128 
THE FRENCH SOUDAN. 
Tenesso-Koba and Amara lost their state war cloaks, 20 valued captives, 
all their papers, Korans, and their wives, etc. A few of them who 
managed to cut through, including the mother of Amara, joined Samory 
himself on the Dion, after having barely escaped capture by a detach¬ 
ment of Spahis under Lieutenant Hautecloque, who hotly pursued 
them. The old Bilali encountered a similarly bot reception, in the 
same fashion, shortly afterwards. 
So in less than three months the expeditionary column had cleared 
of all Sofas the whole country west of the Milo river. The remnants 
of the large masses of troops which Bilali and Tenesso-Koba had 
so long maintained on the Upper Niger were destroyed, and by the 
construction of the posts of Farannali, of Erimankono, and Kissidougou, 
the Soudan was in a position to prevent Samory from easily providing 
himself with arms and ammunition from the English traders of Sierra 
Leone. 
At the beginning of April Colonel Combes ordered the return of 
the column to Senegal. But previously he visited the posts newly 
established, selected a locality for the Residency on the Kissi, and 
despatched Captain Briquelot with Doctor Gallas and 100 tirailleurs 
to completely explore a route wholly within French territory which 
should open up communication with the coast. Accordingly Captain 
Briquelot set out on the 8tli April from Farannali, and reached Konakry 
without encountering any opposition. 
It is to be remarked that this notable campaign, which only lasted 
three months, and achieved such important results, cost the life of one 
European alone, a soldier of the Foreign Legion, who was killed at the 
taking of Fidaoua. 
Colonel Archinard’s Operations in Segou and Macina. 
Whilst these events were transpiring in the south of the French 
Soudan, events of serious importance were taking place in the north¬ 
west region. Colonel Archinard, who arrived in the Soudan on the 
23rd January, soon learnt the death of Mounirou, the Sultan of Macina, 
to whose throne Ahmadou, that old antagonist to the French, imme¬ 
diately succeeded. He at once made a hasty tour of inspection and 
proceeded as soon as possible to Nioro, the capital of the Kaarta, 
where a re-organisation of the provincial administration was necessary. 
He found the country quiet, the fields being cultivated and trade with 
the Moors of the Sahara desert in full operation. Nioro, in fact, is an 
important trade centre. The nomadic tribes of the desert come there 
to sell their herds of cattle, their gums, salt from the Saharan salt¬ 
licks, etc., and such is the importance of the commerce that the value 
of the customs dues collected on the sales of cattle, horses, and salt 
alone is estimated at 400,000 francs annually, i.e., £16,000. 
The populations of the Kaarta is estimated at from 50,000 to 60,000 
inhabitants, with 1000 oxen and 300,000 sheep. Indeed, Captain 
Sansarric, commanding the district, after a very careful survey of the 
locality, puts the numbers of inhabitants at 150,000. Such a discrepancy 
may appear surprising, if it was not well known that the black people 
greatly dread the imposition of a capitation tax, and resent all inquiry 
