A Liberian Journey

Creator

Richard Pearson Strong

Date

7/15/26

Coverage

Monrovia, Montserrado County, Liberia

Transcription

July 15th.

It has rained (showers) a good deal the past two days. Yesterday being the 14th of July I went with George to the French Consul’s residence to pay my respects. Dr. and Mrs. Bouet received the diplomatic corps, etc. between five and seven. I met there the chief justice, Mr. Johnston and other officials of Liberia. This sounds very grand but it was not. Col. Davis, the President’s aide, came in uniform bringing the President’s cards into the room (Davis used to be a soldier in the l0th Cavalry and was stationed at Slotsenburg in the P. I. when I went there once with Cam. Forbes to play polo against the 10th Cavalry team). With Col. Davis came a small boy about 10 years of age with a red cap on his head, a medal around his neck and otherwise dressed up very much as a monkey. I did not pay other attention to him, but afterward Madame Bouet, who has a very keen sense of humor, explained to me that Col. Davis explained to her that the child came in the uniform of an Admiral of the Liberian Navy, that just as the Prince of Wales was the Commander of the British Navy so this child, “the son of a King,” was the Commander of the Liberian Navy. There is no Liberian Navy with the exception of one armed launch, but as Madame Bouet remarked, perhaps by the time the child grew up there would be one. There is one small government steamboat owned by the Liberian Government, but it is now I think at Freetown, Sierra Leone, where it is being held because the Liberian Government has not been able to pay for the repairs made on it there sometime ago. I had met another son of the President a few days ago by another wife. There is one legal Mrs. King and three other wives attributed to the President in Monrovia and reports differ as to the number attributed to him in the interior. I asked our Bishop Campbell about the law in regard to this and he told me that a few years ago polygamy throughout Liberia nearly became a law but that his predecessor (three years ago) prevented the act from passing. He says that residents of Monrovia, according to the present law, are entitled to one legal wife and one other, while residents of the interior are entitled to as many as a man can buy. The wives are bought outright and may be resold. The Bishop said the law of allowing a resident of Monrovia only two wives was not evidently strictly enforced. About L2.10 is the amount often paid for a wife in the interior.

Type

Diary

Citation