PAGE
LIEUTENANT HOURST[Frontispiece]
WASHERWOMEN OF SAY[xi]
MARKET PLACE, ST. LOUIS[1]
NATIVES OF THE BANKS OF THE SENEGAL[5]
NAVAL ENSIGN BAUDRY[15]
THE PORT OF DAKAR[21]
PART OF THE DAKAR ST. LOUIS LINE[24]
RAILWAY BUFFET AT TIVIWANE[25]
THE QUAY AT ST. LOUIS[26]
A STREET IN ST. LOUIS[27]
BUBAKAR-SINGO[27]
THE COOLIES ENGAGED AT ST. LOUIS[28]
THE ‘BRIÈRE DE L’ISLE’[30]
THE MARKET-PLACE AT ST. LOUIS[31]
GOVERNMENT HOUSE, KAYES[32]
ON THE SENEGAL[40]
EN ROUTE[41]
LEFEBVRE CARTS UNHARNESSED[42]
LOADING OUR CONVOY[43]
LIEUTENANT BLUZET[45]
CROSSING A MARIGOT[46]
WE ALL HAVE TO RUSH TO THE RESCUE[47]
OUR TETHERED MULES[48]
DOCTOR TABURET[51]
ARRIVAL AT KOLIKORO[53]
BANKS OF THE RIVER AT KOLIKORO[55]
REPAIRING THE ‘AUBE’[58]
TIGHTENING THE BOLTS OF THE ‘DAVOUST’[59]
PROCESSION OF BOYS AFTER CIRCUMCISION[59]
THE SACRED BAOBAB OF KOLIKORO[61]
THE FLEET OF MY EXPEDITION[63]
DIGUI AND THE COOLIES OF THE ‘JULES DAVOUST’[65]
MADEMBA[67]
YAKARÉ[70]
LARGE NIGER CANOES[72]
THE TOMB OF HAMET BECKAY AT SAREDINA[76]
SARAFÉRÉ[77]
A MOSQUE AT TIMBUKTU[83]
FATHER HACQUART[85]
WE LEAVE KABARA[91]
AT TIMBUKTU[92]
DROVE OF OXEN[93]
THE ‘AUBE’ AND HER CREW[95]
INTERVIEW WITH ALUATTA[108]
A LITTLE SLAVE GIRL OF RHERGO[109]
TUAREGS AND SHERIFFS AT RHERGO[110]
OUR PALAVER AT RHERGO[111]
ARRIVAL AT THE VILLAGE OF RHERGO[113]
TRADERS AT RHERGO[115]
SO-CALLED SHERIFFS OF RHERGO[116]
THE ‘DAVOUST’ AT ANCHOR OFF RHERGO[117]
POLITICAL ANXIETIES[119]
SAKHAUI’S ENVOYS[124]
OUR COOLIES’ CAMP AT ZARHOI[127]
OUR BICYCLE SUZANNE AMONGST THE TUAREGS[132]
OUR PALAVER AT SAKHIB’S CAMP[133]
THE VILLAGE OF GUNGI[135]
OUR PEOPLE SHELLING OUR RICE AT GUNGI[137]
SHERIFF’S HOUSE AT GUNGI[139]
WEAVERS AT GUNGI[141]
FATHER HACQUART AND HIS LITTLE FRIEND[143]
LITTLE NEGROES AT EGUEDECHE[145]
TAKING ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS[150]
TOSAYE, WITH THE BAROR AND CHABAR ROCKS[151]
THE ROCK BAROR AT TOSAYE[155]
THE TADEMEKET ON A DUNE ON THE BANKS OF THE NIGER[159]
PANORAMA OF GAO ON THE SITE OF THE ANCIENT GARO[169]
PALAVER AT GAO[171]
BORNU[180]
BABA, WITH THE ROCKS ABOVE ANSONGO[181]
THE KEL ES SUK OF ANSONGO REFUSE TO SUPPLY US WITH GUIDES[183]
DISTRIBUTION OF PRESENTS TO THE TUAREGS AT BURÉ[187]
THE ‘DANTEC’ EXPLORING THE PASS[188]
BURÉ[189]
CANOES AT BURÉ[190]
FLOCKS AND HERDS AT BURÉ[191]
GUIDES GIVEN TO US BY IDRIS[192]
PALAVER WITH DJAMARATA[195]
TUAREGS[198]
AN AMRI SHEPHERD[199]
TUAREGS[203]
A GROUP OF TUAREGS[208]
TUAREGS[211]
A TUAREG WOMAN[220]
A TUAREG IN HIS NATIONAL COSTUME[223]
TUAREGS[227]
TUAREG HORSEMAN[232]
MOORS AND TUAREGS[234]
A YOUNG TUAREG[239]
TUAREGS[245]
AN AFRICAN CAMEL[249]
AN ISOLATED TREE AT FAFA[250]
FAFA[251]
KARU WITH MILLET GRANARIES[252]
THE LABEZENGA RAPIDS[253]
THE ‘AUBE’ IN THE RAPIDS[258]
THE ‘AUBE’ IN THE LAST LABEZENGA RAPID[262]
LOOKING UP-STREAM FROM KATUGU[263]
THE CHIEF OF AYURU[264]
AN ISLAND BETWEEN AYURU AND KENDADJI[266]
A ROCKY HILL NEAR KENDADJI[267]
FARCA[274]
OUR SINDER GUIDES[276]
AT SANSAN-HAUSSA[279]
THE BOBO RAPIDS[283]
VIEW OF SAY[287]
CANOES AT SAY[291]
OUR GUIDES’ CANOE[294]
THE ‘AUBE’ AT FORT ARCHINARD[295]
VIEW OF OUR ISLAND AND OF THE SMALL ARM OF THE RIVER[297]
FORT ARCHINARD[301]
FORT ARCHINARD[303]
OSMAN[305]
PULLO KHALIFA[308]
A TYPICAL KURTEYE[309]
THE ARABU[310]
A FEMALE TUAREG BLACKSMITH IN THE SERVICE OF IBRAHIM GALADIO[315]
REPAIRING THE ‘AUBE’[319]
OUR MARKET AT FORT ARCHINARD[321]
MARKET AT FORT ARCHINARD[322]
A YOUNG GIRL OF SAY[324]
TYPICAL NATIVES AT THE FORT ARCHINARD MARKET[326]
WOMEN OF SAY[330]
FORT ARCHINARD[335]
OUR COOLIES AT THEIR TOILETTE[338]
A WOMAN OF SAY[340]
A NATIVE WOMAN WITH GOITRE[342]
A TOWER OF FORT ARCHINARD[346]
THE MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION AT FORT ARCHINARD[349]
OUR QUICK-FIRING GUN[355]
NATIVES OF SAY[356]
TALIBIA[360]
TALIBIA[362]
GALADIO’S GRANDSON[365]
THE ‘DAVOUST’ IN HER DRY DOCK[370]
TYPICAL MARKET WOMEN[375]
THE MARKET AT FORT ARCHINARD[376]
A WOMAN OF SAY[378]
ENVOYS FROM THE CHIEF OF KIBTACHI[380]
A COBBLER OF MOSSI[383]
FORT ARCHINARD[385]
A MARKET WOMAN[387]
A FULAH WOMAN[389]
LAUNCHING OF THE ‘AUBE’ AT SAY[392]
TAYORO AND MODIBO KONNA[394]
A YOUNG GIRL AT FORT ARCHINARD[396]
THE BURNING OF FORT ARCHINARD[401]
A YOUNG KURTEYE[402]
NATIVES OF MALALI[403]
ROCKY BANKS ABOVE KOMPA[405]
A FOREST ON THE BANKS OF THE NIGER[407]
THE BANKS OF THE NIGER NEAR KOMPA[409]
OUR COOLIES WASHING THEIR CLOTHES[415]
THE MARIGOT OR CREEK OF TENDA[418]
GIRRIS[426]
GIRRIS CANOES[431]
OUR GUIDE AMADU[437]
DJIDJIMA[441]
THE NIGER BELOW RUPIA[443]
A PALAVER[445]
THE SO-CALLED NIGRITIAN, THE OLD PONTOON OF YOLA[446]
VIEW OF BUSSA[447]
NATIVES OF BUSSA[448]
CANOES AT BUSSA[449]
WOMEN OF BUSSA[450]
WOMEN OF BUSSA[451]
TRUMPETERS OF BUSSA[452]
WOMEN OF BUSSA[455]
AMONG THE RAPIDS[458]
THE RAPIDS BELOW BUSSA[461]
AMONG THE RAPIDS[463]
GEBA[472]
RABBA[477]
IGGA[478]
MOUNT RENNEL ABOVE LOKODJA[485]
NATIVES OF AFRICA[497]
MEDAL OF THE FRENCH SOCIETY FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE[501]
MEDAL OF THE ‘SOCIÉTÉ D’ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE’[503]
MEDAL OF THE LYONS GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY[505]
MEDAL OF THE MARSEILLES GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY[507]
MEDAL OF THE CHER GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY[509]
NATIVES OF SANSAN HAUSSA[510]
GRAND MEDAL OF THE PARIS SOCIETY OF COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY[511]

[Map]

MARKET PLACE, ST. LOUIS.

THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER

CHAPTER I
AN ABORTIVE START

Dr. Henry Barth, the greatest traveller of modern times, our illustrious predecessor on the Niger, was a prisoner at Massenya. Loaded with chains, and in hourly expectation of death, he was still devoted to his work, and had the superb courage to write—“The best way of winning the blacks from their barbarism is to create centres on the great rivers. The civilizing influence will then spread naturally, following the water-highways.”

In his generous dream, which might be his last, he consoled himself in thinking that soon the ideas of tolerance and progress would advance by the river-roads, by the “moving paths,” as he called them, to the very heart of the dark continent. Perhaps the shedding of his blood might then further the cause of that humanity of which he was the apostle.

More than any other, perhaps, the Niger district lends itself to this idea of Dr. Barth’s. There it is, on the banks of the river, fertilized by timely inundations, that life appears to be concentrated. It is by following the streams and rivers, and crossing the lakes, that the forward march must proceed. The Niger, with its affluents and its lacustrine systems, still partially unknown, gives, even when only seen on the map, the impression of an organism complete in itself. As in the human body, the blood-vessels and the nerves carry the life and transmit the will of their owner, so does a mighty river with its infinite ramifications, seem to convey to the remote confines of a continent, commerce, civilization, and those ideas of tolerance and of progress which are the very life and soul of a country.