GAMBIA RIVER II9 



Such secondary traverses were started from a peg of known 

 position in one of the major traverses, and perhaps closed on a 

 peg some two or three miles distant. In this manner the details 

 of the hinterland were gradually mapped as the network of 

 traverses was threaded through the thick jungle, or across the 

 open parklike land where villages abounded and small black 

 children ran out to stare at the sweating sailors carrying their 

 strange apparatus. 



Commander Jenks was following his usual war-time routine 

 of employing the same teams of officers and men on the same 

 tasks each day, finding this most conducive to speed with 

 accuracy. By 8 o'clock in the morning they were in the field in 

 their khaki tropical rig, trudging through the long forenoon as 

 the day got slowly but steadily hotter. By i o'clock the little 

 party would be ready for their sandwich dinner beneath a shady 

 tree ; a short sleep was usually terminated by an African centipede 

 or perhaps red ants crawling over the face or arms, and then the 

 party would work on till sundown. 



To an able seaman carrying the stave who had never trained 

 as a surveyor, nor yet had ever imagined himself on duty outside 

 a ship at all, this endless tramping through the African jungle 

 seemed the last thing that he would ever find himself doing when 

 he joined the Navy. Being on ahead he never saw the field board 

 and lost all sense of direction, his only duty being to walk on 

 and place the next peg where he was directed. It never ceased to 

 be a source of wonderment to him when the little party came 

 from the bush suddenly out onto a familiar road — 'Blimey,' said 

 one of the stavemen to his officer on such an occasion, 'I reckon 

 there's no one knows Africa like you do. Sir!' 



There were two rulers on the north bank of the Gambia River 

 who were anxious to see the ship which had now been moving 

 up and down the river and excited their curiosity. So, anchoring 

 off Essau near the river mouth, Nomandu Sonko, Seyfu of Lower 

 Niumi, was entertained onboard. He was most interested in 

 all he saw. Challenger being the first 'warship' he had ever 

 boarded. Commander Jenks furthered the survey by obtaining 

 from the Seyfu a great many place names for his chart — Kunku- 

 della, Latra Sibige, Mandinari, Kinkujung, Willingara — a surveyor 



