Wednesday
September 8
1926

At eight this morning Anji and three prows with just a little food started out for Head Camp. The water had gone down some and they poled up out of sight in no time. It doesn’t take long to get out of sight here for we are hemmed in with jungle and hills all about. They returned at four thirty and had a note from Dr. Hoffman and a note from Doc[,] who was in the land of the Pygmies. {F3.72} They are real negritos according to Doc and he was all tickled pink. The trip over land from upper Head Camp is a five day man killing one he writes. His boy shortly deserted him on the first day out and went back with all of Matt’s food and equipment so he has to live on what Captain and Leroux can give him. He is all enthused over the Pygmies though and wrote a good letter which I have written a news story from and will send it back on the transport which is going to leave for M.C. tomorrow morning. Dr. Hoffman has sent us four soldiers and we are to stay here with them until the canoes come back from M.C. There is a shortage of food[,] both in the Land of the Pygmies and at upper Head Camp. We have plenty here, however, and are living on the fat of the land with our crown pigeons featuring every meal, morning, noon and night. Some of the Dyaks who had been to the mountains with Doc returned with the canoes today and we got some interesting accounts of the trip. Doc wrote a dandy letter and I have written Aneta 674 words. It[’]s a good yarn but it will be a long time before it will get on the wire for the trip to Albatros Camp is a long one when you wait on transports. Going straight through it is only three and a half days and coming up straight through with good luck all around it can be made in fourteen or fifteen days. However, with the transports there is a wait at Batavia Camp for the returning morning boat of some eight days and then a day or two wait at M.C.