THE LAST JOURNAL OF W. A. FORBES. 449 



July 31st. Showery in morning, cloudy, with a slight sea. Com- 

 menced casting about 10. Eun 215 miles. Eoughish all day. 



Aug. 1st. Heavy rain in morning. About 10 A.M. a flock of about ten 

 of a Sula behind ship, nearly all white, and apparently Sula bassana. 

 Eun 220 miles. Sea smoother. Cleared up at noon. In afternoon, 

 about 4.30, sighted the high hills (Sierra Leone, s. str.) to south of 

 Freetown. Close to land by 6 P.M., and anchored in river off light- 

 house by 9. 



Aug. 2nd. Up early on deck to see Sierra Leone ; raining hard, but 

 cleared up after breakfast. The high hills lie south of the town, which 

 is small and very English-looking with brick houses, and the barracks 

 &c. on higher ground behind town. The land on north of river is flat 

 and bushy ; an island above town on south bank also. Some traces of 

 forest left on highest range of hills ; the rest pretty nearly entirely 

 cleared, with a few scattered big trees and bushy undergrowth, and 

 numbers of palms close to shore. I took two photos, one of the light- 

 house at point (west of town about 4 miles), the other of breakers, just 

 to right of it; the second Gallinia interfered with, exposing it too long. Ibis, 1883, 

 Got our " boys," and left by noon. Bather rough outside with heavy P* ^' 

 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. Eun 200 miles from 

 Sierra Leone. Men painting ship and " boys " making themselves gene- 

 rally useful, cleaning donkey-engine, brass-work, &c. 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 cu- 

 cumber, 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. Off Grand Sestres at daybreak, and shipped seven boys 

 and some others as passengers. The town consists three fourths of 

 patches of mud and palm huts in cleared patches on the beach. The 

 men are bigger and finer than those we shipped at Sierra Leone, and 



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