20 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



potatoes when all our greens spoiled, unloaded in Norfolk, and 

 brought to Washington by railway express. In spite of all she went 

 through to reach the Zoo, she is still thriving. 



One camp in the interior was much like another, even though each 

 tribe is very different. We were usually given the official rest house 

 in which to camp. Water was boiled and filtered. Sometimes tins 

 were opened, at other times we ate the classic dish of West Africa, 

 palm oil chop. To make this the cook takes a cluster of palm nuts, 

 scalds them, crushes them, and pours hot water over them. Two 

 products result, one a rich palm oil, one a palm butter about the con- 

 sistency of applesauce. Chicken, or preferably game, is cooked in 

 palm oil. Hot native peppers are cooked in the palm butter, and both 

 are served, with the chicken, poured over rice. Our supplies were 

 carried on the heads of native porters, usually 40 to 50 pounds for a 

 load, and the caravan traveled about 20 miles a day. One gets the 

 impression that Liberia is teeming with animal life, smaller in size 

 but perhaps as abundant as that on the great plains of East Africa, 

 but seldom seen because of the dense forests which cover practically 

 all the territory of the Republic. 



Our last trip into the interior was to an abandoned plantation near 

 Reputa. This had been established by Polish citizens and had been 

 planted largely in cocoa. They abandoned it early in the war, and it 

 remained much as they left it. The neat little house contained strips 

 of flypaper still dangling from the ceiling, and portraits of 

 Paderewski and Pilsudski hanging on the wall. We were accompanied 

 on this trip by Mr. and Mrs. Louis Chancellor of the Plantation, 

 and devoted most of our time to collecting specimens of fishes in 

 the small streams nearby. 



Some of our live specimens were sent back in May in the care of 

 Mr. Jennier, spent the summer at the Firestone Exhibit at the New 

 York World's Fair, and afterward came to the Zoo. The others were 

 brought back by Mr. Norris and ourselves on the West Inno, arriving 

 in Norfolk August 7, and afterward were placed on exhibition in 

 Washington. Practically everything obtained was new to the National 

 collection. 



Besides the antelopes already mentioned, pigmy hippopotami, 

 chimpanzees, pottos, a West African ratel, monkeys, civet cats, horn- 

 bills, monkey-eating eagles, cobras, vipers, and pythons were col- 

 lected. In addition to the live animals and birds, some 3,000 pre- 

 served fish, reptiles, and batrachians, quantities of insects not yet 

 assorted, a number of dried animal skins, and a few ethnological 

 specimens were brought back for the National Museum. 



