The Harvard African Expedition Book 1: July 9, 1926
Creator
Loring WhitmanDate
7/9/26Transcription
Fri July 9th.
We had our first real tropical downpours last night and again this morning. The rain just beat down upon us. I tried to take some movies of it but I am afraid that they will not show very much. Still while there is life there is hope and they may be interesting. We sat around in the morning trying to make plans for the number of porters etc which we will need. We will have to cut down tremendously due to lack of porters. Some of the party went for a walk in the latter stages of the down pour.
After lunch Dr. Strong & Shattuck went to call on the secretary of state while Harold, Theiller & I went for a walk through the town. I took some pictures and they made some purchases. As we were wandering back we met Drs Strong, Shattuck & Mr. Ross whom we joined for a short visit on Dr. Foszek – a hungarian who gives the impression of being quite round & jovial.
Then we left them to call on Farmer, an american who is in the Liberian service. Altho boasting of some six titles – such as head of the telephone service or chief of dept of public works (of course there are more) and something to do with the building of the wharf (they aren’t building) – he finds that he has nothing whatsoever to do – altho he gets paid for it. He says that soon if he doesn’t have something to amuse himself with he is going home. We stayed here quite a while talking about Liberia and the bush.
Our next move was to call on Busell – the head of the customs, but as he was busy we left him in peace & returned home – I took a walk with Dr. Shattuck & Wolo -. When we returned we found Johnson and Dr. Strong seated next a map of the country discussing the best methods of getting into the interior and the best places. We all sat down & for about an hour drew dotted lines or marked circles around places where we could stop or where we could find elephants, people etc. It was very interesting laying out our prospective journey and planning our stops. It was also quite amusing to compare the two maps – one from the American govt. the other made by Firestone. The two were entirely disimilar except for the coast line & boundary. Rivers wandered in various ways but never the same, while trails & towns were hopelessly disarranged. Firestones was at least honest – leaving most of the country blank, while ours was dotted with towns crisscrossed with trails and generally stamped with imposing names & lists of animals & tribes to be found in the various places.
Johnson may go into the bush with us to look after our welfare & run our safari. He has had seemed to know more about the country than any one else here and would be invaluable handling the safari & getting us the best from the natives thru which we passed.
Even though the cook had been arrested again just before supper – we had a very pleasant meal. Afterwards we sat around smoking and talking till bed time.