Recent French Explorations in Africa 123 



and thin patches of herbs for the camels. 

 Under the relentless sun 140 camels 

 perished in seven days. One hundred 

 and more carcasses, seen in 48 hours of 

 march, told Foureau, however, that the 

 native caravans suffered no less in this 

 fearful desert. February 24, 1899, the 

 expedition reached Iferouane, the most 

 northerly town of Air, having lost 400 

 camels, and with all that remained worn 

 to the bone. 



Foureau stayed three months at Ifer- 

 ouane to explore the oasis and to pur- 

 chase new camels, so that he might con- 

 tinue his march. But the Touaregs 

 stripped the country round about and 

 furthermore bulldozed the natives from 

 selling them anything. After a while 

 they did not hesitate to attack the 

 French caravan itself. They could not 

 stay forever at Iferouane, so on May 

 26 one party of the expedition began 

 the journey southward, carrying such 

 baggage as they could on the camels 

 that were still strong and leaving the 

 remainder to the care of an escort. It 

 was during their stay at Iferouane that 

 they experienced the severest temper- 

 atures of the journey, 115.7 Fahren- 

 heit, on May 19. 



When they reached Aquellal, situa- 

 ted 31 miles south of Iferouane at the 

 foot of a chain of mountains, the camels 

 were sent back to bring up the baggage 

 that had been left behind ; but they 

 could not carry everything, and much 

 that had cost them such pain and suf- 

 fering to drag so far had to be burned. 

 Meanwhile, the Touaregs were becom- 

 ing bolder and bolder, and attacked the 

 expedition again. On June 25 they 

 again started south across dry moun- 

 tains torn with ravines. The extremely 

 difficult and painful passage cost them 

 more camels and mules ; all the horses 

 that survived were turned into beasts 

 of burden, and the officers marched 

 afoot. Thus they gained Aouderas and 

 Agades. The natives of the country 

 everywhere adopted the same tactics — 



they concealed their supplies, and only 

 when repeatedly threatened gave them 

 out with great niggardness. 



At last they had crossed the Sahara ; 

 Tagama, covered with low brush, now 

 stretches before them; and later Damer- 

 gou, strewn with wide fields of millet 

 and clumps of gigantic jujub trees. 

 Under the shade of one of these trees 

 more than one hundred men could rest 

 with ease. On November 2 Foureau 

 reached Zinder, the most eastern of the 

 French posts in the Sudan, after hav- 

 ing crossed the Sahara from north to 

 south, from Algiers to the French pos- 

 sessions in East Africa. 



Watering the Horses at Lake Tchad 



Pholo by Foureau 



From Zinder the expedition proceeded 

 east toward Tchad in order to join two 

 other expeditions — one from the west, 

 commanded by Lieutenant Joalland,and 

 the other from the south, commanded 

 by M. Gentil. The union of these three 

 parties was to establish the French con- 

 trol over the region of Tchad and to 

 free the country of Rabah, a Moham- 

 medan conqueror, who for several years 

 had been ravaging this part of Africa. 

 Foureau marched along the north and 

 east shores of Lake Tchad. During 

 this journey he determined the contour 

 of the lake ; he reports that the level of 

 the lake varies as much as 40 feet during 

 the year. 



