What's this long view inside this curious woven thing?  It resembles a traditional fish trap, but it doesn't have any basket at the end, just a small opening.

Numerous tropical plants can provide the sort of fibrous material that can be woven and stay strong, such as the Oil Palm (Elaeis guineensis) or Fan Palm (Borassus aethiopum) needed for this useful contraption. 

It starts wide, then narrows to a small hole at the end.  Importantly, it's a one-way trip once entering.  Designed to catch mice, it encourages them to enter, then run down all the way to the end where they catch their heads and can't pull them free - no backing up.

Ah, a jovial few minutes, recalling with happy nostalgia the days of childhood when this fellow and his young friends would set these types of woven mouse traps in the forest, to come back the next day to see what had crawled inside. TIPTOPduTOP

In 1881, Dr. Carlos Finlay of Havana, Cuba enthusiastically presented his paper "The Mosquito Hypothetically Considered as the Agent of Yellow Fever" to his medical colleagues.  Havana at that time was one of the world's most notorious ports for yellow fever, indeed the source of several devastating yellow fever epidemics that killed tens of thousands of people in the Southern United States during the 1800s.  Unfortunately, Dr. Finlay was up against a very popular competing hypothesis in the medical community of filth and 'fomites' and despite many attempts to provide proof of mosquito transmission of yellow fever, Finlay couldn't.  His paper and ideas were quickly and sternly ignored... for nineteen years. 

Sent to Cuba in 1900 as the head of the U.S. Army Yellow Fever Commission to identify the organism that causes yellow fever, Major Dr. Walter Reed had been fast coming to the conclusion that the commission he was leading might, like many before it, fail in its task to identify the yellow fever organism.  Reed was becoming more convinced during their investigations that the organism that caused yellow fever was indeed as his boss, U.S. Army Surgeon General Dr. Sternberg had suggested a decade before, 'ultra-microscopic.'  That would make it un-viewable with the microscopes of the day.  Reed turned then to consider a different course of action: identify how yellow fever was spread - the means of transmission.   With Dr. Finlay a regular medical contact among their Cuban colleagues, Dr. Reed was thoroughly briefed on Finlay's ideas - including the specific mosquito species Finlay asserted was the sole culprit. 

Reed had to prove Finlay's rejected mosquito hypothesis and disprove the popular filth and 'fomites' hypothesis.  Reed designed an experimental area that allowed him to control the necessary elements without outside contamination.  

Yellow fever was not known in animals so the members of Reed's Commission were forced to consider the need for human volunteers to be able to test the mosquito versus filth and 'fomites.'   With good medical care, most people survived a bout of yellow fever; with poor medical care, many died.   No one could predict whether a person would come down with a mild case, a moderate case or a fatal case.  It was plenty risky for a volunteer.

But most new arrivals to Cuba were almost guaranteed to fall sick with yellow fever - why not be well-cared for and well-paid for the ordeal?  Reed's Commission offered $250 to anyone willing to be part of the experiments, excellent medical care, plus a validated yellow fever certificate, useful to get work and wage bonuses throughout all of Central and South America, including the Panama Canal project.

Two young American men presented themselves to volunteer, one a civilian and one a U.S. Army private, both from the state of Ohio, John Kissinger and John Moran.  To Reed's and the Yellow Fever Commission's surprise, both young men refused the $250 payment, insisting to participate without compensation.  Major Dr. Reed's profound respect for their determination and selflessness was stated with few words, yet great honor:
"I salute you."

More about this amazing victory for the advancement of knowledge to benefit humanity at the Conquest of Yellow Fever
TIPTOPduTOP

Cursive? Adventurous? A certificate?  Ho-hum!  Ah... wait!  It's a Médaille de l’Aéronautique - a pilot's certification -  in French, it's hanging on an airport wall,  in Africa, at one of the regular stops of the world's first, pioneering aviators.   TIPTOPduTOP!

A wise boy!  In 1812, Jack Creamer was only ten years old and far out to sea as a crew member on the U.S.S. United States.  He was too young to share in any profits so he petitioned his captain, Stephen Decatur to be added to the official crew list on the frigate, the U.S.S. United States.  Not long afterwards, under Decatur's command, the British ship, the H.M.S. Macedonia surrendered to the U.S.S. United States after a short yet decisive battle.

Stephen Decatur, recalling the young boy's initiative asked:
"Well, Jack, we have taken the Macedonia, and your share of the prize if we get her in safely, may be two hundred dollars. What will you do with it?"

The ten-year-old boy replied: "One hundred will go to my mother, sir, and the other will go to my schooling." 
From Decatur, by Irvin Anthony, 1931 à TIPTOPduTOP blog

How many readers over a century have wondered what this was, mentioned by the main character in the classic novel, Heart of Darkness?
Heart of Darkness
Joseph Conrad, 1899
"... I saw in their possession was a few lumps of some stuff like half-cooked dough, of a dirty lavender colour, they kept wrapped in leaves, and now and then swallowed a piece of…”

Chikwangue (pronounced in English with more of a sh than ch) is often called 'cassava bread' but it's not actually a bread nor does it have any leavening.  Let a modern Congolese cook demonstrate! Chikwangue starts with cassava flour - which goes through several rather lengthy processing of soaking and drying steps prior to making it ready to use as a flour.  Rather than do all that oneself, it can be purchased in the market ready to cook, brought home and pounded, mixed with water in a sturdy mortar and pestle.  The result after a good pounding has a nice smooth texture and looks like this:

For chikwangue, half the pounded dough is cooked, then mixed with another half of uncooked dough, then rolled to shape it and then wrapped in multiple layers of leaves, then snugly tied.

There are about five different large-leafed plants from which the leaf wraps can be made - including banana and the fan palm.  Be careful though, some leaves look very similar yet only certain ones are edible and give a good flavor.  The cooked leaves in fact are not eaten - they are just for wrapping and enhancing the flavor during cooking.  The leaf wrapping allows food to be cooked when no pots or other cooking vessels are available.

Since chikwangue is tightly wrapped and sealed in multiple layers of leaves, then tightly tied (usually with a sturdy cord peeled from the spine of the fronds of the oil palm) then cooked, the cooked leaf wrap keeps the inside cooked cassava 'bread' clean and sanitary for several days, a good tip for hungry travelers.  After cooking, the leaves are not eaten, but discarded.  During cooking, the cassava dough changes from an opaque white to a slightly translucent pale green or 'lavender' as described in the book, depending on the species of leaf used for the wrapping.  A very simple starchy food, it can be eaten alone, but is best with dipping in a sauce or as an accompaniment to vegetables or meat as available. 

Now anyone can easily recognize what was described in Joseph Conrad's novel and is today for sale at the street markets - chikwangue. Still popular everyday in modern Congo.

à TIPTOPduTOP blog ©2018

A good day to explore!  Something nearby is making a tremendous noise.  An overgrown trail leads to a very special place.

As if a scene from an adventure film, the view suddenly opens to reveal Zongo Falls, a name meaning 'roaring.'

The guide waves to come over for a better look.  The eroded slopes are a jumble of rocks and boulders.

But after climbing down to the river level, one finds an almost alien landscape caused by severe wearing that happens during the equatorial monsoon rains and flooding.

Below, the river has carved out all sorts of weird and curious shapes out of the sandstone layers.

The wild and crazy forms are everywhere, exposed during the short dry season.

Here, loose rocks spun around to wear out first a depression, then over time a hole where during the monsoon floods, the wildly churning river spins them around inside the cavity that they continue to erode.

In 1898, an Army medical doctor disembarked along with other troops onto the busy wharf at Havana, Cuba.  Thousands of miles away, across the ocean, a civilian shipping clerk disembarked onto the busy wharf at Antwerp, Belgium.  In 1898, neither man suspected what was ahead for him - comrades, foes, dangers, sacrifice, losses, set-backs, knowledge, triumph -  but each by their high personal diligence and great compassion, over the next decade and a half, they would do more to lead the liberation of humanity from death and destruction than any army in history had and by that, provide the means to improve the quality of life for generations to come.

William Gorgas's work would free millions from the deadly scourge of yellow fever, while Edmund Dene Morel's work would free millions of Congolese from the deadly scourge of King Leopold II.

It's a good day to team up with the instructor for an hour of flight training.

It's an easy task to follow the Atlantic coastline... but just past the city suburbs, that's interesting - what's going on down there?

A long line of people on the beach - what are they doing?

Back down to earth, there it is again, but it's still too far to make out what's going on.

It looks like everyone is engaging in a tug of war.  But against what?

Ah! The big, open, wood, ocean-rugged fishing boats, called pirougues in French are launched from the beach.  Spotting a close-in school of fish, the fishermen motor out on a large curve, dropping behind them a huge net.  Once they have done this, on the beach, one set of fishermen holds the big rope tied to one end of the net and a second set of fisherman receives the rope on the other end of the net, then slowly-surely together, they all haul the heavy net and any fish it traps inside to the beach.  It takes a while, but with patient application of pulling as the waves surge and recede, they can land the catch, all sorts of fresh ocean fish for the day's local markets or for export sale to other countries. TIPTOPduTOP © 2017

The fishing industry of Senegal has an annual catch of over 450,000 tons per year.  It's a huge, important industry that feeds millions of people every year and that depends on sturdy boats, strong backs and teamwork.  TIPTOPduTOP © 2017