-5- 
The town, as seen from the harbor, is pretty. Palms are 
along the coast, with a number of thickly leaved trees behind them, 
a.11 bent in the same direction, from the strong wind. there are 
many big modern buildings. Government House, the Post Office, two 
large hotels, and several brick apartment houses, all looking 
bright and clean in the strong sunshine. The Cathedral, with its 
dome and two obelisk-like towers, overlooks the city. 
The day was chilly, with a strong wind blowing constantly. 
Tne most motley crew of natives I have ever seen was waiting to help 
us tie up, and to begin unloading cargo. The variety of head-^ear 
fascinated me all day - red fezes, helmets painted red or black or 
aluminum, turbans wrapped in various styles - sometimes just a 
sort of skull cap, sometimes with folds under the chin and around 
the neck -.several woolen stocking caps, and one helmet of red and 
brown raffia with small ornaments woven into it and a big brass 
knob on top. Many of the men wore burnooses, made of everything 
from blue denim to patched and ragged white damask. They were a 
lean and hungry-looking lot, and the blackest negroes possible. 
Our ship tied up, to our considerable discomfiture, right 
albngsi.de a coal yard, and as there isras a ship there being coaled, 
the derricks were working, and the wind brought coal dust in clouds 
onto our. ship. In ten minutes we all had black faces, and the 
white paint of the West Kebar was speckled and gritty. ’ It was nearly 
noon before the agent came aboard, and we asked about the possibility 
of obtaining a pass to go ashore. He went off with our passports 
but came back with the news that the Commandant would allow no 
transit passengers to leave the shin. 
►v 
Unloading of cargo began promptly. Three thousand barrels of 
gasoline and kerosene were taken out of Number 1 hold, three big 
caterpillar . tractors and a huge road-scraping machine came out of 
Number 2, with much screaming and shouting. The natives do not 
understand lihglish, of course, and the mate had to pantomime in- 
structions to get the great mmlieuig unwieldy crates out of the 
hold and overside. Two of them weighed 11 tons, and one weighed 
18 Lons, but with cables around them, and the big boom working they 
were lifted out and over and set down on the wharf. Tin, tobacco 
and cigarettes were other cargo for Dakar. 
The missionaries finally left us about three o'clock, to 
set out to i ind a hotel, and to see what news they could get of a 
ship that would take them on down the coast. We were sorry to see 
tnem go, especially Marian Nelson, who is so young and seems so 
unprepared for the sort of life she Is going to have In the 
Congo . 
About five o'clock we finally got a pass, which stated that 
Monsieur William Mann would be allowed ashore from 6 to 20 o'clock 
if he stayed within the limits of the quai and the jardin zaalogique. 
The agent told us that the zoo director would come aboard in the 
morning to take us out to the zoo himself. The Captain and some 
or the off j 
o ^ c 
w xy X k. 
wai j J r 
W CA. 
If 
for the evening, but we all stayed on 
board, and Bernice and I played anagrams to pass the time 
9 > 
