832 



WEST AFRICA. 



The Delimitation Commission, composed of Mar- 

 tin Gosselin and Col. William Everett, acting for 

 England, and Rene Lecomte and Col. Louis Gustave 

 Binger, French delegates, came to a virtual agree- 

 ment on the main points in dispute before the end 

 of May, and on June 14 signed the Niger conven- 

 tion settling the whole question and relieving the 

 tension, which, on the English side, had given rise to 

 a dangerous war spirit. The French had to give up 

 the coveted strip of territory on the maritime Niger; 

 while the English were obliged to yield the rights 

 asserted on the principle of Hinterland or based on 

 dubious treaties, and relinquish their claims to vast 

 regions over which the French had established the 

 more palpable title of effective occupation. 



Beginning in 9 of latitude at the northern end 

 of the conventional boundary already fixed between 

 the Gold Coast and the Ivory Coast, the new bound- 

 ary follows the course of the Black Volta up to 

 11 of latitude, and then runs east along this paral- 

 lel till it meets the boundary arranged between 

 Togoland and Dahomey, making a deflection so as 

 to include in the English sphere the towns of Bawku 

 and Sapeliga. This limits the Hinterland of the 

 Gold Coast to the parallel of 11, to which Germany 

 had agreed for Togoland, leaving to France Gurunsi 

 and the valuable territories of Mossi and Gurma 

 beyond ; while Great Britain retained Gona, Mam- 

 prusi, and Dagarti, the country about Wa, where 

 French and British troops were watching each other. 

 The French were compelled to haul down their flag 

 at Wa; but in compensation the British had to 

 evacuate Bona and Dokta, west of the boundary. 



The extension of the Lagos-Dahomey boundary 

 runs northward to the vicinity of Borea, and then 

 curves inward toward the Niger, so as to give to 

 France Niki ; while England obtained Bussa and 

 the whole navigable part of the Niger. The line 

 was drawn so as to leave on the English side the 

 villages of Okuta, Borea, Tereh, Gbani, Ashigire, 

 and Dekala, and strike the Niger 10 miles above 

 Gere or Ilo. There the line crosses the Niger, giv- 

 ing to France a triangle on the east bank south of 

 the Say-Barua line, embracing the Zaberma and 

 Mauri countries. It follows a dry water course, the 

 Dallul Mauri, up to a point 100 miles from the city 

 of Sokoto, runs around the arc of a circle with this 

 radius until it cuts the parallel of 14 the second 

 time, follows this parallel eastward for 70 miles, 

 then runs due south to 11 21' of north latitude, 

 runs eastward again for 250 miles, then due north 

 to 14 of latitude, then eastward and into Lake 

 Chad to the meridian passing 35' east of the center 

 of the town of Kuka, and thence southward to the 

 southern shore of the lake, where it meets the bound- 

 ary agreed upon between the Niger Company's 

 territory and Cameroons. The treaty provided for 

 the demarcation of the boundaries by a joint com- 

 mission within a year. The two powers agreed 

 reciprocally to treat with consideration the native 

 chiefs who, having treaties with one of them, come 

 under the sovereignty of the other by virtue of the 

 treaty. In return for the renunciation of territorial 

 rights on the lower Niger, and in consideration also 

 of an agreement to throw open the French colonies 

 of the Ivory Coast and Dahomey to British trade 

 for thirty years at only the same rates of duty as 

 are charged on French goods (the English Govern- 

 ment giving the same undertaking in respect to its 

 colonies of the Gold Coast, Lagos, and the Niger 

 territories), the French obtain the lease for thirty 

 years of two bonded areas, not to exceed 50 hectares 

 each, one at the mouth of the Niger and one between 

 Leaba and the junction of the Mossi and the Niger, 

 and also a right of way from the latter across 

 British territory to some point on the French fron- 

 tier. This will enable the French to land, store, and 



transship goods destined for the interior of Dahomey 

 or for French territories on the middle or upper 

 Niger without payment of duties. 



The convention secures to France the chief object 

 held in view in the French policy and pursued with 

 pertinacity and extraordinary exertions and sacri- 

 fices, but till now constantly threatened by Great 

 Britain ; that is, the continuity of all the French 

 possessions in West Africa, the title to the whole 

 central part of the great shoulder of Africa. The 

 states of the central Soudan do not yet acknowl- 

 edge the suzerainty of any European power, and it 

 is still possible for the British, either from the Niger 

 or from Egypt, to cut off the French Congo from 

 the northern territories ; but since the English Gov- 

 ernment conceded to Germany the country of Ada- 

 mawa and the extension to Lake Chad, and since 

 Germany relinquished to France all rights east of 

 the Shari river, the French have already approached 

 Lake Chad with a line of posts from the French 

 Congo. Before the Anglo-French convention was 

 signed M. Gentil emerged after two years of explo- 

 ration in Central Africa, having established a post 

 at Krebedje, on the Tomy,a tributary of the Koama, 

 then crossed over to the Gribingi, a tributary of the 

 Shari, and explored both rivers and Lake Chad in 

 a steamer. The convention places in the French 

 sphere the country conquered by Rabeh and specif- 

 ically resigns to France all the shores of Lake Chad, 

 except a strip giving access to the lake of about 

 twice the length of the shore reserved by Germany, 

 all comprised between the point where the parallel 

 of latitude passing through Barua meets the shore 

 of the lake and the frontier settled between France 

 and Germany in the convention of Feb. 4, 1894. 

 Immediately after the signing of the convention 

 the British and French governments withdrew 

 their troops from the places in which their sover- 

 eignty was not sanctioned by the arrangement. The 

 French Chambers had not acted on the convention 

 when the period of six months fixed for its ratifica- 

 tion was nearly at an end, and consequently a new 

 convention prolonging the period for six months 

 was signed on Dec. 8. 



After the settlement of the boundary dispute the 

 British Government made arrangements with the 

 Royal Niger Company for the transference of the 

 territories to imperial administration. It was de- 

 cided to withdraw the charter and wind up the 

 company. The English forces that were released 

 by the conclusion of the agreement with France 

 returned to their interminable task of reducing to 

 subjection the savages of the Niger coast region 

 and compelling the more formidable rebel chiefs of 

 the Fulah tribes to observe their treaty obligations. 

 A part of the troops were sent to reassert British 

 power in the Sierra Leone protectorate. The French 

 military forces were set free for the accomplishment 

 of the final overthrow of Samory. A line of posts 

 was established along the Bandamma river through 

 Kong to the French Soudan, and another up the 

 Kornoe river through Bonduku and Bona. In the 

 spring Samory 's Sofas had held the French garrison 

 at Kong besieged for weeks ; but after the French 

 made Bona a base of operations for the junction of 

 the Ivory Coast and the Soudan and captured Si- 

 kasso, his power began to dwindle. Many of tin 1 

 Sofa chiefs were won over to the French, one after 

 another. When a double line of posts connected t lie 

 Soudan with the coast, Samory withdrew, with the, 

 followers who remained faithful to him, westward 

 across the Bandamma. Lieut. Woelfel with a force 

 of Soudanese tirailleurs disputed the passage of 

 the Cavally with him, and having the aid of the 

 inhabitants of the country, hemmed in the exhausted 

 and famishing Sofa army on Sept. 9, driving it into 

 a morass, where 30,000 prisoners were taken. Sa- 



