ts or promises to shake the constancy of the witnesses. The
headmen manage their rogueries with so much ingenuity that charges can
very seldom be proved against them. They send out their apprentices,
under particular instructions, to commit robberies, and, like the
Spartan youths, they consider the most expert thief to be the cleverest
fellow: should any of these young men be caught, they are left to get
out of the scrape in the best manner they are able, for unless it be to
swear falsely to an alibi, or some other evasion of truth, their
masters never appear in the affair afterwards.

The native denomination of a Krooman is Kroo, and that of a Fishman
Krepo, and they have distinguishing marks for their respective
countries tattooed on their face.

From the difficulty which exists in ascertaining their own names, they
always add some English word as a personal designation. The selection
of the word is quite a matter of chance, and it is of no consequence
whether it belong to a person, place, or thing. For instance, if you
ask one of them what his name is, he will probably say, "My name is
Soda Water, Massa," another will tell you that his name is "Bottle
Rum," or "Bottle o' Beer," and others, "King Will, Jack Freeman, Tom
Freeman," &c. &c. Freeman being one of the most common and favourite
names amongst them.

_On Wednesday, October 10th_.--we were off Cape Palmas, bearing N.E.
twenty-one miles, where a number of canoes came alongside with a few
trifling articles for sale, but their object was evidently more to beg
than barter. The article chiefly in demand amongst them was tobacco. On
taking their leave, one of the men got into his canoe by leaping
overboard while the ship was going very fast, and the boat paddling
hard to keep up with her. He swam to the canoe, and rolled himself over
the gunwale in a horizontal position, the people in the boat leaning
over the opposite side to prevent it from upsetting. These men may
truly be called Fishmen, for they appear almost as independent in the
water as the fish who inhabit it; they think nothing of having their
canoes upset on the wide ocean, for they can easily recover its former
position, and get the water out of it when they resume their places. I
was informed they will also attack a shark in the water without
hesitation, and they are very expert in catching almost every
description of fish. The Kroomen stand no chance with them on the
water, and when they happen to en