498 The last Journal of IV. A. Forbes. 



the second Gallinia interfered witli, exposing it too long. 

 Got our '' boys/^ and left by noon. Rather rough outside 

 with heavy rain. Saw a number of Oceanites in Sierra- 

 Leone river just behind ship ; and the water being smooth, 

 could watch them well. They never settle, but paddle in 

 the water with fluttering wings, and also ^^duck-and-drake^^ 

 along by bounds, the wings being kept steady and horizontal 

 and the tail spread, the legs depending vertically. On shore 

 could see some pensile long nests hanging from cocoa-palms 

 (? of Hyphantornis) , and a Tern or two, but too far off to 

 make out the species. 



Aug. 3rd. Warmer and finer, with sea smooth. Run 200 

 miles from Sierra Leone. Men painting ship and " boys " 

 making themselves generally useful, cleaning donkey-engine, 

 brass-work, &e. Land at 12. About 5 p.m. off Cape Mount, 

 a thickly wooded high rounded promontory, apparently of 

 black basalt, rising abruptly from the rest of the coast, which 

 is flat, well wooded, and extends as far as one can see both 

 east and west of it. About 10 p.m. saw the light at Monrovia. 



Aug. 4th. Fine and smooth, with cool breeze. Still off 

 the Liberian coast, here flat and low still. Mangos taste 

 like tamarinds with a dash of turpentine. Alligator-pears 

 like vegetable-marrow, or inferior cucumber, but pulp softer 

 and sweeter. About 11 a.m. saw a whale spouting inshore, 

 not a large one, apparently. The evening before passed close 

 to a shoal of dolphins just off Cape Mount — pale grey above, 

 below and side-stripes white ; a long nose. Half-speed all 

 day. 



Aug. 5th. Ofi" Grand Sestres at daybreak, and shijDped 

 seven boys and some others as passengers. The town con- 

 sists three fourths of patches of mud and palm huts in cleared 

 patches on the beach. The men are bigger and finer than 

 those we shipjjed at Sierra Leone, and much browner in 

 colour, as a rule, though varying much. Many have abroad 

 line tattooed down forehead to tip of nose, and two arrow- 

 shaped marks on face, one on each side, with apex just below 

 outer centres of eyes. Most wear only a loin-cloth, with 

 bracelets, bangles, and necklace of brass wire, with keys ^c. 



