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 American colo vn ) za'Hori socie.iy, 
 
 Xviforw\cct iovo abou+ j^omc^ Liberia 
 
 
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 INFORMATION ABOUT GOING TO LIBERIA. 
 
 We are constantly receiving letters in which the following ques- 
 tions are, in substance, asked. We have therefore condensed the 
 facts into the following form : 
 
 Question i. At what season of the year is it best to embark for 
 Liberia ? 
 
 Answer i. The first day of May and the first day of November are 
 the times that vessels usually leave this country for Liberia. There 
 is very little, if any, choice between these two seasons of the year as 
 a time to arrive in that Republic. 
 
 Q. 2. How long is the voyage, and is there much danger that we 
 shall be lost on the way ? 
 
 A. 2. The length of the voyage is from thirty to forty days. The 
 American Colonization Society has been sending for upwards of fifty 
 years and has never lost a vessel with emigrants on board ! 
 
 Q. 3. What ought we to take with us, both for use on the voyage 
 and after we get there ? 
 
 A. 3. Every emigrant ought to be well supplied with clothing, both 
 for summer and winter, similar to that which he wears in this country. 
 There is no winter in Liberia, but during the rainy season, health is 
 preserved and promoted by wearing flannel, or warm clothing. He 
 ought also to have a good mattress and bed-clothes, which he will 
 need to use on shipboard and after landing. If he is a mechanic, he 
 ought to have the tools of his trade. If he is a farmer, he ought to 
 be well supplied with axes, hoes, spades, saws, augers, &c. And, as 
 every family is expected to keep house and live by themselves, they 
 ought to have a good supply of table furniture and cooking utensils. 
 It is not possible to take chairs, tables, bedsteads, and other large arti- 
 cles of furniture with them, as they occupy too much room in the 
 ship. But whatever is convenient and necessary in housekeeping and 
 of small compass, they ought to take. A keg of nails, a bale or two 
 of domestics, and some greenbacks, or specie or gold coin, would be 
 
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 of use to them in erecting their houses, and paying for any labor they 
 might need, during the first few months of their residence in Liberia. 
 
 O. 4. How much land is given to each emigrant ? 
 
 A. 4. By the laws of Liberia, each emigrant on his arrival is given 
 a town lot, or ten acres of land. If he is the head of a family, the 
 quantity of land is increased according to the number of his family, not 
 exceeding twenty-five acres. This allowance may seem small, but it is 
 abundantly sufficient for all his necessities until he is able to buy more 
 for himself. Twenty-five acres of land there will produce as much 
 as one hundred acres almost anywhere in the Unitpd States. 
 
 Q. 5. Can I educate mv children there, and what will it cost? 
 
 A. 5. By a law of Liberia, all parents are required to send their 
 children to school. In some of the settlements’ the schools are good. 
 A college, the materials and building of which cost $20,000, is in 
 operation at Monrovia. All the Professors are colored men. The 
 natives are at peace with the Liberians, and are generally anxious to 
 have their children educated. 
 
 0 . 6. What assistance will the Colonization Society render me in 
 getting to Liberia ? 0 • 
 
 A. 6 . So numerous have the applications become, that the Society 
 will hereafter give the preference, all other things being equal, to 
 those who will pay a part or the whole of the cost of their passage to 
 and settlement in Liberia. 
 
 0 . 7. How can I make a living in Liberia ? 
 
 A. 7. In the same way that you would make one anywhere else ; 
 that is, by industry and economy. During the first six months after 
 arrival in Liberia you become acclimated, and can open and plant 
 your land, build a house on it, raise a crop, and have everything in 
 readiness to live comfortably thereafter. Those competent to teach 
 school and good accountants command from three to eight hundred 
 dollars a year. Blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, brickmakers, cabinet- 
 makers, shipwrights, &c., &c., can always find employment at good 
 wages. The farmer need fear no want. This question has been 
 answered by the editor of the Liberia Herald, who has lived there for 
 many years, and we cannot do better than quote his words, viz: 
 
 “We give a list of such meats, poultry, birds, fruits, fish, and 
 edibles as are in general use with us in their appropriate season. 
 
 “Animals and Fowls. — Domesticated — Cows, bullocks, swine, 
 sheep, goats, ducks, fowls, turkeys. Wild — Deer in abundance ; 
 partridges, pigeons, goats, doves, squirrels, ducks, rice birds. 
 
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 “Fruits. — Watermelon, muskmelon, mango plum, orange, rose 
 apple, sour sop, guava, tamarind, plantain, bananas, grammadilla, 
 limes, lemons. 
 
 “ Fish.— M ullett, whiting, perch, bream, pike, baracouta, mack 
 erel, herring, carp, sun, drum, catfish, grippers, oysters, crabs 
 
 “ Edibles. — Sweet potatoes, arrowroot, turnips, carrots, shilote, 
 cvmling, chiota, pawpaw, lima beans, ochra, peas, radishes, beets, 
 cabbages, snaps, cucumbers, greens, salads, cassavas, yams, corn.” 
 
 The Rev. A. F Russell, of Clay-Ashland, Liberia, another citizen 
 who has been there for years, writes on the same subject thus, (in 
 speaking of what should be said to persons in the United States who 
 think of going to Liberia,) viz : 
 
 “If they be farmers, point them to the soil, the fertility of which 
 cannot be exaggerated, producing everything a tropical clime can pro- 
 duce in ample abundance ; the arm answering, though not necessarily 
 in all cases, the place of the ox; the hoe answering lor the plow, if 
 we prefer, and in our light soil does almost as well perhaps. Labor 
 and patience, two thirds of the labor, too, that it would take to sup- 
 port a man in the United States, will reward the workman thirty, 
 sixty, a hundred fold — the profits will sweeten the toil A coffee 
 tree once planted and reared (which takes four years) will yield its 
 increase, two crops a year, year after year, bringing its reward with 
 it — -a hundred, a thousand, and tens of thousands will do the same, 
 and certainly the scions or the seed are to be bought in sufficient quan- 
 tities in Liberia. Arrowroot, ginger, pinders, and pepper grow with 
 almost half trouble, yielding in full abundance ; and as for fruits, the 
 orange, lime, lemon, sour sop, guava, mango, &c., we will place Liberia 
 against any country in the world, and with a fraction of labor, com- 
 pared with the benefits they yield. Vegetables — the yam, potatoes, 
 cassava, plantains, Indian corn, beans, peas, &c. — time would fail us 
 to tell. Put them in the earth, and they are as sure to produce as 
 the God of nature is to bring about the seasons.” 
 
 O. 8. Can I be as healthy in Liberia as I am in the United States? 
 
 A. 8. Some constitutions may be more healthy there than here. 
 For old settlers Liberia is doubtless more healthy than many parts of 
 the United States The deaths there among such for several years 
 past have not been more than three per cent. 
 
 We make this general remark in connection with the last two ques- 
 
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 tions. The great advantage which the colored man gets by going to 
 Liberia is not as to his eating or drinking or making money, but in his 
 social and moral condition. He becomes a man. He is no longer 
 despised as of another race, but is treated as an equal and as a brother, 
 and secures immense advantages for his children. Those who can 
 and do appreciate these, and go to Liberia, will never regret it. Of 
 such emigrants Mr. Russell, whose language we have before quoted, 
 makes the following remarks: 
 
 “ They not only see that every improvement belongs to themselves 
 and children, but good sound sense and industry tells them to go for- 
 ward, and they obey, looking upon Liberia as theirs and the home of 
 their children ; its strength their safety, its wealth their property, and 
 its prosperity their glory and the salvation from degradation of their 
 children. As the hope of Liberia’s glory, present as well as fu- 
 ture, rises before such men, it beckons them onward. They enjoy 
 ‘ freedom ’ in every true sense of that word. They love our laws 
 because they are wholesome ; they are ours, made by legislators of 
 our choice. They love liberty for what it is in and of itself.” 
 
 We are expecting to send a large number of the more enterpris- 
 ing and educated class. The independent position of Liberia ren- 
 ders this very desirable. Her citizens have the entire responsibility 
 of their government, and need all the talent, wisdom, and energy 
 they can summon to their aid. We think that the intelligent and 
 wealthy colored people of the United States would have some ambi- 
 tion to share in the splendid results to be achieved through the agency 
 of Liberia. Surely, to aid in laying the foundation for a nation, in 
 maturing institutions and laws for the government of a great people, 
 and in redeeming an immense continent from pagan darkness and 
 barbarity, is a work infinitely more sublime and glorious than can 
 possibly be performed by any of the colored people in this country, 
 however favored may be their position, enlarged their opportunities, 
 and determined their energy and perseverance. When the historian 
 writes up the labors of their race, who will stand far above all com- 
 parison, if not the bold and prosperous pioneers in the only success- 
 ful effort ever made for their social, civil, and religious redemption? 
 
 Published by the American Colonization Society. 
 

 
 
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