- 18 - 
The little village, with its small round huts and pointed 
thatch roofs, looked most picturesque in the bright moonlight. 
Somewhere in the background was a strange noise, like a far-off 
roaring of a multitude. The Chief told us that a child was ill 
and the women were wailing for it. Before we went to bed the 
child died, and the wailing ceased. 
We hear amusing stories of what our boys think of the leader 
of the expedition, "What is his name? " they asked, and were told 
"Dr. Mann,” "But what was his name before he was a doctor?" 
And as to the announced object of the expedition, of course they 
would not be stupid enough to believe that anyone would really come 
all the way from America to collect ani als from Liberia, They 
have finally decided that he is out of a job, and just traveling 
around the country waiting for Firestone to take him on* 
March 23 - 
It was a long, hard pull to Belleyella, starting before eight 
in the morning, and going pretty steadily all day. Frequently we 
crossed small streams and rivers, where the boys deserted their 
loads or their hammocks to go swimming , There were miles of shaky 
bridges, and one hammock or monkey bridge high over the Tumeh River 
that was especially nerve-racking • The foot part was less than 
twelve inches across, and consisted of small saplings bound together 
with rattan, A wide rail on each side made the fe rakatfc bridge something 
like a long deep basket, but the railing was so far apart that when 
you stood in the middle you could not reach both sides at once. And 
of course the whole contraption shook and swayed as you felt your way 
across it. The Tumeh River is the boundary between the KPessi and 
the Belli tribes, and it was < another two hours walk to the village 
of Belleyella, We got in at six o'clock, but SI, who had the keys, 
was behind the rest and did not arrive until nearly seven. The 
village was not as large as we had been led to believe, and not 
especially attractive. Perhaps a hundred little round huts, with 
an occasional square one, clustered together with no tree anywhere in 
the town. We were greeted as we entered the village by Mr, Duclay, 
who showed us to our quarters and explained that he was "District 
Master", which is a representative of the District Commissioner, but 
with little authority. He gave us, however, two little one -room 
huts, a wash house, and a palaver kitchen. The huts had barely room 
for our tin trunks and our cots; we ate in the palaver kitchen, after 
the usual confusion of sorting out baggage, which was especially 
difficult tonight as it was long past dark before we could get at 
our lanterns. 
We are now in the land of iron money. We had passed on the 
road a man carrying a box of it on his head - long twisted pieces of 
black, native-smelted iron, one end rounded, the other with a sharp - 
pointed cross-piece. When we asked about buying some, we found the 
price was forty for a shilling, or two for a cent. That didn't jibe, 
but we thought to outsmart the natives by buying irons with coppers. 
They soon caught on, however, and refused to sell smaller quantities 
that 20 for a sixpence. 
There is a small garrison here of the Frontier Force, and word 
