THE FRENCH SOUDAN 
UP TO DATE.—JANUARY, 1894. 
Compiled from the French accounts in 66 Le Temps 99 
(with permission.) 
BY 
CAPTAIN S. Pc OLIVER, late R.A. 
(Continued from No. 2, Vol. XXI., p. 54.) 
PART II. 
The Attitude op Tieba, the Almamy op Sikasso. 
On the other hand, events would evidently have turned out otherwise, 
if, at the moment when Colonel Humbert vigorously attacked Samory 
on the line of the Milo, the French ally, the Almamy of Sikasso, had 
taken the enemy in rear by a column which should have operated in the 
direction of Gueleba. Indeed, Tieba did not give the assistance ex¬ 
pected from him, and his warriors did not penetrate far enough within 
the State of Samory. It was even believed that Tieba was disposed 
to turn against the French and to make an alliance with Ahmadou and 
Samory. That which gave some cause for this belief was the erection 
of fortifications at Sikasso during the course of the year 1892, at the 
very time when his troops should have been operating against Samory. 
Besides, it is certain that he had entered into correspondence with them, 
as will appear presently. 
But it is always necessary to treat Africans in their own way, and 
not to judge of their conduct in comparison with that of Europeans ; 
and subsequently the events which determined the conduct of Tieba, 
at the time when Colonel Humbert marched on Kerouane, have come 
to light. 
It appears that Samory possessed, or at least had a great influence 
over, two large fortified villages, Tiongi and Fourou, which are situated 
at some hundred kilometres to the south-west of Sikasso, on the road 
which leads from the States of Tieba towards the regions then occu¬ 
pied by the French troops. When the French Resident at Sikasso, 
Lieutenant Marchand (who had succeeded Captain Quiquandon, who 
