316 



FRANCE. 



Tajurah, is 2,300 square miles, containing 22,- 

 370 inhabitants. There is some trade with Shoa 

 and the Somali country. The sum appropriated 

 for Obock in 1891 was 672,191 francs. 



The Comoro group, consisting of four larger 

 and numerous small islands, inhabited by about 

 47,000 people who are mostly Mohammedans, 

 were taken under French protection in 1886. 

 The French did not occupy the islands in force, 

 the Arab princes having acknowledged the pro- 

 tectorate. When the Sultan Abdullah of the 

 island of Anjuan or Johanna died, on Feb. 1, 

 1891, the negro slaves, who were armed by the 

 contestants for the throne, Salim, the late Sul- 

 tan's son, and Othman, his brother, revolted on 

 Feb. 28 and plundered the island, threatening to 

 kill their masters if they were not enfranchised 

 in accordance with a promise that had been 

 made some years before to the English consul. 

 Before the trouble began the French flag had 

 been hauled down by the natives. The French 

 resident, Dr. Ormieres, and most of the Euro- 

 peans left the island at the beginning of the dis- 

 turbances, and when the gunboat " Boursaint " 

 arrived, on March 18, Salim, who had established 

 his authority after a sanguinary struggle, said 

 he would not receive the resident, and wanted no 

 Frenchmen on the island. On the Grand Co- 

 moro, the most important island, the people re- 

 belled and deposed the Sultan Said Ali, the 

 ruler protected by France. At Mohilla Island 

 the regent usurped the place of the young Queen, 

 who was being educated in Reunion at the ex- 

 pense of the French Government. The com- 

 mander of the naval division in the Indian 

 Ocean, Capt. Prouhet, brought on a force suffi- 

 cient to re-establish French authority, and the 

 three rebellious princes were banished to Obock. 

 A force of 340 marines was landed at Anjouan 

 on April 23. after a bombardment. The town of 

 Montsamoudou was occupied without difficulty, 

 and the rebels were pursued into the interior and 

 brought to submission. The operations were re- 

 peated on the other revolted islands. 



West African Possessions. On the western 

 side of the African continent France possesses 

 the old colony of Senegal or Senegambia, the Riv- 

 ieres du Sud, which was detached from Senegal 

 in the beginning of 1890, the French Soudan, 

 the settlements on the Guinea coast, and the 

 Gabun and French Congo territories. The re- 

 gions over which the authority of France has 

 in some degree been established are about 450,- 

 000 square miles. 



The French claim the whole coast from Cape 

 Blanco to the boundary of Liberia, with the ex- 

 ception of the English and Portuguese estab- 

 lishments, and the interior as far as the upper 

 Niger. By the Anglo-French agreement of 

 Aug. 5, 1890, Great Britain recognizes a French 

 sphere of influence embracing the region south 

 of Algeria and Tunis as far as a line drawn from 

 Say, on the Niger, to Barruva on Lake Chad. 

 There are 164 miles of railroad in the coast dis- 

 tricts of Senegal, and the projected railroad from 

 Medina, at the head of navigation on the Sene- 

 gal river, to the upper Niger has been built as 

 far as Bafoulabe, 94 miles. The exports of Sene- 

 gal are ground-nuts, gura, India-rubber, woods, 

 and skins. There were 1,600,000 acres under 

 cultivation in 1886. The value of the imports 



in 1888 was 27,995,835 francs, of which 12,515,155 

 francs were from Franco, and the value of the 

 exports was 16,548,040 francs, of which 11,742,856 

 francs went to France. The French Soudan was 

 placed on Jan. 1, 1891, under the administration 

 of a superior commandant with headquarters at 

 Kayes, who acts under the political direction of 

 the Governor of Senegal in St. Louis. The Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor of the Rivieres du Sud, who 

 resides at Konakry, on the Dubreka river, lias 

 authority over the territories on the Gold Coast, 

 which were separated into two distinct adminis- 



and that of the Rivieres du Sud 47,541, the total 

 white population being 1,470. The total area is 

 about 140,000. The places under French ad- 

 ministration on the Gold Coast are Grand Bas- 

 sam and Assinie, Grand Popo and Agoue, Porto 

 Novo, and Kotonou. Including protectorates, 

 the French claim 25,000 square miles of terri- 

 tory in this region. A treaty of delimitation 

 concluded with Great Britain on Aug. 10, 1889, 

 defines the boundary between Senegal and the 

 British colonies of Gambia and Sierra Leone 

 and between French territory on the Gold Coast 

 and the British colony of Lagos. The latter 

 boundary is a line intersecting Porto Novo at 

 Agarrah creek. The French budget for 1890 

 provided for an expenditure of 9.353,193 francs 

 in Senegal. The French Government has made 

 great efforts to anticipate Great Britain in es- 

 tablishing its influence on Lake Chad, around 

 which are clustered the rich and well-organized 

 Mohammedan states of Bornu, Wadai, Kanem, 

 and Baghirmi. A claim to Bornu, based on the 

 possession of Sokoto, advanced on behalf of the 

 English Royal Niger Company, is condemned by 

 France as without foundation and as contrary to 

 the African agreement, which is held to have 

 limited the English sphere to the part of Bornu 

 that is bounded by Sokoto and Adamawa. The 

 approach to Bornu from the French territory on 

 the Niger is defended by the Mohammedan des- 

 pot Ahmadou, and the route through the desert 

 farther north is blocked by a population of the 

 vigorous and valiant Tuaregs. Col. Achin- 

 ard, the commandant of the French Soudan, 

 marched 700 miles in April, 1890, through the 

 territory of the pagan Bambaras, and by a brill- 

 iant stroke captured Segpu, Ahmadou's capital, 

 which was defended by his son. The operations 

 have been continued with interruptions only 

 during the rainy season. On Jan. 1, 1891, Col. 

 Achinard's column, after a brief encounter 

 with the Toucouleurs at Koriga on Dec. 29, 

 completely defeated Ahmadou's army of 8,000 

 men and drove them out of Nioro with a loss of 

 400 killed, the French losing 53 native soldiers. 

 Ahmadou was pursued, and his army was again 

 defeated at Touri, where 1,500 prisoners were 

 taken. He was compelled to retire to the more 

 remote part of his empire. The fetich worship- 

 ers of the coast and those of the southern part 

 of the French sphere who formerly owned Ah- 

 madou's despotic sway were confirmed in their 

 allegiance to France by these brilliant victories. 

 Nioro and Kaarta were restored to their old 

 Bambara chiefs. The French force numbered 

 but 700 rifles, but the artillery detachment, using 



