Compagnie Belge Maritime Du Congo.
S. S. February 13th, 1907.
[DEAR MOTHER:]
We reached Banana yesterday morning, and the mouth of the
Congo, and as the soldier said when he reached the top of San
Juan Hill, "Hell! well here we are!" Banana looks like one of
the dozen little islands in the West Indies, where we would
stop to take on some "brands of bananas," instead of the port
to a country as big as Europe. We went ashore and wandered
around under the palm trees, and took photos, and watched some
men fishing in the lagoons, and we saw a strange fish that
leaps on the top of the water just as a frog jumps on land.
It is certainly hot. Milani and I went in swimming in the
ocean, and got finely cool. Then we paddled the canoe back to
the ship to show the blacks how good we were, and got very
hot, and the blacks charged us a franc for the voyage.
To-morrow we will be in Boma, the capital, which is much of a
place with shops and a lawn tennis court.
