The Harvard African Expedition Book 1: August 11, 1926
Creator
Loring WhitmanDate
8/11/26Transcription
Wed Aug 11th – A nice rainy day to pack & dry films. Of course I slept fairly late as I always do after a nights debauch with my films so that I wasn’t thru breakfast till about 700. Then came the ordering (chop) for the day & the distribution of supplies which usually takes an hour or so for there is always a shortage of some essential in the boxes with locks & we must needs delve into metal strapped locked boxes. Then I emptied wash basins & bath tubs so that they could better dry (in the rain), and nailed up my chemicals and packed my developing trunk.- I now found a little spare time and wrote in this diary till time for lunch.
In the afternoon – seeing no signs of sun, I packed my clothes and sundry toys – all damp – into my air tight tin trunks in preparation for the morrow’s trip to Owens Grove. And just then Shattuck & Coolidge returned – with a couple of monkeys & a plantain eater, but no elephants or Bush cow. They told in glowing terms of their journey – of Lango town which was in the right direction – of the ease of getting there – of the cleanliness of the place etc. Well the upshot was a change of plans – instead of going due South to Owens Grove & then north from there, we would go to Lango town N-E in the very direction we wanted to go. From there – well quien Sabé?
We had a hearty supper – 7 of us again – for Dave left yesterday on a hurry up trip to Monrovia at a moments notice to get our money & last supplies which due to complications had not come up stream. He is due back tonight but has not yet come. I hope the launch hasn’t broken down.