By 1851, “Observer” writing in the Herald newspaper noted that the local wars in the area of Grand Bassa, which had divided the people “against themselves” had declined, and those whose chief employment had been the procuring of victims for the trade had turned to agriculture and the manufacture of palm oil.
About the previous wars, he added, “nine-tenths of this excitement have been evermore the offspring of the slave trade; to which, hitherto, what has been misnamed lawful and honorable trade [in alcohol] had contributed a melancholy share.”
Footnote: Liberia Herald, June 4, 1851, p. 32; also Liberia Herald, Sept. 30, 1848, p. 46.
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