No leave, owing to the prevalence of fever. Only a few hundred white people live here. A welcome change of fare for breakfast – bread and marmalade and porridge, instead of stew. Blacks in boats and canoes are hanging about the ship selling green looking fruits at exorbitant prices. The only fruit strange to me was what they are calling Mangoes. I tasted one but didn’t think much of it. The pineapples and bananas are small and measly.
Being Empire Day, there is no parade.
Note – the RMS Ruapehu (HMNZT 79) departed New Zealand on 14 March 1917, carrying the other part of the 23rd Reinforcements to the SS Corinthic, which Lincoln Lee travelled on. The Ruapehu arrived in England on 21 May 1917, whereas the Corinthic arrived on 10 June 1917. Both ships appear to have stopped off at Sierra Leone allowing enterprising locals to sell fruit to the embarked troops.
Walk March 