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 encounter each other in their canoes, the first thing the Fishmen try to do is to upset the Krooman’s canoe, after which they are quite at their mercy.  They arc also much better seamen, as well as boatmen, yet notwithstanding this difference of character, they are in appearance the same people as the Kroomen, and a stranger would not know the difference.  Formerly the Fishmen were without the distinguishing mark down the forehead, which is now commonly adopted.  Their country, as I have before remarked, is in the vicinity of Cape Palmas, and their principal towns are Bafoo, Wapee,