The Harvard African Expedition Book 1: July 21, 1926
Creator
Loring WhitmanDate
7/21/26Transcription
Wed July 21st
We have been here two weeks now – and in some ways it has been very long. However the report has it that we are to start Friday – or rather some of us will start. Our present plan is that Dr. Strong, Allen, Bequaert & I will go first while the rest come sunday. I must admit that I will be very pleased to get into the bush. But before we go – to be exact thursday night we must all go to the mansion for a banquet in our honor. And of course we will feel very much like getting up at 530 the next morning - However, we’ll see.
We spent a very interesting and profitable morning at Kru town making a survey of the younger members of the population from as young as they come to about 12 yrs old. Dr. Shattuck & Theiler held the center of the throng their backs against a wicker hut walls and two wooden boxes in front as tables upon which were the necessary glass slides – alcohol & ether bottles pills etc. During parts of the procedure I took movies to show the medical branch of the H.A.E. in operation.
And around and about us were swarms of little black boys & girls all eager to get into the front ranks of observers, while more sedate men or women carrying infants stood more quietly in the back ground.
At first we had to coax our subjects to have their spleens palpated and their ears pricked for blood but as the morning wore on and the patients realized the honor we were doing them they began to coming back for more. So we had to examine the ears of each new candidate to make sure he wasn’t come back for a second, or third time. Sporadically mothers handed us nursing infants whom they said were sick, and if we gave one mother a pill (usually calomel) for the child we immediately had a run on the bank to keep things even.
During the interim Hal & I wandered off to take a few movies around the town. We had to sneak off with our cameras under our coats to avoid the throng mob from following us and jumping up and down within two feet of the us. Cameras Our first pictures were of a girl mixing some kind of coarse meal in a big bowl. Instead of stopping and staring at us as most subjects do she continued to work way in an unconcerned fashion. We wandered on a ways to find two men making nets but they were very poor actors and I am afraid that the film will be a loss. And so we continued until we had finished our films.
I took a still photo of an albino child who apparently combined imbecility with albinism. Tight curly white hair – not straw colored – a very stupid expression and usually supported when he stood by some one keeping a hand on the top of his head. a Stolid look with at best only one sullen eye open.
I also got a picture of a woman with elephantiasis of the legs, who fled when I first brought out my camera. Still she posed well once we got going.
After the medical members were thru Hal & I took a dugout canoe & went for a photographic tour of the harbor. Unfortunately it was very dark and stormy so that I am doubtful about the worth of the films. And, too, the boat bobbed around considerably so that we will probably find a rather stormy appearance. Still it was very pleasant sitting on the water with the waves lapping under the bow.
In the afternoon we worked around the house getting our work cleared up. Dr. Theiler and Shattuck worked over the mornings slides staining them and making preliminary examinations. About 300 a beautiful case of Scrotal Elephantiasis came in (by request). In addition he had the queerest set of teeth I have ever seen. They looked like irregular blocks of putty which were flat and very broad on top and which had an absolutely smooth exterior facing the lips. The gums were reduced to a minimum.
In the evening I again developed. This time I was able to get 200 ft of movies into the wash before supper, which gave me more time to handle 3 doz stills after wards.