A Liberian Journey

Creator

Richard Pearson Strong

Date

10/12/26

Coverage

Bangdiqu, Hinterland, Liberia

Transcription

October 12th, Grawn.

We had a hard march yesterday. We broke camp at five o’clock and our loads were ready for porters at 5:30, but they did not appear. As a matter of fact the District Commissioner had gone away stripping the towns around of porters, although he and his assistant, Parker, had promised us there would be plenty of porters for us. As sufficient porters had not arrived by seven o’clock I walked across to see Parker about the delay. At his suggestion I sent our head messenger with several assistants to the town to help his messengers in securing the necessary men. It seems that one of these men rounded up several men that a Mandingo said were “his men” (slaves?). This Mandingo said he was a Mandingo chief and that his people about him hold him as a rich man (in wives, slaves, farms, etc.). He had been coming almost daily to our clinic and had been given medicine and treatment. We supposed him grateful. Apparently he was angered at the idea that some of his men might be used as porters and he told them to run away and leave their loads in the road and also advised a number of the other porters to do the same thing. He also told our head steward boy Burmah he was a fool to work for a white man, etc. In other words, he was trying to incite a mutiny in our camp. When I heard these things I asked that he be brought before me that I might read to him the letter of the Secretary of the Interior, which charges all chiefs, head men, officials, etc. to facilitate and assist our expedition as much as possible. I threatened to have him sent to Monrovia if he interfered with us any more. He had, however, sown the seeds of discontent among our porters and in several of the towns our men did leave their loads and run away and a few others did so along the trail. Also, our departure was delayed until eight-thirty. We had heard for several days past that “this is not a white man’s country and a white man has no right to come here.” And the District Commissioner had attempted to interfere because it was necessary for us to discipline our own cook, who had been guilty of conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline in the camp of our expedition. So we were rather glad to get away from this atmosphere.

Our trail was an unfrequented one and through wild country. At times we were in the forest for nearly four hours at a time. I was glad of this, as we escaped the sun a great deal. We passed through the towns of Bangdiqu, Sarglue, Vahn, Geb, Yewea, Rotter, and Zai (none of these towns on the map). We reached Yewea at 4 P. M. and found the town nearly deserted. We passed Rotter at five o’clock and then it began to get dark. The trail took us into the deep forest and here we had to climb over logs across creeks, rivers etc, in the dark. One limb broke as I was crossing a stream and I was partially plunged in the water, but caught at the limb of a tree as I was falling, so that I was not completely submerged. We crept along in the mud and through marshes along the trail in complete darkness. It was very hard for the porters. Finally we reached the small town of Zai shortly after seven and camped for the night. There was not a soul left in the town. Our porters lighted large wood fires about and by eight-thirty we had had something to eat and, having had a native hut swept out, our cots were put up and we were ready for bed at nine P.M. These native huts have no ventilation but the door, but as it threatened to rain heavily outside we decided it better to sleep indoors. We gave each man and woman porter a full cup of rice last evening. We left Zai at six-thirty this morning and arrived here an hour later at Grawn. This was really our destination yesterday, but were were unable to make it on account of our dealy in starting and the darkness. We found only three able bodied men in this town and some forty or fifty women. All the others had been taken away by the Commissioner to work for him or had run away from him. The same was true of the three towns we passed through yesterday. As our porters were all run out and it was impossible to get fresh ones here today, we decided to camp here until tomorrow. Our shed here is lined with skulls of hippos, bush cow, elephants, etc. The natives seem to admire the skulls of animals for decoration. In Zoogu town in the center there is a plot in which there are eight elephants’ skulls of various ages and the femur of an elephant. Our course yesterday was at first west and then for the most of the day southward. We traveled parallel with a river of good size during the latter part of the afternoon and crossed and recrossed it a number of times. It may be the Yan or at any rate it is a tributary of the River Cess, which we hope to reach tomorrow on our journey towards the coast. We are guarding and feeding our porters today and hope no more will run away and that they will be able to carry tomorrow. We must have traveled between 27 and 30 miles yesterday on the trail. However, it was very crooked and a mile and a half by trail would only equal about a mile in a straight line on the map. The rainy season is about over but we still have heavy showers. Many of the trees are beginning to blossom. Red is the prevailing color among the blossoming trees of the forest and some of them are very beautiful. Along the trail there is a flower which resembles very closely in color and general appearance our wild rose. It is however of course not a rose and the bush upon which it grows has no thorns.

Type

Diary

Citation