'I had heard of Cape Palmas, that it is a headland discovered by the Portugese about 1450; that it is so called from the cocoa groves in its vicinity; that it became a territory of Liberia when that "young and flourishing republic", as she loves to call herself, started up, like California, in Lucian's Minerva in 1847; and that in days now historic, times of the slaving rage, ships usually made this point for rice and water and bent to the south east ... The aspect of the little settlement at Palmas is not unpicturesque, and it suggests a pure and healthy climate, which is not far from being the case. It is a bold headland of red argillaceous earth, tufted with cocoas and tapestried with verdure everywhere beyond the breaking of the waves. A flagstaff, with cleats nailed on instead of ladder and rungs, bore above the steamer signal the arms of Liberia, stripes and a Lone Star, stolen from Texas and not paid for. It stands in front of the mission house, a large building with ample piazzas and shady verandahs. Behind this is the square tower forming the lighthouse - a poor affair, a stable lantern stuck upon a pole. The ridge crest is thinly lined with tall houses of timber or stone, and they extend in scatters to near the water. The headland, or promontory, 100 feet high and half a mile long by a quarter broad, is apparently cut off by a low sand spit; ... Availing ourselves of the captain's gig, the Consul and I went on shore, ... At the landing-place we found sundry large stone buildings, Mr. Macgill's and Mr. Potter's stores ... Two native huts standing by, were of the most approved Central African style, circles of twenty to thirty feet in diameter, with peaky conical roofs,...' (Wanderings in West Africa, I, pp. 282-91)