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[Page 70]
these we learnt that there was very little ashore worth seeing. Hardly a white person was seen & the blacks were very suspicious of the soldiers & armed themselves with sticks in case of need & one of the lads returned with a scar on his nose which an aggravated native had given him.
I believe there are no papers here; in fact one "pommie" officer who came aboard told us he had not seen a paper for 10 months. No wonder we were glad to leave the place!
Jan 13. On guard today. My duty was to guard the mumps, quarters on the ship. We have about 120 cases of mumps in quarantine at present.
Jan 14. We left Sierra Leone at 7.30 this morning after a four days' stay. We are now under escort of an auxiliary cruiser, which, in peace time, is a fine large South American Mail boat. It has been fitted with several guns & having a speed of 22 Knots is well able to protect us.
Jan 15. Usual routine again. To vary work we