150 REPORT OF THE HARVARD AFRICAN EXPEDITION 
or less fatiguing, and from twelve to three or four o’clock the glare and heat 
are often so intense, that even the porters show evidences of suffering and 
often quickly jump into any swamps or streams that they may pass. 
Relief from these hot and therefore sometimes very trying marches in the 
sun occasionally comes in the heavy tropical downpours, and when such showers 
do occur, one almost feels joy over the relief from the tropical sun’s rays, and 
rejoices in being able to walk even for hours at a time in the drenching rain. 


No. 108. — Arrival at the village of Granh 
Some days almost the entire march would be made in a pouring rain and on 
other occasions the showers were so frequent that for several days it was 
impossible for us to dry our wet clothing. 
At Sino on the Atlantic Coast we were unable to attract the attention of 
any passing steamer. It was possible, however, to charter at that place a 
surfboat with a crew of eight native oarsmen in which we travelled up the coast, 
eventually reaching Monrovia. The boat had a sail but as it had no keel we 
could sail only when there was a fair wind. When the wind was adverse, or 
there was a calm, the oarsmen seldom seemed to have enough energy to row 
more than half an hour at a time. Navigation was somewhat difficult as 
the surf off the coast is high and the coast itself very rocky. Navigation was 
additionally difficult at night, because there were no lights. We could some- 
times detect the reefs in the distance at night by the phosphorescence in the 
water as the waves broke over them; in other instances by the sound of the 
surf. The boat was an open one and the sea sufficiently high so that it con- 
tinually tossed. The heavy tropical night showers, which sometimes lasted 
for several hours, not only soaked through clothing but also necessitated fre- 
quent bailing. 
