the actual number of Europeans in the colony at this time was very small. At Saint Louis, for instance, out of 13,000 souls, but 185 Europeans were resident in 1856-57; yet the French under Faidherbe's guidance quickly made themselves masters of the valley of the Senegal as far as Médine, upwards of five hundred miles from the Atlantic. A series of explorations was now instituted under picked officers to visit the most notable chiefs of the tribes along the coast, as well as those ruling the inland provinces on the higher affluents of the Senegal. Among these expeditions Captain Vincent, in 1860, traversed the country of the Adrar or Western Sahara, as far as the Ouled Delim tribes near Cape Blanc; M. Bourrel was sent to inspect the country of the Braknas; Lieut. Pascal undertook an exploration through the Bambouk district; Lieut. Lambert led a similar mission into the high plateaux of Fouta-Djallon, where the Senegal has its principal source; and in 1861 Lieut. Mage made an adventurous journey as far as the oasis of the Tagant. Most of the tribes visited were induced to acknowledge the protectorate of France, whilst numerous treaties of friendship were brought back from all sides by the several missions. Governor Faidherbe left Senegal for a time in 1861, but, as the colony evidently declined after his removal, he was recalled in 1863. One of his first acts after his return was to send Lieut. Mage, who had already proved his ability for such an undertaking, on an important mission to El Hadj Omar, whose head-quarters were then (1864) said to be at Ségou on the Niger. Faidherbe's instructions on this occasion supply the key-note of the policy then initiated of rapidly expanding the French influence inland, and thus forestalling the extension of the British colonies towards the interior from the West coast. Lieut. Mage, accompanied by Dr. Quintin, leaving the outermost station held by the French in January 1864, embarked on the Niger at Yamina and reached Ségou. There he remained over two years before Ahmadou, the son and successor of Omar, who had disappeared rather mysteriously, could be induced to sign a treaty. It was not till June 1866 that the belated envoys returned to Saint Louis, only to find that, during their absence, Governor Faidherbe had been replaced by M. Pinet Laprade; and finally, as it happened, the treaty they brought back was never ratified by the Imperial Government." This expedition was the last of the series organized by *Voyage dans le Soudan Occidental,' par Lieut. E. Mage; Paris, 1872. Lieut. Mage was lost in the wreck of the Gorgone,' outside Brest, on the 19th of December, 1869. General General Faidherbe. After his departure from the colony a season of inactivity ensued, which afforded, however, time for French influence to become consolidated throughout those districts where Faidherbe's numerous missions had procured treaties of commerce and amity. Moreover the Franco-German war, during which General Faidherbe's reputation as a wise commander was thoroughly established, and the military and financial disasters which accompanied the fall of the Empire, prevented for many years any further expansion of the French colonies in West Africa beyond their then limited frontiers. The next advance inland was due to private enterprise. In 1878, M. Paul Soleillet succeeded in reaching Ségou, where he found that Ahmadou had greatly profited by the prestige of his treaty with the French, and had cleverly utilised it to increase his borders about Ségou and Nioro. M. Soleillet was prevented from penetrating into Macina, lower down the Niger, by the jealousy of Ahmadou, who was unwilling that his rival Tidiani, the sovereign of that country, should also enter into treaty with the French. up a At this period a recrudescence of colonial activity began to replace the indifference which had hitherto prevailed in France with regard to the Soudan. M. de Freycinet, then Minister of Public Works, instituted a commission to study the question of the best method of communication by railway between Algeria, Senegal, and the Soudan. This commission was in favour of a line to be constructed from the Senegal to the Niger, and the Governor of Senegal, Colonel Brière de l'Isle, drew programme whereby this line could be completed within six years. The projected line was to be in three sections: the first to connect Saint Louis with Dakar, which has now been in working order for the last ten years; the second between Saint Louis and Kayes, which has not yet been constructed, the passage being made by water; and the third, from Kayes to Bamakou, which has been finished as far as Bafoulabé, with a narrow-gauge tramline to Dioulaba, a distance of 150 kilomètres. The necessary credits for the surveys were duly voted by Parliament, and MM. Jacquemart, Pietri, Monteil, and Sorin were despatched to carry out the preliminary reconnaissances and to obtain possession of the required country. A more important mission, however, was confided to Captain Gallieni-viz., that of surveying the route from the Senegal to the Niger, and of obtaining from Ahmadou a concession of his territories which extended directly across the track of the projected Chemin-de-fer Sénégalo-nigérien. The fanatical Toucouleur chiefs urged Ahmadou to resist the advance advance of the foreigners; but, after keeping the members of the French mission in suspense for a period of ten months, the successor of Omar, on learning that Colonel Borgnis Desbordes had occupied the strategical points of Kita and Goubanko (previously indicated by Faidherbe), in great alarm signed with Captain Gallieni a convention, by which the French obtained access to the Upper Niger, on the 21st of March, 1881. Whilst Captain Gallieni was at Ségou, he heard of an European traveller who had just left Timbuctoo and proceeded by way of Nioro to Senegal. This was Dr. Oscar Lenz, who had reached the Saharan capital in July 1880 by way of Tendouf, Toudeyni, and Arrouan across the desert from Morocco, and this explorer claimed to be the fifth European who had ever been known to enter that famous trade-centre of the Upper Niger. Dr. Lenz found that Timbuctoo was not the only important trade mart of these regions, as Europeans had been led to suppose. Thus he visited Sokolo to the westward, a town containing 10,000 inhabitants, and another place, Goumbou, consisting of two towns, separated by a lake, which together are larger and more populous than Timbuctoo, and where the Arab inhabitants are not so intermixed with the black races of Nigritia. From the date of Gallieni's mission the possession of these large centres of the Saharan trade, the keys of the Saharan desert, became the immediate objects of French military projects in this direction. At this time a warlike chief of Malinka origin, named Samory, who had constituted a large realm around Bissandougou, was attempting to extend his dominion westwards and northwards across the Niger, and was thus repeatedly bringing his armed bands of Bambara slaves, or 'Sofas,' into collision with the troops under Colonel Borgnis Desbordes.* Though continually defeated, it was not till 1886 that the Sofas made a treaty with their European enemies and ceased for a time to constitute a danger to the French colony. This treaty was readily recognized by the British, to whom Samory had previously been making overtures for the protection of Sierra Leone, with the native merchants of which colony his delegates had established friendly relations. In May 1887 Lieut.-Colonel Gallieni obtained from Ahmadou a treaty by which his states were also placed under the Pro *La France dans l'Afrique Occidentale,' par Colonel Borgnis Desbordes. Paris, 1884. tectorate tectorate of France. Thanks to the peace which then temporarily prevailed, the organization of the colony, now first named the French Soudan, progressed tranquilly enough; whilst the French engineers were able to proceed with the construction of the railway, and the village of Siguiri on the Upper Niger was occupied as an advanced post. The gunboat 'Niger,' launched at Bamakou in May 1884, had not hitherto been able to pass beyond the marigot' leading to Djenné. In 1887, however, Lieut. Caron was able to penetrate this channel, and, continuing down stream, arrived at Kabara, the port of Timbuctoo. During this same interval of peace Captain Binger (now Governor of the Ivory Coast) made his enterprising explorations south of the Niger, and Captain Audéoud carried a military reconnaissance across the plateaux of the Fouta-Djallon, a country which had been explored fully by the Vicomte de Sanderval and his agents, MM. Gaboriaud and Ansaldi, between 1880 and 1885. The newly-appointed military Commandant, Colonel Archinard, on taking over the administration of the Soudan Français at the end of 1888, finding that the Toucouleurs of Koundian levied blackmail on all caravans passing the Bafing River, proceeded to attack that stronghold. The place was taken by assault after a stubborn resistance, and its fate prompted Ahmadou's determination to join with Samory in making a simultaneous attack upon the French posts along the Niger and on the Upper Senegal. On learning the intentions of these allies, Colonel Archinard decided to take the initiative by striking directly at Ségou, which was then defended by Madani, one of Ahmadou's brothers, thereby cutting off Ahmadou at Nioro from co-operating with Samory at Bissandougou. Ségou was taken on April 6, 1890, its capture causing all the Bambara tribes in the neighbourhood to give in their submission, and the administration was confided to a Bambara chief, Bodian, who had long been an adherent of the French, under the control of a French Resident, who was supported by a strong escort. The anchorage of the gunboat flotilla was at the same time transferred from Koulikoro lower down the stream to Ségou. Continuing their victories, Colonel Archinard's column captured stronghold after stronghold, and, after more fighting, the French troops entered triumphantly into Nioro, the capital of the Kaarta, which the Toucouleurs under Ahmadou had just evacuated, in January 1891. A decisive action was next fought at Youri, whither Colonel Archinard had pursued the fugitive Toucouleur chieftain, who * Une Colonne dans le Soudan Français' (1886-1887), par E. Gallieni, Lieut.-Colonel d'Infanterie de Marine. Paris, 1888. fled, fled, almost alone, to take refuge in Macina; and the whole of the Kaarta thus fell into the possession of the French. While Colonel Archinard, however, was pursuing his victorious progress in the neighbourhood of Nioro, the Baninko tribes about Ségou rose against the administration of Bodian, who happened to be away assisting an ally at some distance from Ségou. On hearing of this rising, Colonel Archinard, leaving garrisons in the Kaarta, hastened towards the Niger and relieved Lieut. Hourst, whose gunboats and 'laptots' were blockaded by the Baninko at Diéna.* The insurgents were severely punished, and soon submitted to French authority; but the sceptre was given to Mademba, under whom the kingdom of Sansanding was re-established, as Bodian at Ségou was incapable of governing this northern portion of his territory from the right bank, where his capital was situated. Meanwhile Samory had concluded, in February 1889, an amended treaty, whereby all his possessions on the left bank of the Niger were conceded to the French. But in less than three months he sent back this instrument, refusing to ratify it, although he was promptly given to understand that such a proceeding would be resented by armed interference. Colonel Archinard lost no time in negotiations, but, crossing the Niger, at once occupied Kankan, a stronghold in the valley of the Milo. Samory himself, in full retreat, was hotly pursued and twice beaten, on April 8 and 9, 1891, and the campaign resulted in the French occupation of Bissandougou, Samory's capital. In October 1891, Lieut.-Colonel Humbert succeeded Colonel Archinard in command of the French Soudan. His first arrangements were to push on the survey for a prolongation of the railway line from Bafoulabé as far as Kita towards the Niger; and next to organize a column for operations during the cool season by advancing against Samory from Kankan. After some obstinate fighting, he marched into Bissandougou, and, closely following up Samory, pushed further on into the country, in spite of the resistance which he still experienced at various points on the road. But, although much war material was captured or destroyed, and Samory himself nearly made prisoner, the results of the campaign were not decisive. Everywhere Samory's troops still overran the country, except within range of the posts held by the French. Nevertheless, the moral effect produced upon the Sofas by * Diéna is on the Bani, or Mayel Balevel River, below Djenné. the |