SIERRA LEONE RIVER

river, an estuary on the Atlantic, in western Sierra Leone. Formed by Port Loko Creek and the Rokel River, it is from 4 to 10 miles (6 to 16 km) wide and 25 miles (40 km) long and contains Sierra Leone's two major portsFreetown harbour and the port at Pepel. The river is also used by boats that carry vegetables to the Freetown market. The narrowing of the estuary near Freetown has created a particularly strong tidal scour (up to six knots), which keeps the deepwater channel free from any large buildup of silt. The economy Private capital dominates mining concerns, commerce, and banking. European, Lebanese, and Indian interests are predominant, and participation by Sierra Leoneans is small. The public sector features the Sierra Leone Produce Marketing Board (SLPMB), which has a monopoly on cash crops, and other public corporations, such as that of road transport, which is entirely owned by the government. Various inefficient parastatals were privatized in the 1980s. Government revenue is derived from direct and indirect taxes. In addition to import and export taxes, the government can also rely on company, excise, income, and mining taxes for revenue. The government's revenue from trade has been undermined by the growth of smuggling of diamonds and agricultural produce. There were growing economic difficulties in the 1980s, including a heavy external debt burden, escalating costs of food and fuel imports, and erratic mineral export production. Substantial devaluations of the national currency, the leone, occurred, and a series of International Monetary Fund-supported economic stabilization programs were initiated to address these problems. Resources Mineral resources are fairly well distributed and include diamonds, chromite, and reserves of rutile that are among the world's largest. There are iron ore reserves, but these are no longer commercially mined. Other minerals include bauxite, columbite (a black mineral of iron and columbium), pyrochlore, gold, platinum, and monazite. Major concentrations of those minerals have been found in the southern plateau region. Forest covers more than one-fourth of the country, the most important area of which is the Gola Forest Reserve, a tract of primary tropical rain forest, near the Liberian border. Biological resources include large herds of tsetse-resistant Ndama cattle. The coastal waters provide rich fishing grounds for shad, herring, snapper, tuna, shrimp, and lobster. The hydroelectric power potential of Sierra Leone's deeply incised river valleys is appreciable. The land Relief The country can be divided into four distinct physical regions. The coastal swamp region extends along the Atlantic for about 200 miles (320 kilometres). It is a flat, low-lying, and frequently flooded plain that is between 20 and 40 miles wide and is composed mainly of sands and clays. Its numerous creeks and estuaries contain mangrove swamps. Parallel ridges, often separated by silting lagoons, are common and sometimes form the actual coast. The Sierra Leone Peninsula, which is the site of Freetown, is a region of thickly wooded mountains that run parallel to the sea for about 25 miles. The Peninsula Mountains rise from the coastal swamps and reach 2,913 feet (888 metres) at Picket Hill. Inland from the coastal plain is the interior plains region. In the north it comprises featureless grasslands (savanna) that are known as Bolilands (Boli being a Temne word for those lands that are flooded in the rainy season and dry and hard in the dry season and on which only grass can grow). In the south the plains comprise rolling wooded country where isolated hills rise abruptly to more than 700 feet. The interior contains a variety of landforms ranging from savanna-covered low plains to rocky scarp and hill country. The plateau region, encompassing roughly the eastern half of the country, is composed mainly of granite with a thick laterite (iron-bearing) crust; to the west it is bounded by a narrow outcrop of mineral-bearing metamorphic rocks known as the Kambui Schists. Rising above the plateau are a number of mountain masses; in the northeast the Loma Mountains are crowned by Mount Loma Mansa (Mount Bintimani) at 6,391 feet, and the Tingi Hills rise to 6,079 feet at Sankanbiriwa Peak. Drainage and soils The country's drainage pattern is dense. Numerous rivers rise in the well-watered Fouta Djallon highlands of Guinea and flow in a general northeast to southwest direction across Sierra Leone. Their middle courses are interrupted by rapids that restrict navigability to only a short distance inland. River levels show considerable seasonal fluctuations. The drainage system has nine major rivers and a series of minor coastal creeks and tidal streams. From north to south, the principal rivers are the Great Scarcies, Little Scarcies, Rokel (known in its lower course as the Sierra Leone River), Gbangbaia, Jong, Sewa, Wanje, Moa, and Mano. The Great Scarcies and Moa form portions of the border with Guinea, while the Mano forms much of the country's frontier with Liberia. In most areas, the dominant soils are of the weathered and leached lateritic (iron-bearing) type. Red to yellow-brown in colour, they contain oxides of iron and aluminum and are acid. Kaolin (china) clays are important in some areas, and when cultivated a light, readily workable, free-draining soil results, whose productivity depends largely on the nutrients provided from the vegetation previously cleared and burned. In the coastal plains lateritic soils developed on sandy deposits are agriculturally poor, but those derived from basic igneous rocks are somewhat better. Swamp soils occur over large areas on the coastal plains where drainage is a problem. In coastal and estuarine areas where mangrove is the natural vegetation, productive soils can be acquired by clearance, but careful water control is sometimes needed to prevent toxicity. At the foot of the main escarpment, on the Sula Mountain plateau, and elsewhere an iron-rich laterite crust forms a surface that is intractable for agricultural production. The people There are about 18 ethnic groups that exhibit similar cultural features, such as secret societies, chieftaincy, patrilineal descent, and farming methods. The Mende, found in the east and south, and the Temne in the north form the two largest groups. Other major groups include the Limba, Kuranko, Susu, Yalunka, and Loko, in the north; the Kono and Kissi, in the east; and the Sherbro, in the southwest. Minor groups include the coastal Bullom, Vai, and Krim and the Fulani and Malinke (Mandingo), who are immigrants from Guinea concentrated in the north and east. The Creolesdescendants of free blacks who colonized the coast in the 19th centuryare found mainly in the Western Area and Freetown. Ethnic complexity is further enhanced by the presence of Lebanese and Indian traders in urban centres. Krio, a language derived from English and a variety of African languages, is the mother tongue of the Creoles and the country's lingua franca. Among the indigenous languages, the Mande group is the most widespread; it includes the Mende, Kuranko, Kono, Yalunka, Susu, Vai, and Malinke languages. The Mel group, which is similar to the Bantu languages of Central and East Africa, includes the Temne, Krim, Kissi, Bullom, Sherbro, and Limba languages. English, the official language, is used in administration, education, and commerce. Arabic is used among Lebanese traders and adherents of Islam. About half the population practices a variety of animist religions. More than one-third of the people are Muslims, and the rest are Christians.