Krun.

1835 F. Marryat Pirate vii These were Kroumen, a race of blacks..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,..assisted by Krooboys, sallied out and put their assailants to flight.

1894 A. Smith Autobiogr. xxv. 198 The kroomen..let a great wave break over us.

1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 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.

1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. App. i. 649 They speak their version of our own—Kru-English, or ‘trade English’, as it is called.

1957 M. Banton West Afr. City i. 5 Another important group was that of the Kru. They are members of a sea-faring tribe inhabiting part of what is now the Liberian coast.

1970 P. Oliver Savannah Syncopators 41 The Kru speaking peoples of Liberia.

1973 Times 17 Apr. (Liberia Suppl.) p. vi/5 Elizabeth Tonkin has recently been from Birmingham on a study of Kru linguistics.

1884 H. H. Johnston River Congo i. 26 There is a subtle distinction between Kru-boy and Kru-man, or, to use its Portuguese form, Krumano... The Kru-man 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.