 8,211 12,761 23,579
Grand
Bassa,
etc. 103,494 112,168 105,273 109,876 118,782 140,457
Sinoe, etc. 30,228 32,784 27,172 33,960 28,208 31,784
Cape
Palmas,
etc. 30,603 41,413 48,314 66,018 78,028 86,615
Kabawana,
etc. 166 3,483 1,808 206 1,238 3,841
Rubber
Duties
collected
in
London 7,443 8,614 8,725 4,655 4,637
Total $230,580 $327,913 $376,684 $355,208 $370,431 $407,400 $471,335

It is interesting to notice with whom Liberia’s trade is carried on.

Britain of course has always led; Germany comes second, Holland third,
and other nations follow. Sir Harry Johnston says that in 1904 the total
value of British trade with Liberia was £112,779, while the total trade of
the British Empire with the Republic was £132,000; the £20,000
difference represent trade with Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast chiefly.
On the whole it would seem that Germany is crowding Britain and bids
fair to lead. A little table will show this clearly; the first statement shows
the amount of British imports, exports, and entire trade for the years
1904, 1908, and 1909 in pounds sterling; a second statement shows
the corresponding items for German trade for the years 1908 and 1909
in marks; a third statement changes the totals figures to dollars at the
rate of five dollars to the pound and four marks to a dollar, which of
course is only approximate. It shows, however, that Germany is actually
crowding her longer established rival.

(a) BRITISH TRADE WITH LIBERIA (Soler)

Imports Exports Total

1904 £60,350 £62,710 £123,060
1908 74,348 75,137 149,485
1909 69,511 63,500 133,011

(b) GERMAN TRADE WITH LIBERIA (Soler)

Imports Exports Total

1908 1,177,000 mks. 1,856,000 mks. 3,033,000 mks.
 1909 1,095,000 mks. 2,282,000 mks. 3,377,000 mks.

(c) ENGLISH AND GERMAN TRADE (1908-1909)

1908 1909
English $747,425 $665,055
German 758,250 844,250

The Liberian nation is to be made up of the Negro civilized to some extent

in the United States and repatriated, and of the aboriginal tribes. At present it
is composed of a small number of civilized and a large number of aboriginal
communities in varying degrees of dependence. The problem is how to blend
these into a national organism, an organic unity.—A. Barclay.

THE NATIVE.

Jore, in his valuable study of Liberia, discusses the question of the

actual number of natives in Liberia as follows: “Messrs. Johnston and
Delafosse have estimated the number of natives of Liberia at 2,000,000
persons. This figure would appear to-day to be above the actual. In
fact, from serious studies which have been made in French West Africa,
it results that a density of population superior to twelve inhabitants to
the square kilometer, has been found only in Lower Dahomey,
Ovagadougou, in Upper Senegal and Niger, in Lower Senegal, and in a
very restricted part of Middle Guinea. Generally the density remains
inferior to five inhabitants to the square kilometer. But there is no
reason to believe that Liberia is, in its entirety, more populous than our
own possessions in West Africa. In taking the density at the figure 8,
one runs the chance of still finding himself above the reality. Liberia,
having to-day 80,000 square kilometers, its population ought scarcely
to surpass 600,000 or 700,000 inhabitants. In any case, it certainly
does not go beyond 1,000,000 persons.” This estimate seems to us far
more reasonable than any other that has been made. Even thus
reduced, the native population overwhelmingly outnumbers the
Americo-Liberian. More than that, they are at home and acclimated;
they enjoy good health and presumably are rapidly increasing. We have
indeed no means of actually knowing such to be the fact. But the
impression gained from observation is that, while the Americo-Liberians
barely hold their own, the Kru, the Mohammedans, and the natives of
the interior are flourishing. Even in crowded and unsanitary towns, like
those which occur upon the borders of Liberian settlements, the Kru
appear to be increasing. Krutown, at Monrovia, suffers from frightful
mortality, but those who live are vigorous, hardy, and energetic. The
houses are crowded close together, but there are no empty houses
falling into ruins and no shrinkage in the area occupied. The schools
(that is, the mission schools of the Methodists) are crowded with
children; the Kru mission chapel (Protestant Episcopal) is maintained
with an energy and interest which could be found only among a people
who were looking out upon life with the hope and vigor which comes
from physical prosperity. So far as the natives of the interior are
concerned, they show every sign of increase. There are of course
abandoned towns and villages in plenty, but the towns now occupied
are filled with people, and children swarm.
But there are natives and natives. The different natives form distinct
problems—it is not just one simple proposition. The Mandingo and Vai
are Mohammedan populations; they are independent, proud,
aggressive; they are industrious, and their industries render them to a
large degree independent of all neighbors. Their towns and villages are
large, prosperous, and relatively wealthy. Few visitors have ever
penetrated into their country; it is practically unknown to the Liberians.
Yet it is in the highest degree important that the Liberians should know
them thoroughly, should come into close and intimate contact with
them, should co-operate with them in the development and
advancement of the country. In their towns and villages boys are taught
Arabic and read the Koran; it is true—as in so much religious teaching
elsewhere—that they often learn only to repeat the words of the sacred
texts without any knowledge of their actual meaning—many, however,
read with understanding. It is an interesting fact that the Vai have a
system of writing which has been invented by themselves; it is widely
known among them and they are fond of writing letters and making
records in their own script. Momulu Massaquoi, whose name is well
known in this country and in England, is a Vai; he governed a
considerable section of his people as chief through a period of years; he
has now for some time been located at Monrovia, where he ably fills
the position of chief clerk in the Department of the Interior; he is useful
to the Government as an intermediary between it and the
Mohammedans of the Republic; although himself a Christian, both
Mandingo and Vai have more confidence in him than they could
possibly repose in a stranger to their customs and languages. There are
various ways in which the Government might proceed to develop
friendly relations with these people. They should encourage village
schools—both religious and secular; in the religious schools, which
should be uncontrolled, the Koran and Arabic would continue to be the
chief subjects taught; in the other schools there should be the usual
subjects taught in the public schools of the Americo-Liberians; these
will best be taught through the Vai language, and charts and text-books
should be printed in the native characters. Mr. Massaquoi has already
undertaken to prepare such text-books. Trade with these peoples
should be encouraged; and developed as rapidly as possible. No
opportunity should be lost to impress upon them that their interests
and those of the Liberians are one, and every effort should be made to
gain co-operation. These peoples occupy that portion of the Republic
which is most in danger of aggression by the British; surely the natural
impulse is for these black peoples, though they be Mohammedans, to
unite in common progress with other blacks rather than with any
whites. If religion is actually a barrier against friendship and co-
operation, it would be as strong against friendship with the British
Christians as against Liberian Christians. There is no question, however,
that if the Government of the Republic will deal justly, amicably, and
wisely with these tribes, they will heartily respond.
The Kru and related peoples of the coast form a completely different
proposition. They are full of force and vigor; Sir Harry Johnston and
others call them “cheeky”; they are actually awake. They are ready for
progress; they want education; they have for centuries been in contact
with white men and know their strength and weakness; they are
strong, intelligent, industrious, and want work. They have no dainty
fears regarding labor, so that it be paid—but pay they want, and justly.
At the present they form the strongest immediate hope in the Liberian
population. We have said that they want education; as a matter of fact,
they flock into the schools. When Bishop Ferguson was at Cape Palmas,
in 1912, four promising-looking native boys walked from Pickaninny
Cess, fifty miles to Cape Palmas. They told him they had heard of the
big school (Epiphany Hall) and desired to attend; that another of their
comrades was coming the following week. The Bishop says: “They are
just the age when the inducement to go down the coast to earn money
is strong; in fact they had already made several trips; but instead of
going again, they had decided ‘to learn book’. I did not have the heart
to turn such applicants off, and so wrote to the Principal to admit them
under special arrangement.” When in Monrovia, I several times visited
the College of West Africa. It is over-crowded and ministers to both
Americo-Liberian and native boys. On one occasion I seated myself in
the midst of the class in fourth grade arithmetic. The recitation was well
conducted and well given. While black-board work was occupying the
general attention, I remarked to a boy at my side, “But you are a native
boy.” “Yes,” he said, “I am Kru—and so is that boy, and that one, and
that one.” As a matter of fact, I was practically surrounded by them.
“Well,” said I, “and how do you native boys get on? Do you do well?”
“Yes, sir,” was the immediate response, “we do well; we do better than
they do.” It was not necessary for me to ask who he meant by “they.” I
answered, “It would sound better if some one else said so.” He replied,
“That may be so; but it is true.” “How does that happen?” I asked. His
reply deserves attention: “We love our country more than they do, sir.” I
am not prepared to assert that they love their country more than the
Americo-Liberians; it is true, however, that they are passionately fond of
their native land. The first time that my personal attention was turned
to the black Republic was in 1905 when a Kru boy upon our steamer
bound to Congo told me with evident affection of his dear, his native
land, and pointed out to me the distant green shore of the villages
where his people were located. And whether they love their country
more than the Americo-Liberians or no, they are more aggressive, more
ambitious, more willing to work that they may achieve their ends.
These Kru boys on their way to and from school often, after my visit to
the College, dropped in to see me. There is the fixed intention among
many of them to visit the United States and complete their studies in
our schools. One of these boys informed me that five of them some
months ago had entered into an agreement in some way or other to
reach our country. All of them have made journeys on steamers along
the coast; some of them have been to Europe; all of them can easily
reach Hamburg and have money in their pockets; the anxious question
with them all is how to go from Hamburg to New York—and whether
they will be admitted in the port—and whether they can form
connections after they are in our country. There is no foolishness in all
these plans; they have thought them out in detail: they will come.
Then there are the pagan tribes of the interior. They are a more
serious proposition for the Liberian than the Mohammedans and Kru.
They are still “bush niggers”; they live in little towns under the control
of petty chiefs; most of them speak only a native language; there is no
unity among them; not only are there jealousies between the tribes,
but there are suspicions between the villages of one tribe and speech;
they live in native houses, wear little clothing, have simple needs; they
are ununited and know nothing of the outside world—they know little of
France or England, have rarely seen a white man, scarcely know what
the Liberian Government means or wants; they are satisfied and only
wish to be left alone; they do not need to work steadily—life is easy,
they raise sufficient rice and sweet-potatoes and corn and cassava to
feed themselves; if they wish to cover their nakedness, they can weave
cloth for their own use; there is little which they need from other
peoples. Few know anything either of the teachings of the Prophet or
Christianity; they practice fetish—“devil-worship”—have their bush
schools for the instruction of their boys and girls in the mysteries of life
and of religion. They are polygamists, the number of whose wives
depends wholly upon the ability to accumulate sufficient wealth with
which to purchase them. Among them domestic slavery—which, by the
way, is not a matter which need particularly call for reprehension—is
common; some of the tribes no doubt still practice cannibalism; it is
these tribes in the interior upon which Liberia depends almost
completely for the development of wealth; if Liberia shall flourish, it is
necessary that these peoples shall produce and deliver the raw
materials for shipment to the outside world; it is these peoples who
must supply palm nuts, palm kernels, palm oil, piassava fiber, ivory,
rubber, gums; it is these peoples who must keep the trails open, and
develop them into roads; it is they who must permit the easy passage
of soldiers and Government representatives through their territories; it
is they who must supply the soldiers for the Frontier Force.
It is clear, then, that the “natives” present no simple problem. There
are many questions to be considered in laying out a native policy. The
matter has by no means been neglected by Liberian rulers; one or
another of them has grappled with it. Of President Barclay’s native
policy Gerard says: “Among many other subjects of preoccupation,
Barclay attaches an entirely particular importance to the native policy.
At the beginning of his administration, he brought together a great
number of native chiefs, notably of the Gola, Kondo, and Pessy tribes;
he convoked likewise a crowd of Kru and Grebo notabilities; he sent
special missions along the Cavalla River up to two hundred kilometers
from its mouth, and others up the St. Paul’s. This innovation was so
much the more appreciated by the natives, and aided so much more
powerfully toward the development of mercantile relations of the coast
district with the interior, because theretofore the repatriated negroes
had been considered by their subjugated congeners only as unjust
conquerors and pillagers, or as merchants who were equally tricky and
dishonest.”
President Howard also realizes the importance of conciliating the
native populations; he designs to carry out an active policy; in his
inaugural address he says: “We are aware of the oft-repeated charges
of ill treatment toward this portion of our citizenship, made by
foreigners against the officers of the Government, also of the fact that
some of our people feel that these uncivilized citizens have but few
rights which should be respected or accorded to them. But the
responsible citizens recognize that in order for us to obtain that position
of independence, power, and wealth, which we should obtain, it must
be accomplished by the united efforts of all citizens, civilized and
uncivilized, male and female. The denial of equal rights to the ‘natives’
has never been the intention or purpose of the Government. We will not
disallow that much wrong has been done to that portion of our citizen
body, but it is equally true that much of the deception and
misunderstanding of the past have been due to machinations and
subterfuges of some unscrupulous aliens, among whom had been some
missionaries who have done all in their power to make and widen the
breach between the two elements of our citizenship. We are very
optimistic, however, in our belief that the dangers of such exploitations
and false pretensions of friendships are drawing to a close.”
Again he says: “Much of our interior trouble of the past has been the
result of a lack of proper understanding between ourselves and our
fellow-citizens of that section of the land. Another source of trouble has
been the actions of unqualified men sent among these people to
represent the Government. We believe that great good will accrue to
the State by holding frequent conferences with these chiefs and head
men, and by responsible representatives of the Government, explaining
to them its policy, the benefits to be derived by them in co-operating to
build up the country, as well as the evils of the inter-tribal wars which
they have been waging with each other for years.”
Exactly how to unite the chiefs with the Government is a serious
question; to seriously weaken their authority among their own people
would lead to chaos; to lead them to recognize the supremacy of the
Government and yet not arouse their hostility by the abrogation of their
own powers is a delicate task. Yet it must be done. Of one of the
notable features of this inaugural President Howard himself says the
following: “The very large concourse of chiefs and head men from the
interior of all the counties, as well as from the Kru coast and most of
the Grebo towns in Maryland, who are up to take part in the inaugural
exercises, is to me one of the most pleasing features of the occasion.
Their presence here testifies to their loyalty to the State and their
willingness to co-operate with the Government in matters pertaining to
the welfare of the country. Moreover it betokens the kindly feelings they
and their people entertain toward the outgoing, and their well wishes
for the incoming administration.”
No less difficult than the question of how to adjust the power of the
Government with the power of the chiefs is the problem of how to
adjust Liberian law and practice to native law and practice. According to
their constitution, Liberia must forever be without slavery. Still domestic
slavery flourishes in the interior. We have already indicated our opinion
that it is not a serious matter and that it may quite well be left to
regulate itself with time; still there is bound to be an outcry on the part
of outsiders in this matter. Liberia as a civilized and Christian nation is
legally monogamous; yet both among Mohammedans, Kru and pagan
interior tribes polygamy is common. Is it wise, is it possible to extend
the monogamous law of the Republic to the polygamous natives?
Cannibalism no doubt still exists among certain of the interior tribes; if
so, it will be long before the strong arm of the Government located
upon the coast can reach the practice. Among all these native tribes
there are methods of procedure and ordeals which have their value and
their place. Thus the sassy-wood ordeal is used not only in dealing with
witchcraft, but with a thousand other difficulties and misdemeanors;
personally I should consider it unwise to attempt to do away with such
native methods of control; they work more certainly than the legal
procedure of the civilized government can work. A wise policy will
probably lead to the gradual disappearance of these things with a
general advance in education and with a greater contact with the
outside world. There is always, however, the danger of these native
practices extending their influence upon the Christian populations in the
outside settlements. If the bush negro is polygamous, and the Americo-
Liberian is in constant contact with his polygamy, the legal monogamy
of the Government may become more difficult to maintain; if the sassy-
wood ordeal is repeatedly seen to be effective in the conviction of the
truly guilty, there will be a constant tendency to reproduce it for the
detection and discrimination of criminals among the civilized; if
domestic slavery is tolerable among the neighboring pagans, a feeling
of the harmlessness of some vicious system of apprenticeship may be
developed. These are real dangers, and while it probably is wise to
exercise a deal of tolerance toward native customs, it must be
constantly and carefully watched from this point of view.
The native life is certainly good in many ways; all that is actually
good in it should be left so far as possible. Native houses are well
adapted to the conditions of the country and nothing is gained by the
attempt to change the styles of local architecture; scantness of clothing,
or even nakedness, is not immoral, suggestive, or in itself worthy of
blame—and native dress, though scanty, may be entirely becoming and
even beautiful; there are many native arts—which, far from being
blotted out, might well be conserved and developed; public palavers in
native communities are often models of dignified conduct and serious
consideration; the respect shown to native chiefs is often warranted
and in every way should be encouraged and developed. The topic lends
itself to many observations and tempts to full development. We can
only say, however, that there are actually few things in native life which
deserve condemnation and immediate destruction. The natives will be
happier, better, and make more certain progress if they are permitted to
build largely upon their own foundations. Dr. Blyden was always
begging the people to make an African nation in Liberia, not the copy of
a European state. Delafosse carries the same plea to an even greater
extreme. It is impossible to actually meet the wishes of these
gentlemen. Liberia is and must be patterned after other civilized
nations. Such a native African state, original in all things, and purely
African, as Delafosse imagines, would not be permitted to exist a single
week by the crowding, selfish, civilized and Christian foreign nations. If
Liberia is to play within the game, it must follow the rules of play.
In dealing with its natives, the government should be frank, honest,
and candid; it should make no promises unless it knows that it can keep
them—unless it means to keep them—unless it will keep them. Too
many times in the past, when misunderstandings have led to armed
resistance on the part of native peoples, the Government has appealed
to one or another man of great personal influence among the aroused
natives. Facing danger, frightened, wanting peace at any price, it has
authorized its representative to make promises of satisfaction which it
knew perfectly well could not and would not be kept. Such a
temporizing policy is always bad; it not only fails to right wrongs, but
destroys the trust of natives in the government, and shatters the
influence for good which the intermediary formerly enjoyed.
It is time that, in dealing with the natives, chiefs be considered as
men and dealt with not as if they were spoiled children; appeals should
be made to manhood and to principle, not to depraved ambitious
tendencies. Less gin and more cloth should be used in gaining their
assistance. President Howard pertinently says in this direction: “By way
of encouraging the ‘natives’ to stay at home and develop their lands,
we feel that instead of granting ‘stipends’ and ‘dashes’ as formerly, they
should be given only to the chiefs and people who will put on the
market so many hundred bushels of kernels, or gallons of oil, so many
pounds of ivory, rubber, coffee, cocoa, ginger, etc., or so many hundred
kroos of clean rice. The proceeds of these products, of course, would
go to the owners. We feel that this plan would have a better result than
the one now in vogue.”
 That there should be a feeling of caste in the Republic is natural.
There are actual differences between the four populations which we
have indicated. It is impossible that Americo-Liberians, Mohammedans,
coast peoples, and interior natives should not feel that they are
different from each other, and in this difference find motives of conduct.
This feeling of difference is based upon actual inherent facts of
difference, and can not be expected to disappear. It should, however,
give rise to mutual respect, not to prejudice and inequality of
treatment. Every motive of sound policy must lead the Liberian in the
civilized settlements to recognize the claims, the rights, the
opportunities which lie within this difference. He needs the friendship of
the “bush nigger” far more than that pagan needs his. Caste in the
sense of proud discrimination of social difference and the introduction
of over-bearing treatment must be avoided. It is suicide to encourage
and permit the development of such a feeling.
In the nature of things, constant intermarriage takes place between
the Americo-Liberians and the natives. There is more or less prejudice
against such connections, but they have taken place ever since the
days of the first settlement. They are, for the most part, one-sided,
Americo-Liberian men marrying native women. The other relation,
namely that of native men with Liberian women, is so rare that it may
almost be said not to occur. There is no question that these mixtures
should tend to produce a good result, the children inheriting physical
strength and fitness to their surroundings beyond that of the Americo-
Liberian. There is, however, a danger in such unions; the native woman
has all her associations and connections with her own people, and there
is a constant tendency for the husband to assume a position of
influence among the natives, adopting more or less of their customs,
and suffering the relapse of which we hear so often. None the less it is
certain that such mixtures are more than likely to increase in number
with the passage of time.
A notable influence upon the native problem may be expected from
the Frontier Force. The soldiers for this force are regularly drawn from
the tribes of the interior. It is easy to get Boozi Mpesse, and their
neighbors in large numbers. They come to Monrovia as almost naked
savages, with no knowledge of the outside world, but with strong, well-
developed bodies; they are quite amenable to training and quickly make
improvement; they have almost the minds of children, and are easily
led in either direction; if well treated, they have a real affection for their
officers; if they are badly treated, they are morose, dispirited, and
dangerous. They love the companionship, the bustle, the music, and
the uniforms, and rather quickly submit themselves with fair grace to
discipline. They regularly bring their women and their boy slaves with
them from their distant homes, and these live together in special
houses constructed at the border of the barracks-grounds. As the
government not infrequently is in arrears in paying them their wages,
there are times when the camp is full of insubordination and bad
feeling; at such times there is always danger, unless the officers are
tactful, of their becoming mutinous, and demanding payment with a
show and threat of force. It is not impossible that some time on such
occasions serious results may occur. When the term of enlistment has
ended, these soldiers may go back to their towns and villages, carrying
with them the effect of the influences, good or bad, to which they have
been subjected at the capital. Not a few of them, however, re-enlist for
a second, or even a third, term of service. The effect of this training
must be very great upon the tribes. It could be made a most important
influence for raising the condition of the whole interior; there is no
more certain way by which the people of the remoter tribes may come
to know about the Government.
We have read dreadful accounts of the relapse of civilized natives to
their old form of life. Bright boys taken from the interior towns and
villages are trained in mission schools, or even sent to the United
States, and given a fairly liberal education. They have become nominal
Christians; they have learned English and can read and write; they
wear white men’s dress and seem to have adopted white men’s ways;
much is expected of them when they return to their native country in
the way of mission effort with their people. After they return, all
changes; their Christianity takes flight; having no one but their own
people with whom to converse, they return to the native dialect; as the
European dress wears out, they soon possess a nondescript wardrobe;
instead of leading their people in the ways of industry, they sit down at
ease; gradually they resume natural relations with their people and play
the part of advisers to the chiefs, or even themselves become petty
chiefs; of them it is frequently claimed that they have all the vices of
Christian and pagan and none of the virtues of either. There is more or
less of reality in such accounts. But it is not true, even in these cases,
that nothing has been gained. One must not expect rare individuals to
produce rapid results in a great mass of population. It is doubtful
whether the result is harmful. The importance, however, of impressing
upon all children, who are taken into mission schools, their relation to
the government, their duty to it, and the advantage of co-operation
with it, should be profoundly emphasized; in such schools loyalty is as
important a subject for inculcation as religion, reading, and industry. If
as much care were taken to instruct the mission child in his duties as a
citizen, as is taken in other directions, every one of these persons on
their return to the bush would be a genuinely helpful and elevating
influence. It is also true that Americo-Liberians occasionally take to the
bush. Sometimes they are persons who have had difficulties in the
settlements and find it convenient to change location; sometimes they
are men who have married native women and find it easier and more
profitable to turn their attention toward the natives; sometimes they
are traders who spend about one-half their time in settlements and the
other half in going from town to town to secure products; sometimes
they are shiftless vagabonds merely drifting from place to place in order
to avoid labor. Such Liberians among the natives may be found
everywhere. They are usually of little value to those among whom they
live. But the fact that there are such should not be over-emphasized. It
is by no means true that the Americo-Liberians as a whole tend to
throw off civilization and to become degenerate.
From this native mass much that has been helpful to the nation has
already been secured. Work among them has always been accompanied
by encouraging results. Two-thirds of the communicants of the
Protestant Episcopal Church are natives; they show as true a character,
as keen a mind, as high ideals, often more vigor, than the Americo-
Liberians in the same churches. Wherever the native is given the same
just chance as his Liberian brother, he gives an immediate response. At
the Girls’ School in Bromley, and among the boys at Clay-Ashland,
natives and Liberians do the same work and offer the same promise; so
in the College of West Africa the Kru boys are every whit as good as the
Liberians. The number of natives who are at present occupying
positions of consequence in the Republic is encouraging. The Secretary
of the Department of Education, Dr. Payne, is a Bassa; Mr. Massaquoi, a
Vai, holds the chief clerkship in the Department of the Interior; Senator
Harris is the son of a native, Bassa, mother; Mr. Karnga, member of the
House of Representatives, is a son of a recaptured African—a Kongo;
Dr. Anthony, a Bassa, is Professor of Mathematics in Liberia College;
there are numbers of Grebo clergymen of prominence and success
within the Protestant Episcopal Church—as McKrae, who is pastor of the
flourishing Kru Chapel at Monrovia, and Russell, who is pastor of the
Liberian Church at Grand Bassa.
The natives, after all, are the chief asset of the nation. Only by their
co-operation can aggression and pressure from outside be resisted;
carefully developed and wisely utilized, they must and will be the
defense and strength of the Liberian nation. Even if immigration on an
enormous scale, a thing not to be expected, should take place, the
native population will never be submerged; it will continue to maintain
supremacy in numbers.

For support given to education, Liberia holds the first place among West
African administrations. Sierra Leone, with a revenue six times greater than
Liberia, spends only one-fifth of the sum devoted by our State to the cause of
public instruction.—A. Barclay.

EDUCATION.

The importance of education was recognized by the “fathers.” The

quotation of President Roberts which we have given above voiced the
feelings of the more thoughtful of the settlers. Yet it must be admitted
that the educational situation is far from perfect. There is a recently
established Department of Education, the Secretary of which holds a
Cabinet position. In 1912 Dr. Payne had under his direction ninety-one
public schools in different parts of the Republic. Most of these schools
were housed in buildings totally unsuited to their purpose; they were
small, badly built, and unsupplied with even the barest equipment.
There are no book-stores in Liberia, and there is a notable lack of
suitable text-books for the children’s use; there are few black-boards
and those of poor quality; the desks, seats, and other furniture are
conspicuous either for their absence or poor quality. Teachers are
frequently badly prepared; they not infrequently neglect their duties;
the number of days of teaching is uncertain—as often the teachers will
be occupied with other work than that to which they are supposed to
devote their time and attention. Salaries are very low and badly paid.
Mr. Deputie, once Superintendent of Education, in his report of 1905,
appealing to the legislature, said: “Lend a hand by your official acts that
will tend to ameliorate the condition of the teachers in the public
schools, that they may receive a just recompense of reward. Some of
these teachers, after serving faithfully during the quarter, receive only
ten shillings on their bills, while many others of them receive not a
shilling.” In 1910 Mr. Edwin Barclay was General Superintendent of the
Schools. He made a careful study of the situation and in his report
presents interesting statistics and facts with reference to the condition.
He made a series of thoughtful recommendations for the future, and
drew up an entire scheme of proposed legislation. Much of that which
he suggested has been approved and theoretically put in practice. In
regard to the matter of teachers’ salaries, he makes an interesting
statement in tabulated form, comparing the average salaries of
teachers with those of clerks in the department of the Government and
in mercantile establishments. He shows us that the average salary of
public school teachers at that time was $143.95 per year; that this
salary was stationary and without increment of any kind. At that same
time, clerks in government departments received an average salary of
$321.29 per year with definite chance of promotion and a career before
them. Clerks in mercantile establishments did even better, receiving an
average annual salary of $365.90 a year with contingent increment
annually of from twenty to fifty per cent on net profits. It is hardly
strange under the circumstances that good teachers are rare and that
promising young men should look to other fields than that of teaching.
Three grades of teachers are recognized in the public schools; all
teachers are required to pass an examination and receive certificates;
second grade teachers receive thirty dollars per year more than third
grade teachers, and teachers of first grade, thirty dollars more than
those of second grade. Public schools are subject to the inspection of a
local school committee which “consists of three good, honest,
substantial citizens of the locality, having an interest in education. Sex
ought not to be a barrier. They need not be highly educated, but should
be able to read and write intelligently and earnest friends of education.”
Membership in the committee is purely honorary, no fee accompanying
the appointment. The members of the committee are to take an annual
census of children of school age and to see that they attend school;
they are to keep tab on the teacher and report him if he be guilty of
immoral conduct or fails to advance his school. Each county has a
school Commissioner whose business it is to examine candidates for
teaching, to employ and direct teachers, to approve bills of salary, to
visit each school in his district without announcement at least once a
quarter, to remove and replace teachers, to make reports to the General
Superintendent, to supply text-books, and hold annual teachers’
meetings in order to develop greater ability on the part of the
instructors. Compulsory education is recognized in the Republic; as,
however, many young people are obliged to assist in the support of the
families to which they belong, night schools are provided for those who
may be working during the hours of the day. The public schools are
practically confined to the Americo-Liberian settlements. The latest
definite statistics in regard to the number of children in attendance on
the public schools are those of 1910. At that time 1782 children were in
the schools; of these 1225 were civilized, 557 uncivilized, i. e., native;
the distribution according to counties was as follows: In Grand Bassa
County, 407; in Maryland County, 148; in Montserrado County, 947; in
Sinoe County, 280. The instillation of patriotism into the young mind is
regarded as a matter of importance, and it is required that the flag of
the Republic shall be daily displayed at every school-house or place
where public school is held; and “the hoisting and striking of colors at
the daily opening and close of school session shall be attended with
such ceremonies as shall tend to instill into the minds of the pupils a
respect and veneration for the flag and a knowledge of the principle for
which it stands.”
The public schools, however, are probably less numerous, and
certainly reach fewer scholars than the various mission schools
conducted by the different denominations. At the time that Mr. Barclay
made his report he claimed but sixty-five public schools to ninety
mission schools. While the public schools reached 1782 children, the
mission schools had an attendance of 3270 children.
Denomination Schools Pupils Teachers
Methodist Episcopal 35 1,300 55
Baptist 1 25 1
Lutheran 7 275 13
Protestant Episcopal 47 1,670 55
Total 90 3,270 124

These mission schools very largely reach a native population; it is

true that some Liberians attend them, but the larger number in the
attendance is from native families; all the schools located in native
towns are, probably, under mission guidance. In some respects these
schools are distinctly superior to the public schools of the Republic.
Their teachers, with higher salaries, devote themselves with more
energy to their work; text-books are supplied and the equipment for
school work is better; the buildings, too, both in construction, lighting,
and adaptation to their work, are better. A glance at the table shows
that the Protestant Episcopal Church is in the lead. The work reported
by Bishop Ferguson in his last annual report is most encouraging. Two
schools at Cape Mount, one for boys and one for girls, care for both
boarding and day students; at Monrovia the parish school is attended
by 157 Kru children; the Girls’ School at Bromley, with 78 boarding
pupils, is flourishing; at Clay-Ashland the new Alexander Crummell Hall
was nearing completion, and the young men and boys there were full of
enthusiasm; in Grand Bassa County parish day schools were conducted
at Edina, Upper Buchanan, and Lower Buchanan; at Tobakoni work for
Kru boys was conducted at a boarding school which had recently
extended its work to the neighboring village of Nito; in Sinoe County
both a parish day school and a boarding school were maintained; in
Maryland County, where the work of this mission culminates, there is
Cuttington Collegiate and Divinity School with 121 pupils, the Orphan
Asylum and Girls’ School, St. Mark’s Parish School, the boarding school
at Mount Vaughn, and thirteen boarding and day schools at other
places. We have no adequate information regarding the excellent work
of the Methodist schools and those of other denominations. Their work
is, however, actively conducted. The Lutherans, from their centre at
Muhlenburg, make the central idea of their mission effort the
educational work; they emphasize, too, the manual phase of education
and encourage the development of arts, industries, and agriculture.
Two of the mission schools demand special mention, as they
represent the highest development of educational work in the Republic.
These are: Epiphany Hall, Cuttington, four and a half miles from Cape
Palmas, and the College of West Africa, located at Monrovia.
The work at Cuttington began in 1889, when the Cuttington
Collegiate and Divinity School was founded under the auspices of the
Protestant Episcopal Church. One of the basic principles in Maryland
since its foundation has been the development of agriculture. The
efforts of the founders of the colony were exerted against trade and in
favor of production. This desirable ideal has never been lost. At
Epiphany Hall an important part of the school’s plan is that students
should be taught to work: a coffee plantation and a farm are connected
with the school, and four hours a day of practical agriculture and
horticulture are required; connected with this school also is a printing
establishment at Harper, the work of which is done by students of the
school. So far as the literary work is concerned, the school is divided
into three departments—preparatory, higher, and theological. The work
in the preparatory school covers four years; it is primarily arranged with
native needs in mind, but other students are admitted. The work of the
higher school consists of a two years’ advanced course, two years of
collegiate work, a year’s course for a certificate of proficiency in general
education, and a normal course. The work of the theological school
covers three years, and is arranged with reference to preparation for
the ministry.
The College of West Africa is located at Monrovia, and is under the
direction of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The building is an ugly
structure of brick which has served its purpose for a long time and
which should soon be replaced by a new and better building. It is,
however, a hive of industry; it is crowded with boys and girls who are
earnestly desiring an education. A great number of the students live in
the building as boarders; many also come from the town of Monrovia
and from “Krutown.” The teachers are mostly American negroes who
have been trained in our southern schools. The courses offered cover a
considerable range.
 The work in this institution began in 1839 under Jabez A. Burton,
assisted by Mrs. Anne Wilkins and Mrs. Eunice Moore. The present
building was erected in 1849 at an expense of $10,000. The work of
the school is divided among seven departments. The primary school
covers three years; the grammar school three years; the high school
two years. There is a normal course for the preparation of teachers; in
the college preparatory and the college departments the classics are
taught. In the biblical department the design is to prepare religious
workers. There is an industrial department in which instruction is given
in carpentry, tin-smithing, shoe-making, black-smithing, and printing; in
this department girls receive instruction in home-training. The printing
establishment demands particular notice; almost all the unofficial
printing of the Republic, outside of the county of Maryland, is done
upon the press of the College of West Africa. Many creditable pieces of
workmanship have been put out by this institution and the mission
paper, Liberia and West Africa, is printed here. The college conducts
night schools for those who can not attend during the daytime. Regular
charges are made for tuition, text-books, and—to those students who
board in the institution—for room, board, and washing. These charges
are extremely modest and can be rather easily met; through the
opportunities connected with the industrial department students who
wish to earn their education can largely do so. With the exception of
printing, the work of the industrial school is conducted outside of the
city of Monrovia.
We have already, stated that the mission schools are better equipped
and more attractive than the public schools. The work of such schools is
desirable and should be encouraged and developed. At the same time it
is true that in such schools exists an element of possible danger. This is
brought out by Mr. Barclay in his report. He says: “As regards the
mission schools, if we observe attentively the final efforts of their
endeavors, we will discover that, when they have operated exclusively
in civilized centers, they have been a great public service and in many
cases have supplied the want of a public school system. But, on the
other hand, where the scope of their operations has extended beyond
these centers, to districts wholly or mainly uncivilized, their care has
been to ‘save souls’ rather than to create citizens or to develop proper
ideals of citizenship. Their tendency is toward denationalization. Here,
then, is where they come in conflict, unconsciously perhaps, with the
imperative policy of the government. Pupils coming to attend the
mission schools, for however short a period, leave with a feeling of
antagonism to constituted authority, or at best, with no sentiments of
congeniality with the civilized element either in aspirations or ideals. On
returning to their homes, they develop into pernicious and vehement
demagogues. Fomenting the tribal spirit in opposition to the national
ideal, they frequently lead their people to foolish and irrational
measures, and stir up misunderstanding and discord between them and
the Government. They pose as arbiters between these two parties to
their own profit, and, finally, when discovered, are discredited by both.
The net result of this missionary activity, unsupervised and unregulated,
is to create an element of discord in the State, which it becomes
imperative to stamp out by force and at great expense to the public.
These facts of course do not apply universally; but they are sufficiently
general to attract attention and to call for amelioration of the condition
which they point out as existing. It should not be thought that these
remarks are intended or designed to discredit absolutely all missionary
enterprises. But what I do desire to point out is that some supervision
should be exercised over these schools by the Government. Under the
direction of unscrupulous and unsympathetic people, they may be made
powerful agencies of disintegration in the State. It must not be
overlooked that the foreign missionary does not feel himself called upon
to help direct in the process of nation-building. His aspirations are after
spreading his own form of superstition and toward the realization of his
particular moral Utopia.”
Again he says: “. . . all private affairs, when they impinge on the
domain of public affairs, or assume a quasi-public character, must
become the subject of regulation by public authority. So far as internal
administration goes, the State has, and can claim, no concern so long
as such administration squares with legality. But public authority must
step in when these schools become potent factors in public economy.
We have been led, therefore, to the suggestion that such schools as are
established by foreign and domestic mission societies in the Republic,
should conform, in their primary grades especially, to the requirements
of law for the public schools, and that the Department of Public
Instruction should have the right to inspect these schools in order to
find out if the conditions are being kept. To secure this, every school,
before beginning operations, should be registered at the Department of
Public Instruction, and licensed to this end. Where the legal
requirements have not been kept, the Board of Education, or other
educational authority, should have the power of summarily closing said
school. These regulations are necessary when we consider the peculiar
conditions which confront us in the administration of the country.”
Again he says: “While the State must in great measure depend upon
the public spirit and missionary zeal of individual citizens in fomenting
and creating the national spirit, it is, a priori, the duty of the people in
their collective capacity to provide capital means to this end. If the
country is to be utilized, if we are to develop into a strong nation,
capable of demanding universal respect, and worthy of taking that
leading place among African states and the African civilization, which is
our destiny, the preoccupation of government for the next two or three
generations must be in the direction of developing a specific type of
citizens, animated by an identical spirit, filled with an unbounded faith
in their destiny, and possessed and inspired by the same ideals. As this
is to be effected through the schools, we can not escape the
impressions: (a) That some central authority of the State must
supervise all educational operations in the country; (b) that, if mission
schools and private corporate and non-corporate institutions be
allowed, they must operate subject to limitations imposed by law as
regards the course of study, the general character of instruction, and
the special object to be obtained, especially in the primary grades. In
other words, they must assist in developing the civic instincts of the
pupils; (c) that a uniform system of training must be rigidly, consciously,
and universally enforced.”
The matter suggested by these quotations is really of considerable
importance. The central thought of them is surely sound; all mission
schools, while entirely free to teach religion according to their own
tenets, should consult together and have a uniform system of secular
instruction which should be kept quite separate from the religious
teaching; this should be of the same character and have the same end
as the teaching offered in the public schools; the mission schools should
work in harmony with the public schools and should recognize the
Superintendent of Education; they should heartily co-operate with him
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