Recent French Explorations in Africa 127 



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Castle of Insala 



Photo by Flamaiul 



completed a scientific examination un- 

 dertaken in order to discover the mate- 

 rial resources of the colonies. This 

 region consists of three botanical zones: 

 First, la sone sahelienne, characterized 

 by some species of the Sahara and by 

 rare underbrush growing on bare and 

 sandy soil; second, la zone soudanienne, 

 consisting in the main of plateaux of 

 laterite and covered from June to No- 

 vember by dense prairies or meadows of 

 tall grass and many kinds of herbs; 

 third, la zdne gidnienne, covered in the 

 lower regions by dense and impene- 

 trable forests and in the mountains by 

 meadows or by underbrush, as in the 

 zone of the Sudan. It is in this last 

 zone, between 9 30' and 1 1 ° 30' north 

 latitude, that there grows in such abun- 

 dance the Landolphia heudelotii, which 

 furnishes all the caoutchouc exported 



from French West Africa. In 1900 

 the colony of French Guinea exported 

 1,464 tons of caoutchouc. This figure 

 may be taken as the maximum produc- 

 tion of the region. 



In 1899 and 1900 the hinterland of 

 the Ivory Coast and French Guinea 

 was explored by M. Hostains and Cap- 

 tain d'Ollone. Ascending the basin of 

 Cavally, they gained Beyla, situated in 

 the upper basin of the Niger, and thence 

 proceeded to Konakry, the principal 

 town of French Guinea. They had 

 marched from the sea to within a few 

 miles of Beyla through the dense trop- 

 ical forest, often without a guide and 

 directed only by the compass. In the 

 midst of this luxuriant vegetation, 

 which hid everything from them, they 

 were attacked by the natives. For six 

 days they fought without resting, tak- 



