THE FRENCH SOUDAN. 
45 
One Samory, a warlike chief of Malinka origin, who had constituted 
a vast kingdom around Bissandougou, the capital of the province of 
Ouassoulou, had crossed the Niger, and was advancing towards the 
north with an imposing force. A native officer in the French Colonial 
Forces was sent to treat with the Malinka chief and proceeded to meet 
Samory; but the Al-mamy of Bissandougou received the French envoy, 
viz., Alakamessa, in such a manner, even menacing him with death, that 
the French troops under Colonel Borgnis-Desbordes at once became 
engaged with the contingents of Samory. 
On the 27th February, 1882, Samory was beaten at Keniera, and 
again at Oueyako on the 5th April, 1883, by Colonel Desbordes. At 
Kokoro, on the 13th of June, 1885, not only was he defeated by Com¬ 
mandant Combes, but his army was chased off the field and pursued 
with such vigour that his retreat became a veritable route, and the 
Malinka chief was barely able to continue the strife. However, it was 
only after the campaign of 1885-86, in which Lieut.-Colonel Frey 
crushed the troops of Malinkamory, one of his Lieutenants, at Fatako 
Djingo, that the Almamy of Ouassoulou requested for peace. 
Benewed Intrigues of Ahmadou. 
The treaty of 1886 with Samory marks the end of the first period of 
the French military operations in the Soudan. Having retreated to at 
least 200 kilometres south of the furthest French outposts, and occu¬ 
pied with the reconstruction of his army, the Almamy of Bissandougou 
ceased for the time being to constitute a danger to the new French estab¬ 
lishments. Samory was busily engaged in making devastating raids to 
the east and south of his states for the purpose of obtaining numbers of 
slaves which were necessary to procure food and arms for his troops. 
This treaty, in fact, was nothing more than a temporary suspension of 
hostilities; all the same it was of advantage to the French, inasmuch as 
it prevented the British from annexing to Sierra Leone the States of 
Samory. An agreement was actually signed by the British agents and 
the Almamy, but the French treaty of 1886 had the priority and the 
British Government readily recognised the French rights under the 
territorial arrangement of 1889. 
Peace, being thus assured at the south of the French possession in 
the Soudan, had another consequence, and this was the calming of the 
warlike propensities of the Sultan of Segou. Ahmadou incited by his 
followers, had, at the commencement of 1884, left his capital and pos¬ 
sessions on the Niger to settle at Nioro in the Kaarta, where he found 
himself more at home and in touch with the Toucouleur populations of 
the Senegalian Fouta, and in nearer contact with the French posts. A 
glance at the map will serve to show that, at Nioro, Ahmadou was 
better placed for making war than at Segou. Thus combining their 
efforts Ahmadou and Samory could advantageously act against the line 
of the French posts, by simultaneous attacks from the north and from 
the south. 
But the vigorous campaigns of Commandant Combes and of Colonel 
Frey having all but annihilated Samory at least for the time, Ahmadou 
resigned himself to remaining tranquil. And, still further, the senior 
