The Harvard African Expedition Book 1: August 10, 1926
Creator
Loring WhitmanDate
8/10/26Transcription
Tues Aug 10th – Not much of a day – for sure. We all said good bye to Bonet & were damned sorry to see him go. Dave Linder went with him to get some further last supplies in Monrovia. I started packing up my photographic equipment in the morning – opened chop boxes for Sando the cook and also to get some concentrated supplies for our next move. [I forgot to say that when I got back yesterday afternoon I found that Coolidge had left without supplying them cook with the days rations. In consequence I had to hastily open 5 boxes to get immediate supplies as they had cleaned out the useful stuff from the chop boxes.] I also continued to write my diary which always seems to be a month behind.
Schofield – the manager of Sect. 4 NO 2. division came to lunch after which Dr. Strong, Allen, Theiler, & I went over to his place to take some movies of a dance which had bene staged for pictorial purposes
As we approached the town we could hear the drums beating which we were told was to call the devil. Honestly there is a lot of music in the African drums – each one working at a different time and with a different note. And so I expected weird dances and picturesque savages. In consequence it was somewhat disappointing to emerge from the trees into a clean native village in which perfectly clothed people were waiting for us. All the men wore white or otherwise colored cotton shirts bought in Monrovia and most of them had caps. This was to be the background for our savage dance.
In the center of the village the people had made a rectangle about 30 x 50 ft around which were board seats for the galley and palm leaves stuck into the ground about 6ft appart. In this arena At one end of the arena sat a 5 piece orchestra seated at various types of drums – big hollow logs – small ones – and incidental tin cans and boxes. These however were not to perform immediately as they were not the devils private orchestra which soon arrived – 4 boys similarly equipped. When all was ready – the devil entered dressed in a black mask topped with a sort of hat – a loose black coat – evidently stuffed out – and a tremendous skirt of fibre – like a hoop skirt, which swept the ground. The Devil started the game by sitting on the ground and pointing at the orchestra which he ordered to play in a high squeaky voice well muffled by a mouthful of stones. Then a few flaps of his arms which were well covered by his jacket sleeves & were further lengthened by sticks in his hand and he arose. The dance itself was quite spasmodic at times he stood in one place for a few minutes flapping his arms – at others he hopped up & down kicking the grass skirt out behind – and still again he would glide in half circles arms extended without visible moving his legs. And during this he frequently chattered & mumbled for the audiences benefit. At the end I took a still picture of him & got ready for the next dance. He was a Bassa devil.
The big orchestra now got going and soon we could see the grebo dancers following the leader around the town. Finally they entered the arena in single file, half bent over, armed with a knife etc and stumping along to the time of the music. They were all painted in yellow and black clay which was put in various patterns. Some of them had garlands of leaves draped around their shoulders and made into headdresses. One going so far as to have a pot of smoking coals perched on his head. The dance itself was follow the leader – and at times they certainly did get all twisted up as they wove thru one another. But they never got out of place and always kept moving behind the man in the same order. The last man – ungarlanded – had a big wicker tray and was by nature a true clown – He really was very funny – and knew it for he was always out in front whenever possible making himself ridiculous. Usually he held his mouth in a big O and kept his eyes as wide open as possible while with bent knees he danced around with his tray. I took a picture of him at the end of the dance.
The third & last stage was a boy dancing on stilts – not too exciting & a little wee devil all in fibre clothes who was exceedingly active & I think fitted up purely for the white man’s benefit having no mephistophelesian connections.
After the ceremonies we all went up to Mr. Schofields house perched on top of a sugar loaf hill so that he looks over the country in all directions. It is really a beautiful location and always with a cool breeze. Here we had delicious cocoa & smoked a cigarette with hour host. He has several snakes and chameleons in boxes on his porch which we admired so much that he offered to swap a certain green one – new to us for a python which we had. I made a noose and put the coveted prize in a tin can provided us for the purpose.
On our way home Dr. Allen shot at a bird in search of which we plunged into the jungle. But soon we found ourselves standing quietly in a field of driver ants. Now when driver ants are spread like out over the ground, it means that they are foraging and will immediately sample anything they come across. In consequence it was not long before we noticed them and quickly fled the country clawing at our clothes in an endeavor to squash the pests. As it was we had to completely strip before we could get them off our bodies – as they even got down under our socks. But such is life in the tropics when one is green. The rest of our journey to camp was uneventful.
In the evening – with about 700 ft of exposed movies on my hands I again developed – after unpacking my outfit.