where he had previously served with distinction), the Commandant of the 'Mage' at once pushed on with all his vessels to Kabara, disembarked on Dec. 23 with a landing party, and after a few preliminary skirmishes with some neighbouring Touaregs, who were easily dispersed by a shell or two from the machine-guns of the gunboats, took possession of the port, and marched quietly into the unresisting town of Timbuctoo. There he hoisted the tricolour on Christmas day, whilst Colonel Bonnier was embarking his expedition, some 300 miles distant up the stream. After this brilliant but somewhat insubordinate coup de main, Lieut. Boiteux despatched his subaltern, Léon Aube, to visit the neighbouring villages on the banks of the Niger, in order to receive the submissions of the sedentary population who were disposed to be friendly. This gallant young officer, who had just been nursed through a severe attack of fever by his comrade and senior officer, to whom he was devotedly attached, was unfortunately cut off with his small detachment of 'laptots,' and the whole party, excepting two who escaped, were slain by the Touaregs on the plain of Kabara.

Meantime the Governor of the Soudan, finding no one to receive him at Kayes-for all the military officials were absent on this unknown expedition-telegraphed to the Minister, explaining the situation, and received assurance of the entire support of the Government in upholding his supreme authority over the subordinate military officers. But distances are great in the Soudan, and Colonel Bonnier was, by this time, far beyond the reach of any message of recall. The first division reached Mopti on the 31st of December, and then, for the first time, Colonel Bonnier learnt of Lieut. Boiteux's ill-advised and too precipitate action in entering Timbuctoo before the arrival of the land forces, and of the disaster thereby incurred by M. Aube's detachment, an event which might have led to the entire wrecking of the whole expedition. Without losing a moment, Colonel Bonnier embarked the 5th company of Tirailleurs in all the boats he could lay hands on and pushed on with part of his force to Timbuctoo, which place he was enabled to enter, without further mishap, on the 10th of January, 1894, leaving, however, his guns and supplies to follow, three days in the rear, escorted by the 2nd company of Tirailleurs.

On his arrival at Timbuctoo, Colonel Bonnier sent for Lieut. Boiteux, and reproached him for direct disobedience of orders and for negligence in the affair whereby the disaster at Kabara had been brought about, finally sentencing him to the mild punishment of thirty days' open arrest. We get a glimpse

behind the scenes from Colonel Bonnier's own report of this stormy interview :—

...

'M. Boiteux m'a repondu sur un ton insolent et irrité, employant des expressions telles que: "Nom de Dieu! . . . et criant qu'il n'avait pas été battu, qu'il avait au contraire, lors de l'affaire de Kabara, marché à l'ennemi, lequel avait été mis en déroute par lui.' Consequently the Colonel ordered the naval lieutenant to go on board his gunboat and remain there under arrest for fifteen days in addition, the maximum punishment he was able to award for his subordinate's insolence on this occasion. The whole affair exhibits a certain slackness of discipline, which recalls scenes that occurred during the old East India Company's days, but which seem impossible in our own military and naval services of the present date.

The definite occupation of Timbuctoo was now telegraphed to M. Grodet, who thereupon promptly recalled Colonel Bonnier, and sent orders to Commandant Hugny to construct a blockhouse and establish himself in charge of the garrison with six guns, sending back all troops not absolutely necessary to their respective stations. But graver events had happened before these orders reached their destination.

On the 12th of January Colonel Bonnier set off on reconnaissance duty at the head of a lightly equipped flying column, accompanied by Commandant Hugny, his second in command, the whole of the 5th and part of the 11th Tirailleurs and all his staff, mostly mounted on donkeys, for the horses were all with Colonel Joffre's division. The senior captain, M. Philippe, was left in charge of the entrenchment at Timbuctoo and the block-house which was in course of construction at Kabara, where he was reinforced on the following day by the guns and 2nd company of Tirailleurs with supplies from Mopti.

After marching two days, the light column took possession of a deserted Touareg encampment as well as of a quantity of cattle belonging to the Tenguereguif tribe, on January 14. Leaving a detachment under Sub-Lieutenant Sarda to guard this camp, Colonel Bonnier at once proceeded to Dougoi, another evacuated encampment, which offered an inviting resting-place after the long march. The native troops and officers were worn out with fatigue, and, as the enemy seemed to have disappeared, although sentries were posted, no outlying pickets or outposts appear to have been stationed outside the camp. So accustomed were Colonel Bonnier and his Tirailleurs to find the Soudanese flee before them, without making a stand, that they calculated on meeting no resistance whatsoever on the part of the Touareg

tribes-a very to experience.

different kind of enemy, as they were soon destined

At 4 A.M., when the moon had set and before daybreak on the 15th January, a large troop of Touareg horse and foot, who had approached under cover of herds of cattle, suddenly dashed into the encampment, surprised the sentries, and seized or overthrew the piled arms, whilst a picked body made straight for the head-quarters. A number of loose cattle driven in among the sleeping troops completed the confusion. Nearly all the French officers and men were cut down and slain before any alarm or attempt at rally could be made. Captain Nigotte was the only officer who, with a very few Tirailleurs, managed to escape, and, in spite of a wound, made his way back to M. Sarda's detachment, with which they retreated to the garrison at Timbuctoo. On learning the disaster, Captain Philippe sent out reconnoitring parties to bring in any of the fugitives who might have escaped the general slaughter, and put the garrison in a state of defence ready for any emergency. As he had been reinforced by the rear portion of Colonel Bonnier's column, and as Colonel Joffre's mounted division was known to be advancing, there was no fear for the safety of the post; although groups of Touareg horsemen immediately made their presence known in the vicinity, disappearing, however, whenever they attracted the fire of the French outposts.

We must now return to Colonel Joffre's force, which had left Ségou on the 27th of December. This column crossing the Niger made its way through Sansanding by the left bank of the flooded river, until it reached the lower country inundated by the winter rains. To avoid this impassable ground, Colonel Joffre took a more northerly course, and proceeded through a difficult country to Soumpé, the chief of this latter place accompanying the force onwards as a guide. Some envoys were sent on to obtain supplies at Niafounké; but the local chief refused his assistance, and even threatened the French. A company of Tirailleurs, with a couple of guns and an escort of Spahis, who were at once sent to enforce the French demands, found 400 warriors drawn up in battle array to contest their approach. These tribesmen did not hesitate to charge right up to the French line; it was only when fire was opened upon them with telling effect and one-third of their number were killed, that the remainder broke and fled, leaving the village open to the French detachment.

·

On the 26th of January, 1894, the force arrived at a broad and deep marigot,' where a delay was inevitable until boats could be obtained from the main river. The Touaregs who had

cut

cut off Colonel Bonnier's head-quarters staff, here made their appearance, threatening to dispute the passage. But a few shells and the appearance of the gunboats, which had by this time been warned of Colonel Joffre's approach, soon put them to flight, and the whole of the mounted division effected the crossing by the 3rd of February. A move onward was made on the 7th, the column reaching two days afterwards the site of the camp where Colonel Bonnier's party had been surprised. Here the bodies of the French officers and men killed on the 15th of January were found and taken on to Timbuctoo, which place Colonel Joffre entered on the 12th of February. The effective occupation of this famous city by the French was now complete. A fort was soon in process of construction, whilst a blockhouse to command the landing near Kabara established its safe communication with the river and gunboats.

The chiefs and notables of the various villages in the neighbourhood soon began to come in, signifying their submission and asking for protection. The Touareg nomads, however, still held aloof, and against these wild tribes of the desert several small expeditions were organized. A large number of their cattle was seized, and wherever resistance was offered the Lebel rifles made short work of the enemy's ineffectual defence. The tribe of Touaregs who had destroyed the French expedition at Dougoi, was specially followed up and well-nigh exterminated on the 25th of March. One chief, who, having been previously wounded, had remained absent at a more distant camp, alone remains of all the ruling family in this tribe. All the other chiefs have been killed. Such slaughter seems dreadful to contemplate, but doubtless it was absolutely necessary, from a military point of view, to reestablish French prestige throughout the Sahara, where mercy would only be taken to indicate weakness, if such an incident as the night surprise at Dougoi had been allowed to pass unavenged.*

The news of the occupation of Timbuctoo had aroused little enthusiasm at Paris, and the intelligence of the disaster at Dougoi was likewise received by the French nation with great calmness; the confident attitude of M. Casimir-Perier preventing any scene of recrimination or excitement. La France ne recule pas devant un échec quelque douloureux qu'il soit,' was his patriotic declaration to those who asked if Timbuctoo was to be evacuated. The subsequent reports of Colonel Joffre

* According to the latest news from Colonel Joffre, dated June 20, the situation at Timbuctoo was satisfactory. Two new posts had been established at El Waledji, north of Safay, the other at Salaféré on the Barra Issa.

and

and M. Grodet were sufficiently reassuring; but they only made it more evident that the military spirit must no longer be permitted to remain predominant in this as well as in other outlying colonies. Whilst the Government decided to telegraph congratulations to Colonel Joffre on the skilful conduct of his operations, and especially on his brilliant march from Ségou to Timbuctoo, they at the same time strengthened the hands of M. Grodet. To put an end to the constantly prevailing misconception of the fundamental attributes of civil government throughout the colonies, they created a special Department of the State for the Colonies, wholly distinct from the Marine Office. In the middle of March M. Boulanger was appointed Minister of the Colonies, with a competent staff, who proceeded to organize the new department. Its organization in four distinct services was duly announced in the Journal Officiel' of May 6. It is beyond our province, in the present paper, to discuss M. Boulanger's report on his new organization; in fact, it is only alluded to here as having been finally brought about by these momentous operations in the French Soudan.

To return to Timbuctoo, where the French garrison was now strongly entrenched, with their communications assured and an ample supply of ammunition and provisions. Timbuctoo, the capital of the Songhais people of the Middle Niger, at one time the centre of a great Nigritian Empire, was conquered, in 1591, by Moors commanded by Jodar, a Spanish adventurer from Almeria, who was followed by a band of Andalusians equipped with fire-arms. Henceforward these Rumas held supremacy over the Songhais, until displaced in succession by Peuhls, Touaregs, and, finally, Toucouleurs. After the brief Toucouleur occupation of 1863, the townspeople have been ruled by a djemaa, or association of merchants, under a Kahia or hereditary Mayor, paying tribute now to one tribe, now to another, in fact, to whatever Touareg chief has held power in the neighbourhood for the time being. Oscar Lenz estimated the population, in 1880, at 20,000 souls, consisting mainly of Arabs, Berbers, Songhais, Touaregs, Mandingans, Bambaras, and Peuhls. The family of the Bakhai marabouts has long wielded great influence over the Mahommedan inhabitants.

The arrival of the French relieved the town from the scarcity which had begun to prevail. As soon as the occupation

*M. Boulanger has since been succeeded by M. Delcassé, late Colonial UnderSecretary, who has had practical experience of the old system under which the Government's hand was so repeatedly forced, and is therefore well qualified to deal with the situation.

had