136 
THE FRENCH SOUDAN. 
given, and the men turned out; but they had scarcely got into position 
when a volley was fired into them. This was at once replied to. On 
fire slackening, an advance was made, when a wounded prisoner reported 
that the attacking party was that of Lieutenant Maritz, consisting of 
30 Senegalais tirailleurs and 1200 natives of Kissi. 
Lieutenants Liston and Wroughton, West India Regiment, and 
Captain Lendy, of the Constabulary, were killed in action, together 
with Sergeant-Major Carraher and six privates ; whilst Sergeant-Major 
Field and 1 7 privates were wounded. Lieutenant Maritz was rendered 
all possible surgical assistance, but died at noon on the same day. 
The whole affair was due to a wretched mistake, and the friendly 
relations with our neighbours, the French, are not likely to be disturbed 
by this lamentable occurrence on the debateable frontier line. Siuce 
this affair at Warina another petty collision between French and the 
Colonial Constabulary of Sierra Leone has been reported as taking 
place in Samoh, north of Free Town ; but no importance need be at¬ 
tached to such a trivial affair. Some excitement, however, seems to 
have prevailed at Monrovia in consequence of the French flag having 
been hoisted on the Cavally river, at the eastern extremity of Liberia. 
There is no doubt that the French will turn this river to better account 
than the Liberians can possibly do, and it is altogether beyond our 
British sphere of action and influence, but the left bank only is in their 
territory. 
Occupation of Tjmbuctou. 
Let us now turn from the south-west to the extreme north-east of 
the Soudan-Fran^ais. 
It has been shown above how Kayes (marked on English maps as 
Medine) had been selected as the capital of the French Soudan, of 
which province M. Albert Grodet was appointed Civil Governor, with 
Lieut.-Colonel Bonnier as senior commanding officer of the military 
forces in the district. On the 12th November, 1893, when the season 
favourable for operations set in, the annual expeditionary column, under 
Colonel Bonnier, left Kayes towards the east, where the Almamy of 
the Sofas was reported as having fixed his quarters. It was not, how¬ 
ever until the 6th and 7th of December that the French troops came 
up with their old enemy, Samory, and two engagements took place on 
these two successive days, on the last of which the Almamy again 
nearly fell into the hands of his pursuers, being only saved by the 
speed of his horse; and after the fight the French encamped at Fara- 
gare, where the river Koli-Koli 1 flows into the magnificent Lake Dhebo, 
into which the Niger debouches, and it now became known to the 
troops that their objective was Timbuctou, towards which capital their 
next marches were directed. 
Meantime there appears to have been no little rivalry between the 
flying column on shore and the flotilla of gunboats on the river as to 
which branch of the service the honour of first entering the capital of 
the Touaregs and the great mart of the Sahara should belong. Natur¬ 
ally Lieutenant Boiteux, of the gunboat Mage , commandant of the 
i “ Oulou-Oulou” on French map. 
