16 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
this cliff, known as Mamba Point, a lighthouse is erected and the remains of an 
old fort are visible. 
What may be called the business section of Monrovia lies along the ‘‘ Water- 
front,”’ a narrow strip of land which extends both along the coast near the foot 
of Mamba Point and along the shores of the Mesurado Lagoon. This Lagoon 
constitutes then the real harbor of Monrovia. On the Monrovian side it 1s 
lined with wharves where lighters and surf boats and a few steam launches are 
moored. 
The Lagoon communicates with the ocean between two sand bars opposite 
Bushrod Island which faces the sea on the west and which has Stockton’s Creek 
on the other three sides. 
On the north side of the Mesurado Lagoon, between Stockton’s Creek and 
New Georgia Creek, is a large swampy area known as Bali Island. Just to the 
northeast of Monrovia is a long winding tidal creek known as the Junk River. 
The Mesurado Lagoon extends its tidal creeks to within a short distance of the 
most westerly creek of the Junk River. But for this narrow isthmus between 
the town of Paynesville and the westmost branch of the Junk River which 
reaches to Duport, the land on which Monrovia is built would form part of a 
long island about thirty miles in length and averaging some three miles in width, 
surrounded by the Junk and Mesurado rivers and the sea. 
The Junk River flows almost parallel with the coast for about fifteen miles. 
Its eastern reach constitutes the estuary of two rivers, the Du, or Dukwia, and 
the Farmington, which enter it near its mouth. At Marshall, at the mouth of 
the Junk river, where it empties into the sea, there is a very bad bar which 
in itself would prevent the town from becoming an important port. This 
river is very shallow in places; in the neighborhood of Duport, it is only two 
to three feet in depth at certain seasons of the year. On this part of it we 
were able to travel only in canoes. However, where it joins with the Dukwia 
it becomes considerably deeper. 
The Dukwia is a more important river than the Junk, since it is navigable 
for surf boats and steam launches of light draught for about thirty miles from 
the sea to the point where its first rapids occur. It is very winding but until 
entering the Junk River its general course is southwest. Like practically all of 
the rivers in the interior, it flows in places through dense forest. The Expedition 
travelled up this river in a launch as far as it was navigable. Its upper course is 
stillunknown. It is along the lower reaches of this river and to the west of it, in 
the vicinity of Mt. Barclay, that many of the most important rubber plantations 
in Liberia are at present situated. 
Whereas the Junk flows east and southeast, the Farmington River, except 
at its mouth, follows in general a southwesterly course. Just above the village 
of Owens Grove, some eight miles from the coast, occur the first rapids. Some 
of its tributaries were traced in the interior as far as Gbanga. 
The region between the St. Paul and the Dukwia and Farmington rivers is 
the most densely populated part of Liberia, and the areas between Careysburg 
and the coast are occupied particularly by the Americo-Liberian population. 
