[W. African.] attrib. or as adj. Of or pertaining to a negro race so named on the coast of Liberia, very skilful as seamen.
1836. Marryat, Pirate, vii. 64. These were Kroumen, a race of blacks well known at present, who inhabit the coast near Cape Palmas, and are often employed by our men-of-war.
1883. Daily News, 12 July, 3/1. The Englishmen rallied and, assisted by Krooboys, sallied out and put their assailants to flight.
1894. Amanda Smith, Autobiog., xxv. 198. The kroomen … let a great wave break over us.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, App. i. 646. The Kruboys, as the natives of the Grain Coast are called, irrespective of the age of the individual, by the white men. Ibid., 649. They speak their version of our own—Kru-English, or ‘trade English,’ as it is called.
b. (See quot.)
1884. H. H. Johnston, River Congo, i. 26. There is a subtle distinction between Kruboy and Kruman, or, to use its Portuguese form, Krumano.… The ‘Kruman’ is an artificial name given to the indigenous slaves of the country—men, for instance, of the Lower Congo tribes, that are sold by their chiefs to European merchants.
