A Liberian Journey

Creator

Richard Pearson Strong

Date

9/18/26

Coverage

Gbanga, Hinterland, Liberia

Transcription

Saturday, September 18th, Gbanga base camp.

We started at eight A. M. Sunday, September 12th, and travelled first due north, the trail leading through low forest of secondary growth or at times through high forest. We reached the town of Querga in one hour and twenty-five minutes. From here we traveled generally northeast through high forest reaching the town of Wenyou (neither of these towns are on the map) after three hours walk. Here we changed some porters. Just outside Wenyou we came upon the edge of the “Devil Bush” It was walled off the trail by a rattan thatched wall some fifteen feet in height and extending some thirty feet along the side of the trail. It had two circular mats or rosettes about a yard in diameter near the center of the wall or fence. I think I have not written much of the Devil Bush for boys, which corresponds very much to the Grigri Bush for girls. It is difficult to learn exactly what is taught there but the Bush is presided over by the Devil of the town. The boys are said to be sent there about the time of puberty and are taught something of woodcraft, and those which have not been circumcised at birth have this performed, and they are said to be taught social laws and customs of marriage. They remain in the Bush from six months to two years. It is often the occasion for rejoicing when a member of the family enters the Devil or Grigri Bush.

Later on this trip at Naama we witnessed such a celebration, which consisted of feasting and dancing by the women. At night there was the beating of drums, the blowing of horns and the explosion of bombs (?), four in all -- two in the Devil Bush and two in the town itself. The last two heralded the arrival of the Devil in the town and his departure for the Bush. Just how the explosions were made we could not ascertain.

From Wenyou the trail led again through the forest northeast and east to Bounay and Palay, which we reached at 2: 15 P.M. At Palay we changed more porters. I saw here the fourth case of that interesting form of blastomycetic disease not described in medical literature. I had Loring take a picture of the skin lesions and arranged to study it on our return. We then journeyed on, passing a few farms where orange trees, rice fields and small cotton plantations were observed. All the oranges here have green skins and are of only fair quality. During the last few hours the trail led up and down over hills and deep ravines and we crossed many streams through a few of which it was necessary to wade. We finally reached Wartoh at 4:15 after a march of eight hours, or about 22 miles. We camped in the communal hall, evidently occupied the night before by the goats and few sheep in the town. We stood in the rain while it was being swept out, then cots and nets were quickly put up, our baths taken, and dry clothes and dinner and bed followed quickly. We left next morning as soon as we could get porters (at 7:15) and twenty minutes later reached Ioita. Just outside this town a broad trail leads eastward and westward. Westward it goes to Koloquelli. We went eastward and reached Naama at 8:20 A. M. We did not stop here but continued eastward, reaching Bonju at 9: 45 (or probably Bonsou of the map). Naama is also given on one of our maps. At Bonju they are widening the trail and about 150 men were working on it as we passed. Here we learned that a herd of elephants had passed south three weeks before. We continued our march northeast and then due north reaching Banga at 12:25. We then turned due south and reached Garimou at 2:25 P. M. From 11 o’clock on, the march was very trying; much of the trail was through more or less open country and the sun’s rays were merciless. It was a. blessed relief to reach Garimou, almost on the border of French Guinea to the north. We had taken compass observations every five minutes or so along the route. Our line of travel showed us how impossible it is in this country to travel on a straight line to any of the interior towns. We had supposed we at Gbanga might be some fifteen or possibly twenty miles from Garimou. By the trails it was necessary to travel, it proved to be not less than forty-two or forty-three miles. We were somewhat tired when we reached Garimou. Really, however, it was from the sun’s rays between twelve and two that I experienced the most discomfort. George and Loring asked if we could not travel back more slowly and at least take three days for the return trip. I readily agreed, feeling, however, that a night’s rest would probably make them feel quite willing not to lose a day unless necessary. Garimou is named after the hill Garimou about 900 feet high, some 300 yards from the town. There are other hills of somewhat less height to the north and west. All are covered with forest.

We stayed for the night on the veranda of the house of the government station (not occupied) and about 100 yards from the town of Garimou itself. Next morning the start was made at 7 A. M., George and Whitman taking the trail back towards Banga. I first walked to the village of Garimou with my interpreter and personal servants, and then through it and to the north to the River Yeh, a branch of the St. John, which separates Liberia from French Guinea. I talked with a French Mandingo who told me the French (black) soldiers often came into Garimou. He had Parisian -- or at least French -- cloth and perfumes, mirrors, etc. for sale. I did not tarry long as I had a long way to travel. I bought on the edge of Garimou a piece of Liberian cloth woven there and a silver (?) bracelet such as the women or chiefs wear on ankles or arms – sometimes a dozen or more. Then I hurried along at a fast walk back to Banga where I overtook George and Loring. The sun came out at eleven and again the walk was most trying until we reached Naama at one-thirty. After bathing and putting on dry clothes, I visited the government official in the next house to the one we took possession of, putting up our cots on the porch. He was having a “woman palaver” when I arrived. It seems that a father had sold his daughter to two different husbands before his death. The woman wished to go to the first husband to whom she was first sold. However the woman’s brother liked the second husband better. The government representative (called Assistant District Commissioner) ruled that the first husband should pay the second husband the original price of the woman and the second should give up the woman. However, the brother refused to agree, saying he would pay the first husband the price if she would stay with the second. Hence the palaver. There is usually a “woman palaver” going on in most of the towns we visit. Naama is quite a large town as these villages go, of several hundred inhabitants (500 -600). In the late afternoon we witnessed for a few minutes the women dancing in connection with the celebration of some of the young men and boys entering the Devil Bush. The women danced with great abandon and earnestness. We left Naama at 6:20 A. M. the following (Wednesday) morning, the 15th, and passed through Ioita and Wartoh without stopping, finally arriving at Palay at 9:30 A. M. Here I found the case of blastomycosis and took microscopical preparations and tissues from the lesions. After changing porters we went on, reaching Bounay and then Wenyou at twenty minutes to one. George and Whitman reached Wenyou some fifteen minutes ahead of me. I found them eating jam and crackers and drinking tea. They begged to stop there to have lunch and rest from the heat. I stopped long enough for a cup of tea and an orange and then came on here reaching camp at 4:45 P. M., having started at 6:20 (George and Loring arrived about 5:30), the longest walk in one day we have had. We had walked some eighty-four miles in the four days. The trip was necessary in order to help fix the position of our present base camp here at Gbanga and to complete our passage across Liberia to French Guinea, also to find out whether there was open country to the north of Gbanga, where the zoological and botanical conditions would be different. We found no open country (grasslands) whatever. All the hills were covered with high forest and in other places with secondary growth. It would be a waste of time for the zoologist, botanist or entomologist to visit this part of the country to the north and northeast of Gbanga, for they would find nothing that they could not get in the country immediately around our base camp, where conditions for work and study are excellent. Some of the party thought, and we had been so told, there was open grass country to the north of us. Our travel during these four days proves the contrary. The trip also demonstrated that the position of Suah Coco as given in the map is considerably further to the west and that our base camp is also slightly further to the west than we had supposed from the position of Suah Coco on the map. It is possible, however, that Garimou itself is still further east than given on the map. Clouds have prevented observation from stars. Our travel also showed it is necessary to alter on our maps the positions of a number of the towns we traveled through. According to our maps, to reach the border of French Guinea by the shortest route it was necessary to travel from Banga east to Garimou whereas actually from Banga to Garimou we traveled south and were paralleling the French border for a long time before we arrived.

Type

Diary

Citation