118 
THE FRENCH SOUDAN. 
had exercised a great influence over Tieba), asked the Almarny to 
march against Samory, he experienced a certain hesitation if not a 
refusal. Incontestably Samory had been the enemy of Tieba, and this 
last well remembered the long siege of his capital, which cost the loss 
of many men and horses to his adversary. Without doubt Tieba did 
not forget the services which the French had rendered him by sending, 
in 1890, Bodian, the then new Fama of Segou, to the siege of the 
fortress of Kinian, which he had been besieging for a long time. But 
he knew also how the blacks fight in the Soudan, and he was unwilling 
to march against Samory until after having subdued Tiongi and Fourou, 
which were in a position to threaten his communications. 
Under pressure from the French Resident Tieba at length was per¬ 
suaded to send, in August, 1891, a strong column against Tiongi. 
This village resisted for a long time. Behind earthern walls of slight 
thickness the black inhabitants held out for several months against 
their assailants. These, in order to reduce the town, constructed all 
round it numerous stockaded blockhouses, of larger or smaller sizes, 
which they call sagnes, and which constituted a series of redoubts 
insuring the complete investment of the place. These sagnes were 
attacked and defended for some weeks. For Africans time is no object, 
and it is only with artillery that it is possible to reduce speedily the 
defenders of such fortifications. 
The siege of Tiongi, taking place during the winter, was an onerous 
undertaking for Tieba, who lost numbers of horses. Cavalry forms the 
principal element of the Soudanese armies, and a large force of cavalry 
is a sign of a chieFs power. Indeed, horses are dear and difficult to 
rear in the regions below the twelfth degree of latitude. The cam¬ 
paign against Tiongi, although it ended on the 7th September by the 
taking of the town, indisposed Tieba, and especially his following, for 
further operations. In spite of all the efforts of Lieutenant Marchand, 
he could not induce the Almarny of Sikasso to march against Samory, 
and even the relations of the French Resident with Tieba became 
strained so far that a rupture was apprehended. 
During this period intrigues were rife about the Almarny, to whom 
the French were depicted in the darkest colours. Some of his coun¬ 
cillors tried to excite his distrust of the French by insinuating that 
they had been the allies of Ahmadou and that they had then dethroned 
him ; that they had treated with Samory and then made war on him; 
in short, that after the fall of the Sultan of Segou and of the Almarny 
of Ouassoulou, it would be he, Tieba himself, who would in his turn be 
dispossessed of his States. 
Tieba did not permit himself to be influenced by these councils, and 
did not break off his alliance with the French; but, with a keen sense 
of his own interests, declared to Lieutenant Marchand that he would 
not proceed against Samory until after he had made himself master of 
Fourou. It was said by some that the French Resident had, perhaps, 
been over zealous in carrying out the instructions which had been 
given him. As it happened Tieba was not obliged to send his troops 
against Fourou; for, in May, 1892, this town opened its gates to 
Lieutenant Marchand, who went to Sikasso on his return from the 
