KRUMEN, Croomen, Krus, or Croos, a negro people on the west coast of Africa. The name is properly Kra or Krao, though the corrupt form Crew men has sometimes been put forward as the original. Ethnographically it ought to be confined to the tribes settled in the neighbourhood of the Sinoe in the republic of Liberia, where their chief towns are known as Settra Kru, Little Kru, and Nana Kru; but, as they were the first west African people who ventured to take service on board European vessels, it is now generally applied to about a score of tribes living along 200 miles of coast who in this respect have followed their example. In spite of the fact that the Krus have come into close connexion with Europeans for a long series of years, the information in regard to them is of the scantiest description. They are an independent as well as an enterprising people, and keep themselves very much apart from other tribes. It is said that they have never furnished even a nominal convert to Christianity. They are now mainly engaged as traders or agents; and comparatively few of the Krumen proper are to be found serving as boatmen or sailors. As soon as they have amassed a competency they return to their native country. They keep no slaves themselves, and they are never found in slavery abroad. The men are tall, strong, and well-proportioned, with bluish-black complexion, woolly and abundant hair, and a greater frequency of beard than is common among negroes. They appear to be dolichocephalic and prognathic. Their women are of a lighter shade than negro women generally, and in several respects come much nearer to a European standard. Tribal or clan marks are worn on the face: the Krumen examined by Schlagintweit, for example, had a blue vertical stroke on the brow; those seen by ...