SAUGNIER^S VOYAGE* 
981 
narchs. Hence, though he had, at one time, 
eight princes in chains, he was obHged to release 
them, without deriving any benefit from so com- 
manding a position. In a state of violent chagrin 
he arrived at the colony, where it appears that he 
was generally considered as in a state of insanity. 
This insinuation he strenuously repels, yet admits 
that he drove from him all the inhabitants, black 
or white, conceiving them alike destitute of faith 
or honesty. Soon after, finding his health impair- 
ed, he set sail for France. In the preface to his 
narrative, he submits a plan for penetrating into 
the interior of Africa ; first, along the Niger to 
Tombuctoo, and then across the continent, either 
to Abyssinia, or to Mozambique. It does not ap- 
pear that the French Government felt any such 
zeal as could induce them to close with this pro* 
position. 
So far as can be judged from his narrative, 
Saugnier appears to have been a man of enter- 
prise and abilities, but of a violent, rash, and 
quarrelsome temper, which, by embroiling him 
with almost all who came into contact with him, 
finally rendered his schemes abortive. 
In consequence of the complete naval preponde- 
rance acquired by Britain in the course of the re- 
volutionary war, all the French possessions on the 
western coast of Africa fell into her hands. These^ 
