Thursday August 10, 1922

Matadi Luggage just before leaving Matadi. We have secured seats on tomorrows train and therefore spent morning and afternoon reorganising our luggage and getting it conveyed by the mission boys from the store shed to the railway station.  Only a minimum is allowed in the limited accommodation of...

Wednesday August 9, 1922

A lovely moon tonight on Congo waters: just ahead, low – almost over the boat. Waters are all lit up – banks shadowed in dark. Bush fires here and there, in the east a lurid red light but alone all the soft light speaks of calm and peace. Chirps and squeaks of animals on the bank. Tonight is our last...

Tuesday August 8, 1922

Chapter 2. The river journey. The ship was moored at Boma pier by the time we had breakfast and it was not long after that meal that we set foot for the first time in Congo.  Boma is the present capital (Kinshasa is to be the new capital city) and the boat stays here for 24 hours which gave...

Monday August 7, 1922

The Congo River Awoken by a long blast on the ships system. Jumped out of bed and looked through my porthole. [My porthole seems to me quite wondrous by now: through it I have seem so many new things, I took this photo of it out of a kind of gratitude to it!] We were in smooth – I...

Sunday August 6, 1922

Lat: 3° 40’S. Lang 5° 55’E. 302 miles traveled. Yesterday we began to prepare our lists and declaration forms etc. for the Customs officers who come aboard tomorrow, so we really feel we are nearing our ocean journeys end. We are quite out of sight of land and shall not  reach the coast for another 12 hours – even steaming at 12 miles (knots) per hour, yet all afternoon and evening we have...

Saturday August 5, 1922

Lat: 0° 36’S. Lang 4° 56’E. 285 miles traveled. I forgot to mention the Ladies’ Baptism ceremony yesterday. This approaches more to the church of England ceremony as the men’s did to the custom of the people called Baptists. Each candidate was led up to Neptune’s representative and sprayed with a scent spray from the front and from behind – at the same moment the ships Captain (when no one of...

Friday August 4, 1922

Lat 1° 59’ N. Long: 0° 57’ E. 325 Miles traveled. Today we passed from the northern hemisphere to the southern and celebrated the crossing of the line with all the form and ceremony of maritime tradition inherited from the long unknown past. We had a day of tremendous fun and enjoyment:  About...