CHAPTER II

A SHERBRO FACTORY

As the steamer from Freetown approaches Sherbro
Island, the passenger notices several dark objects rising
apparently out of the sea, which objects presently resolve
themselves into the tops of tall trees, for so low-lying is
the island that its tree-tops are seen before the land itself
is visible.

As the channel narrows, the vessel steams between
monotonous banks of mangrove mile after mile, until at
length it anchors awhile in mid-stream two miles from
Bonthe. Here from the deck the traveller gets, as an
agreeable variation, a very pretty and picturesque view of
Bonthe, on the island, with its shipping, its line of
European and native factories, its town, its churches, its
native fakais—or villages, and, more characteristic than
all besides, its cocoanut trees and its palms, all seen in the
brilliant light of the tropics.

The steamer may go on to York Island, where there is
a similar view on a somewhat smaller scale. Life in both
places is much the same; but Bonthe is the seat of
Government for the whole of the Sherbro district.
Originally it was all mangroves, but a very large clearing