FRENCH EQUATORIAL AFRICA 



3341 



FRENCH POLISH 



armies that he told the whole story 

 to Colonel Repington, military cor- 

 respondent of The Times, whose 

 dispatch caused in the sequel the 

 fall oi Asquith's government, and, 

 in French's words, " the organiza- 

 tion of the nation's industrial re- 

 sources upon a stupendous scale." 



French's military career had now 

 reached its climax. He surrendered 

 his command to Haig on Dec. 15, 

 and in 1916 a viscounty was con- 

 ferred on him. He became Vis- 

 count French of Ypres and High 

 Lake, Roscommon, the residence of 

 his ancestors since the opening of 

 the 17th century. He took com- 

 mand of the forces in Britain until, 

 in 1918, he was appointed viceroy 

 of Ireland. He remained there 

 through the troubled years following 

 1918, though rumours of his resig- 

 nation were frequent, retiring in 

 1921. He was created an earl and 

 took the title of Earl of Ypres. His 

 heir is his elder son, Hon. John 

 R. L. French (b. 1881). His 

 younger son was wounded in 1917. 

 French's many honours include 

 the O.M. and the K.P. 



French Equatorial Africa. 

 Term including the three provs. 

 of Gabun, Middle Congo, and 

 Ubangi-Shari-Chad. The colony 

 is bounded by the Cameroons on 

 the W., the Anglo -Egyptian Sudan 

 on the E., the Belgian Congo on 

 the S., and the Atlantic Ocean on 

 the S. W. French Equatorial Africa 

 is administered by a governor- 

 general, with headquarters at 

 Brazzaville, and the three provinces 

 are administered by lieutenant- 

 governors residing at Libreville, 

 Bangui, and Fort Lamy respec- 

 tively. Each province has adminis- 

 trative autonomy and a separate 

 budget, but there is also a general 

 budget for the whole colony. 



The resources of the colony are 

 almost undeveloped, but it is ex- 

 tremely rich in forestal and tropical 

 products, and in the far N. there 

 are great cattle-grazing grounds. 

 Communications are mainly along 

 the waterways, the chief of which 

 are the Congo, Ubangi, and Shari 

 rivers, but native porterage is ne- 

 cessary on the connecting tracks. 

 The area, exclusive of those por- 

 tions allotted to the Germans in 

 1911 and now again French terri- 

 tory, is about 900,000 sq. m. Pop. 

 about 6,000,000, of whom about 

 2,000,000 are in the Chad military 

 territory and about 1,500,000 in the 

 rest of the Ubangi-Shari-Chad pro- 

 vince. See Gabun ; Middle Congo ; 

 Ubangi-Shari-Chad. 



French Horn. Most important 

 brass instrument used in the or- 

 chestra. It is of tenor compass, 

 and of mellow, vocal tone. See 

 Horn ; Orchestra. 



French Equatorial Africa. Map of the French Colony between the Congo and 



Lake Chad, with the territory ceded to Germany in 1911, and since regained 



as part ol Cameroons 



French Polish. Solution of 

 gums or gum-resins employed to 

 give a polish to wood. The process 

 of producing the polish on the 

 wood is known as french polishing. 

 The composition of french polish 

 varies according to the preference 

 of the worker. Shellac is always 

 the main ingredient, and the sol- 

 vent is alcohol (spirits of wine, 

 methylated spirit or finish). Finish 

 is spirit denaturised by the addi- 

 tion of shellac (3 ozs. to a pint), so 

 that it can be sold duty free and 

 without the seller being licensed. 



The simplest form of polish con- 

 sists of a solution of 6 ozs. of shel- 

 lac in a pint of spirit, but when 

 other ingredients, such as mastic, 

 sandarac, elemi, thus or benzoin 

 are included in the formula, the 

 quantity of shellac is correspond- 

 ingly reduced. The gums and 

 gum-resins mentioned are soluble 

 in spirit if time be allowed, and if 

 the bottle that contains the ingre- 

 dients be kept in a warm place. 

 Polishing Process 



The process of french polishing 

 is really a series of operations con- 

 sisting of (1 ) the preparation of the 

 wood ; (2) the polishing ; and (3) 

 the finishing. The surface of the 

 wood is made as smooth as possible 

 by glass-paper and sand-paper, and 

 is then subjected to a process of 



filling in the pores of the wood with 

 a creamy paste of plaster of Paris 

 or whiting and linseed oil. The 

 filler is coloured according to the 

 nature of the wood, using rose- 

 pink for mahogany, brown umber 

 for walnut, and yellow ochre for 

 oak and other light woods. The 

 colour of the wood is also dark- 

 ened at this stage if desired by 

 applying suitable colouring matters. 

 The surface of the wood is again 

 smoothed with sand-paper and the 

 french polish applied. A pledget of 

 woollen rag or cotton wool is 

 saturated with the polish and en- 

 closed in a piece of close-textured 

 cotton fabric, so as to make a 

 smooth, hard surface. A few drops 

 of linseed oil and of polish are 

 applied to the pad and rubbed on 

 to the wood with a free, continuous 

 and circular movement, taking 

 care not to treat too large a surface 

 at one operation. 



The spirit evaporating during 

 the polishing leaves a hard surface 

 of shellac on the wood. The first 

 polish is generally rubbed down 

 with sand-paper, and the polishing 

 repeated until a uniform surface is 

 obtained. This is allowed to re- 

 main for a few days when the 

 finishing process is carried out, i.e. 

 wiping the surface with a small 

 quantity of spirit 



