A Liberian Journey

Sat Sept 25^th. We got up just as the dawn was coming and silently packed our bedding. Then we had breakfast. Hal left early with is boys while Dr. George and I loaded up the men and got them out by 610. As we started it was sprinkling but as we soon passed into the woods we didn’t mind it – in fact is was very pleasant to travel while it was cool. The trail was clear but somewhat twisty so that a large part of the travelling was back and forth rather than straight ahead. About 35 minutes out we came to Lawo town – a small town with not much to recommend it. After that the trail became more twisty varying from W*N to NE which is quite a variation altho the general direction was SE. It was also more wooded with a sandy bottom to the trail making very comfortable going. About an hour later we came to Zibi – a fairly large town completely surrounded by a jungle of banana and plantain trees. Really a tremendous plantation. But we didn’t stop pushing on to Bangwen an hour and a half off likewise in boasting of a tremendous grove of bananas. And an hour and half later to Yeh or Walla – two names for the same town. Walla seems to be the local (Mano) name for it while Yeh is the Pessi name. Here we caught up with Hal who was waiting with a native sent from Gbai to help us cross the St Johns River. Yeh seems to be just as big a banana center as the last 2 towns. One thing noticeable was the fact that practically all the men had a hole in their left ears – some of them being quite large. We sat there for about half an hour eating delicious bananas – and then started for the St River arriving there in a bout 20 minutes. The St Johns is a fairly big muddy river with quite a current which is spanned by a native rope by means of which they pull their rafts back and forth. The f Of  course the rafts were on the other bank – so two men jumped in and pulled themselves across the current being to Strong to swim against. Then they pulled the log rafts back – rafts about 12 ft long and 5 ft wide. We let some of the boys go over first and then Hal and Dr. Strong went leaving me to take pictures. Then I crossed and took some pictures from the other side. When all our things were over Hal and Dr Strong started on while I waited for Dr. Shattuck and some more men who had asked to stop for chop. When he came I filmed his crossing and we set out -. And after an hour arrived at Que Congo town. This name in Pessi is Quellah Gar town.

Leave Gbai 615 Arr. Que Congo 225

15 SE

10 S

10 SSE to

Lawo town

10 SSW

10 SSE

10 SE

10 ESE

10 SW

5 SE

15 S to

Zibi

10 SSE

20 S

10 SE

20 SSW

30 S to Bangwen

10 SSE

10 SE

10 E

10 EN

10 ENE

10 ES

20 E to

[30 Walla]

5 SE

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St Johns

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[110 Crossing St Johns]

15 SE

15 S

10 SW

10 WSW

5 SE