re
made of knotted string, and are lighter and more comfortable than those
to be met with on the coast. I will get a couple of their cane chairs,
too, they are very light and comfortable."

In the afternoon they again embarked, and then steamed away for Sierra
Leone. After several days' passage, they arrived there at daylight, and
Frank was soon on deck.

"What a beautiful place!" he exclaimed. "It is not a bit what I
expected."

"No," Mr. Goodenough said; "no one looking at it could suppose that
bright pretty town had earned for itself the name of the white man's
grave."

Sierra Leone is built on a somewhat steep ascent about a mile up the
river. Freetown, as the capital is properly called, stands some fifty
feet or so above the sea, and the barracks upon a green hill three
hundred feet above it, a quarter of a mile back. The town, as seen
from the sea, consists entirely of the houses of the merchants and
shopkeepers, the government buildings, churches, and other public and
European buildings. The houses are all large and bright with yellow
tinged whitewash, and the place is completely embowered in palms and
other tropical trees. The native town lies hidden from sight among trees
on low ground to the left of the town. Everywhere around the town the
hills rise steep and high, wooded to the summit. Altogether there are
few more prettily situated towns than the capital of Sierra Leone.

"It is wonderful," Mr. Goodenough said, "that generations and
generations of Europeans have been content to live and die in that
wretchedly unhealthy place, when they might have established themselves
on those lofty hills but a mile away. There they would be far above the
malarious mists which rise from the low ground. The walk up and down to
their warehouses and offices here would be good for them, and there
is no reason why Sierra Leone should be an unhealthy residence.
Unfortunately the European in Africa speedily loses his vigor and
enterprise. When he first lands he exclaims, 'I certainly shall have a
bungalow built upon those hills;' but in a short time his energy leaves
him. He falls into the ways of the place, drinks a great deal more
spirits than is good for him, stops down near the water, and at the end
of a year or so, if he lives so long, is obliged to go back to Europe to
recruit.

"Look at the boats coming out."

A score of boats, each containing from ten to twelve men, approached the
ship. They remained at a short