On Board S.S. Padnsay

Jan. 29, 1934

We were in Dakar, as you know, a French possession. The coast around the harbor is rocky and barren. The desert starts just a few miles back from the coast. Dakar is rather a large town with beautiful public buildings, streets and sidewalks. The shops are large and the latest Parisian creations can be bought in them. The parks are magnificent.

Chuck and I bought two sun helmets, each, there. The girls in the store could speak only French and we could speak only English. Oh! Chuck did try his French but my sign language worked better so it was really funny to watch us buy helmets.

This harbor is a good one. It is a natural inlet and the French have improved it by dredging it and building breakwaters across its mouth. The people are fine looking, the best since we left the States. About everyone there is a government official or the wife or daughter of one.

The natives, you should see the natives, are beyond description. All of them with steady jobs have uniforms, even the dock boys. The women in the market place, with their meats, fish, or produce; the children, the smallest of them stark naked, even in this city. Boys carrying quarters of beef on their bare heads; flys by the millions. Women in brilliant, multi-colored robes with large calabashes filled with their purchases. . .