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March 16 - This has been a day of parties. We were invited to the Tengwalls' for lunch, where we had an elaborate reistafel. Both Dr. and Mrs. Tengwall have spent many years in Java, and have all the proper East Indian spices for this native dish. We left about four in the afternoon, came home to sleep it off, and then dressed for a supper dance at the Club. The party was a welcome home for the Seybolds and a bon voyage for the Heilmans, who sail shortly for the States. We got home about two in the morning, after a very gay evening.

March 17 - Bernice gave us palm butter chop for lunch, an excellent native dish made with rice, chicken, palm oil and country pepper. At five o'clock we went over to watch a baseball game between the married men and the bachelors; one amusing feature was that some of the players still had a hangover from last night. Shortly before the game was over a devil dancer, accompanied by a couple of men beating drums, arrived, but the audience was not enthusiastic, as they preferred a ball game any day. From the ball game we proceeded to the Club where we were to have supper and see a movie. The supper was all right but the amplifier for the sound broke down, and the movie had to be cancelled.

March 18 - Spent all day packing and getting things in order for our bush trip. The Seybolds invited some people in for tea, and they stayed until after ten o'clock, so instead of going early to bed as we had hoped, it was pretty late when we finished dinner and turned in.

March 19 - We got up at five o'clock, and had breakfasted and packed before six. Then we had to wait until seven-thirty for the Johnsons, who arrived tired out before they started, Si having been up all night packing, and J with a boil swelling on her chin. We drove to Kakata in the Seybolds' sedan, and on about five miles more to the end of the road. All our boys, our boxes and hammocks were in two big Diamond T trucks; we saw both trucks in Kakata, and one of them followed us to the end of the road, but the other broke down on the way, and we waited until 11.30 for it to catch up with us. Finally our safari of 80 boys was lined up, and started off in line, bearing our strange assortment of bundles, trunks, boxes and guns - everything except the guns balanced on their heads. They carry 50 pounds, and everything had to be weighted as it was packed to make certain that none of the loads were too heavy. A long, hot sandy stretch, where men were working on the continuation of the road stretched ahead of us, and just as we were deciding that it was far too hot to start walking just at noon, we discovered that our hammock frames had been left behind, and it would be impossible to ride. We sent a messenger back for them, and began our first journey into the Liberian hinterland on foot. We were very much out of condition, Bill and I, after our lazy days at sea and on the plantation, and found that we were soon streaming with sweat and panting for breath. We stopped by the side of the road in the first shade we came to, and Johnny Harbor, one of our headmen, began making [[strikethrough]]a[[\strikethrough]] crude frames to swing the hammocks on. He cut saplings, tied them together with rattan, and fixed two of the hammocks so that we could take turns walking and riding. Four stalwart men carried each hammock and we found that while it was a very jiggly way to ride, it was greatly preferable to walking in the heat of the day. Although our carriers were soon wet with perspiration, they seemed to mind neither the weight nor the sun, and sand and even danced under their loads.

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