Sierra Leone, a British maritime colony since 1787, on the W. coast of Africa, having a foreshore of 180 m. between Rivières du Sud (N.) and Liberia (S.); includes the peninsula of Sierra Leone proper with its densely-wooded Sugar-Loaf Mountain, and a number of coast islands, and stretches back to a highland eastern frontier ill defined; the climate is hot, humid, and unhealthy; has been called “The White Man's Grave”; is fertile, but not well exploited by the indolent negro population, half of whom are descendants from freed slaves; ground-nuts, kola-nuts, ginger, hides, palm-oil, &c., are the principal exports. Freetown (q.v.) is the capital. The executive power is exercised by a governor and council of five.
Population (circa 1900) given as 75,000.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Sierra * Sierra Madre