A Liberian Journey

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[1926]

Miss Ruth W

c/o Brown Shipley Co

123 Pall Mall

London

Eng.

July 28

Dear Peg,

            If your letter to me is a sample of what you have sent home you have no further need of carrying about the comparison between yours and my steamer letters. And after all – the only reason I wrote such an elaborate one was because I was restless and there are so little going on. Since then I have slumped horribly.

            I received your letter in bed. Yes your little brother has spent the last four days in his bunk trying to get rid of a fever with only fair success. Just what the fever is we dont really know altho we suspect it of being Dengue fever – a common tropical illness carried by mosquitoes which is entirely harmless but rather uncomfortable. Aching head eyes and eyeballs. Occasional Rheumatic pains in the neck and a fever put to 103. – Only one chill, however, the first night. It was quite amusing to be curled up with my head under the bed clothes and two blankets my teeth chattering and shivering all over. And then how I did sweat for the next few days. But I am nearly well now. 

            I am sending you two postcards which might be entitled – the African wilds. You ask me not to be too good but after this what do you say? Please note, too, the umbrella in the hand of the Vhey girl in NATIVE dress. Hey by the way is also written Vai and is pronounced as such. Ive picked out the best looking one s of course to give you the best impression of the place.

            In one way you are remarkably fortunate in not having taken Dr. Strongs offer to come to Monrovia – It's a hell of a place to live in unless you have something to do. Everybody runs in cliques so that one white man may never meet another for two or three months. And there is no social life that amounts to a hill of beans – no exercise – no rising or swimming – a little tennis. No, its no place for a white woman to come for the fun of it. Also its damned unhealthy.

            Since we have been here we have really done very little. It takes quite a while to move these americo Liberians altho I will admit that they have done “noble” in the end. It took one week to get our stuff thru the customs. In the meanwhile Dr. Strong, Shattuck, Allen and I went up the Du river to the Firestone plantations. The river was really just as one would expect a tropical rive to be – Tall trees hanging over the water, vines flanking the stream – a rich tropical green and a sort of hushed dampness. The foliage is so thick that very little light gets down to the ground and in places the vines and creepers shut off all view of the jungle behind. Occasionally we would pass a small notch in the bank where beside a couple of drawn up duport canoes would be standing four or five nearly naked savages watching us from beneath the almost impenetrable shade.

            The plantations are at present nothing but huge clearings filled with half burned stumps and logs for their system is to fell and brush everything and then bun the whole works – logs and all. What remains will be removed by rot and insects. On each clearing there is a bungalow in which lives the solitary white man who is in charge of the division. These plantations then are not very beautiful as yet but when you realize that they were virgin forests last November and now are 2 or 3 thousand acres a piece, now it is quite impressive. I was going to make some prints and send them to you but having driven my temp from normal to 101 by noon I guess that I must stay in bed without stirring. 

            Another event of interest was going out to the Mt. Barclay plantation which was planted in 1912. Here the rubber trees grow to be 30 – 40 ft tall – slim trees half way between a young maple and a birch. And everything is so clean. There is no underbrush of any kind while the trees are evenly spaced in rows each with its little white cup attached to its trunk. The latex – like liquid porcelain it is so white and shiney, we gather gathered in the morning and is taken to the factory where they treat it in either of two ways. One method is to pour it into a wooden tray about 6” deep and 3x3’ square. It is then divided into about 10 partitions and that the result is a slabbe congealed product in a slab about 3 ft long 6 inches wide and 2 inches deep. The other method is to take the latex and poure it into ennamelled trays where it is pressed into a thin corrugated mat with Firestone printed on it. Now both varieties are smoked for 10 days, the former looking just like cured bacon, the latter like a somewhat transparent rubber door mat.

            Dear Peg I guess I will have to quit as my fever has jumped to 102 on account of my activities this A.M. However, Dengue is like that so there is nothing to worry about. And outside of a rather amusing meal at the Presidents and developing 165 negatives and 1100 ft./ movies nothing has gone on.

            Send me your further addresses and dates for I may get them before it is to late to use them. At least there is no harm trying.

            Give my love to all

            And good luck

            Your affectionate brother

            Loring. 

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