Observers' Field Reports 187 



After making comparisons with the recording instruments at Christchurch, and observing 

 at 2 additional stations on South Island, I sailed for Sydney, arriving January 10, 1916. 

 Intercomparisons with Mr. Parkinson's instruments were finished on January 31, but as 

 most of the shipping from Australia was being sent through the Suez Canal, a passage 

 could not be obtained to South Africa before February 19, when I was fortunate enough to 

 secure half of the only cabin on the tramp steamer Walton Hall, sailing for Durban, Natal. 



II. Repeat stations in South and Southwest Africa. After reaching Durban March 

 20, 1916, 1 traveled by rail to Cape Town, where camp equipment, steel trunks, and other 

 necessary articles were purchased and permission to observe in the recently conquered 

 territory of Southwest Africa was secured. From Cape Town I went by sea to Walfish 

 Bay, then by narrow-gage train to Swakopmund, which was reached April 19. The 

 return was made by rail to Cape Town with stops at intervals to secure a suitable dis- 

 tribution of secular-variation stations, after which passage was taken on the Portuguese 

 steamer Beira, which sailed on May 18 for Boma on the Congo. In this portion of the 

 campaign 16 secular- variation stations were occupied, all being reoccupations of stations 

 established either by the Department, or by Dr. J. C. Beattie in his magnetic survey 

 of South Africa. Of the 16 stations 5 were between Durban and Cape Town, 7 in South- 

 west Africa, and 4 on the west coast of Angola, Spanish Guinea, and Belgian Congo. As 

 the total of railroad travel in South and Southwest Africa was about 2,900 miles, the 

 average distance apart of these repeat stations is approximately 250 miles; the field 

 expense was about $40 each. 



III. The Gabon expedition. The trip from Boma to Matadi by river and to Kinshasa 

 by rail was finished June 10, 1916. After an annoying but unavoidable delay at Braz- 

 zaville, I started July 31 on the 700-mile journey which was to lead north to France- 

 ville and thence down the Ogoue River to the coast. Porters were employed. In the 

 open country they carried the loads on their heads, but in the forest they carried them 

 partly on the back and partly by a strap of bark across the forehead. Carriers average 

 from 16 to 18 miles per day, and subsist entirely upon manioc or cassava. This food is 

 soaked for several days, then boiled, and rolled in large dough-like loaves, wrapped in 

 leaves, and may be purchased at all the villages. The men usually carried a supply for 

 a day or more with them. The trail led to the water-shed between the Congo on the 

 south and the smaller rivers of the Gabon, over a region of large sandy hills with very 

 few inhabitants. There are no forests except in the immediate vicinity of the Congo and 

 its large tributaries, until after crossing the divide and descending into the Ogoue" 

 basin. There one enters almost immediately into the great equatorial forest extending to 

 within a few miles of the coast. The Ogoue River falls rapidly until it reaches Ndjol<5, 

 the head of steam navigation 200 miles from Cape Lopez. The scenery of the upper 

 Ogoue is renowned throughout the colony. There are several large falls and numerous 

 rapids which quite often contain small cataracts of 4 to 5 feet. Traveling is done in 

 long narrow dugout canoes. A canoe which will carry a crew of 15 men is about 45 

 feet long and 3 feet wide, while a one-man canoe is 12 inches wide and 8 to 10 feet long. 



Nineteen stations were occupied between Brazzaville and Libreville, which was 

 reached September 25. In the next 13 days Libreville and Cape Lopez were reoccupied, 

 and the return passage to Boma secured, at which place I arrived October 13. This 

 station was again reoccupied, and I secured the services of Mr. F. G. Barwell, who joined 

 the party at Boma November 2. The journey to Brazzaville was repeated, arriving 

 November 15. Here the box-chronometer which had been loaned to me by the chief 

 of the French Hydrographic Service was returned. The C. I. W. station at Brazzaville 

 was again reoccupied, and also a French magnetic station on a neighboring hill. 



The Gabon campaign took 105 days, during which time 31 stations were occupied, 

 making an average of 3 to 4 days per station. Ocean travel and the two trips up the 



