ALONE IN LIBERIA

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7916, 27 September 1911, Page 9

ALONE IN LIBERIA

LADY'S AD YEN TORES AMONG THE

NATIVES,

The first white woman ever to cross Liberia, the negro republic, unaccompanied is now on her way to England, and in the autumn lovers of books that tell of adventure will learn from the graphic pan of Mrs Mary Gaunt herself the quaint experiences that have befallen her in the wilderness and the jungle, Mrs Gaunt started on her travels at the, close of November of last year, entering’ upon ’ her journey by visiting Dakar, in French Senegal, and. all the French colonies along the coast, then on to Sierra Leone era. route for Liberia. Throughout her journey the explorerauthoress has kept her publisher (Mr T. Werner Laurie) fully posted up as to her movements and adventures. These letters aro brimful of novel incident.

Her last letter, received a few days ago, was written when ilrs Gaunt had reached a point five days’ journey beyond Kuznasi, a part of the world in which no whato woman had ever been seen. SAXTJTED WITH TWIEUNO HlfHEEdiLAS. "Naturally," writes Mrs Gaunt, "the sight of a white woman clothed in the strange garb of civilisation aroused tremendous interest among the villagers. As each village .was passed, native chiefs and their retainers greeted the strange visitor, twirling their umbrellas, beating the tom-toms, and offering a salute by way of primitive guns: Then came the most embarrassing of all —the presentation of fowls and eggs, yams and sheep from the native women. "Then there came a sort of consultation among the chiefs themselves,- the upshot of which was th© arrival of the head chief under a great umbrella, supported by two bearers, and the holding subsequently of an informal reception-, at which the men and women filed past the stranger with respectful salaams. "Aly carriers/' adds the lady in her letter, "are awfully pleased that I am a person of such importance. . . . If the chief happens to be particularly hospitable, it sometimes costs me at least ,£1 for biscuits, which tho worn bn and children consume ravenously. Still, as I am tire first white woman here, I am prepared to pay for my importance."