DAKAR — ^TIITTLESEY 407 



France. A radio station at the edge of Medina is the wireless nexus 

 between French West Africa and the outside world. 



Dakar was selected to be capital of the AOF because it had the 

 harbor with greatest possibilities in the part of the colony nearest 

 to France by sea and because the peninsular climate is drier and 

 more tempered by sea breezes than that of any competitive point. 

 As capital, it was made the anteroom and outlet for the extensive 

 hinterland of the open Sudan, a country easily traversed throughout 

 the dry season and favorable to low-cost railroad construction and 

 maintenance. For passengers there is daily rail service to Saint- 

 Louis and semiweekly trains with sleepers to Bamako, near the 

 interior end of the line. Not many roads passable during the rains 

 have been built; but dry-weather roads penetrate all the back country 

 and make connection with every one of the constituent colonies of 

 the AOF. Dakar is the ganglion of 25,000 kilometers of telegraph 

 and telephone wire, reaching to the far parts of its territory. 



The recent rise of a city in a district hitherto sparsely settled and 

 rural has brought in a diverse population, which is not yet amalga- 

 mated. Africans mingle with Europeans on the streets and speak 

 French when necessary but preserve their native language and dress 

 and perhaps i-eturn home seasonally or to end their days. Syrians 

 and North Africans bring their families but plan to return when they 

 have made a competence. They are not fully accepted in the Euro- 

 j)ean society and hold themselves somewhat aloof from the indigenes. 



The Europeans are still less rooted. It is the French way to create 

 the semblance of a European city (one which happens to have much 

 the flavor of a provincial capital in France). When the working 

 day is over, the white population forgathers at the cafes, on the 

 business streets, and in the spacious and airy hotel dining rooms. 

 Dining in public is even more usual than in Paris. A cabaret in the 

 most fashiona'we hotel offers entertainment by actors and singers 

 from Paris. A weekly newspaper carries the local news. In reality, 

 the resemblance to European life is superficial. All Europeans come 

 out for "tours of duty" lasting from 2 to 4 years. After a long 

 holiday in France, they may or may not return to Dakar. On retire- 

 ment they return "home" to end their days. Few of the younger 

 men are married. The wives of the others often spend the rainy 

 season in France. Many families leave their children in Europe, 

 though the gamut of public education up to the university is avail- 

 able in Dakar, alone among West African stations. Of the out- 

 landers 65 percent are men, 25 percent women, and 10 percent 

 children. 



The roots of a large part of the populace, of whatever color, are 

 thrust in soil outside the Cape Verde Peninsula. In the spiritual as 

 v,e]l as in the geographic sense, Dakar is a port of call. 



