With great difficulty and the expense of a small fortune in presents to captious and rapacious chiefs, he succeeded in making his way from point to point along a course roughly corresponding to that of the St. Paul’s River.  The route lay through dense forests, along paths worn by many generations of native feet.  The ascent was steady; at 100 miles from the coast the elevation was 1,311 feet, and toward the end of the journey it rose to 2,257 feet.  All along the way the population was dense, and showed a steady improvement in character, civilization and hospitality as the coast was left behind.  The object of his journey, Musardu, the chief city of the Western Mandingoes, was at length reached, just on the edge of the primeval forest.  Beyond lies a vast plateau covered with tall grass, showing here and there a solitary palm, and stretching away to the head waters of the Niger.  The climate is wholesome, the air bracing, and the soil fertile.

The city proved large and populous; the houses were small and of a monotonous uniformity, bewilderingly placed without apparent arrangement.  The whole was surrounded with a huge mud wall, which served not only as a defense against foes, but to keep out wild beasts, especially elephants, herds of which were frequently seen near the town.  The inhabitants were strict Mussulmans, and were much further advanced in civilization than even the most intelligent tribes through which he had passed.  They had an extensive commerce with the interior, caravans coming from places as distant as Timbuctoo.  Good horses were plentiful, and there were evidences of the existence of valuable gold mines.  Anderson was received with profuse hospitality; they appeared to be delighted with the idea of opening trade with Liberia, and promised gold, ivory and various commodities in exchange for European goods.

Another journey with the same general results was subsequently made by another citizen, to Pulaka, about one hundred miles to the southeast of Monrovia.  These explorations are of great interest.  They show the belt of coast occupied by Liberia to be merely the entrance to a high and healthful interior of great fertility and unlimited resources, over which the Republic has power to expand indefinitely.

President Payne’s successor was Edward James Roye, who was duly inaugurated January 3, 1870.  Born in Newark, Ohio, in 1815, he had passed through the public schools of his native town, afterwards attending the college at Athens, Ohio, and Oberlin.  He went to Liberia in 1846, becoming a prosperous merchant and politician.  From 1865 to 1868 he held the post of Chief Justice.  Roye came into office at a time when a rage for internal improvements possessed the country; and with this spirit he was in full sympathy.  His inaugural outlines a bold and ambitious policy.  The resources of the Treasury were entirely inadequate to his extensive projects, and in an evil moment the Legislature passed an Act