A Liberian Journey

Creator

Richard Pearson Strong

Date

7/8/26

Coverage

Monrovia, Montserrado County, Liberia

Transcription

July 8th. Monrovia

We came ashore in a large whaleboat through the surf and around the bar to quiet water. Fortunately the surf was not very high and none of the three boats were capsized. Last week one of the boats was capsized and the firm of Elder Dempster lost a man by drowning. We are told this is an occasional occurrence -- the boats are often capsized or filled on coming through the surf. Much property is at times lost in this way. We were lucky also in that it had stopped raining during the time we were coming ashore. Mr. Firestone’s representatives and Plenyono Wolo came off to the ship to meet us. Coming in they told us of an accident that had just happened to their launch on the river. A hippopotamus had bitten a piece out of the stern and it had to be run ashore to prevent its sinking. The three large whaleboats with twelve oars bringing our baggage and supplies also got ashore safely. Immediately after landing, Dr. Willis, the American physician of the Firestone Co., took me by motor, of which there are some 15 or 20 in the place, to call on Mr. Ross, the Firestone Manager and Mr. Hines, Mr. Firestone’s personal representative here. They had arranged to house us in two groups of four. I have taken George and Coolidge and Whitman with me at the large house where Dr. and Mrs. Willis live, and the other four men are located in another house about seven minutes walk from here. We all take our meals together here; so there are ten at our table. After arranging details of housing, I called on Mr. Reed Paige Clarke, Charge d’affaires in charge of the American Legation, and presented my credentials from our State Dept. in Washington. As was the case with the other American embassies in London and Brussels, the legation here had previously been informed of our expedition and some of its purposes. Mr. Clarke and the Liberian Government however did not understand why the State Dept. had asked for the free entrance of our firearms and ammunition. When he was informed that we had 17 firearms with us he expressed at first some doubt about the Government allowing them all to enter. When I explained that one of our purposes was to study the fauna of the country as well as to supply our camp with meat and that there were eight members in the expedition, he seemed more hopeful. To write frankly, however, I was not in the least disturbed by his attitude when he expressed grave doubt about the entrance of our firearms as I felt it was: most probable I could convince the Government here of the advisability of letting us have them for our scientific work. I gave Mr. Clarke a copy of our Amazon Report to present to the Secretary of State here and the President King in order that they might have some idea of some of the scientific work we wished to do here. We then arranged for our personal baggage to be sent to our new homes. All our supplies, equipment, etc. were left in the customhouse. It rained very heavily during the night and was still raining the following morning, July 8th. I mean it was raining as heavily as I have ever seen it rain in the tropics. The rain was so heavy I asked Whitman to try and get a picture of it. The morning was spent in discussing with the men their various duties and in figuring the number of porters for our transport we would need. By cutting things down to a workable minimum it figures out to about 250 carriers. In the afternoon it was still raining. I went out to the cable office, and later had an interview with Wolo and Mr. Johnston, who has been making trips into the interior here for some 18 years. He is now employed by the Firestone Co. I discussed our route with him and compared and studied maps. None of the maps agree with reference to the position and course of a number of the rivers and the location of a number of the towns. The latest Liberian Government map is almost a complete blank as regards a great deal of the country we wish to travel through. We will have to try and make our own maps as we travel through. I may take Mr. Johnston with us. Coolidge’s observations show that the humidity has been in the region of 92 most of the day.

Type

Diary

Citation