, common
and Muscovy; Guinea fowls in abundance; turkeys, and on one farm--the
_Gaudilla farm_ of William Spencer Anderson, Esq., sugar planter, on the
St. Paul River--geese. Neither are the cows so small as supposed to be
from the general account given of them by travelers. Those which are
common to, and natives of this part of Africa, which I shall classify as
the _Bassa_ (pronounced _Bassaw_) cattle, are handsome and well-built,
comparing favorably in size (though neither so long-legged nor
long-bodied) with the small cattle in the interior counties of
Pennsylvania, U.S., where no attention is paid scientifically to the
breeding of cattle; though the Liberia or Bassa are much the heaviest,
and handsomely made like the _Golah_, or _Fulatah_, hereafter to be
described, resembling the Durham cattle of England in form. Also swine,
goats, and sheep are plentiful.

Horses, None. Why?

I saw but one horse in Liberia, and that on the Gaudilla farm of Mr.
Anderson; and though, as the Liberians themselves informed me, they have
been taken there by the Mandingo and Golah traders, they never lived.
And why--if they live in other parts of Africa, on the western coast,
which they do, even near the _Mangrove swamps_, as will hereafter be
shown--do they not live in Liberia, the civilized settlements of which
as yet, except on the St. Paul and at Careysburg, are confined to the
coast? There are certainly causes for this, which I will proceed to
show.

Horse Feed, Pasturage, Hay

In the first place, horses, like all other animals, must have feed
naturally adapted to their sustenance. This consists mainly of grass,
herbage, and grains, especially the latter when the animal is
domesticated. Secondly, adequate shelter from sun and weather, as in the
wild state by instinct they obtain these necessary comforts for
themselves.

No Cultivated Farms--No Shelter for Horses

Up to the time, then, when the Liberians ceased the experiment of
keeping horses, they had not commenced in any extensive manner to
cultivate farms, consequently did not produce either maize (Indian
corn), Guinea corn (an excellent article for horses in Africa,
resembling the American broom corn both in the stock, blade, and grain,
the latter being larger and browner than those of the broom corn, and
more nutritious than oats); peas, nor any other grain upon which those
animals are fed, and the great, heavy, rich, rank, pseudo reed-grass of
the country was to