832 



WEST AFRICA. 



been built at Dakar capable of taking in the 

 largest war-ships, and heavy guns have been 

 mounted in the fortress. There are 1,500 miles 

 of telegraphs and 40 miles of telephones. A cable 

 will be laid between Dakar and Brest. 



The Military Territories are (1) the bend of 

 the Niger and the town of Timbuktu on the 

 northern bank, which has a population of 12,000, 

 with residences at Dori, Macini, and Yatenga; 

 (2) the district about the source of the Niger, 

 with residences at Mossi and Gurunsi; (3) the 

 district from Zinder on the Niger to Lake Chad, 

 including the river ports of Say, Koni, and Ma- 

 radi. The chief cultivated products in the upper 

 Njircr region are millet, rice, wheat, and earth- 

 nuts. Wild products are rubber and gum, which 

 are exported. The area of the military territories 

 is about 700,000 square miles, with 4,000,000 in- 

 habitants. The military forces in West Africa in 

 1JI02 consisted of 31 European officers, 3,043 Eu- 

 ropean non-commissioned officers and privates, 

 and 0,830 native troops; total, 9,910 officers and 

 men. In the region of Lake Chad there were 

 besides 140 European and 722 native troops. The 

 expenditure of France on West Africa amounted 

 to 15,574,173 francs, and on the Lake Chad terri- 

 tory to 1,793,021 francs in 1902. 



The Sultanate of Bagirmi, between Lake Chad 

 and the Shari, has an area of 65,650 square miles, 

 including tributary territory. A French Resident 

 was received at Massenia in 1897. Afterward 

 Rabah expelled the Sultan. He was defeated and 

 killed by French troops in February, 1900, and the 

 former Government was restored under French 

 protection. The Sahara has a normal population 

 estimated at 550,000. Including the Libyan desert, 

 the area is about 1,544,000 square miles. The semi- 

 civilized state of Wadai is about 170,000 square 

 miles in extent, with 2,000,000 inhabitants. 



In August, 1901, Capt. Dangeville with 230 

 Spahis of the Chad command marched 180 miles 

 in six days, often through water waist-high, 

 surprised Fadlullah, the son and successor of Ra- 

 bah, in his fort at Gudjba, killed him and 500 

 of his men, captured his brother Ebe and 1,500 

 men, and liberated 5,000 slaves, while the 

 French loss was only 1 man killed and 6 men 

 wounded. The defeat of Rabah had cleared away 

 the last formidable adversary of the French in 

 the Soudan, and now that the remnant of Rabah's 

 power was crushed they were for the moment 

 without enemies and had established their domin- 

 ion or influence over every country except Wadai, 

 the most powerful of the Mohammedan states, 

 with which the whites had as yet no communica- 

 tions. In Wadai a revolution occurred early in 

 1902. The Sultan Ahmed was overturned after a 

 fierce battle, and Mohammed Dudu, son of the 

 former Sultan Yussef, came to the throne. On 

 Nov. 9, 1901, a column of 200 men marching 

 toward Mao, northeast of Lake Chad, was at- 

 tacked by a band of followers of the Sheik el 

 Senussi. Capt. Billot and 5 men were killed, 

 while the assailants were repelled with heavy 

 loss. Lieut.-Col. Destenave thereupon established 

 a post in Nguri and one in Ngagana, the latter 

 in touch with the post on the Shari. The chief 

 was supposed to belong to the Senussi sect that 

 is the most active and influential religious body 

 in this part of Africa. Later it was believed that 

 the incitement to the anti-Christian movement 

 came from a certain sheik called el Senussi, who 

 was a brother-in-law of Ratmh. The French 

 have endeavored to cultivate good relations with 

 the Senussis, and the head of this sect has never 

 countenanced hostilities against Christians or 

 pagans. The Senussis are influential among the 



desert tribes of the Sahara, have been predomi- 

 nant in Wadai for ten years, and in the central 

 Soudan they have opened schools, the greatest 

 number among the Tubus of Kanem, northeast of 

 Lake Chad. These were the people who attacked 

 the French party. On Jan. 20, 1902, the French 

 were attacked again, and both sides lost severely. 

 Instead of fleeing at the first onset, as the blacks 

 do, the Arabs charged the French square repeat- 

 edly and fought till they were "practically exter- 

 minated, standing before the fire of the artillery 

 and the bayonet charge that was necessary to 

 secure the victory. The French captured the 

 town of Bir Alali, the home of the chief whose 

 followers had attacked them, and established a 

 post there, giving him back his town uninjured 

 as a proof that peace and friendship were wanted 

 rather than hostility. Messengers were sent to 

 Sidi-el-Mahdi, the head of the Senussis, asking 

 him the meaning of the hostile attitude of his ad- 

 herents in Kanem. He replied in March that the 

 aggressive acts were not committed by his desire, 

 that he wished to be on friendly terms with the 

 whites. Sidi-el-Mahdi, who was a brother of Mo- 

 hammed-el-Mahdi, the late head of the sect, who 

 died in 1895, and a son of Mohammed-el-Mahdi, 

 its original founder, who died in 1860, died him- 

 self in the summer, and designated one of his 

 nephews as his successor, his children still being 

 too young. The Arabs and the Sahara tribes 

 were made uneasy by the presence of the French 

 in Kanem, whether the Senussis, who have hither- 

 to confined their efforts to peaceful missionary 

 and reformatory labors, were or were not the in- 

 stigators. On June 1 the garrison at Bir Alali, 

 near Lake Chad, was attacked by 1,000 Tuaregs, 

 who were repulsed with a loss of 100 men, and 

 returned to the upper Ubangi. The post of Gov- 

 ernment Commissioner at Lake Chad was abol- 

 ished in July and the territory was made a prov- 

 ince of the French Congo, and thus placed under 

 civil rule. In dealing with the organized semi- 

 civilized states of the Soudan the Government pre- 

 ferred to have the action of military officers 

 under the control of the Governor-General of the 

 Congo. A further advance eastward toward Wa- 

 dai in the face of such resistance requires a 

 stronger force than the French had on the ground. 

 The question of communications is the most im- 

 portant one. The French some years ago en- 

 deavored to make themselves masters of the 

 principal caravan routes in the rear of Tripoli 

 and Benghazi. The project was abandoned be- 

 cause the Turks strengthened their garrison in 

 Tripoli. The good understanding since reached 

 with Italy regarding Tripoli prevents any re- 

 newal of the efforts to make this part of the 

 Sahara French. The route from the Congo is 

 the shorter, but it is an impossible one on ac- 

 count of the long distances where human por- 

 terage is necessary. Large quantities of ammu- 

 nition have been 'brought to Say from Senegal 

 by railroad and steamboat. The French were dis- 

 satisfied with this route to the central Soudan. 

 The boundary which they obtained from Ihe 

 British, following an arc 100 miles from Sokoto. 

 appears to leave them nothing but desert. This 

 was not yet known because the exact location 

 of Sokoto was uncertain. The trade with the 

 Soudan has always been carried on over the des- 

 ert by the Arab merchants of Tripoli. It is for 

 this reason mainly that the French desire to be 

 on friendly terms with the Senussis, as tlnM- 

 control the caravan routes. The trade with Boniu 

 was destroyed by Rabah. who devastated and 

 depopulated the country and seized the stocks 

 of the Tripolitan merchants. 



