SIERRA LEONE, se-e'er:1 le-o'ne. A colonial possession of Great Britain on the west coast of Africa. The colony proper comprises a narrow strip along the coast from the Great Scarcies River (the boundary line of French Guinea) to the Nano River (the boundary line of Liberia), including also the islands of Sherbro, Banana, Turtle, the Los group farther north, and a num ber of other islets, having an estimated area of about 4000 square miles (Map: Africa, C 4). The protectorate extends inland for about 180 miles. Total area, about 30,000 square miles. The coast is low and marshy and lined with sand banks and lagoons. The peninsula is traversed by a range of hills reaching in the Sugar Loaf an altitude of about 3000 feet. The interior is usually described as hilly and rising toward the north. The region is well watered by the Great and the Little Scarcies, the Rokclle, the Jongor Bampanna, and the Great Bum, all flowing into the Atlantic, and some of them navigable in the lower course. Sierra Leone has long been known as the 'white man's grave' on account of its dead ly climate. This characterization, however, is true only of the low coast region, the climate of the interior being less unhealthful. The dry season in the coast region lasts from the beginning of January to the end of 1\larch, and the real wet season sets in at the end of May and continues to the end of October. The dry season is char acterized by a persistent dry northeast wind. The rainfall is very heavy, ranging at Freetown on the coast from about 140 to over 200 inches per annum. The mean annual temperature at Freetown is about S0° F. The principal products are kola nuts, palm kernels and oil, and gum copal. The output of groundnuts and hides is gradually declining. The imports of the colony are constantly increasing, while the exports show a slight falling off. The total trade in 1901
amounted to over $4,150,000, of which the im ports represented about $2,700,000. There are a number of good roads in the coast region and over 70 miles of railway lines leading from Freetown into the interior. The Colonial Gov ernor is assisted by nominated executive and leg islative councils. The capital is Freetown. The protectorate is divided into five districts, each in charge of a European commissioner. There are about SO primary schools, with an enrollment of about $000, maintained by various missionary or ganizations. and also a number of Mohammedan schools maintained by the Government. The reve nue and expenditure of the colony amounted in 1901 to $910,242 and $544,735 respectively. The debt had reached by 1902 the sum of $2,228,828. The population of the colony proper, in 1001, was 76,655, of whom 444 were white, and 33,51S lib erated Africans and their descendants. The Christians numbered 43,045. the pagans 24,099, the Mohammedans 9504. The population of the protectorate is estimated at 1,000,000, The coast of Sierra Leone was discovered by the Portuguese in the fifteenth century and set tled by the English in the seventeenth century, but soon abandoned. In 1787 a colony of fugi tive slaves was sent there by English philanthro pists, who had purchased some territory from the natives. The first attempt having proved unsuccessful, a second settlement was established in 1791, and in 1792 the colony was augmented by 1200 fugitive slaves from Canada and the Bahamas. In 1807 the company transferred its territory to the Crown and in 1896 a British protectorate was declared over the hinterland.
Consult: Jackson, The Settlement of Sierra Leone (London, 1884) ; Banbury, Sierra Leone