THE FRENCH SOUDAN. 
47 
The Campaigns oe 1888 to 1891. 
The general situation of the Soudan became considerably modified 
towards the end of the campaign of 1888-89. At first all happened to 
go right. The new commandant. Major Achinard of the Marine Ar¬ 
tillery, had only to carry out the programme of his predecessor. He 
continued the construction of the railway from Kayes to Bafoulabe 
with its prolongation towards Badoumbe, and he sent Lieut. Jaime to 
make a second trip down the river to Timbuctoo. In the midst of these 
undertakings occurred the affair of Koundian. 
Koundian is the fortress which the Hadji Omar had constructed on 
the banks of the Bafing river, previous to beginning his conquest of 
upper Senegal and the upper Niger. The Toucouleurs had continued 
to occupy it although it was in the very heart of the French Soudan 
possessions (from this point to Bafoulabe it is not more than 80 kilo¬ 
metres), and affairs would have remained quiet had it not been that the 
garrison claimed total independence, and moreover collected, for their 
own benefit, passage dues on the caravans, stopped the merchants and 
insisted on their paying a ransom before proceeding. 
In the course of the year 1888, the garrison of Koundian were 
warned to put an end to these obstructions which they offered to com¬ 
merce, but this warning remained unheeded, and it was duly notified 
to them that should they persist in these exactions, serious proceedings 
would be taken against them. 
In spite of this the Toucouleurs continued their depredations and to 
the demand of their submission, which was addressed to them by Col. 
Achinard, they answered by menaces. All parleying or delay was out 
of the question, and Koundian was shelled and taken by assault after a 
stubborn resistance. 
The fall of the old citadel of the Toucouleurs was made the occasion 
by the councillors of Ahmadou to exercise a pressure upon the son of 
the Hadji Omar, and to determine how to make war upon the French 
In truth, this war was brought about by intrigues between Abdoul 
Boubakar, a Toucouleur chief of the confederation of Fouta, and Samory, 
the former enemy of the French. Ahmadou now made his dispositions 
for engaging in a serious war with the French. He married all his 
daughters, in order to ensure the adhesion of the Toucouleur chiefs, 
because their marriages humoured their pride; and he consolidated 
his alliance with Abdoul Boubakar and Samory. The first undertook, 
with the Toucouleurs of Fouta, to attempt to cut the French communi¬ 
cations with Senegal; whilst from Nioro, from Segou, and from Bissan- 
dougou separate columns were to operate simultaneously against the 
French posts on the Niger and upper Senegal rivers. 
Ahmadou Driven out of Segou and Nioro. 
Colonel Achinard at once comprehended that in order to disorganise 
thoroughly this triple alliance it was necessary to strike speedily at the 
centre, and to isolate Ahmadou from the Toucouleur states and from 
the valley of the Niger, by leaving him on one side at Nioro, whilst he 
was operating against Segou. In this region, moreover, the popula¬ 
tions were excited against the French; and a rising of the Bambarras 
