diff options
Diffstat (limited to '77071-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 77071-0.txt | 3435 |
1 files changed, 3435 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/77071-0.txt b/77071-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..de78b0e --- /dev/null +++ b/77071-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3435 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77071 *** + +[Transcriber's note: This article has been extracted and prepared from +_The Geographical Journal_, v. 56, 1920.] + + + + + THE EXPLORATION OF TIBESTI, ERDI, BORKOU, AND ENNEDI IN 1912-1917: A + Mission entrusted to the Author by the French Institute + + Lieut.-Colonel Jean Tilho, Gold Medallist of the R.G.S. 1919 + + + _Read at the Meeting of the Society, 19 January 1920. Map following p. + 160._ + +[_Note: The names in the text are spelled in accordance with the +manuscript of Colonel Tilho, a few of the principal names—as Chad—in +their English form, but the greater number in the French transliteration +of Arabic. On the accompanying map the names are transliterated +according to the G.S.G.S. rules for transposing from the French to the +British system. The retention of the French spelling in the text has the +double advantage of familiarizing the student with the two systems, and +of preserving in some degree the character of the lecture, which was +delivered in French._—ED. _G.J._] + + +=1. Object of the Mission.= + + +BEFORE I begin my lecture, allow me to express once more, in your +presence, my heartfelt gratitude to the Council of the Royal +Geographical Society for the high recompense accorded me on the occasion +of my last journey in Central Africa. + +It is of this journey, its chief incidents, and most important results, +that I am about to have the honour of giving some account. Let me first +of all explain to you, in a few words, what, from a geographical point +of view, was the object of my expedition. + +Explorations in Central Africa, made during the second half of the +nineteenth century and in the beginning of the twentieth, had left +unsolved a very interesting problem: it had been noticed that the level +of vast stretches of desert, several hundred miles north-east of Lake +Chad, were considerably lower than that of the lake—the difference +amounting in some places to 260 feet; besides this, a wide continuous +trench, offering the appearance of an old valley—the Bahr El Ghazal—led +from the lake to this low-lying ground, and seemed to stretch far away +to the north-east, between the mountain groups of Tibesti and Ennedi. On +proceeding towards the north-east, an increasing analogy is to be +noticed between the malacological fauna of the Chad basin and that of +the Nile. Besides which there had been found recently, in the waters of +the Chad, a shrimp till then only found in the Nile basin—the _Palæmon +Niloticus_, Roux. In short, all these signs appeared to confirm the +supposition that the basin of the Chad was not a closed basin, but +belonged to that of the Nile, and was a former affluent of the old river +on whose banks had sprung up and flourished one of the most brilliant +and ancient civilizations of the world. + +This was the hypothesis that the French Institute wished to have +investigated, and in the early part of 1912 I had the honour to be +chosen to undertake the necessary researches. May I tell you how the +mission thus entrusted to me fulfilled my dearest wish? From my early +youth I had felt myself irresistibly drawn towards Africa, and I was +filled with a desire to take a modest share in the discoveries of great +explorers, whose intrepid expeditions had revealed to the civilized +world some part of the mysterious and immense dark continent. + +You doubtless remember how vague, some thirty years ago, was our +knowledge of that part of the world. At that time—which now seems so far +away even for those then living—I had for chaplain at the grammar-school +a holy man who was an ardent patriot; in his Sunday sermons he used to +talk to us a little of our duty to God, and still more of our duty to +our humiliated country, which was waiting and meditating, as it +laboured, on the possible reparation of the iniquities of 1871. His +voice, sad at first while he spoke of our disasters and the sufferings +of our lost provinces, soon grew eager and thrilled as he showed us the +new way to be taken by children, as we then were, to raise the prestige +of our flag: he would speak to us of that mysterious Africa, half +revealed by Livingstone, Stanley, and Savorgnan de Brazza; and I fancy, +after these thirty years, I still hear the sound of the name of +Savorgnan de Brazza re-echoing through our humble chapel and thrilling +like a bugle-call. Then, of an evening in the class-room, I would ponder +over the map of Africa, where amid great blank spaces appeared in the +centre of the continent a few geographical features, one of which, +coloured in blue, Lake Chad, possessed a singular fascination for me. + +Some years later, on leaving Saint-Cyr, I began to look forward to the +realizing of my dream: after a first campaign in Madagascar, I was sent +out to serve on the banks of the Niger in 1899; and since that date each +successive campaign in Africa allowed me to push a little further +eastwards, and so get to work on a fresh item of the programme I had set +myself to carry out: to establish an accurate geographical liaison +between the basins of the Niger, the Chad, and the Nile, and unite by a +great transversal line the extreme ends of the routes followed by +Nachtigal to Tibesti, Borkou, Wadai and Dar Four. + +In 1912 I was ordered to take command of the province of Kanem for the +purpose of preparing a projected expedition against Borkou, where the +Senoussists had established their chief centre of agitation and anti- +French propaganda, and whence they periodically sent out plundering +expeditions, which spread ruin and desolation among the peaceful tribes +placed under our protection. About the same time, the Académie des +Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres entrusted me with the mission I mentioned +above, concerning the supposed connection between the basins of the Chad +and of the Nile. Of this latter expedition, which lasted five years +—1912-1917—I now propose to give you a _résumé_. + + +=2. From Congo to Borkou.= + + +_From Congo to Lake Chad._—I do not think there would be any real +interest in a detailed account of my journey to Kanem; I followed a +route pretty well known, the Congo-Ubangi-Shari route. We left the +steamer at Matadi, at the foot of the cataracts, and took the Belgian +railway which leads to Kinshassa on Stanley Pool, at the head of the +cataracts; from there, after crossing the Congo to land at Brazzaville, +we proceeded on a river-steamer, first up the Congo itself, and then up +its tributary the Ubangi, as far as Bangui. Farther up, lighter steamers +enabled us to surmount the rapids and reach Fort De Possel, a little +post built on the right bank at the point where the Ubangi changes its +course. From Fort De Possel we went by land to Fort Crampel, covering +nearly 160 miles of the zone which divides the waters between the basins +of the Congo and the Chad. A fine road for motor-cars was being +completed when I passed, but the only means of transport was carriers on +foot. At Fort Crampel we embarked in small boats and descended the +Gribingui till it falls into the Bahr-Sara, taking farther down the name +of Shari; from thence we proceeded on a river-steamer up the Shari till +we reached the Chad, and crossed over to the post of Bol, on the +northern shore of the lake; and finally, in four more stages, we reached +by land the town of Mao, the military and political centre of Kanem. + +This journey, which takes about twelve or fourteen weeks, according to +the season, is very interesting for travellers, and especially for +sportsmen, who find opportunity for exercising their skill on game of +all sizes, from the elephant and the lion to the modest guinea-fowl. I +may mention that when I passed by the banks of the Shari, the +remembrance of the exciting hunts of the celebrated aviator Latham, +killed by a buffalo, was still fresh in every one’s mind; but does any +one remember Latham now? We should notice that this line is still far +from comfortable, and that the ever-present danger of catching the +sleeping sickness through the myriads of glossina-flies that may sting +the traveller, spoils all the pleasure one would feel in beholding the +splendid landscapes of tropical rivers flowing beneath the shady arches +of the quiet forests. + +_A Year in Kanem_ (1912-1913).—I will pass briefly over the twelve +months’ period of my command in Kanem and the neighbouring districts. My +daily task—military, political, administrative, and judicial as well—was +such that the days seemed too short for the business to be done. It must +be said indeed that the Kanembus, the Budumas, the Toubous, and the +Arabs of this region may be reckoned among the most quarrelsome and +litigious people one can imagine. + +But the great matter was to be informed in time of the Senoussist raids, +and when that could not be done, to discover and cut off their retreat +towards their distant haunts; but we had to do with old stagers of the +Sahara, who knew admirably well to wait for the right moment, and beat a +rapid retreat with their booty once the thing was done. + +Another important matter was the material preparation for the expedition +planned against Borkou and Tibesti, where the Senoussists assembled +their bands of brigands, and where they concealed their booty: camels, +horses, cattle, and, above all, women and children, carried off into +slavery. + +The secrecy of this expedition was ensured through the simple fact that +our enemies’ spies had so often announced the formation and imminent +setting out of a punitive column, as to render the Borkou gentlemen +quite incredulous of its possibility; they were startled, however, when +in July I led a reconnoitring party to the extreme limits of our +frontier, but as I retraced my steps without going beyond this line, +they were confirmed in their opinion that we should not dare to attack +their fortress of Ain Galakka, and they recommenced more boldly than +ever their incursions and plunderings among our villages and our tribes. +For this reason, when, in the early November of 1912, Colonel Largeau +came and assumed the command of an expeditionary column, our departure +for the north-east was not considered by the Senoussists of Borkou as +more threatening to them than any reconnoitring party of the preceding +months had proved to be. + + +=3. In Borkou.= + + +_The Conquest of Borkou._—Our expedition consisted of 400 black +soldiers, with two mountain-guns; about 200 Arab and Toubou volunteers, +forming a “goum” or party of scouts, accompanied the column. We carried +with us provisions for forty days, and the total number of our camels +was about 2000. By a rather extraordinary piece of good luck, our +forward march was not disturbed by the enemy. The season was favourable, +the days not being over-hot, and the nights fairly cool; the usual +temperature at sunrise was about 60° Fahr., but a very strong wind, +blowing from the north-east and raising blinding clouds of sand, made it +seem a great deal colder. Our march was skilfully concealed as far as +Kourouadi, a point from which we could threaten the fortress of Ain +Galakka as easily as that of Faya. There, after allowing the troops a +day for rest and final preparation, it was decided to strike a decisive +blow at Ain Galakka, the principal centre of the Senoussist forces. + +Our column, leaving its convoy a dozen kilometres in the rear, under a +guard of fifty men, appeared before Ain Galakka on the morning of 27 +November 1913; the enemy were completely surprised. The attack began by +a bombardment of no more than about a hundred shells, which did great +damage inside the _zawia_, and made in the outer wall many a breach for +the infantry to pass through. The assault was opened at ten o’clock; the +defenders, though not numerous, offered a vigorous resistance, +preferring to die rather than surrender; by mid-day the entire fortress +was in our hands. We had about forty casualties, of which a third were +killed. + +[Illustration: THE COLUMN HALTED AT THE WELLS OF KOUROUADI, BORKOU] + +[Illustration: THE FORT OF BERRIER-FONTAINE, OASIS OF FAYA] + +[Illustration: ROCKY COUNTRY BETWEEN THE OASES OF YARDA AND BÉDO, +BORKOU] + +[Illustration: DANCE OF THE NAKAZZAS, OASIS OF FAYA, BORKOU] + +Leaving our wounded in Ain Galakka with a small garrison, we marched on +the _zawia_ of Faya, which we entered without striking a blow on +December 1. Thence proceeding still farther into the desert, we reached +in a week’s time Gouro, a point 200 kilometres north, the religious and +political centre of the Senoussists in Central Africa, which was seized +after a short struggle. Then, continuing its successful march towards +the east, the column took possession unopposed of the oasis of Ounianga, +60 miles from Gouro, and leaving a small garrison there we returned to +Faya, the best place to be chosen for the military and political centre +of the newly conquered territory. + +_Importance of the Conquest of Borkou._—This laborious campaign had the +very important result of depriving the Senoussists of the valuable _tête +de pont_ on the south side of the Sahara which Borkou constituted for +them, enabling them to distribute over Central Africa arms, ammunition, +and propagandists of the holy war. + +The great value of our conquest appeared plainly a few months later, +when the German Emperor let loose on the world the most awful war that +ever convulsed the Universe: a Germano-Turkish mission, headed by Nuri +Bey, a brother of Enver Pasha, the Turkish Minister of War, landed in +Cyrenaica for the purpose of organizing, with the help of the +Senoussists, an outbreak in Central Africa against the protectorates +of France and Great Britain. This would have been an easy matter if our +enemies had been able to establish their headquarters in Borkou, for +they would then have been only a few hundred miles from German Bornou on +one side, and on another from Dar Four and Dar Sula, which showed a +certain hostility towards us. There is no doubt that, in this case, the +Anglo-French campaign in the Cameroons would have been conducted in very +different circumstances; when we take into consideration the large stock +of arms and ammunition prepared by the Germans in their colony, and the +care they had taken to fortify the mountain of Mora, we may suppose that +the German staff had hoped to establish by main force a continental +junction between the Cameroons and Turkey, through Kanem, Borkou, and +Libya, in case of the communication by sea being cut off. And I do not +think I shall betray any State secret by informing you that the Chad +territory, with its modest resources in men and ammunition, would have +been very difficult to defend with any chance of success against such an +attack. I may also add that, had the Turco-Germans been able to +accomplish their design, the result would have been exceedingly perilous +for Franco-British rule throughout the whole of Dark Africa. + +By uniting, under my command, our frontier territories of the Libyan +desert, the French Government’s aim was to constitute a force able to +resist any attempts that might be made to retake from us the excellent +base of operations that Borkou afforded. + +_Four Years in Borkou_ (1913-1917).—I do not think it would be of any +great interest to lengthen this geographical lecture by explaining to +you the difficulties of every kind that I was obliged to overcome during +about four consecutive years, in order to fulfil the military task +allotted to me. As Borkou produces little else but dates, and Ennedi +scarcely anything at all, I was compelled to procure from Kanem and from +Wadaï the corn, meat, and other food-stuffs necessary for the +maintenance of my civil and military subordinates. Now, the organizing +of the commissariat transport became more and more difficult every six +months; the want of pasture along the roads we had to take, the +incessant raids of the nomads and the counter-raids of my troops, caused +irreparable losses among our camels. From the end of 1913 to the first +months of 1917, the activity of the rebels was so great, owing to the +instigation of the Turco-Senoussists, that my troops could get no rest. + +_A Bird’s-eye View of the Country._—When on leaving the shores of Lake +Chad we proceeded towards the north-east, we first entered into a sandy +region, with parallel valleys running between grassy downs that rose to +a height of not more than 300 feet: this was Kanem, the country of corn +and cattle, where subterranean water abounds and where it is easy to +live. + +After marching for about 100 miles, we left this fertile country and +dropped quite suddenly into the desert itself, with its dull, empty, +vague horizons, so monotonous that the slightest details interested us, +such as a line of stones on the sand, the sight of a crescent of sand- +dunes, or a poor, solitary, half-dead shrub; also our passing through a +meagre pasturage of dusty _had_ was quite an event, or the discovery in +the distance of a few green bushes of _siwak_, till we reached the +wells, where we were to rest all day long, to lead the camels to drink, +and renew our own provision of water, which was often brackish and evil- +smelling. This was the deceptive desert of the Lowlands of the Chad, the +region I mentioned above as being lower in level than Lake Chad itself. + +After a further march of about 250 miles we entered the country of +rocks; at first scarcely visible above the sands, they soon rose in +sharp peaks that looked like mediæval ruins, and then shot up into long +steep cliffs bordering rugged plateaux, that formed ledges one above the +other to the foot of the mountains: this was the region of Borkou, +Tibesti, and Ennedi, the very heart of the desert, situated at almost +the same distance from the shores of Lake Chad, the Nile, and the +Mediterranean. This rocky belt forms, from the Tripolitain to Dar Four, +a long broken wall, encircling on the north-east the basin of the Chad, +which it divides from the dismal and unexplored waste of the Lybian +Desert. Tibesti and Ennedi form the highest and almost inaccessible +parts of this region, while another part, Borkou, consists of a wide +depression between the basins of the Chad and of the Nile. + + +=4. The Oasis of Borkou.= + + +_Faya._—The _zawia_ of Faya had been chosen as the military and +administrative centre of French Borkou, in preference to those of the +Senoussists (Ain Galakka and Gouro), because it offers the least +unfavourable lines of communication with the garrisons of Gouro, Fada, +and Ounianga, and the best position for joining Borkou by wireless +telegraphy to the nearest post of the Chad territory, 350 miles to the +south. + +The huts of the Senoussist _zawia_ sheltered us from the sun and the +sand-storms, but they were in such a state of ruin and decay that we +were obliged to begin at once and make bricks—unbaked, of course. +Unluckily, for constructing our buildings we were obliged to depend on +the work of the few black soldiers who were not employed in exterior +operations; so that many months elapsed before we could build a +sufficient number of habitable houses, and complete the detached works +of our defensive arrangements, including three rows of rope network, +supposed to be barbed, by means of the addition of long thorns from the +date-trees. + +The landscape from the summit of the square donjon which overtopped the +fort, though wanting in charm and beauty, was not without a style of its +own; the post was built in the middle of a broad valley, closed in on +the east, but opening spaciously towards the west; its rugged, steep, +rocky sides plunging into shifting sands and wind-swept dunes, each dune +curved into the form of a crescent. + +At the foot of the fort the axis of the valley was delineated by fine +rows of date-bearing palms, about 500 yards wide by 20,000 long, broken +at intervals by heaps of moving dunes. On either side of the palm-grove +there stretched green meadows, which looked as though they would afford +fine pasturage for cattle, but which in reality were covered with sharp, +hard grasses and herbs of no nutritive value: the most characteristic +and the least bad was _akul_, a regular little bush of sharp thorns, +which the camels would eat, but not without making a funny grimace at +every mouthful. + +All along the valley there lies a sheet of subterranean water, which +rises in some places so near to the surface that the gazelles and +jackals easily slake their thirst by scraping away with their feet a few +inches of the soil; here and there, indeed, a little stream of water +flows out of the sand, and runs a few yards towards a neighbouring +depression, and little pools are formed in natural or artificial hollows +made in the soil. + +These jackals and gazelles are the only wild animals found in Borkou; +the latter are quite unapproachable by hunters, while the former remain +hidden in the daytime, but come in bands at night, yelping round the +villages, and penetrate boldly into inhabited enclosures to seek their +prey. So cunning are they that they avoid the most ingenious traps the +natives can set. The lion, the panther, the hyena, and the wild boar +never pass beyond the desert boundaries of Kanem and Wadaï; even the +antelope and the ostrich, though bearing thirst so well, cannot venture +so far into the Sahara. + +The winged domestic tribe is seen among the villages in the shape of +rare squads of lean fowls; and flights of turtledoves and pigeons roost +in the palm trees. A graceful species of sparrow, with black plumage and +white tails, fly in and out of the rocks, and even come into our +clayhouses; they sing like nightingales when building their nests, and +chirp like sparrows while they watch their young beginning to fly. All +round the inhabited houses the black crows may be heard croaking: they +are extremely audacious, whether attempting to snatch pieces of meat +roasting before a kitchen fire, or settling on the back of a wounded +camel and tearing off with their beaks morsels of bleeding flesh. + +Snakes are fairly common, the largest being hardly more than a yard in +length and one or two inches thick; the most dangerous is the short +bulky viper that lies hidden in clumps of grass, and whose bite is fatal +even to camels. Scorpions abound, generally of a greenish hue, sometimes +black; their sting is very painful, and may be eventually mortal to +women and children. + +Amidst the rocks one may find a curious eatable lizard, the “dundou”; it +is inoffensive, but when it does bite, it bites so fiercely that the +only way of making it let go is to pinch its tail sharply, either with +pincers or with one’s teeth. + +There are very few domestic animals save the ass and the goat; but small +herds of oxen manage to cross the desert from November to February, when +cool days, pools remaining from the rainy season, and the scanty +pasturages of grasses produced here and there by the few summer showers +allow them to pursue their march by short stages. + +Where the animal kingdom exhibits its greatest vitality, however, is in +the insect world: the common fly, dirty and worrying, rules despotically +by day, together with gad-flies and big stinging flies of a pretty +greenish hue. At nightfall, the very time when one might enjoy a little +rest on the terrace of the houses, moths, coleopters, locusts, +dragonflies, and bugs become very lively, and whirl madly round the +table where a light is shining, so that it is far preferable to dine +lighted only by the moon and the stars. When there is no wind at night +there are swarms of mosquitoes, and also of a kind of little sand-fly +that pass between the meshes of the best mosquito-nets. + +[Illustration: SANDSTONE ROCKS NEAR ORORI, BORKOU] + +[Illustration: ROCK DRAWINGS, OASIS OF YARDA, BORKOU] + +[Illustration: SANDSTONE ROCKS ATTACKED BY MOVING DUNES, OASIS OF YARDA, +BORKOU] + +_Cultivation._—The soil indeed is not very fertile, which is the reverse +of the account given of most oases in the north of the Sahara. It is +especially favourable to the cultivation of the date-bearing palm, which +loves to have its foot in the water and its summit in the burning sun, +but does not stand rain well. The first dates ripen in the month of May, +while the latest are gathered in September; they vary in size, and are +dark or light in colour according to their variety, but nearly all are +of a very good quality, as sweet and fleshy as one could wish. The +greater part of the crop is put to dry, while the most luscious are +gathered into heaps and pressed into goatskins, to be carried to Wadai +and Kanem and other places farther off. + +After the date-gathering the natives prepare their gardens for the +sowing of corn, which takes place in November and December. The ground +is arranged in small squares, ingeniously adapted for irrigation; but +the produce is meagre owing to the want of manure; this is remedied, to +a certain extent, by an addition of virgin soil, containing more or less +soda, which is fetched from some distance on donkey-back. The gardens +are intersected with long parallel hedges, which shelter the ears from +the withering violence of the north-east wind. The harvest is gathered +in towards the end of March, and a short time later the ground is +prepared for the sowing of millet, which yields a still smaller crop +than the corn. When we add that in some gardens there grow a few onions +and tomatoes, as well as a kind of spinach, scarcely appreciated +anywhere but in Borkou, we shall have enumerated nearly all the +available food-stuffs of the oases. + +I must not forget to mention that the Senoussists had succeeded in +importing to Gouro and Faya some fig-trees and a few vines; and on our +side we managed to acclimatize the sweet potato, a precious resource +which came from Kanem. We were less fortunate in our repeated attempts +to acclimatize French vegetables, which succeed so well in the +neighbourhood of Lake Chad during the cool season; the poverty of the +soil, the want of manure, the extreme dryness of the north-east wind, +the voracity of the grasshoppers and other destructive insects, were no +doubt the causes of our lamentable failure as agriculturists. + +_Winds and Rain._—In the heart of the Sahara, where rain is so rare a +meteorological phenomenon, the wind is the high arbiter of each day’s +weather. The weather is fine when the wind is light, and bad when it is +strong; in the latter case nothing is to be seen but whirling columns of +sand, raised by the north-east wind, blowing in stormy gusts and +covering the whole landscape with a thick dry mist of brownish dust that +penetrates everywhere and is very painful to the eyes, so that one does +well on such occasions to wear motor-goggles to avoid ophthalmia. These +north-east winds blow more or less violently for a great part of the +year, sometimes for a few hours only each morning, sometimes for whole +days and nights. I may say that we were able to note a fair correlation +between the oscillations of the curves of the registering barometer and +thermometer and the force and duration of these winds; they usually +coincide with low temperatures and high atmospheric pressure, while the +light winds or the dead calm accompany low pressure and high +temperatures. Taking as a basis the information furnished by the +natives, borne out by our four years of regular observations, it may be +said that, as a general rule, the north-east wind reigns supreme over +Borkou and the neighbouring districts from October to May or June (that +is to say, from about the autumnal equinox to the summer solstice); +whereas in July, August, and September still weather prevails, +alternating with gentle west-south-westerly winds. + +It is these latter winds that bring with them from the Atlantic what +little moisture nature measures out each year so parsimoniously to these +dried-up lands. Then the sky clouds over almost every afternoon, but +one’s hope of refreshing showers is vain; the heat thrown up from the +scorched ground, and the rapidly rising temperature through which the +raindrops fall towards the earth (a rise of about 3° Fahr. per 1000 +feet), are enough to bring about their more or less complete evaporation +before they reach the ground, and one sees long frayed streaks of grey +cloud trailing almost along the ground, like unravelled skeins of wool, +from which a few rare drops fall on the thirsty earth. When we took +possession of Borkou the inhabitants assured us with one voice that it +had not rained in their country for eleven years, thus putting back the +date of the last rain to the year 1902; by a curious chance our entry +into Faya (on 1 December 1913) was greeted by a little shower of utterly +unlooked-for rain. The inhabitants saw in this downfall (unusual not +only for that region, but for that season of the year) a happy omen for +the rainy season of 1914, an omen which was realized, for in the month +of August 1914 we had the satisfaction of registering about 90 mm. of +rain at Faya. In 1915 the rainfall was hardly worth mentioning, and in +1916 about 35 mm. + +Though Borkou is more than 300 miles south of the Tropic of Cancer, and +very low-lying (650 feet above sea-level), the heat is really excessive +only for six or seven months of the year, from mid-March to mid-October. +During our observations, extending over three years, the maxima +registered in the hot season never exceeded 117° Fahr., but temperatures +of 110° to 115° were frequent. During the cool season, from December to +February, the minima sometimes fall below 50° Fahr. without ever getting +down to freezing-point. The dryness of the air is very noticeable from +November to June, when a difference of more than two to one may +regularly be observed between the simultaneous indications of the dry +and wet thermometers: for instance, when the former stands at 44° C. the +second often reads less than 20°. On the other hand, in August and +September, under the influence of the winds blowing from the Atlantic +Ocean, the air becomes very damp and the heat grows stifling. + +In spite of its excessive heat, the climate of Borkou is comparatively +healthy; very relaxing during the hot and damp season, it is extremely +pleasant in the months corresponding to our autumn and winter. During my +stay, lasting from 1913 to 1917, none of my European fellow-workers had +any serious illness, and my black troops, though kept hard at work in +the shape of arduous reconnoitring and escort duty, and with barely +enough to eat, showed a percentage of sickness and deaths below the +average of the other garrisons throughout the Chad Territory. + +_Population and Commerce._—The population of Borkou consists of nomads, +the Tedas and the Nakazzas—the great nobles of the desert—and of a +sedentary tribe, the Dozzas, who are only half noble, for want of the +few camels whose possession would enable them to take a share in the +profitable plundering raids in the desert. There is also a third +category of inhabitants, the Kamajas, half serfs, half slaves, whose +duty it is to attend to the gardens and the plantations of palms, and +who are profoundly despised by the other two categories. The total +population of Borkou would not appear to exceed some ten thousand souls, +distributed among a score of more or less flourishing palm plantations. + +The commercial activity of the oases of Borkou is far from negligible; +they export towards the south salt, soda, and dates, and receive in +exchange cereals, butter, cattle, and smoke-dried meat. Caravans of two +hundred camels may often be seen coming to load up with salt at the +Arouelli salt-pits near Ounianga; and Arab caravans pass by on the way +from Cyrenaica, by Koufra and Sarra wells, importing to Wadai stuffs, +sugar, coffee, tea, mercery, and (in time past) arms and ammunition; and +exporting principally millet, butter, smoked meat, hides raw or tanned, +ostrich feathers, elephants’ tusks, and so forth. The slave-trade, +formerly carried on through Borkou between Wadai and Cyrenaica on a +great scale, has almost entirely ceased since we took possession of the +country. + + +=5. Exploration of the Western Borders of the Libyan Desert: Ounianga- +Erdi= + + +After drawing up the map of the western part of Borkou, subsequent to my +reconnaissance in March and April of the various oases that succeed one +another between Faya and Ain Galakka on the south and Gouro on the +north, I devoted the last quarter of 1914 to an exploration of the +unknown regions situated further east. Over and above their geographical +interest, the said regions were of great military importance. My object +was, in fact, to ascertain whether a counter-attack by the Senoussists, +starting from Koufra and crossing the Libyan desert, could easily hope +to escape the vigilance of our camel-corps patrols and fall on the +remoter borders of Borkou and Ennedi. + +_From Faya to Ounianga._—With this intention I left the oasis of Faya on +1 October 1914, at the head of a small escort, taking with me only some +thirty lean camels tired and mangy, only capable of short stages and of +carrying light loads. The result was that I spent nine days in covering +the 117 miles between Faya and Ounianga, a journey that offers no +difficulties and is usually completed in five or six stages. The points +at which water may be found are frequent—at least one every 20 miles—and +permanent; but grazing-grounds were almost non-existent at that time in +consequence of the eleven years’ drought the country had just suffered +from. The rain that had fallen in August had, it is true, made a few +green blades spring here and there, and they were eagerly snapped up by +our camels as they passed; but they were still so scattered among the +broken rocks that they rather emphasized than diminished the desolate +barrenness of these dreary solitudes. From place to place, round a +water-hole, one found a few wretched acacias, bushes of _rtem_ or tufts +of _akrech_. By chance one would come across what had once been a field +of dried-up _hâd_ whose thorny branches were grey with dust; but in a +general way the landscape was disappointingly bare, and I wondered +anxiously how long my camels would hold out on this starvation diet. + +The route passed alternately through hamadas of sandstone, the blackened +rocks of which emerged from irregular dunes, and through sandy plains +into which one sank, raising thick clouds of dust finer than ashes. We +did not meet a living soul on the way, except a detachment going back to +Faya, and a little caravan consisting of two delegates of the Grand +Senoussi coming from Cyrenaica on their way to Fort Lamy as an embassy +to the commander of the territory. I spent an afternoon with them near +the wells of Eddeki, and so had the pleasure of offering them tea. The +chief delegate, Si Mahmoud Sheikh, was a Khoan of fairly high rank in +the Senoussist confraternity. His appearance was that of a good +Mussulman “brother” by no means indifferent to the good things of this +world; fifty years old, and of a fine corpulence, he had a fair but +sunburnt complexion, grey hair, a black beard, a round face, thin lips, +small eyes, and a sensual nose. He was dressed all in white, walked with +gravity, and spoke little. His attitude, free from arrogance, was not +without a touch of awkwardness, and his reserve concealed but ill his +uneasiness about the fate that might await him during his long journey +among the infidels. + +His companion, Abdallah Ghariani, was younger and of a very modest rank +among the Khoans. He had a jovial, bustling manner, and talked volubly, +but his eyes were sly and shifty. While we drank tea flavoured with +mint, he boasted of the pacific intentions of Ahmed Sherif, insisted on +the desire of the Confraternity to maintain active commercial relations +between Cyrenaica and the Wadai, and on the necessity for suppressing +the Toubou brigandage that hindered the march of the caravans. In +conclusion, he declared that he had eaten no meat for a long time and +begged me to make him a present of a small quantity of smoke-dried +meat—a precious commodity in the desert, where the resources of hunting +do not exist. + +[Illustration: NATURAL CISTERN, ERDI] + +[Illustration: THE PEAK OF DIMI (600 m.), ERDI] + +[Illustration: THE PEAKS OF DOURDOURO (1000. m.), ERDI] + +_Ounianga._—I reached the valley of Ounianga on October 9 in the +morning, and was not a little astonished at failing to see the palm +plantation till the moment of entering it; for, unlike those of Borkou, +which can be seen from a distance, the oasis of Ounianga is hidden in a +rocky excavation some 30 yards in depth and 4 or 5 miles long by 1 or 2 +wide. The landscape thus formed is incomparably picturesque: a great +sheet of calm water with blue shadows, edged with rosy-tinted beaches of +sand, and fringed with green palm-trees stretched within a circle of +bare wind-carved sandstone whose sombre hues cast here and there, under +the blazing sun, warm shadows glowing with red or gold. + +But it must be recognized that in spite of its beauty the palm +plantation of Ounianga is but wretchedness, gloom, and disappointment. +The inhabitants, known as Ounias, are few—some hundreds at most. On the +other hand, millions of flies fiercely exercise their buzzing activity +for fourteen hours a day on man and beast. The soil is unfruitful, and +produces hardly anything but dates. The foodstuffs necessary to +life—cereals, butter, smoke-dried meat—are brought at great cost by +caravans coming from Abéché to seek the supplies of salt from Arouelli +needed by the inhabitants of Wadai. Even the camels cannot live in the +neighbourhood for want of enough pasture, and from this cause our little +garrison had the utmost difficulty not only in getting supplies, but in +fulfilling the mission of watching the approaches of the frontier, and +especially the great road from Koufra that emerges from the Libyan +desert in the region of Tekro Arouelli. + +It occupied at the north end of the lake a little rectangular fort, +solidly built, but surrounded at a short distance by rocks that blocked +the view and overlooked it to the north and east. It had not been +possible to find a more favourable site, offering at the same time +extensive views and an easily accessible water-supply. + +I devoted two days to different tasks (inspections of the garrison, +interviews with the Ounia chiefs and with two Khoans, former governors +of the country in the time of the Senoussist domination, and so forth), +and set out again on October 11 to visit the last water-points before +entering the Libyan desert. + +The Libyan desert is still almost completely unknown, no European +traveller having been able as yet to cross it from side to side, whether +from north to south or from east to west. In 1870 Gerhardt Rohlfs +visited the northern part, as far as the oases of Koufra; a quarter of a +century later British officers penetrated the south-eastern region as +far as Bir Natrun, about 200 miles west of the Nile. On our part, we +have been able to explore the south-western district and to obtain in +respect of the central part fresh information, which it will not be easy +to verify and extend until the French, British, and Italian governments +combine in organizing for that purpose a geographical expedition, which +would be of considerable scientific and even political interest. + +I first took the direction of the salt-pits of Arouelli, situated 28 +miles to the northwards, where I met a caravan that had just loaded up +with 30 tons of salt for the Wadai markets. The salt-bed lies at the +bottom of an absolutely bare sandy depression, covering some 25 acres. +The bed of salt, which is only about 6 or 8 inches thick, is on the +surface, and more or less mixed with sand. The water-bearing stratum +lies at a depth of 5 or 6 feet, and the water is naturally very salt. +The water, rising to the surface by capillarity, evaporates, forming the +salt crust that the caravans carry away in pieces, and which the natives +of the Wadai and the countries bordering on it consume without further +preparation. If one may trust the information supplied by the Ounias, +the salt crust forms again about three months after being taken away, so +that the output of the Arouelli pits would amount to nearly 100,000 +cubic metres of salt annually, an output sufficient to satisfy the +culinary needs of more than ten million people, and worth on the spot, +as prices were before the war, some fifteen million francs. + +From Arouelli I went eastwards to fix the position of the well of Tekro, +where there is also a deposit of salt which is not worked, the admixture +of sand being too great. The well of Tekro is particularly important, +because it is situated at the extremity of the great caravan route +joining the Mediterranean to the Soudan by the oases of Koufra and the +well of Sarra. The water is abundant and fairly fresh, but the +vegetation is reduced to a hundred clumps of siwak and a few tufts of +grass of no value for the feeding of camels. + +_The Route towards Koufra._—Between Tekro and Koufra the distance to be +covered is about 350 miles, about half of which had just been +reconnoitred by Lieutenant Fouché, commanding the garrison of Ounianga. +Marching in a general direction north-north-east he had first crossed a +rocky zone of slight elevation, spending four hours in doing so; then +for two days he traversed an immense sandy plain, bare of all +vegetation, with here and there stretches of rock surface level with the +ground; broken lines of rocky heights were visible in the distance to +east and west. These heights went to join the plateau of Jef-Jef, in the +direction of which he marched for twelve hours during the third day. On +the fourth, he found himself in a vast plain from which the Djebel +Habid, 50 miles away to the east, can be seen during the first few +hours. The fifth day ranges of moving sand-dunes that served as +landmarks for the guides were observed to the north-west, and at last, +at nightfall on the sixth day, he reached the well of Sarra, lying in a +hollow running from south-west to north-east and 30 metres deep. + +The site of the well was chosen by the revered Sidi el Mahdi about 1898, +and the works began almost at once. The boring, all done with picks and +crowbars, was effected in hard reddish sandstone, by gangs of six +workmen, relieved every month, and supplied with food and water by an +endless succession of camel-convoys. At the end of eighteen or twenty +months of uninterrupted work the water was at length found, clear, +fresh, and abundant, at a depth of 80 yards, and since then the crossing +of the Libyan desert has become relatively easy, the longest stretch +without water being reduced to about 180 miles, whereas it was formerly +almost 300. From the well of Sarra to Koufra the distance to be covered +is only about 160 miles and offers no further difficulties, thanks to +the intermediate well of Bechra. + +What makes the journey from Ounianga to Koufra particularly troublesome +is the total absence of pasturage for 500 miles, a state of things that +results in the loss of many camels on every journey. The only good +pasturage in the whole region is said to be found 80 or 100 miles to the +east of the Sarra well, in the Djebel El Aouinat, an unexplored mountain +mass of an extent not exceeding 1500 to 2000 square miles, as I am +informed, and whose altitude may be roughly put at from 4000 to 5000 +feet. It goes without saying that I only give these figures as a mere +indication, and as subject to caution in every respect. + +The break in continuity between the surveys of Rohlfs from the +Mediterranean to Koufra and ours from the Wadai to the well of Sarra is +consequently reduced to about 180 miles; but this gap does not seem +likely to be bridged before Italy proceeds to an effective occupation of +the oasis of Koufra, which falls within her sphere of influence. + +Having ascertained the site, depth, and value of the Sarra wells, +Lieutenant Fouché, in accordance with his instructions, set himself to +march back to Ounianga, but the return journey was particularly +dramatic. For from the very first day his guide led him directly south, +instead of marching south-south-west. One is justified in supposing that +he meant to lead astray in the desert the detachment whose camels were +so exhausted that everybody went on foot, and whose store of water was +limited to a little less than a gallon a day per man. Astonished at this +unaccustomed deviation, the lieutenant drew the guide’s attention to it, +but the latter answered: “Do not be uneasy, we are on the right road.” +But when he judged that the column was far enough from the tracks left +by the outward journey, he replied to a fresh observation made by the +lieutenant: “You are probably right, for I no longer see my usual +landmarks; but if you would lend me a camel and a skin of water, I would +go and find our tracks of the other day, and as soon as I had found them +I would come back to look for you.” The lieutenant thought it wiser to +turn guide himself, and, compass in hand, he put himself at the head of +the caravan, with what anxiety may be guessed! An error of direction of +a few degrees—quite a usual thing in marching by the compass with no +natural landmarks—might work out at a matter of 15 miles in a distance +of 180, that being the distance to Tekro. And the well had to be found, +in the immensity of the desert, before the detachment’s scanty water- +supply gave out! The black soldiers’ thirst was aggravated by the +crushing heat; reduced to a daily ration of a little less than 4 quarts +of water, they no longer ate any solid food. The camels, grown weak, +slackened their pace. The men, uneasy at not coming across their traces +of the outward journey, thought themselves hopelessly lost. Their feet, +swollen with weariness and made painful by the burning sands, seemed +incapable of carrying them to the end of that interminable plain, torrid +and unchanging, where the air vibrated as it vibrates above an +overheated stove, creating all along the route deceptive mirages, +ceaselessly dissolving and reappearing. After a while some of them lost +heart and wanted to stop, preferring to wait for death where they were +rather than go on with an aimless march. The lieutenant tried to cheer +them up by singing the praises of his compass, and promising them that +on the morning of the seventh day the three familiar rocks near the well +of Tekro should appear before them on the horizon. Incredulous, but +respectful, they betook themselves again to their journey, advancing +automatically behind the camels as exhausted as themselves, and by some +miracle, on the promised day and at the promised hour, they saw faintly +outlined against the far horizon the rocks of their salvation! A few +hours later, bivouacked round the well of Tekro, the brave fellows who +had just covered 350 miles on foot in fourteen days in conditions of the +utmost hardship, had forgotten their weariness and were contemplating +with respect, on the lieutenant’s table, the “good little iron” that had +saved them from the most horrible death. + +As for the guide, he was left unmolested, his criminal intention not +being susceptible of absolute proof. It was the wisest course to take, +for by punishing him without proofs, all we should have gained would +have been to terrify men whom we might need later on! In the desert, the +best guides may have their weak moments! + +_From Tekro to Ounianga._—From Tekro I came back to Ounianga, and +continuing eastwards by the lakes of Little Ounianga and N’Tegdey I +reached the salt-pits of Dimi, after crossing a chain of little sand- +dunes about 50 feet high, stretching from north-east to south-west, and +extending from 5 to 6 miles in breadth. This salt-pit lies in a sort of +huge circle of rock, in the middle of which rises an isolated conical +peak 500 or 600 feet high. It seems to me more extensive than that of +Arouelli, but the salt from it does not seem to be so much in demand, on +account of the very large proportion of sand it contains. The result is +that it is hardly used by any one except the natives of Ennedi, who have +only three days’ journey to go in order to get a supply of it. The +grazing, though by no means abundant, was less scanty than in the +regions I had just come through, and my skeleton-like camels could eat +their fill, for the first time in a whole month. + +From the top of the rocks of Dimi my Ounia guide, Sougou, pointed out to +me in the east the almost horizontal lines of cliffs forming the most +westerly point of the mysterious plateaux of Erdi. The word “Erdi” means +in the language of the Toubous “expedition, razzia,” and would appear to +have been applied to that region from time immemorial because it served +as a meeting-place for the bands of raiders who put the caravans to +ransom and pushed their raids as far as northern Dar Four and Kordofan, +and sometimes even to the valley of the Nile in its middle reaches. +According to the guide, rocky tablelands were to be found there, of an +altitude comparable with that of Ennedi; the rains were less rare than +in Borkou, the grazing-grounds for camels abundant, and the points where +water could be found were hidden away in gorges difficult of access, +little known, and hard to find the way to. For his own part, he hardly +knew any except those of Erdi-Dji and Erdi-Ma, separated by a distance +of 70 or 80 miles. + +I hesitated some time before continuing my journey towards this region, +whose very name was unknown till now; my water-barrels only gave me a +reserve of some thirty gallons, and my men’s skin bottles were so +corroded by the salts of sodium they had transported that they were +empty after twenty-four or thirty-six hours’ march. My camels, thin, +worn out, and more and more mangy, could not do more than 20 miles a +day, and I only had at my disposal ten days’ supplies for my detachment, +so that any error on my guide’s part might put me into a critical +position. + +_Erdi._—In spite of everything I resolved to make the attempt, trusting +in fortune to ensure its success. In two marches we succeeded in +reaching the foot of the cliffs of Erdi-Dji, 750 feet high and about +2000 feet above the sea. We found there good grazing for the camels, and +from that day onward we had abundant fodder at each successive stage, so +that I was delivered from the dread of seeing my indispensable beasts of +burden waste away from inanition. The water was no less abundant, and +was found in natural cisterns hollowed out by waterfalls in the beds of +dried-up torrents that came down from the plateau. Some of these +cisterns contained nothing but sand; but it was enough to bore a hole 1 +or 2 feet deep in the sand to obtain a sufficient store of water. + +From the top of the cliffs all that could be seen was an immense +plateau, slightly undulating, and rising gradually towards the north- +east. Beyond the line of the horizon some dozen miles away, there rose, +as our guide told me, other cliffs; but all I could do was to take note +of that information without being able to verify it. + +Continuing our route eastwards along the foot of the cliffs, we reached +five days later the region of Erdi-Ma, decidedly higher than that of +Erdi-Dji: the highest altitude I had the opportunity of measuring +exceeded 3000 feet. Our bivouac was installed at the entrance of the +gorges of Dourdouro, where very picturesque natural cisterns are to be +found containing abundant quantities of water withdrawn by the positions +of the enclosing rocks from the drying action of sun and wind. During +the whole of the way thither we did not see a living soul, any more than +in the neighbourhood of Dourdouro. + +My guide never having gone beyond that point, it was impossible to push +my investigations further. Besides, I had now only four days’ supplies +left, a fact which obliged me to change my direction and make for Wad +Mourdi, on the northern border of Ennedi, where I was to receive fresh +supplies. I had eventually to be satisfied with determining the position +of this point and measuring a few heights while we were renewing our +store of water before starting again after a day’s rest. + +This expedition, though limited to the south-western border of the +massif of Erdi, revealed some interesting facts about the configuration +of the country towards the 18th degree of latitude north and the 23rd +degree of longitude east of Greenwich; the altitudes increased from west +to east, and it seemed likely that the massif of Erdi was connected in +one direction with the mountains of Tibesti by the plateau of Jef-Jef, +and in another with the still unknown massif of El Aouinat, situated +approximately between the 22nd and 23rd degrees of latitude north and +the 24th and 25th degrees of longitude east. + +Later information gave me a few further indications about western Erdi, +where two water-points were found; one Bini-Erdi, about 80 miles north- +east of Dourdouro, and the other, Erdi-Fouchini, some 60 miles north of +Dourdouro, at the foot of a line of tall cliffs. The deduction may be +allowed, for the time being, that the central tableland of Erdi offers +altitudes presumably superior to 4000 feet, and that it slopes gently +down on the east to the great sandy plain, without vegetation or water, +across which passes the route from El Aouinat to Merga, a route that +establishes direct but very difficult communication between Koufra and +Dar Four, to the east of the 24th degree of longitude. + +_Between Erdi and Ennedi._—In leaving Dourdouro to march southwards I +was going into the unknown. I could, no doubt, see in front of me, 40 +miles away, the crests of northern Ennedi, at the foot of which I was to +find the water-points of Aga and Diona; but to seek the said points +without guide in the chaos of rocks was a risky undertaking, and might +have been held unreasonable if the way our supplies were running short +had not obliged me to go forward. + +A vast depression, stretching from south-south-west to north-north-east +and of an average breadth of some 30 miles, separated Erdi from Ennedi; +it was the depression I heard spoken of earlier as a prolongation of +that of the Bahr El Ghazal, through which Lake Chad once poured its +waters into the lakes of Toro and Djourab, and consequently that by +which the basins of the Chad and the Nile might in ancient times have +entered into communication. That being so, I took the utmost care in +examining the region and determining the altitudes. The lowest point was +found about 30 kilometres from Dourdouro. Its altitude was 1750 feet, or +1000 feet higher than that of Bokalia at the north-eastern extremity of +the Djourab. The slope was therefore from north-east to south-west, as +was confirmed by the shape of the ground and the general direction of +the valleys running into that depression, and I was able to conclude +that if an ancient river once flowed in the bottom of that broad valley, +which is hardly likely, it ran, not towards the Nile, but towards the +lowlands of the Chad. By this evidence, one of the most important items +of my geographical programme was fully elucidated: the basin of Lake +Chad constitutes in the centre of Africa a closed basin which has never +been connected with the basin of the Nile. The lake zone, now dried up, +consisting of Kanem, the lowlands of Lake Chad, and Borkou, was once the +outlet for the affluents of Lake Chad and for many great rivers coming +down from the mountain mass of Ennedi, Erdi, and Tibesti. Its outline at +successive periods—an outline in all probability very irregular—might be +indicated by the hypsometric curves 270—260—250 metres, adopting for the +Lake Chad of to-day the altitude of 240 metres. Its extent at that +period must have been comparable with that of the Caspian Sea at the +present day, and its greatest depth some hundred metres. + +In the evening of the second day’s march, when we were drawing near the +foothills of Ennedi, we had not yet found any well, and our tiny store +of water was used up. But spying in the west a notable gap in the line +of hills, I thought we should be likely to find a water-point there, and +profited by the coolness of the night to try to reach it. At dawn we +came out on a fine river, dried up, where we got a little water by +digging holes in the sand. By good luck our guide, Sougou, recognized +that we had reached Oued Mourdi, where he had come by another route some +six months earlier; thanks to which discovery, after a little search we +were able to bivouac beside the well of Diona. + +If I had had time and means, it would have been extremely interesting to +explore up to its starting-point the great depression I had just +crossed, a depression which perhaps comes down from the region of Merga +in the heart of the Libyan Desert, where the natives agree in declaring +that there exists a little lake surrounded by a palm plantation. The +probable position of Merga is between the 25th and 26th degrees of +longitude east and 18th and 19th degrees of latitude north. This oasis +is situated on the direct route from Ennedi to Dongola, about 200 miles +from the last water-point of Ennedi (Gourgouro). + +[Illustration: FRENCH SUDAN + +Map to illustrate the WORK OF THE MISSION TILHO in TIBESTI, BORKU, ERDI +AND ENNEDI + +THE GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL, AUG 1920. + +_Modified Polyconic (1/M. International Map) Projection._ + +_Published by the Royal Geographical Society._ + +TIBESTI Tilho] + + +=6. Exploration of Ennedi.= + + +Having reached the well of Diona on 11 November 1914 in the morning, I +was joined next day by the camel-corps section of Borkou and Ennedi, +which brought me fresh supplies and were charged with the mission of +getting into touch with the nomads of eastern and central Ennedi, who +refused to acknowledge our authority and committed acts of brigandage on +our lines of communication. A few patrols in the neighbourhood having +made it clear that the rebels had decamped before us and taken refuge on +the high plateaux, the camel corps under the command of Captain +Châteauvieux climbed the heights of Erdébé, where they began an active +pursuit of the rebels. At the same time I reconnoitred the water-point +of Aga, 30 miles further east on the route from Erdi to Dar Four, a +route followed at that period by a certain number of Senoussist +emissaries on their way to exhort the Sultan Ali-Dinar to join in the +Holy War! For it will be remembered that Turkey had just at that date +entered into the war against us, and that the plan of the German general +staff included a vast Musulman rising destined to drive the French and +British out of their African possessions. + +_Eastern Ennedi._—Finding no traces of the rebels at Aga, I rejoined the +camel corps in their occupation of the cisterns of Keïta on the plateau +of Erdébé, and until the end of November our reconnoitring columns +explored the labyrinth of gorges and rocky valleys over which the +refractory natives had scattered, without offering serious resistance +anywhere. The cold was beginning to be rather unpleasant, especially +when the north-east wind blew, but the thermometer did not fall as low +as zero. The water-points were extremely numerous, a fact which favoured +the break-up into small fractions of the rebel bands, whose chief +anxiety appeared to be the getting of their herds of camels and oxen and +their flocks of goats into a safe place. They did not seem to worry much +about their women and children, and let us capture them with the +serenest unconcern, being well aware that we should do them no harm, and +that their sustenance would be assured for the time being by our black +troops, always glad to leave the preparation of the daily cousscouss to +the other sex. To conclude this series of operations we had to fix the +limits of eastern Ennedi. An expedition was sent to Bao, 60 miles +southwards, the last water-point in the region, and thence to Kapterko +in the south-east, where a few rebels were captured. Another expedition +fixed the position of the well of Koïnaména some 50 miles east, and went +a stage further, to the beginning of the great plain without water or +vegetation that stretches out of sight to the eastward. + +The general physiognomy of the country was that of a rocky tableland +intersected by a great number of valleys, more or less deep, and gorges, +separated by many little jagged chains of sandstone running in all +directions, and varying in height between about 200 and 500 feet. All +those depressions are covered with grass and shrubs, affording excellent +pasturage for the hillman’s flocks. Of plants useful for human food we +found gramineæ such as the Kreb and Anselik; what is more, the soil of +the valleys was literally covered in places with water-melons and +colocynths. Though I found no traces of tillage anywhere, I even had the +surprise of noticing from time to time hardy stalks of the wild cotton +plant, some reaching 6 feet in height. + +Almost every year at the end of the rainy season temporary rivers flow +through these depressions, some of them turning northwards (and +consequently tributaries of the Chad basin), the others southwards, +where they once used to feed some great tributary of the Nile basin. +Numerous pools formed during the rains hold out for a longer or shorter +time in the flats of the more considerable of these valleys, while in +the narrower parts the water is stored in natural reservoirs, more or +less hard to get at, hollowed in the sandstone by the falling waters as +each torrent makes its way down from one ledge to the next. + +The greatest altitude I noticed in the course of my surveys on the +plateaux of Erdébé was found in the water-parting between the slope +towards the Chad and the slope towards the Nile: it was of 3600 feet. +The highest summits in the neighbourhood rising only from 250 to 400 +feet above the general level of the country, it may be estimated that +the chief altitudes of that region vary between 4000 and 4200 feet. +Twenty miles east of Koïnaména, in the transition zone between the +mountains and the plains, the altitudes of the bottom of the valley was +still superior to 3000 feet. It is possible, moreover, that 40 miles +away to the north-east certain summits of the water-parting rise to 5000 +feet. + +The natives who live a nomadic life on the plateaux of Erdébé amount in +number to several hundred families. Their settlement, meagre in the +extreme, usually consists of a few pieces of matting stretched on stakes +in a corner of a ravine, round a thorn enclosure in which their flock of +sheep and goats is shut up; at the slightest alarm men and beasts +stampede among the rocks. If I had to seek in the animal kingdom a term +of comparison for these tribes, I think I should choose their fellow- +denizen the jackal: they possess its cunning, its audacity, its +cowardice, its mischievousness, its endurance, its speed, and its +predatory instincts. + +The only other wild animals we saw were gazelles, antelopes, and +ostriches; it is reported that as long as the above-mentioned pools +remain, boars, panthers, and lions may be found, but we had no +opportunity of testing the truth of this assertion. + +On December 9, in the afternoon, having made preparations for our +departure next morning, we set free our prisoners, imposing no +conditions beyond that of telling their fellows our desire to see peace +and quiet reign throughout the country. “Let the nomads devote +themselves to the raising of their flocks and to trading in salt and +millet,” I said; “let them give up raiding the peaceful tribes of the +Sudan and the Nile, and the caravans that cross the desert, and I will +leave them at liberty in their mountains.” Whereupon an old woman +answered me, “We will carry your words faithfully to our husbands and +sons, and we will bid them come and submit to your authority; we are all +weary of our perpetual insecurity; we desire peace and justice. You have +treated us well, you have given us millet and meat; we have eaten all we +wanted to eat, and now we know that you are strong and generous. Allah +reward you!” + +Alas! my reward was that for two years longer these inveterate brigands +did not cease raiding in every direction, and that the camel corps had a +particularly difficult task in guarding convoys and putting down +pillaging. + +_Western Ennedi._—It only remained to me to cross the central part of +Ennedi in order to have a clear outline of the general physiognomy of +the country, thanks to the aid of surveys previously executed on its +western borders by several officers who had taken part in military +operations in Western Ennedi under the orders of Major Hilaire and Major +Colonna de Léca. With this end in view, I marched in the direction of +the military post of Fada by Boro and Archeï. + +For a week our route lay through a maze of sandstone rocks where no +track existed, and through which our guides zigzagged from crest to +crest with remarkable sureness. Sometimes we made a long _détour_ to +cross a wadi near its source; sometimes we marched straight for the +obstacle, dropping down steep ledges that inspired little confidence in +our animals, or crossing difficult ridges that the camels could only +climb after being unloaded. Everywhere were narrow gorges and jagged +crests, with here and there a few leagues of easy going in the +neighbourhood of the temporary pools that usually marked the convergence +of certain important ravines. + +In this uneven ground with its narrow horizons one pasture-ground +succeeded another, but we saw no trace of inhabitants. And yet water was +not wanting, whether in natural cisterns or in great pools like that of +Kossom Yasko. We skirted on the south the tableland of Basso, higher, +according to our guides, and harder to climb than that of Erdébé, but, +so far as I could judge at a guess, its height is not likely to be as +much as 5000 feet. + +We took a day’s rest in the excellent pastures of Boro before leaving +the central plateau of Ennedi to drop down to the next level, 400 or 500 +feet below. Then our way lay along a fine river of white sand, between +banks 60 or 80 yards high, where the traces of the last flow of water +could be seen 6 or 7 feet up the bank. The coming of the floods is so +sudden, and the banks so steep and smooth, that it is dangerous to take +that road in the rainy season. No winter passes without some heedless +wayfarers being surprised and carried away by the rushing torrent that +comes sweeping down the valley with the speed of a galloping horse. + +After this splendid sand-road came a stretch of rocky going, followed by +a zone of waterfalls we had to get round by a march on the plateau. The +lower we got the more picturesque the landscape became; the cliffs, +gaining in height what we lost in altitude, grew more and more imposing, +the crests more jagged, the ridges more often broken by gaps. Isolated +peaks appeared here and there, whose pure outlines and bold summits put +climbing out of the question. On all sides there rose in the distance +rocks, some broad, some slender, but all of the same height and grouped +irregularly, so that sometimes, when very close together, they looked +like groups of men. + +On the 17th of December we reached the foot of the last ledges, on the +western borders of Ennedi, at the altitude of about 1800 feet—that is to +say, about that of the depression separating Erdi from the plateaux of +Erdebe—and pitched our tents in the valley of Archeï, the most +picturesque of the beautiful valleys of the Ennedi. The century-long +erosion of wind and water, carving the great sandstone masses that line +the valley, lavished throughout the landscape the most admirable effects +of natural architecture. The approaches of the great grotto, above all, +and of the sheet of water teeming with little fish, were a pure delight +for the eyes: the sheer cliffs, fretted into colonnades crowned with +turrets and belfries, were burnt to tones of faded ochre that made the +blue of the sky seem deeper and more luminous still. + +[Illustration: MOURDIA WOMEN AND CHILDREN, PLATEAU OF ERDÉBÉ (1000 m.), +ENNEDI] + +[Illustration: THE FORT OF FADA, ENNEDI] + +[Illustration: CAVES OF ARCHEÏ, ENNEDI] + +From this exploration it became apparent that Ennedi is, roughly +speaking, a triangle covering about 12,000 square miles (30,000 square +kilometres). It consists of a succession of sandstone plateaux rising in +tiers from the base level of 1600 feet to that of 4300 and possibly even +4800 or 5000 feet in the parts of the country which had to be left out +of our investigations (Basso and eastern Erdébé). It falls by steep +slopes to the plains of the Libyan desert. The plateaux of Ennedi are +ravined by many valleys, most of them very deep, whose waters only flow +for a few days or weeks each year after the rains (August and +September). These waters hurl themselves from ledge to ledge in +waterfalls, hollowing out at the foot of each fall natural cisterns in +the rock, where the water remains a longer or shorter time according as +it is well or ill sheltered from the torrent beds. The roads usually +follow the torrent beds, except when blocked by masses of crumbled rock, +in which case a more or less awkward circuit has to be made. At the +points where the main valleys converge great muddy ponds are usually +formed, but they are shallow and short-lived. In all the valleys +splendid grazing-land is found, where not only camels but also thousands +of oxen could live if the problem of drinking-troughs did not present +itself every year in the height of the dry season. For at that moment +the natural cisterns that have still kept some store of water are grown +few in number, and are nearly always very hard to get at. Most of the +great temporary pools are dry, and subterranean water is no longer found +except in the great wadis, where the wells (that have to be dug out +afresh every year) go as deep as 20 or 25 yards. + +The inhabitants of Ennedi, nomads or semi-nomads, are very poor; the +chief tribes are the Bideyats (or Annas), the Gaedas, and the Mourdias, +which all together represent hardly more than 2000 souls. But they are +by tradition so addicted to brigandage and so untamable that as large a +troop of police is needed to keep them in hand as for a population of +40,000 in the settled regions. + +Ennedi has no vegetable food resources; there are neither palm +plantations, nor native gardens, nor millet fields. And yet the soil is +more fertile than in Borkou and the periods of drought shorter. The +chief agricultural interest of the region lies in its excellent pasture, +where the camels find abundant provender of very good quality. + +_In Mortcha._—From Archei I went to the post of Fada, 40 miles or so to +the north-west, for a few days’ rest, after which I undertook a new +series of reconnaissances westwards, for the purpose of exploring the +still imperfectly known desert regions of northern Mortcha, too often +visited by the raids of the refractory tribes. I was thus enabled during +the early days of January 1915 to trace the course of the temporary +rivers that receive the waters from the western slopes of Ennedi. For a +few days every year these rivers roll down a volume of water sufficient +to stop the march of caravans and convoys for a longer or shorter time, +and continue their course for 200 or 300 kilometres before each of them +reaches the pool in which it ends. As they have not force enough to go +further, all one finds beyond the terminal pool is a valley-way more or +less clearly marked, and blocked with sand from place to place, but +still visible for fairly long distances. It has been concluded that they +formerly ran into the ancient lake of Djourab, the level of which is +from 200 to 300 yards lower. The most interesting of these rivers from +the geographical point of view is the wadi Soala, which in the central +and lower parts of its course separates the granitic zone of Mortcha +from the sandstone of Ennedi. + +The whole region is one succession of good grazing-grounds for camels, +but which can be made use of only a few months a year while there is +water in the temporary pools. The one that lasts longest, that of +Elléla, in which the wadi Oum-Hadjar comes to an end, is not entirely +dry till April or May when the annual rains have been normal, in which +case it makes direct communication possible between Borkou and Wadaï. + +_Between Ennedi and Borkou._—I next set out northwards from Ennedi in +the direction of Madadi and Wadi-Doum, which had been adopted for the +time being as their headquarters by some rebel bands from Tibesti, which +attacked indifferently the caravans from Wadaï going to Arouelli for +salt and our unescorted convoys of supplies circulating between the +posts of Faya, Fada, and Ounianga. At the moment when I arrived in the +neighbourhood they had just carried out successfully several of these +surprise attacks, and were making off to their mountains to get their +booty into a safe place. Unable to go after them, for my camels, +exhausted by three months’ reconnoitring and hard fare, could not +challenge those of the rebels for speed, I decided to return without +delay to Faya to organize reprisals. + +On the way I passed through a low-lying zone of country once occupied by +lakes and marshes of considerable extent and of about 1000 feet in +altitude, or 250 or 300 feet higher than the region of the ancient lakes +of Borkou and Djourab, with which it is connected by a continuous +valley, the bed of which, very clearly visible in places, is often +buried in sand. This lake-zone seems to be the end of the great +depression I had crossed two months earlier, between the massifs of Erdi +and Ennedi. Except in the immediate neighbourhood of the springs of +Madadi and around the permanent pool of the Wadi Doum (or Touhou) the +soil is absolutely barren, consisting either of very pure siliceous sand +or of soft friable earth, whitish in colour and as fine as flour, into +which we sank to the ankles at every step, raising thick clouds of +stifling dust. Towards the south stretched chains of shifting sand- +dunes, separating that depression from the last foothills of Ennedi, +while to the north extended endless rocky terraces, in which were +hollowed here and there basins of 1 or 2 square miles, wells of water +impregnated with soda. + +_The Holy War._—The Turco-Senoussist propaganda against the French and +English was beginning to make its pernicious effects felt among the +nomads of Borkou and Ennedi. The easy successes achieved by the rebels +against caravans and convoys unprotected by escorts had just given them +a great idea of their military power, and increased their numbers and +audacity. The withdrawal towards their base of the Italian forces in +Tripoli, and particularly the abandonment of Mourzouk, where a +Senoussist governor had taken up his residence, had inflamed the minds +of the Toubous, whose warlike ardour had never burnt so fiercely: it +seemed to them likely that a backward movement of the French occupying +Tibesti, Borkou, and Ennedi would speedly take place if their +commissariat lines were seriously threatened in the direction of Lake +Chad and Wadaï. Turkey’s entrance into the war on the side of Germany +against France and England had counterbalanced the successes won over +the Germans in the Cameroons and deeply stirred the imaginations of +these devout Mohammedans, who refused to recognize any other chief than +the distant Sultan of Stamboul, Caliph of the Prophet and Commander of +the Faithful. And one after another the Duzzas of Borkou, the Gouras of +Gouro, the Arnas of Tibesti, and the Gaïdas of Ennedi fell from their +allegiance. + +Now, at that moment the requirements of the escort-service for our +convoys of supplies were such that out of the hundred and sixty men of +each of my companies in Borkou and Ennedi, less than twenty rifles were +sometimes left to guard the posts of Faya and Fada. It was hardly before +the month of April 1915, when the food-transport was almost finished, +that it became possible to remedy this dispersal of our forces and +organize the punitive expeditions rendered indispensable by the +incessant raids of the rebels. That task was an awkward one, for we were +short of good camels and above all of good agents of information, while +our elusive adversary was kept acquainted with our slightest movement by +certain elements of the population theoretically faithful to us. + +It would evidently have been too much for us to hope that we should +speedily obtain the submission of the malcontents, given the very +considerable extent of their space for movements of all kinds, and also +their extreme mobility; but we could henceforth return blow for blow, +chase them to their mountain lairs, and give them the impression that, +after playing for some time the pleasant part of hunters, they were +henceforth going to play the much less pleasant one of game. + +One after another Captains Lauzanne and Châteauvieux, Lieutenants Lafage +and Calinon, at the head of mixed detachments of regular soldiers and +Arab and Toubou auxiliaries, made their way into the wildest fastnesses +of Eastern Tibesti, Borkou, and Ennedi. Captain Lauzanne, in particular, +succeeded in tracking the Gourmas into the distant solitudes of Ouri, +200 miles north of Gouro, at the foot of the eastern spurs of the +Tibesti, and after them their cousins the Koussadas into the very crater +of Emi Koussi, till then regarded as impregnable. The fame of these two +expeditions was noised abroad in the country to such an extent that by +the end of the month of July the general situation of Borkou had greatly +improved, and we could turn our thoughts to the consolidation of our +prestige by an offensive action against the rebels of Miski, and by a +junction of our troops with those of Zouar and Bardaï, the two military +posts entrusted with the supervision and pacification of western and +central Tibesti. + + +=7. Exploration of Tibesti.= + + +In the month of September 1916 I was authorized to proceed from Borkou +to Tibesti for the purpose of getting in touch with the rebel tribes who +intended to attack the caravans fitted out in Kanem and Wadaï for the +carrying of supplies to the garrisons of Borkou and Ennedi. The garrison +of Tibesti was to attempt, to the best of its ability, to co-operate +with this action in such a way that the hostile bands, threatened at +once on the south, the west, and the north, might either be induced to +submit or else to disperse in the eastern part of the Tibestian massif, +the part furthest away from the region to be traversed by our convoys of +supplies. + +The rebels were comparatively few in number—about 2000 combatants—and +divided into clans living in different regions; but they were of extreme +mobility, well armed, and abundantly supplied with ammunition. Their +tactics, which were very skilful, consisted in avoiding on all occasions +a fight in the open, in hiding in the labyrinth of their well-nigh +inaccessible rocks to fire at short range on the enemy when he passed +near enough, in decamping at top speed to hide again a little further +on, and so draw little groups of adversaries in the direction of death- +traps, where of course well-planned ambuscades lay in wait for them. + +The strength of the reconnoitring detachment was forty-four black +soldiers, officered by four Europeans—one of them a doctor—and +accompanied by some thirty auxiliaries (guides, goumiers,[1] camel +drivers, and servants). It carried food for two months, and the barrels +and skins required for three days’ water. The train included about 120 +camels. + +The mountainous country to be crossed set an extremely awkward problem: +many points where water would have to be found were often hard for the +camels to reach. Pasture-grounds were rare and scanty. The tracks, +inexistent or deceptive, would now stretch away across successive heaps +of sharp-edged pebbles, and now twist and turn endlessly along winding +torrent beds, deep sunk between sheer banks. To cross from one valley to +the next one had to climb a succession of cliff ledges, rising tier on +tier to several hundred metres by the merest suggestion of paths winding +along the sides of spurs formed by the rolling down of _débris_ from +above; when the slopes grew too steep, the baggage had to be carried up +from one shelf to the next on men’s heads. Our camels, used to the easy +going of the great sandy plains, were discouraged by the asperities of +the sharp-angled rocks, by the narrow ledges, the steep and slippery +steps, the loose pebbles, the excessively sharp turns; and so only short +distances could be covered in spite of long hours under way and intense +fatigue. + +It goes without saying that we had no sort of map of these unknown +regions, and that we were utterly at the mercy of the guides whom by +good or evil fortune the patrols put at our disposition. Accordingly, +the choice of our routes was dictated to us at once by the necessity of +reducing to a minimum the efforts and privations of our camels and by +that of keeping within the limits familiar to our ordinary and +occasional guides. It may be added that the latter showed the utmost +unwillingness to lead us into regions where the unsubdued tribes +habitually take refuge; for these tribes are in the habit of holding +them responsible, on their own heads and those of the members of their +families, for all the harm and losses incurred when fights arise with +our detachments. + +The general plan of this series of operations included, first of all, +the reconnoitring of Emi Koussi, an extinct volcano 3400 metres high, +followed by an inroad into the valley of Miski, the usual meeting-ground +of the Tibestian freebooters threatening the roads to Kanem. The central +position of the valley is strengthened by the natural shelter afforded +by high mountains and almost impassable rocky foothills, through which +lead only two defiles, both of them long and dangerous. + +From Miski I meant to make a rapid plunge into the valley of Yebbi, in +the heart of central Tibesti, firstly to try to get into connection with +a detachment of the garrison of Bardai, and then to make an attempt to +reach the plateaux of Goumeur. Lastly, I thought I might be able to get +over on to the western slope of the massif, explore its chief valleys, +and effect a junction with the Zouar camel corps before returning to +Borkou. I succeeded in carrying out this programme in its main lines, +except for the operation in the direction of Goumeur, which had to be +replaced at the last minute by a reconnaissance pushed as far as the +post of Bardai. I was away, in all, for seventy-two days, or barely a +fortnight in excess of my estimate. + +_From the Plains of Borkou to the Foot of Emi Koussi._—The name of +Borkou is given by geographers to the group of low-lying stretches of +country separating the mountain mass of Tibesti from that of Ennedi; it +was confined at first to the depression, some 10 kilometres wide by 100 +in length, that extends from east to west, from Faya to Ain Galakka. + +This hollow was long filled by a lake, of which numerous and conclusive +traces are still found: beds of lake shells, whole skeletons of fishes +up to a yard and half long, calcareous crust covering long streaks of +rock, platforms of white clay marking the line of flats where the last +pools left by the waters of the former lake have held out longest before +drying up, and so forth. This lake was fed by mighty watercourses, +coming down from the mountains of Tibesti and Ennedi; it poured its +overflow through the valley of the Jurab into the Kirri, the deepest, +largest, and most recently dried up among the ancient lakes and lowlands +of the Chad. + +From Borkou to Emi Koussi there is a large choice of routes. The best, +owing to the number of points at which water and pasturage may be found, +is that which passes by way of Yarda to Yono. Hereabouts we leave behind +the region of the oases characterized by numerous depressions in which +water is found close to the soil in practically unlimited quantities, in +wells less than a yard deep and in salt pools. From that point one +enters the rocky zone where there is no more water underground, but only +natural cisterns forming reservoirs with the water that streams down +into them, and dries up a longer or shorter time after the passage of +the accidental rains that filled them. + +The general look of the country is fairly uniform. It is a vast +sandstone plateau sloping from north to south, ravined with narrow +gullies running in a general direction from north-east to south-west, +and which are real rivers of sand in which the shifting dunes pile +themselves up and overlap to the point of being impassable at times to +laden beasts of burden. This direction, from north-east to south-west, +being that of the prevailing wind in Borkou, the parallelism of these +gullies and the general appearance of the landscape give colour to the +supposition that they were hollowed out of the sandstone by the erosive +action of the dunes driven before the wind. + +The rocky plateau is commanded at intervals by a few blackish peaks of +low relief, among which the most noticeable are those of Kazzar, near +Yarda, 75 metres above the surrounding country; Olochi, near Dourkou, +130 metres; Ehi Kourri, near Kouroudi, 350 metres in relief. From the +height of these natural observatories nothing is to be seen, in whatever +direction one turns, but vast dark-tinted expanses strewn with stones, +where no sort of topographical order can be discerned. So confused and +scattered are the rocky masses that the impression they leave is less +that of a sequence of alternating plateaux and valleys than of a chaos +of disconnected reefs rising above a sea of sand, amid breakers of +billowy dunes. Much going and coming was needed before I could form an +exact notion of the physiognomy of these regions, for the fact is that +their valleys are more or less blocked, at longish intervals, by heaps +of rock debris and sand, and so divided into a succession of elongated +hollows communicating only by subterranean infiltration. In these +hollows may be found, here and there, layers of shells that enable us to +fix the period when they were still underwater at a comparatively recent +and no doubt Quaternary epoch. From place to place there still exist +permanent salt pools, of greater or less depth, and usually at the foot +of the cliffs that shut in some of these valleys on the east. One +supposes that the strong back draughts of the north-east wind have +mainly concentrated their action on those points of the surface where +the sandstone was softest; in the excavations thus produced the sheet of +subterranean water has been able to make its appearance in the open air, +and under the influence of a persistent evaporation, due to the extreme +dryness of the air and the intensity of the solar heat, the salts in +solution in the water have undergone a progressive concentration, +sometimes to the point of floating on the surface of the pool with the +appearance of translucent blocks of ice. + + +Having left Faya on September 4 we arrived on the 11th at the foot of +Emi Koussi, 125 miles to the north, passing on our way by Korou Koranga, +where we renewed our supply of water. The spot is one of the most +picturesque I saw during this journey to Tibesti; it is a natural +cistern hollowed by the action of the falling waters in the deep and +narrow bed of the wadi Elleboe, a torrential river that comes down from +Emi Koussi. The way to it lies through a defile more than a mile long, +so narrow that two men cannot walk abreast. The water lies at the bottom +of a grotto, dark in spite of being open to the sky, and whose walls +wind in and out in such a way that not only the drying desert winds +cannot get to it, but that even the sun’s rays only penetrate to it for +a few minutes each day about noon, and only get down to the level of the +water during May and July, when the sun reaches the local zenith. I had +neither the time nor the means to measure the length and depth, the +approach between precipitous walls being so difficult; but the supply of +water is such that the cistern has never been dry so long as the guides +can remember, however long may have been the drought during which the +torrent has ceased to flow; the water stays clear, cool, and pleasant to +the taste, without the slightest salty flavour. + +The cistern of Derso, on the contrary, at the foot of Emi Koussi, near +the pasturage of Yono, is broad, spacious, and subject to the drying +action of sun and winds; a score of yards deep, it is easy to get at; +but its greenish water, stagnant and thick with organic matter, has to +be filtered before it can be drunk without disgust, and a period of +twelve or fifteen months’ drought is usually enough to dry it up +altogether. + +_Ascent of Emi Koussi._—In all probability the rebels of the regions we +had just come through had withdrawn towards their strongholds on the top +of Emi Koussi. A light detachment was sent out to make sure that this +was so, while the greater number of our camels were left to rest in the +pasturage of Yono, where I had a little zeriba built for the storage of +our baggage and provisions and the security of the men I left to guard +them. + +On the morning of September 13 we betook ourselves to the ascent of the +mountain by a track strewn with boulders, the gradient being fairly easy +for the first five hours’ march, as far as the salt springs of Erra +Shounga. From that point it stiffened, and grew very steep indeed +between 6000 and 9000 feet. The last part of the ascent to the entrance +of the pass that leads into the interior of the crater required the +utmost effort on the part of our camels, unaccustomed as they were to +the going in mountainous countries. + +Sixteen or eighteen hours must be allowed to reach the summit of the +ancient volcano, and one does well to spread them over two days if one +does not want to leave any camels on the way. The first stage should get +one to Fada, a little pasturage at the bottom of a ravine accessible to +camels, and where the animals should be allowed to rest and feed. +Afterwards a fairly long halt should be made at an altitude of about +6000 feet, to renew the supply of water at the natural cistern of +Lantai-Kourou, for there is no hope of finding water in the interior of +the crater; the operation is a long and toilsome one, for the track +leading to the reservoir is inaccessible except to men. Along the whole +way there is hardly any vegetation, such as there is being confined to +deep ravines, almost always inaccessible, except at the pasturage of +Fada, on account of the steepness of their sides. Towards the foot of +the mountain only stunted plants are to be found, with tiny leaves often +sharpened into thorns; while nearer the top the boughs are thicker, the +bark tenderer, the sap more abundant, and the leaves longer and greener. +No trees are to be found on Emi Koussi in the crater itself; on the +other hand, the herbaceous vegetation is comparatively abundant, and +marked especially by the “erendi,” a yellow-flowered plant reminding one +of the St. John’s wort of our regions. We bivouacked, in a good position +for observing all the approaches, in the midst of these bright-hued +flowers, and I cannot tell you with what fascinated eyes we gazed on +them, for none of us had seen their like for three long years. + +The temperature was mild and cool like that of a fine spring in France; +but in the clear sky there were no birds, and the sight of the scowling +cliffs around us soon broke the charm under which our fancy would have +gladly lingered. + +We stayed only three days in the crater of Emi Koussi. The afternoon of +the first day was devoted to the exploration of a pit, 300 yards deep +and 2 miles in diameter, which was once the chimney of the volcano. A +vast expanse of carbonate of soda covers the bottom, which one can reach +only by a very steep path. + +The second day was spent, firstly in exploring, both inside and out, the +western slopes of the crater, where there is a natural cistern that +enabled us to make a fresh provision of water, though the track leading +to the reservoir is very perilous for the camels; and afterwards in +taking certain measurements, such as the height of the cliffs and the +depth and extent of the central pit, called by the natives Era-Kohor, or +Natron Hole. + +The third day was given up to explorations in several directions, which +allowed us to visit some recently abandoned troglodyte villages, to +capture two prisoners, and to reach the summit of the northern side of +the volcano, a point from which the whole of the Tibestian mountains can +be seen. + +The evenings, nights, and mornings were icy-cold, though the thermometer +never fell below freezing-point. Our camels, taken aback by the novelty +of the grass offered them, cropped it very sparsely; our provisions were +giving out, and the rebels had fled before our arrival into +exceptionally difficult mountainous tracts, where we could not dream of +following them. In a word, in spite of the geographical interest there +would have been in prolonging our stay on the summit of Emi Koussi, when +the fourth day came we had to think about getting back to Yono. + +[Illustration: STEEP SLOPES ON THE FLANK OF EMI KOUSSI, TIBESTI] + +[Illustration: THE GREAT CLIFF, TIBESTI] + +[Illustration: NATURAL CISTERN OF DERSO AT THE FOOT OF EMI KOUSSI] + +[Illustration: THE CRATER OF EMI KOUSSI (3400 m.), TIBESTI] + +From this excursion on the highest peak of the highest mountain in the +Sahara I brought away an abiding impression of wild magnificence, and +most of all when one’s thoughts go back to the panorama of the Tibestian +mountains. There may, I fear, be something of presumption in attempting +even a short description; still, I will ask your permission to make a +short extract from my diary on the day in question: + +“. . . Continuing our march northwards, we soon reach the foot of the +cliffs of the northern wall, where, by a natural staircase, nearly 600 +feet in height, one can reach the Tiribon pass, through which run the +difficult paths that lead to Miski, Tozeur, and Goumeur. + +“In front of us the volcano slopes steeply downwards, leaving open to +view the Tibestian massif with the endless succession of points of its +serrated ridges outlined against the sky and stretching away out of +sight. On our left the crater-wall loses itself in a confused mass of +rocks, while on the right rise a number of sharp peaks, one of which +seems to be the culminating point of this part of the ring of heights +that shut in the volcano. + +“A last effort got us to the top of this lofty summit, 10,000 feet above +the sea, where we found a narrow platform strewn with boulders, with big +clusters of red and lilac tinted flowers growing in the gaps between the +stones. Toilsomely enough, I managed to scramble on to the highest rock, +and as I stood on it, there lay before my eyes, for the first time, the +mysterious Tibestian chains that no explorer had ever gazed on yet in +their majestic entirety. The grandeur and beauty of the sight so far +outdid all I had anticipated that I could not turn my eyes from watching +the harmonious hues thrown over the landscape by the rays of the +declining sun. The intense clearness of the air made it easy to see +distinctly the remotest peaks; all around lay long ridges, their +successive summits rising and falling in regular points like lace; +scattered rocks, deep gorges, dizzy precipices, jagged peaks. Each +mountain range, though all were turned by the sun to the purest rose +colour, had its distinct shade, brightest in the foreground, softening +into mauve as distance melted into distance away to the far horizon. + +“Eastwards, the Tibestian massifs fell by giant steps whose sharp-angled +lines, blurred by the first shadows of the waning day, ran into one +another in inextricable tangles; while to the west the mountains +bordered an endless plain, a forbidding waste of stones, over which +brooded and deepened a gloom that threw into beautiful contrast the +rosy-mantled chains whose lofty summits soared into a sky of calm and +exquisite blue.” + +Tearing myself away, not without reluctance, from the dreamy fancies +called up by all these glories, I made haste to take a few observations +with compass and thermometer and make a few notes. The Tibestian reliefs +appeared to me to be included in a right angle, the apex of which is +marked by the volcano, and the two sides by the directions W.N.W. and +N.N.E.; such being the case, the appearance of Tibesti was totally +different from what I had till then supposed it to be, on the strength +of the statements put forward by the explorer Nachtigal. The rest of my +journey was to afford me the opportunity of unravelling the skeins of +the succession of ranges, whose apparent position and extent I could now +approximately fix. + +On September 18, towards noon, we struck camp, to go down again into the +plain by the route we had followed on our upward march. While the +camels, weary and emaciated, were painfully climbing the slopes of the +pass leading out of the volcano, I took a last all-embracing look at +this huge crater, 10,000 feet above the sea; few others in the world are +so immense, for it is 5 miles wide and 8 miles long, and looks like a +gigantic funnel, almost elliptical in outline, 25 miles round and 800 +yards deep; on all sides it is shut in by a rampart of unbroken wall, +rising sheer almost everywhere for 500 or 600 feet, and which can be got +over only at two points, by openings that are very hard to reach. + +Behind this tremendous natural bulwark, 200 or 300 Koussadas live +miserably, after the manner of cave-dwellers, divided into two clans, +and possessing only a few camels, asses, and goats, and a small number +of date palms in the neighbourhood of a few barely accessible springs +dispersed here and there about the outer slopes of the volcano. Their +staple food is a wild herb, the “Mouni,” that grows among the rocks, and +yields a coarse flour that looks like coal-dust; and in the plains at +the foot of Emi Koussi they collect the seeds of a sort of bitter gourd, +the “hamdal,” which become eatable after undergoing a long preparation +intended to take away their extremely bitter taste. At times they +procure meat by hunting the “Meschi,” a kind of wild sheep which is only +to be met with in the high mountains, and of which throughout my journey +I did not see a single specimen. They are supplied with stuffs, arms, +and ammunition by the Senoussists of Koufra, to whom, profiting by the +cool season, they bring goats in exchange; but the greater part of their +scanty resources comes from the brigandage they practised until quite +recently, with more or less success, on the routes that lead from Kanem +to Borkou and Bilma. Untiring on the look-out, though not particularly +brave fighters, they succeeded in keeping up an unremitting watch on our +movements during our exploration, and in this way they were able to get +possession of one of our camels, too tired to keep up with us when we +came down again towards the pasture-land of Yono. + +We got back to our bivouac on September 20, and I had to stay there +nearly a week to let the camels recuperate and to give them time to get +better of the wounds to their feet caused by the sharp edges of the +boulders they had had to walk on during that expedition. + +I spent the week’s rest in making calculations drawn from my different +observations, and in exploring the hot springs of Yi-Erra, highly +esteemed in the whole region for their medicinal virtues. Their +temperature is 100·5° Fahr. (38·1° Cent.), and their flow of water by no +means abundant. They can only be approached on foot and by a difficult +path, in about an hour: their altitude is 3100 feet above the sea. + +_Central Tibesti._—When our camels had had a rest and feed in the +pasture-lands of Yono, I decided to transfer my quarters to the great +valley of Miski, 100 miles further north, skirting the western foot of +Emi Koussi. This valley of Miski is one of the most important of the +Tibestian massif, not in the matter of its alimentary products, which +hardly exist, but from a military point of view, for the Tibestian +rebels use it as a convenient meeting-place from which—with no great +difficulty and without our knowledge—they can attack our southern and +western lines of communication. In the course of our march (between 25 +September and 1 October 1915) our patrols had a few small engagements +with the rebels, and some prisoners were taken who supplied us with +useful information: the Toubous, informed that our expedition was on the +march, were gathering their crop of dates—though the dates were not +fully ripe—and meant to seek refuge 100 miles further north-east, in the +Tarso of Ouri. + +The pasture-lands of Miski were already abandoned by the rebels, and so +we were able to march without fighting through the two long passes that +command the entrance to the valley. A number of reconnoitring patrols +showed us the exactitude of the information mentioned above, except in +respect of the palm plantation of Modra, where Lieut. Fouché’s +detachment, consisting of only fifteen men, had to put up a pretty hard +fight in order to avoid being surrounded and cut to pieces. + +The scarcity of food and the jaded condition of part of my camels forced +me at this point to divide my forces and send part of them back to +Borkou, after planning a new route. I remained alone with my secretary +and thirty black soldiers to go on with my exploration of the heart of +the unknown Tibesti. My aim was to effect a junction with the troops of +Bardai in the valley of Yebbi, and to explore the gorges of Kozen and +Goumeur in the east of the massif, where several rebellious tribes had +taken refuge. + +I left Miski on October 4, and on the 6th I reached the watershed +between the basins of the Chad and the Mediterranean. At sunset I +reached the Mohi pass, 5000 feet high, but the gathering darkness +prevented me making as good use (topographically speaking) of my +presence at this spot as I should have been able to do if I had arrived +there in full daylight. In that case, I might have climbed a commanding +height of apparently easy ascent situated 2 or 3 miles east of the pass, +from which position I should have been able to grasp the general +character of this orographic centre. As it was, I had to cover the few +miles that lay between us and the palm plantations of Yebbi in complete +darkness, partly in the evening, and partly on the following morning. +But through a mistake made by the guide it was only at half-past six +that we saw the first palm tree, at the bottom of a dark valley shut in +between almost vertical walls from 700 to 1500 feet high. The landscape +on every side was inky black and beyond all expression desolate; the +valley was covered with dark boulders, glistening in the sun; no trace +of green could be seen, except two thin lines of palms bordering a +stagnant watercourse hardly a dozen yards wide. High mountains were +visible to the east, rising (so far as I could judge) to 6000 or 7000 +feet. + +To get down to the bottom of the valley there was only a narrow track +littered with sharp blocks, on which our camels did not know where to +set their feet. The vanguard that covered our toilsome descent was +already exchanging shots with the Toubous, but was finally able to get +possession of the palm grove; towards 9 o’clock we could pitch our +tents, with no more fighting to do. A few goats and donkeys were our +only booty. But soon there appeared three prisoners, almost naked, whose +pitiable physical condition was strangely in keeping with the appalling +wretchedness of a landscape that one might have taken for a vision of +hell. They were miserable slaves, stolen by the Toubous during their +forays against the inhabitants of Kanem and Wadai. Their state of mind +was no better than that of their bodies, and there was little to be got +out of them about the country and its inhabitants. At any rate, they +enabled us to unearth a few hiding-places where we found some dates, a +great boon to the members of the expedition, whose rations were growing +daily shorter. + +Towards 11 o’clock a Toubou envoy came, sent by the rebels to make terms +for their submission; I offered very easy ones, and treated them with +consideration. After half an hour’s interview, I sent him back to the +rebels on whose behalf he had come, but waited in vain for his return +till evening. + +Towards five in the afternoon I struck camp to seek a bivouac for the +night, in a better position than the death-trap where we had spent the +afternoon, and we halted, in complete darkness and without lighting +fires, on a rocky platform that gave us 300 or 400 yards of open ground +to fire over on all sides. Thanks to these measures, we were able to +spend the rest of the night in peace. + +Next day we went a little further down the valley in search of pasturage +for our camels, worn out with hunger and fatigue; their condition left +small hope of undertaking the excursion I had planned in the direction +of Kozen and Goumeur, from which we were still separated by two or three +ridges very difficult to cross, and where—so at least our prisoners +said—neither pasture nor water could be found in readily accessible +situations. When it is added that I had no news of the Bardai detachment +which I had hoped to meet there, it will be understood that I thought +best to advance in its direction two days’ march further west, into the +valley of Zoumri, where I was informed of the presence of friendly +tribes who could probably supply me with some information about its +movements. + +These two marches were very hard on our animals. To cross from one +valley to the other we had to make our way up a wearisome succession of +ravines and steep slopes, one of which, on the sides of a spur of a +precipitous cliff, cost the detachment a hard piece of work in making a +flight of rough steps up which the camels, though completely unloaded, +had the utmost difficulty in climbing. On the other hand, I had the good +luck to see before me, on the east and north-east, a vast horizon of +mountains which extended and confirmed the observations made on the +summit of Emi Koussi, and made certain that the Tibestian massif, far +from being limited to the simple mountain chain hitherto marked on the +maps of Africa, stretched away for more than 100 miles into the interior +of the Lybian desert. During the two hours required for the hard climb +up this cliff I kept on taking observations of the numerous summits +visible in the limpid distances of that ocean of rocks, summits that +seemed to rise like a succession of landmarks along each of two or three +long ridges in sharp and jagged peaks, equal in bulk and perhaps in +height with those of the great western chain, of which a few outlines +appeared in the gaps between the nearer ranges. But in face of this +accumulation of lofty peaks I felt a bitter vexation, a sort of +resentment against my own littleness and powerlessness to set in order +their apparent chaos. For it would have needed many a long excursion +made with two or three fresh camel-trains, and a further provision of +supplies, to enable me to straighten out the seeming tangle of these +valleys and the confusing intersection of the hills. + +Towards eight o’clock in the morning we resumed our westward march, +skirting on the north an isolated mountain more than 8000 feet high, the +Toh de Zoumri, which by its conical outline and the circular shape of +its top looks like an old volcano, a supposition I had not time to +verify. Our route crossed numerous tracks converging towards the +mountains, which were used as a refuge by large numbers of Têda rebels, +subjects of the former Dordeï of Bardai, whose revolt was aided by the +encouragement and the supplies of arms and ammunition furnished by the +Turco-Senoussists. Next day, October 11, we entered the valley of Zoumri +by a pass 4800 feet high, and towards ten o’clock we bivouacked near the +palm plantation of Yountiou, where I was hoping to meet with friendly +Têdas who would put me in touch with the commander of the Bardai post. +Unfortunately the village was deserted. + +This fresh disappointment caused me little or no surprise; I expected my +coming to Miski and thence to Yebbi to be known by all the hillmen, and +that our skirmishes with the rebels would have been related with no +small exaggeration as mighty combats; still, I felt that I was too near +the goal to give up the attempt to reach it, so I sent out patrols to +scour the neighbourhood and especially to capture a few Têdas who could +guide me towards Bardai. Presently an old woman was brought to me, +gaunt, stooping, and half crippled, but with intelligent eyes. After +long reticence she confided to me that she was the mother of the chief +of that village, and that her son had gone over to the French a few +weeks earlier. Messengers had come during the two preceding days, +announcing the coming of an expedition from Borkou, and when that +morning the watchers saw our camels at the summit of the pass, all the +Têdas—men, women, and children—fled panic-stricken into the neighbouring +rocks; she alone had remained hidden in the palm plantation, because she +said she was too feeble to follow them and too old to be afraid of +death. I calmed her fears about my intentions as best I could, telling +her that all the Têdas who submitted to French authority could count on +my good will, and urging her to bring me her son as soon as she could, +promising her that she should be treated with friendship and +consideration; but as I had to continue my journey to Bardai as soon as +possible, she must understand that I should be obliged to procure guides +by force if I could not get them otherwise. “You shall have a guide to +take you to Bardai,” she said, “and, if it please Allah, without needing +to use your guns; I will go and tell my son.” Soon after there came up a +little man with the same intelligent eyes, young and timid looking. He +handed me the certificate of submission given him only a few days before +by the officer commanding the French forces in Tibesti. After a fairly +long talk he declared himself ready to serve me, but begged me not to +insist on trying to get any other men of his village, for they were +grimly determined to stay in their hiding-places. I trusted him, and was +rewarded for doing so, for he stayed at my disposition upwards of a +week, and thanks to his knowledge of the country I was able to go on +with my exploration as rapidly as possible, and to collect interesting +geographical information about the regions that lay off the track of my +journey. To go to Bardai we had only to follow the sandy bed of the +dried-up river, along which from time to time we passed by palm +plantations and villages, the headmen of which came to bid me welcome, +pleading their poverty as an excuse for not offering me the customary +presents. After twelve hours’ march, when I had just passed through the +village of Zoui, I met Lieut. Blaizot, commanding the troops of Tibesti, +coming on foot to meet and welcome me and to express his regret that he +had not been able, for want of camels, to come to Zoumri and Yebbi to +help me against the rebels. To see him and to listen to his voice as he +spoke were a great joy to me. In spite of all difficulties, I had just +effected the junction so long desired between the troops of Borkou and +those of Tibesti; in a few more minutes I was going at last to enter the +palm plantation of Bardai that I had been dreaming of seeing for twenty +years, ever since I had read in Nachtigal’s impressive story of his +travels about the difficulties he had to get over in order to enter it +forty-six years before, and above all to get out of it alive. On the way +I had been able to make a mass of observations, topographical, geodetic, +and hypsometric, and to fix with a very satisfactory degree of precision +the situation and height of the chief summits of the great western chain +that Nachtigal had only been able to locate by guesswork, and often +without having even seen them. + +At Bardai, where I arrived on October 13 a little before noon, I stayed +only twenty-four hours, for I was in a hurry to get back to Miski, where +the little detachment left in charge of the broken-down camels and of my +last reserves of food must have been in a situation of some insecurity +since the 10th. During the afternoon of the 13th I was able to examine +in detail with the commander of the garrison the various questions +regarding the means of combining the efforts of the troops of Borkou and +those of the Tibesti against the rebels. The night having been +favourable to my astronomical observations and the morning to +measurements of angles on the principal peaks visible from Bardai, I had +been able in that short space of time to collect all the essential +elements needed for fixing on the map with satisfactory exactitude the +position of the most important points of Central Tibesti. + +The geographical interest of my journey to Bardai did not consist solely +in the discovery, to the east of the great chain traversed by Nachtigal, +of mountains whose existence had not previously been suspected; it was +greatly enhanced by the fact that my observations corrected serious +errors of position and altitude committed by the famous German explorer +on the itinerary he followed amid so many hardships. Thus, for example, +in the site of Bardai there is an error of 50 miles in latitude and 30 +in longitude; it is nearer 3000 than 2500 feet above sea-level; the +height of the peaks of Toussidé and Timi is as much as 10,000 feet; the +name of Tarso, which Nachtigal restricts to the massif he traversed, is +a general term applied by the Tibestians to all mountainous regions +consisting of high plateaux difficult of access, but on which the going +is easy when once one has climbed to the top. Lastly, to the east of +Bardai, instead of the great zone of plains shown on the maps there lies +a succession of important massifs the culminating point of which rises +as high as 8000 feet above the sea. + +Refusing, albeit with extreme reluctance, to listen to the urgent +insistence of my amiable host Lieut. Blaizot, I left the post of Bardai +on the evening of October 14, and by a moonlight march lasting almost +all night I was able to get back on the 15th to my bivouac at Yountiou +to make the observations, astronomical and other, requisite for checking +those of the previous days; from that point I counted on returning to +Miski, not by the already reconnoitred route passing through Yebbi, but +by the Modra route lying further west, which was to afford me the +opportunity of reconnoitring another passage. But a piece of news had +just come which very much upset my Têda guide Mohammed: there had been +fighting in the Modra valley between the Borkou troops and the hillmen, +and he had very little fancy for guiding me through that region, where +my detachment would presumably have to fight its way by main force. For +me, on the contrary, it was a further reason for insisting on going +there with all speed, in order to afford my companions, if need was, the +help of the thirty rifles of my detachment. + +Mohammed allowed himself to be convinced by the promise of a suitable +reward, and by the use of certain outer and visible signs indicating +clearly that he did not guide me of his own free will: he adjusted a +cord loosely round his neck, and one of my black soldiers seized hold of +the other end. In the eyes of his own people his Têda honour was safe, +and his responsibility for the consequences of the subsequent +proceedings reduced to vanishing-point. + +Mohammed guided us to perfection; the chain was crossed on the second +day by the pass of Kidomma at an altitude of more than 6000 feet, and on +the evening of the third day, after a very tiring march, we reached the +point where the track leaves the plateau to go down into the bottom of +the Modra valley. We got down a first drop of some 60 yards without very +much trouble, in spite of the quarters of sharp-edged rock that rolled +under the hesitating feet of our camels. Then, after perhaps a third of +a mile of almost level going, I suddenly came in sight of the palm +plantation of Modra lying at the bottom of a dark narrow gorge deep +sunken between two almost vertical walls more than 1500 feet high. + +I was not without uneasiness at this sight, and came within a very +little of thinking that the worthy Mohammed had deliberately lured me +into some trap when he had said to me: “The descent into the Modra +valley is rather difficult, but good camels can get down.” The descent +into the valley of Yebbi, which I had found so arduous eleven days +previously, seemed to me now quite a reasonable sort of descent compared +with this one. Already the valley was echoing with the reports of +rifles; here and there I saw Toubous climbing the cliff-sides like goats +and stopping now and then to favour us from afar with noisy but harmless +shots, and vigorous volleys of bad language more harmless still. + +There being no conceivable alternative to consider we had to go forward. +Covered by an advanced guard that returned the Toubous’ fire with a +fusillade of doubtful efficacy, and by a rear-guard that watched the +points from which the rebels could have rolled down tons of rock on our +heads, we crawled downwards in a circumspect advance along a path that +was no path—that clung to the face of a steep cliff, now plunging +sharply downwards in short zigzags, now hanging, a narrow ledge, above +the abyss towards which great stones dislodged by our camels rolled +rumbling or leapt clattering down from tier to tier. The camels were +frightened; they had to be led forward one by one, and could only be got +round corners with many stripes and voluble cursing. A little group of +men went ahead of them, thrusting aside the most awkward blocks, and, +where the natural steps in the rock were too steep, laying flat stones +at the foot so as to break them in two. The descent was so toilsome and +so slow that at sunset we were only halfway down. I had to call a halt, +profiting by a little rocky spur that afforded us a narrow rugged +platform where we found just room enough to make our camels kneel and to +install our bivouac. The firing had almost ceased: our advanced guard +came in soon afterwards after forcing the rebels to abandon their +villages, the conical roofs of which could be seen shining in the +moonlight more that 400 feet below. Still further down, below the palms, +ran an invisible stream, forming a monotonous waterfall that we heard +murmur in the neighbouring rocks. + +[Illustration: A WATER-HOLE IN TIBESTI] + +[Illustration: FIRST BUTTRESSES OF THE MASSIF OF TIBESTI] + +Above our heads little patrols, relieved from hour to hour, kept watch +on the upper slopes from which the Toubous might have sent undesirable +avalanches rolling into our camp. The narrow band of sky that we could +see was filled with shining stars, by which I could make the +observations needed for calculating the point where we had stopped. The +night passed, calm and silent, and next morning, after an hour and a +half of fresh efforts, we were able to take up our quarters quietly on +the banks of the stream. + +After which the excellent Mohammed, having received the promised reward, +took leave of us to return to his palm grove at Yountiou. But his +prudence led him to take quite another route, accessible only to men and +goats. All the luggage he carried was a little skin bottle half full of +water hanging from his right shoulder, together with a tiny bag +containing a few handfuls of dates and about a pound of millet flour. On +his left shoulder, swinging triumphantly from the two ends of his staff, +were two fine large-sized biscuit tins that glittered in the sun and +resounded like beaten gongs whenever they knocked against the corner of +a rock. + +Toubous in small numbers still showed themselves on the cliff-sides, but +did not wait for the patrols I sent to parley with them. After a few +hours spent in watering the camels and in filling our barrels and skin +bottles, we resumed our route towards Miski. The little river of Modra +ran hardly more than a mile further down the valley, and the dry bed of +the torrent, at first littered with boulders, soon turned into a fine +winding road of sand from 200 to 300 yards wide. Twenty miles further on +we had to leave the river-bed and plunge into a chaos of little ridges +of schist, intersected by narrow valley-ways leading into valleys that +came down from neighbouring high mountains of an altitude exceeding 9000 +feet: our camels had much trouble in making headway among sharp edges of +slaty rock upturned almost vertically. They zigzagged from pass to pass, +climbing steep slopes, dropping into rocky ravines, beyond which fresh +ridges separated by fresh ravines rose in endless succession. At last on +the 21st, very early in the morning, we came out into the wide flat +valley of Miski, where we made a brief halt to allow the stragglers to +come in. All our camels were there except one, and I may say that I felt +much satisfaction at having succeeded in bringing them back to the +starting-point after this toilsome flying expedition of more than 300 +miles, carried out in seventeen days in the unknown and exceptionally +difficult mountain region of which I have tried to give you as closely +exact a description as I can. + +For another 15 miles we pursued our way in the great valley of Miski, of +an average width of 4 to 5 miles, finding it pleasant to look once more +on the well-known landscape of peaks, domes, and cliffs of the Tarso +Koussi. The clearness of the air was such that all these mountains +seemed to be within walking distance, and that in this vast bare basin +where not a breath of air stirred and where the sun blazed his hottest, +we had the impression of marching without making any progress, so +unchanging did the perspective remain. + +Towards 10 o’clock we found the first siwak bushes with their +characteristic peppery smell, and clumps of hamal, or bitter melon, with +their dried-up fruits; then, a little further on, a few stunted and +scattered talhas, a sort of acacia. At noon I got back at last to the +bivouac where my secretary was waiting for me. For five days, since the +departure for Borkou of Lieut. Fouché’s detachment, he had been left +alone with seven soldiers and seven camel-drivers to guard the supplies +and the reserve camels. And when I asked him whether the Toubous had not +worried him during that spell of isolation, he showed me his zeriba, +well organized for defence, with cartridge-boxes ready opened, and +replied sadly, “No such luck.” + +To console him for his long inactivity I put him in charge of a patrol +sent against Youdou, a palm plantation still held by rebels, and of +which the site was not known; but he had not the good fortune of coming +to grips with them, for the alarm was given by their sentries, and they +drew off northwards into a rocky country where we should have had much +difficulty and lost a great deal of time in pursuing them. None the +less, this rush of 80 miles in less than forty hours across the awkward +country of the Tarso Koussi foothills achieved its purpose of forcing +the rebels to withdraw and fixing the site of Youdou with the desired +precision. + +_Western Tibesti._—Thus the most important part of my geographical and +military programme in the Tibesti was carried to an end; at no point had +the Toubous offered a serious resistance to our march, in spite of the +magnificent defensive positions their country afforded them. The most +unruly among them had fled away to the north-east, more anxious to get +to a safe distance than to carry out their aggressive schemes against +our convoys of supplies; the rest, beaten off at every encounter, had +let us explore their wild valleys without subjecting us to any +surprises, whether in the shape of ambuscades or of the capture of +camels in grazing-time. Lastly, the general physiognomy of the Tibestian +massif was revealed with sufficient clearness by my various +observations, and its real position determined with all desirable +precision. It only remained, before returning to Borkou, to explore the +valleys of the western slope, and try to form a junction with the camel +corps of Zouar. + +I accordingly set out for Tottous, an important water point 70 miles +further west, in the Wadi Domar where it comes out of the last foothills +of the Tibesti. The distance was covered in four days with little +trouble by following the lower valley of the Wad Miski, of which I was +thus enabled to cross in succession all the tributaries on the right +bank, till then unknown. The officer in command of the Zouar camel +corps, having been informed after my visit to Bardai that I was desirous +of seeing him, came to meet me, and we reached Tottous on the same day. +He was accompanied by the chief of the Tomagras, the noblest tribe among +the Têda-tous, the aged Guetty, who had made his submission to the +French authorities a few months earlier. Guetty was a handsome old man +with a white beard and a skin less dark than usual. He was tall and +regular featured, but his keen sly face inspired me with no great +confidence; he was suspected of double-dealing, and of supplying the +rebels with fuller information about our movements than us about theirs. +During two days we had long conversations about the restitution to their +families of the women and children that his fellow-tribesmen had carried +off in 1913 in the course of a razzia on an Arab tribe of Kanem; but the +old rascal either could not or would not fall in with my wishes, +declaring truly or falsely that the luckless captives had been sold as +slaves and sent away for the most part to the Senoussists of Cyrenaica. + +_The Return Journey to Borkou._—The exhaustion of my camels had reached +such a point that I had to stay five days in the grazing-grounds of +Tottous. I profited by the delay to explore the course of the Wadi Domar +for about a score of miles in company of the Zouar camel corps, who were +going back to their station. My food supplies, which had not been +renewed for two months, were coming to an end, and I could not further +prolong my excursions in the valleys of Tibesti. Besides, the greater +part of the rebels had concentrated in the region of Abo, at the north- +western end of the massif, twelve whole days’ march away from Tottous. + +Starting on November 4 for Faya, by a route hitherto unreconnoitred, we +covered 120 miles of desert in six days before reaching the oasis of +Kirdimi, near Ain Galakka, by the last and utmost effort our camels were +capable of. On November 12 at nightfall I found myself back in my post +of Faya, whose stout clay huts seemed to me for a whole week afterwards, +if not absolutely the last word, at least the last word but one of +comfort and civilization in the heart of the Sahara. + + +=8. Military Operations in 1916-1917.= + + +This exploration of Tibesti marked the end of the long journeys that had +been indispensable to the acquisition of a general knowledge of the vast +desert regions placed under my authority. The calculation of my numerous +observations, the making of general maps, the setting in order of my +notes of travel, and the writing of reports to be sent to the Government +occupied all my leisure in 1916. There was not much of it, by the way, +for distant effects of the world-war were already beginning to be felt +in Africa. The Grand Senoussi, Ahmed Sherif, was lending a more and more +willing ear to the suggestions of Nouri Bey’s Turco-German mission, and +sending one emissary after another to preach revolt to the different +sultans responsible to the French and British authorities; his +exhortations were particularly well received in Dar Four and in the +south of Wadai, where the English Colonel Kelly and the French Colonel +Hilaire had to do some serious fighting before they could restore order. + +In the desert country I had charge of, the unrest had become almost +general among the nomads, and my camel-corp patrols had hard work to +maintain the regularity of our communications: there were rumours of a +great expedition of Germans, Turks, and Senoussists, with cannon, +machine-guns, and five thousand fighting troops, which was said to be +forming at Koufra to cross the Libyan desert and drive the French from +Borkou, Tibesti, and Ennedi. We made superb defensive preparations, but +no expeditionary force from Koufra ever came; what did come to reinforce +the rebels were brigands and highway robbers who made the roads unsafe, +and whom we had to pursue in all directions more or less. Among the most +remarkable of the expeditions of this period two deserve special +mention: they were led by Adjutant Amboroko, an old black non- +commissioned officer whose energy, courage, and high spirit won +universal admiration. + +Having received orders to go in pursuit of a strong party of Toubous +commanded by Mohammed Erbeimi, a particularly dangerous leader of +raiders who had just made a successful foray in British territory, he +began by covering 130 miles in three days. Then for four days he +patrolled the neighbourhood of Tekro without being able to find any +trace of his enemy. He learnt, however, that Mohammed Erbeimi was +encamped 130 miles further east, and again covering that distance in +three days, he reached the well of Bini Erdi only to find that the band +had decamped two days earlier, following in the opposite direction a +route nearly parallel to that by which he had come. Allowing his +detachment just time enough to water their camels and fill their skin- +bottles, he set out again at once, following the tracks of the raiders +and forcing the pace! The pursuit, hotter and hotter as the trail of the +rebels grew fresher, lasted fifty-one hours, two of which only were +allowed for rest, and he came into contact with the rebels at dead of +night. Unluckily, the barking of their dogs gave the alarm to the enemy +at the last moment. Our men leapt down from their camels and made a +sharp and sudden attack on the Toubous, who had not time to organize +their defence and fled headlong into the neighbouring rocks, leaving on +the ground four killed, all their camels, and the prisoners they had +taken in Dar Four. + +Some time afterwards Mohammed Erbeimi made an attempt to get his +revenge. Reinforced by a contingent of Senoussists from Koufra, he +organized a flying column a hundred rifles strong and flung it by a +rapid march on our lines of communication between Borkou and Wadai, +where our last supplies of the year were on their way. Thanks to the +treachery of a Nakazza chief, he was able at daybreak to surprise one of +our convoys on the march. Though the escort counted only fifteen rifles +under a black sergeant, our black troops offered a bold front; but, +overpowered by numbers and deserted by the camel-drivers, all they could +do was to save their honour and fall in their tracks. That took place +150 miles south of Faya, in the desert of Mortcha. Now, it so happened +that Adjutant Amboroko, with a force of seventy-five rifles, had been +patrolling for two days in that same desert, on the look-out for +Mohammed Erbeimi’s raiding party, my spies having notified me, albeit +rather late, of its appearance on the scene. He was not able to get on +its tracks till sixteen hours after the wiping-out of the convoy escort, +when he set off at once in pursuit. Two hours later he came upon it by +surprise and routed it in a few minutes by a vigorous bayonet-charge; +the enemy, taken completely off his guard, abandoned his booty and a +certain number of dead, and made off hastily eastwards. Amboroko, an old +hand at desert fighting, thereupon judged it expedient to let the +Toubous get a few miles’ start, and so lead them to think that he held +himself satisfied by the recapture of our supplies of cereals and of our +camels, and was going to take back the camels at once to Faya. He +calculated that as soon as the first spell of panic was over the rebels +would get together to discuss the advisability of a counter-attack. His +forecast turned out correct. Resuming the pursuit under cover of night, +he again came in sight of the raiding-party towards three in the +morning, in regular order once more, and holding a palaver round the +bivouac fires. Closing in to short range he poured in a rapid fire, +immediately followed by a bayonet-charge that laid out a dozen Toubous, +while the rest in utter panic fled at top speed in all directions, some +on foot, others hanging on to the tails of their camels that made off at +full gallop without leaving time for their riders to get astride. The +hunt went on till noon, and supplied us with a few prisoners who gave +the most precise details of the treachery of the Nakazza chief; after +which Amboroko retraced his steps to take in charge the convoy of +supplies and bring it into Faya. But he was of opinion that our brave +soldiers fallen the day before were not sufficiently avenged, and +providing himself with fresh camels he set out at once in pursuit, +seeking all across the desert the tracks of those who had escaped his +two counter-attacks. Going further and further afield, he found himself +finally 300 miles to the eastward among the rocks of Erdi, where the +families of Mohammed Erbeimi’s Toubous were in hiding, and engaged in +two fights with them which cost the rebels some thirty killed; but the +old chief unluckily succeeded once more in bringing his head safely out +of the business. + +Early in 1917 the revolt might be considered as crushed. The tribes had +begun to discuss terms of submission, all except Mohammed Erbeimi’s +tribe, the remnant of which had taken refuge in the massif of Ouri 300 +miles north-east of Faya, and was not in a condition to do any harm for +a certain time. + + +=9. Homeward Journey.= + + +Then I saw my interminable sojourn in the desert brought to an end by +the person of Captain Gauckler, an experienced commander of camel-corps, +who had seen most of his service in the African colonies, and was come +from the French front to replace me in Borkou. Thus my turn on the +Western Front was to come early enough to enable me to share in the +gigantic battle that could be foreseen, from the hour when Russia fell +out of the fight, as imminent and decisive. The French Government having +replied favourably to my request for permission to return to France by +way of Egypt, this return journey would allow me to effect the geodetic +and topographical liaison between Borkou and Dar Four—in other words, to +accomplish the last part of the geographical programme that toward the +end of the last century I had set myself to carry out. + +_From Borkou to Wadai._—I left the oasis of Faya on 25 April 1917 in an +east-south-easterly direction, skirting the foot of the western spurs of +the high tablelands of Ennedi. In ten days I reached the post of Fada, +where Captain Châteauvieux presented to me the chiefs Gaëdas and +Mourdias, whom two long years of incessant struggles had constrained to +submit; we discussed and settled in concert the conditions on which the +“aman” should be granted them. After which, turning my back on the +picturesque rocks of Ennedi, I went on my way towards the south-west, +across the desert of Mortcha, to reach the wells of Oum Chalouba. These +wells, situated in the Wadi Hachim, belong to the Nakazzas, one of the +principal Toubou tribes of Borkou, who are masters, under our control, +of the oasis surrounding the post of Fada, but whose submission to our +authority did not prevent them from entertaining with our enemies +relations as cordial as they were clandestine, that gave us endless +trouble. The judgment-seat of the native court over which I presided was +heaped high with complaints and claims for damages against their chiefs, +Allatchi and Djimmi. Their low cunning and double-dealing exasperated +me; but since my return to Europe it has become evident to me that, like +many other reputable persons, they were simply engaged in politics. + +[Illustration: The author’s routes between Tibesti and the Nile] + +The wells of Oum Chalouba are very important, both because of their +position at the extreme southern limit of the Sahara and because they +never run dry. Accordingly, the caravans that go and come between Wadai +and the Mediterranean by Ounianga and Koufra all pass through this +station, where, it may be added, their sojourn is usually brief owing to +the high price of food. + +It is 140 miles from Oum Chalouba to Abéché, the capital of Wadai, in a +general direction from north to south, across a region of great plains +intersected by valleys running from east to west in which a few wooded +galleries bear witness to the annual passage of ephemeral torrents that +come down from the granitic hills and tablelands of Zagawa and Tama. The +summer rains are not sufficient to permit the cultivation of native +cereals, but they produce extensive and abundant pasturage, where +Mahamid tribes graze fine herds of oxen and flocks of sheep and goats. + +Two military posts ensure the policing and administration of the +country: Arada, the commissariat centre of a camel-corps section, and +Biltine, where a company of black troops is garrisoned. It is in the +neighbourhood of Biltine that the first villages of the sedentary tribes +are seen, the Mimis, then the Kodois. The millet fields, small at first +and far apart, increase in size and frequency as one gets further south; +but the harvests are still uncertain, for spells of drought are by no +means rare. The year 1913 was especially fatal; the grain dried up on +the stalk, and there was such a shortage when the crops were got in that +a terrible famine spread over the whole country during the first eight +months of 1914. Many inhabitants had to emigrate southwards, and those +who had not foresight enough to flee in time, chiefly old men and +children, died of hunger in the villages they had not been willing to +leave. The number of the inhabitants of Wadai who perished thus is +estimated at more than half, some say even at more than three-quarters. +The population of Wadai, put by Nachtigal at more than two millions in +1872, had fallen to 300,000 when I went that way. + +_Abéché._—At sunrise on 31 May 1917 I came in sight of Abéché, the +famous capital of the sultans who had made of Wadai one of the most +powerful Soudanese kingdoms of the nineteenth century. Seen from a +distance, it looks like a little cluster, grey and huddled, of low +houses, overtopped by a few towers with pointed roofs, and had nothing +of the handsome appearance that had impressed Nachtigal nearly fifty +years before. It was now no more than a small town of three or four +thousand people, and more than half ruined. It is true that ruins are +accumulated with extreme rapidity in Central Africa, where the finest +houses are only ill-built huts of clay kneaded and baked in the sun, and +quickly falling into dilapidation every rainy season. The plain +surrounding the town looks no better, being scantily covered with dry +grasses and little green clumps of “m’keit” which our camels browsed on +with lively satisfaction. The shrub-tribe was almost exclusively +represented by little “oshar,” whose puffy-looking fruits enclose a +silky down like “kapok”; as for the mimosa family, so abundant in the +neighbouring bush, it had well-nigh disappeared, as often happens near +the negro habitations through the wasteful use made of it as firewood. + +Abéché has retained few traces of its ancient splendour. The former +palace of the sultans, kept till that time as a specimen of the +architecture of Wadai, had just been pulled down by order of the new +governor of the province. Round about it was strewn a mass of _débris_, +on which were slowly rising new buildings of a highly military style. +Only the business quarter of Am Sogou and the market-place had kept a +busy and animated aspect. Men, women, and merry black small-fry bustled +noisily to and fro, inextricably mixed up with asses, camels, dogs, and +horses. Numerous Tripolitan merchants, white-faced, wearing red fezzes +and long flowing embroidered robes, stalked gravely back and forth, +making it evident by their decorous elegance and the satisfaction +visible on their faces that, in spite of the suppression of the slave- +traffic, business remained active and prosperous. + +_From Wadai to Dar Four._—I was forced, much against my will, to stay +ten long days at Abéché before continuing my journey. The road usually +followed from Abéché to El Fasher passes through Dar Massalit to +Kebkebia, along the valleys of Wadi Kadja and Wadi Barré; it is about +220 miles long and very easy, except from August to October or November, +when the summer rains fill the rivers and temporary marshes, very +numerous in this region. But since that route had been reconnoitred +formerly by Nachtigal, and very recently by Colonel Hilaire, the idea +had occurred to me of studying a more northerly route unknown throughout +two-thirds of its length, and passing through Dar Tama, Dar Guimer, and +northern Dar Four. + +_Dar Tama._—This project having obtained the approbation of the +Government, I was able to leave Abéché on June 9, and plunged into a +very broken granitic region, where the rise and fall was inconsiderable, +but which was intersected by numerous wooded valleys where marching was +no very easy matter, especially at night. But I had the advantage of +passing through an inhabited tract where water was frequently to be +found, a consideration of importance for the feeding of a little group +of Zagawa women and children whom I was taking back to Dar Four after a +long and eventful sojourn in the wilderness. Captured the year before by +the same Toubou raiders whom we had to go in pursuit of, they had been +delivered by our camel-corps, and were going back to their families +under the protection of my escort. We went from village to village, +forced to change guides at every halt, and to stay long enough to listen +to the compliments with which the notabilities bade us welcome. In +addition to the compliments, they brought us water, millet, eggs, a +little milk, and sometimes a sheep or a goat. Around the villages there +were many fields of millet and sorgho, and it was not unusual to meet +with gardens, in which cotton, tobacco, and spices were the most +frequent products. + +In this way we reached the plateaux of Dar Tama, averaging from 2500 to +3000 feet in altitude, where on the gently undulating surface the going +was pleasanter than on the rough slopes of the foothills leading up to +the tableland. A few lonely eminences rose here and there, the loftiest +of which, the peak of Niéré, visible for 30 miles around, reaches a +height of 4500 feet. For the first time in more than four years I saw +once again the thick-leaved tamarind trees, whose beautiful green is a +rest to the eyes, and in whose shade the traveller is glad to halt +during the hottest hours. + +On June 13, after a long stage during which our successive guides had +led us in needless zigzags, we arrived at the foot of Mount Niéré, where +there is a village called Nannaoua. Here we camped in the deep shade of +two or three white acacias, less than 500 yards from the spot where in +1909 one of the brilliant contemporary explorers of Central Africa, the +regretted English Lieutenant Boyd Alexander, was assassinated. My tent +had hardly been pitched an hour when a messenger came to announce the +visit of the Sultan of Tama, who desired to present his compliments and +bid me welcome. This mark of courteous deference was all the pleasanter +from the fact that on leaving Abéché I had been put on my guard against +a possible want of cordiality during my passage through Tama. I +immediately had a mat of palm-fibre, in default of carpets, laid down at +the entrance to my tent, and advanced to meet the sultan, a handsome, +white-bearded old man with a black skin and kindly intelligent eyes; he +was dressed in the flowing robe in use throughout Central Africa, but +made of fine linen richly embroidered. He wore brown boots made in +Europe, and his careful attention to his personal appearance went the +length of socks. On his head was a red fez, round which ran a narrow +twist of white muslin, and he walked with slow and stately steps, his +left hand resting on the shoulder of one of his servants. + +Our interview lasted upwards of half an hour, and was extremely cordial; +the sultan urged me to break up my camp the same afternoon in order to +go and sleep in his capital of Niéré, where he had had huts made ready +for us; but in reply I alleged the exhaustion of our camels, which were +in urgent need of grazing till evening. Besides, I had to make a stellar +observation at that particular spot in order to calculate exactly the +position and altitude of the mountain of Niéré, the most remarkable +point, geographically speaking, of the whole region. Soon afterwards I +saw the sultan was waiting for me to rise and take leave; I helped him +up and accompanied him a few steps from my tent. His servants and +dependents were waiting outside for him in the ritual attitude of the +courtiers of the ancient sultans of Central Africa, that is to say, +prostrated to the ground, their knees and elbows resting on the earth, +and their hind-quarters level with their head. + +He called the chief of the village of Nannaoua to give him instructions +with a view to our comfort. The latter got up and came to listen to his +suzerain’s commands, kneeling before him with clasped hands, downcast +eyes, and devoutly attentive face. When the sultan ceased speaking, the +village chief clapped his hands several times and got up to go at once +and transmit to his subjects the orders he had just received. + +Early next morning I reached the camp that had been prepared for me in +the shade of some “kournas” near the well, but the huts were so low +roofed and uncomfortable that I preferred to pitch my tent, severely +damaged as it was by four years’ wear and tear. I had to stay two days +at Niéré to wait for the arrival of four camels intended to replace the +pack-carrying oxen I had to send back to Abéché. + +The capital of Tama is only a small village covering about 35 acres, +where the straw huts are set rather far apart; the inhabitants, by no +means numerous, consist almost exclusively of the families and servants +of the dignitaries immediately surrounding the sultan. Other villages +are scattered about the neighbourhood, usually lying at the foot of +isolated rocks of no great height, but of very characteristic +geometrical shapes, rising out of the uniform tableland like natural +landmarks destined to rejoice the hearts of a triangulation brigade. + +In our camp an unpleasant surprise awaited us: hardly had we settled +down when we saw coming down from the kournas whole battalions of +caterpillars that made straight towards us and obstinately set about +climbing all over our packing-cases, chairs, clothes, and persons in +quest of a quiet and shady corner where they could comfortably instal +their cocoons and go to sleep in the hope of a happy metamorphosis. We +hunted them, killed them, but to no purpose, for still they came. And +these caterpillars, sociable to a fault, are tormentors of the worst +type: wherever they go they leave behind them invisible hairs that burn +like nettles. Next morning we were all scratching furiously, unable to +find even momentary relief except in applications of very hot water. My +trunk of books was infested, and, above all, that which contained my +linen; so also were my bedclothes. All the washing, swilling, and +beating I could do failed to rid my clothes entirely of this pest, and I +had to endure its tortures for long as best I might. It was only when I +got to Khartoum and could get fresh clothes and throw away my up-country +garments, if such they could be called, that I really found a little +peace. In the evening a thick cloud of locusts came and settled on the +region; in a few minutes the trees were covered with them, and their +green changed to the pink hue of these voracious insects’ bodies. + +The sultan came repeatedly to see me. He was fond of talking and telling +me his history and that of Tama during the preceding decade; he also +told me the story of the murder of Boyd Alexander as it was related to +him not many days after the tragic event by his predecessor the Sultan +Othman and the chief Adem Rouyal, commander of the Forian force sent +from Dar Four by the Sultan Ali Dinar to drive the French out of +Wadai.[2] The sultan was above all interested in the Franco-Anglo-German +war; he asked question after question, and I had a great deal of trouble +in giving him a hazy idea of the formidable masses of war material, +supplies, cannon, rifles, and the unheard-of numbers of men brought into +action on both sides. + +Thanks to his good offices, I was able to get the supplies I was in +daily need of for my detachment; and in these days of excessively dear +living it will not perhaps be without interest to give a summary list, +at this point, of the prices that were asked me: + + _s._ _d._ + + A small yearling ox 12 0 + + 200 lbs. of millet flour 4 0 + + An average-sized sheep 2 6 + + Chickens 0 6½ + + One pound of butter 0 3 + + „ „ onions 0 3 + + A quart of milk 0 1 + +Had we been wise enough to have rational ideas about railways in Africa, +and to have them in time, what a help the Black Continent would be to us +now! I trust the ordeal we are going through to-day may induce France +and Great Britain, the two great guardians of the Black population, to +join in intimate union in order to labour together at the great work of +opening up Africa and turning its resources to account—a work that must +be undertaken at once! But this is a vast question, and one that must be +treated separately; so I beg to be excused for this digression. + +In the afternoon of the 10th, having succeeded in hiring the necessary +five camels, two of them enormous, and the other three of the tiniest, I +took leave of Sultan Hassan to go on with my journey towards Guimer. +Four days later I arrived at Koulbouss, the temporary residence of the +Sultan of Guimer. + +_Dar Guimer._—The welcome I received was of the chilliest. Two hundred +yards from the village a son of the Sultan Idriss came all alone to meet +me, and announced that his father had started a few days earlier for El +Fasher; and then, skirting the village, he led me down the valley to a +spot where a dilapidated hut, not far from a well and at the entrance of +what had once been a piece of enclosed land, was offered me in which to +take up my quarters. I had great difficulty in obtaining a few +provisions, and two days were spent in animated discussions before I +could get a guide and four hired camels to replace those lent me in +Tama. Even so I only got them thanks to the good offices of a Zagawa +chief who had come to greet me on my passage because he had on a former +occasion found his relations with the French authorities of Wadai turn +out greatly to his advantage. But I could not get the sort of current +information about the country and its inhabitants usually given to +travellers by the natives. However, when I showed my surprise at the +residence of the Sultan of Guimer at Koulbouss, which is in Tama +territory, the son of Sultan Idriss condescended to explain that that +installation was only temporary, having been authorized towards 1910 by +Sultan Hassan of Tama by reason of the raids the Sultan of Guimer had +had to undergo at the hands of the Forian bands of Ali Dinar. His return +to his own capital was to take place shortly, the occupation of El +Fasher by the Anglo-Egyptian troops having put an end to these +incursions. + +I left Koulbouss on 22 June early in the morning, with no great +confidence in the success of my enterprise, for the guide assigned to me +did not seem any too satisfied at the idea of taking me to Kebkebia, +from which we were separated by a stretch of almost completely +uninhabited country nearly 120 miles across, and in which the water- +points were few and quite possibly dried up. Very luckily, everything +went as well as could be imagined; I saw no trace of the Senoussist +raid, so called, which local rumour credited for some time with having +caught me by surprise, taken me prisoner, and carried me off as a +hostage to Koufra. A few wells were found, very nearly dry, but we were +careful in husbanding our supply of water. We saw very few inhabitants +and met no caravan. What worried me most, and most unexpectedly, was the +grazing question, for the country, though covered with scrub, was so +dried up that our camels hardly ever got a satisfying feed and grew most +disquietingly thin. + +Dar Guimer is hardly more than a gently undulating plain of somewhat +uniform appearance, 100 miles across from east to west, and 20 from +north to south. The inhabitants, few in number, if I may accept the +accounts given me, seem less inclined to tillage than to cattle-raising. +The soil is usually clayey, very marshy from the end of July to +December, but almost completely waterless from April to July. The +valleys come down fanwise from the tablelands of Tama on the west, of +Zagawa on the north, and northern Dar Four on the east. They meet on a +level with the Djebel Kichkich (Hadjer Moull) to form the Wadi Kadja, +one of the parent branches of the Bahr-Salamat, which is one of the most +important valleys on the right bank of the Shari, the main affluent of +the Chad. + +During the morning of June 25 we reached the southern limit of Dar +Guimer at the wells of Taziriba; only 3 yards deep and flowing +abundantly at all seasons, they were situated in a valley where there +are no trees of any size, but an abundant growth of scrub. The wells, +usually silted up, had been dug out afresh a few days previously, on the +occasion of the Sultan Idriss’ visit to Dar Four. Having thus been able +to water our camels and renew our own supply, we left the territory of +Guimer the same evening, to go and sleep half a score of miles further +on. + +_Between Guimer and Dar Four._—It is interesting to notice that the +tribes whose territories separate Wadai from Dar Four (Massalit, Tama, +and Guimer) have always left a wide belt of uninhabited country between +themselves and Dar Four. At some points its width exceeds 100 miles, +while no similar solution of continuity exists between them and Wadai. +It should not be concluded, as is sometimes done, that these territories +are desert-like in character, for they are watered every year by the +summer rains and covered with an abundant vegetation, for the most part +thorny and stunted, it is true. These lands are not incapable even of +settled habitation, for it would suffice to bore a few wells, around +each of which men could take up their quarters in permanence, with +fields of grain and cotton and pasturage for cattle. Such unpeopled +regions are common in Central Africa, and each of them constitutes a +neutral zone, a sort of “no man’s land” that separates the territories +of two hostile tribes. + +It was across a belt of this kind that our route now lay, a belt about +70 miles wide between Safé, the last village of Guimer, and Rémélé, the +first of Dar Four. On June 26 a long morning march brought us to the +wells of Délébé, situated at the crossing of an important route chiefly +used by native traffickers on their way to barter the grain of Massalit +for the salt of Dar Four at the market of Diellé, some 20 miles north of +Kebkebia. The site was pleasant and covered for a space of several miles +in length and 200 or 300 yards in breadth with fine harazes and kournas, +which gave us the illusion of a great shady park at home; but the lack +of water in the well and the way our store of eatables was running short +did not allow us to yield to the temptation of resting there a day. + +We had to start again in the afternoon and march till dark in order to +reach, early next morning, the wells of Chibéké, whose immediate +neighbourhood, so our guide told us, was infested by lions; but we had +not the pleasure of seeing any. A further stage of a score of miles at +last permitted us to get out of the uninhabited region and reach the +Wadi Gueddara, at the point where it comes out of the mountains that +mark the watershed between the basins of the Chad and the Nile. + +_Western Dar Four._—These mountains seemed to be much more important +than the maps and descriptions of former travellers had led me to +suppose. They formed a long and rather confused chain, running +approximately from north to south; and their chief summit, mount +Dourboullé, some 30 miles to the east, rose to more than 7000 feet above +sea-level. + +I spent June 28 at the village of Rémélé, where I received a very kind +letter of welcome from Lieut.-Colonel Savile Pasha, governor of the +province, who put at my disposal an escort of six soldiers of the native +police. I wanted to ascertain the exact position of this village, but +rain fell at intervals throughout the evening and night and prevented me +from observing the indispensable stars. If I was vexed, the natives were +delighted, for the damp soil would enable them to sow seed for the first +time that year. Next day I had only a dozen miles to cover in order to +arrive at the advanced post of Kebkebia, the furthest west of the +military posts in Dar Four, and during that short march I enjoyed the +happy and restful feeling of the sailor who, after a long voyage, sees +shining on the horizon, across the calm of the spent waters, the +cheerful harbour lights. We advanced along the western foot of the +chain, gradually nearing it, and noticing that it seemed to connect with +the massif of Djebel Marra, of which from time to time I could see for a +moment the highest peak, more than 50 miles to the south-south-east. We +went along through a smiling and prosperous-looking country, already +covered with springing grass, dotted with green trees, and broken here +and there by rocky heights that did not rise higher than 400 feet. + +The natives, scattered about their fields, watched our caravan go by +without unfriendliness or sign of misgiving, and then betook themselves +again to their work with the serene dignity of men who till the soil. +Both in the explicit picture it makes and in suggestion, their husbandry +is very different from ours. The noble gesture familiar in our western +fields, of the sower sowing his seed broadcast along the furrows, is +lacking on African plains. The man I was watching walked straight on, +holding in both hands a hoe bent into a right angle; at every second +step, without stopping or even stooping, he made with it a tiny hole, +hardly more than a scratch in the tawny sand. He was followed by a +child, a boy clad in a simple sunbeam, carrying a calabash of millet, +and parsimoniously letting fall into each hole a few grains that he +summarily covered by turning a little earth over them with his bare +toes. Happy lands, where man is satisfied with hard, coarse grain, and +where the earth, in return for but small pains, breaks forth into +abundant harvest. Which of us shall judge between them, and say whether +it is better to be exacting in one’s wants, and with great labour to +attain to one’s desire, or to be content with little and find that, with +hardly an effort, that little may be had? + +I was welcomed on my arrival at Kebkebia by the commander, a native +officer of the 13th Sudanese Battalion, Sub-Lieut. Saïd Effendi Adam, +accompanied by a sergeant of Engineers, Sergeant Gasterens, R.E., in +command of the wireless telegraphy post, and by the headman of the +village. Thanks to their good offices, comfortable shelters were found +for us, and I could procure all the food required for the use of my +party. The village is of small extent, poor and dreary in appearance. It +is said that the sultan Ali Dinar had the greater part of the +inhabitants deported a few years ago after confiscating their property, +to punish them for showing too much esteem for a certain marabout named +Faki Sini, regarded in the district as a worker of miracles. The one +that made the deepest impression on the natives, I was assured, +consisted in being able to change colour and volume whenever he liked, +and even make himself entirely invisible, which did not prevent him from +letting himself be surprised and made short work of by the myrmidons of +the sultan incensed at his growing prestige. + +I had to stay four days in the neighbourhood of Kebkebia, the first part +of the time being spent in going back to Rémélé to make arrangements for +the return of my escort and hired camels to Abéché; I also hoped to make +the astronomical observations I had been unable to make on the night of +my arrival. But I had my labour for my pains. All four days the sky +remained almost constantly overcast and the rain fell in torrents, the +clouds came in great masses from the west-south-west, and, striking the +mountain chain at the foot of which lie Rémélé and Kebkebia, they +dissolved in rain that fell at frequent intervals, while on the other +side of the chain there fell only rare and insignificant showers. + +It was only the last day that I could make the planetary observations +required for fixing the positions of Kebkebia, mount Dourboullé, and the +summit of the Djebel Marra; this last is notably higher than the 6000 +feet above the sea attributed to it by the maps of Africa: my first +calculations allowed me to fix its altitude somewhere between 9000 and +9800 feet. + +I left Kebkebia on July 2, starting in the afternoon in an easterly +direction, skirting the foot of mount Dourboullé on its southern side. +The track, cleared of scrub for a width of a dozen yards, lay along a +ground rocky indeed, but presenting no serious difficulties. We came +across no villages, though the country is inhabited. Here and there on +the hillsides one could see stone enclosures, in groups of twenty to +thirty, which till a short time previously had been villages whose +inhabitants had withdrawn higher up the mountain in order to escape, so +at least we were told, from the former sultan’s incessant and vexatious +requisitions. They were not themselves described to us as particularly +desirable, being inclined to banditism; but I can offer no evidence on +the question, for they did not trouble the march of my little caravan. + +On July 4, for the third and last time, I crossed the line that +separates the waters of the Chad basin from that of the Mediterranean, +at the Kowra Pass, which is at an altitude of about 4000 feet; then, +coming down from spur to spur across the Djebel Kowra I reached the +Djebel Om, a very broken region, chaotic in appearance and covered with +scanty scrub, stunted, prickly, and almost leafless, where our exhausted +camels found but little sustenance. From place to place we crossed +recently worked deposits of salt. The salt is very much mixed with +earth, and the richest beds are indicated by the swollen, cracked, and +friable character of the soil. As in other salt-producing regions in +Central Africa, the salt-bearing earth is washed for a longer or shorter +time in washing and filtering baskets; then, when the saline solution +has become concentrated enough, it is heated in clay jars, on the inside +of which the salt crystallizes as the water evaporates. The product thus +obtained, though impure and grey-coloured, is pleasant to the taste, and +supplies a great part of the market in Dar Four and the neighbouring +countries. + +In the afternoon of the 5th, leaving behind us the last salt-beds of Om +Bakour, we got clear away from the mountainous zone and made our way for +four days across the undulating plains that stretch eastwards beyond El +Fasher. The further I went the clearer grew the panorama of the chain I +had just crossed. Spur after spur, fantastically shaped, extended in +long succession to the north, while towards the west and the south the +summits of the Dourboullé and the Djebel Marra towered above the rest of +the mountains and stood out boldly against the sky, especially at dusk, +a moment at which the light was particularly favourable for the +observations required for determining their position and altitude. In +the plain of shifting sand, dotted here and there with isolated rocks of +huge size, real natural geodetic signals, the landscape stretched away +monotonously, almost without trees or even grass. The fertilizing rains +of the first few days of July not having reached further than the +djebels I had just crossed, the sowing had not begun, and the +inhabitants of the villages that succeeded one another at regular +intervals down the valleys I traversed were feeling a little uneasy. + +At sunrise on July 9, after passing by the hamlet of Zaïdia, I came in +sight of the capital of Dar Four; it seemed to be a place of +considerable extent, and to consist of thatched huts grouped by distinct +quarters along the east side of a bare valley. In the uniform grey of +the city I hardly noticed more than one remarkable building, white, and +shaped like a tiara, and dominating the northern part of the town; and +towards the centre a clump of green trees, from which emerged a +construction of European style. The former was the Koubba of Zakaria +Zata, the tomb of the sultan Ali Dinar’s father; the latter was the +sultan’s old palace turned into the residence of the Governor of the +Province. + +Beyond the town I could see low lines of hills, on the north the Djebel +Wana, and on the east the Djebel Fasher, at the foot of which a year +before the Forian army had been routed by the Anglo-Sudanese troops of +Colonel Kelly. To the south a sandy plain of a fine tawny colour +stretched away to the horizon, intersected by the long, dark green +ribbon of the Wadi El Ko, a sub-tributary through the Bahr el Ghazal of +the Nile. Westwards various djebels of greater or less importance stood +out in broken lines against the distant curtain of the great chain of +western Dar Four. A few moments later I was joined by a group of +horsemen: it was His Excellency the Governor of Dar Four, Lieut.-Colonel +R. V. Savile Pasha, who bade me welcome and took me to the Residency, +where the most cordial hospitality awaited me. + +_El Fasher._—On the evening of my arrival I installed as usual the +prismatic astrolabe and the box of chronometers for my daily +astronomical observation, and when it was finished I was filled with a +deep and intimate joy: after eighteen years of persistent effort I had +at last reached the geographical goal that I had set myself to attain in +Central Africa. That last observation, made in the palace yard of El +Fasher, set the seal, once for all, on the liaison of the geodetic +systems of the basins of the Niger, the Chad, and the Nile, for the +longitude of El Fasher had just been determined by the officers of the +Sudan Survey Department by the aid of the telegraph line recently +established between Khartoum and El Fasher. I had to stay twelve days in +this town in order to carry out, in conference with the Governor of Dar +Four, a mission with which I had been entrusted by the Governor of the +Territory of the Chad. This mission concerned the policing of the +borderland of the two Governments, and the settlement of the claims +arising out of depredations committed by the rebel tribes of Ennedi. +After we had come to a complete understanding I drew up, in +collaboration with Mr. A. C. Pilkington, a provisional map, on a scale +of 1/1,000,000, of the part of the Franco-Anglo-Egyptian borders +affected by our agreement. During all this time, need I say that I was +the object of the utmost kindness and attention on the part of the +Governor and the British officers who surrounded him. Their friendly +reception of me remains one of my most treasured recollections of this +journey. + +El Fasher seemed to be a town of from fifteen to twenty thousand +inhabitants, and one of the finest-looking native cities I have seen in +Central Africa; it is built on sand-dunes surrounding a temporary lake +that dries up a few weeks after the end of the rainy season, and in +which in the dry season the natives dig hundreds of wells, the water of +which is then sold at an average price varying between a halfpenny and a +penny a gallon. The town stands on two sides of the lake, somewhat in +the shape of a circumflex accent, open to the southward, and whose apex +is marked, roughly speaking, by the Koubba of Zakaria; the eastern side +of this angle is more particularly occupied by traders and natives, +while the governor’s palace and the greater part of the official +buildings are on the western side. Between the business town and the +administrative town lies a great square, a sort of Champ de Mars where +festivals, parades, and reviews take place, and where once a week the +band of the battalion gives a concert. + +What struck me most in this town is its well-kept and green appearance; +the streets are wide, the houses in good repair and surrounded with +trees (mostly serrahs). There are none of the hovels, the broken-down +walls, the heaps of refuse so often found in Sudanese cities, except +perhaps on the south side, where, at the time of my passing through the +town, a group of Fellatas had set up a camp of dirty little straw huts +in which men, women, children, and cattle sprawled in an indiscriminate +heap. + +The sultan Ali Dinar, who had spent part of his youth in the valley of +the Nile with the Khalif of the Mahdists, had acquired there a taste for +green trees, fine houses, and broad avenues. His palace had been +carefully constructed. The principal building, a rectangular white house +two stories high, surmounted by a terrace, opened northwards on to a +garden planted with palms and lemon-trees. The rooms were large and +comfortable, and from the second storey windows the Sultan could see not +only the whole of his palace and his capital, but also a vast panorama +over the surrounding plain, the valley of the Wadi El Ko, the mountains +of Kebkebia, and even the Djebel Marra, whose imposing mass can be seen +when the sky is very clear, more than 70 miles to the south-west. Other +houses, less sumptuous, but more original because local in style, +equally attract one’s notice in the interior of this palace, in which +one loses one’s self in a labyrinth of walls, courtyards, and +outbuildings. These houses are large round huts with simple clay walls, +but whose roofs, admirably thatched, are often connected by long wide +verandahs. These were the apartments of the princesses, light, roomy, +and comfortable. Ali Dinar’s æsthetic preoccupations have been rare +among Sudanese monarchs, but it must be admitted that in order to +embellish his palace and his capital he had all but ruined his kingdom, +reducing half the population to a sort of semi-slavery, filling his +harem with concubines, distributing his subjects’ cattle among his +favourites and the Arab merchants who brought him precious merchandise +and weapons and ammunition sent by the Senoussists. He dreamed of +extending his empire, and lent a too ready ear to the preachers of the +Holy War, who, under the ægis of the Grand Senoussi and the Grand Turk, +dreamed of driving French and British out of Africa. It was with him as +with so many other despots: he fell through pride. Had he shown more +wisdom and diplomacy he might well have been reigning still in Dar Four. + +There would be many more things to say about El Fasher, but I have +already dallied too long over the pleasant memories left me by my +sojourn in that town. I beg to be excused inasmuch as, though I was +still 1700 miles from Cairo, I considered myself as having reached the +end of my journey. There only remained three weeks’ march with camels +that would bring me to the railway terminus at El Obeid across an +inhabited country not merely known but already organized; I must leave +the pleasure of describing it to one or another of the British officers +who have conquered and pacified it, and who know it better than I, who +passed through it too quickly to be able to study it as it deserves. + +_From El Fasher to Cairo._—I left El Fasher in the evening of 21 July +1917, passing through Um Gedada and Dam Gamad to El Nahud, where I +arrived on August 4. I left again on the 6th, deeply touched by the +hearty welcome of the District Inspector, Major J. G. N. Bardwell. On +August 13, towards four in the afternoon, as I came within sight of El +Obeid, I heard for the first time in five years the whistle of a +locomotive, and its strident note was sweeter to my ears than the most +classical music, for it told me that I had at last reached the gate of +civilization; and the same evening, at dinner with His Excellency the +Governor of Kordofan, Mr. J. W. Sagar, the sight of the graceful and +charmingly dressed ladies who were present confirmed that delightful +impression. + +The next day was a very busy one, for I had to discharge my native +escort, pay my camel-drivers, put in order, mend, and bring to the train +my numerous cases of instruments, collections, and documents, in order +to take on the Wednesday the bi-weekly train. I was only able to do so +thanks to the unwearied kindness of the Governor and of the Garrison +Commander, Major T. S. Vandeleur, D.S.O. + +On August 15, at 7 o’clock in the morning, I took the train for +Khartoum. The faithful blacks who had come with me all the way from +Borkou were filled with gaping wonder at the sight of the long heavy +string of carriages moving by itself. His Excellency the Governor and +the Garrison Commander had come to the station to wish me a happy end to +my travels, and to see that I had everything I wanted. Let me be allowed +here to express once more my lively gratitude! + +Then followed two long days in the train across the wide plains of +Kordofan, the crossing of the White Nile by a monumental bridge, then +the arrival on the Blue Nile at Sennar, where passengers were waiting +who had come from the Upper Nile; then Wad Medina in the afternoon, and +finally, in the middle of the night, Khartoum. + +I stayed a week in Khartoum, where I was the guest of the Civil +Secretary, Feilden Pasha, and Dr. P. S. Crispin, Director of the Medical +Service. It was an enchanting week that I spent in that pearl of the +Sudan, which is already visited by many a tourist, so great was the +consideration shown me by my hosts and by the high officials and +officers of the capital. + +I left Khartoum on August 24, arrived in Cairo in the morning of the +28th, and on the 30th had the honour of being presented at Alexandria by +the French Diplomatic Agent to His Excellency the British High +Commissioner in Egypt, Sir Reginald Wingate. + +As there was no boat ready to start for France, I was able to satisfy my +impatience to see an up-to-date fighting front by a visit to the British +front lines opposite the Turkish trenches which at that time defended +Gaza. Then, returning to Alexandria, I embarked for Malta. From there I +reached Syracuse, and thence, by Messina, Naples, Rome, and Modane, I +arrived on 1 October 1917 in Paris, and from there a few weeks later I +joined the French front. + + +=10. Conclusions.= + + +_Geographical Results._—In the course of this lengthy statement I have +set forth in their respective places the principal geographical results +obtained during the last five years of my stay in Central Africa; but it +will perhaps be convenient to group them in a separate paragraph. + +In the first place, the great geographical problem of ancient fluvial +communication between the basins of the Chad and the Nile is definitely +solved; the mountainous barrier encircles the basin of the Chad from the +Toummo Mountains on the north to the Djebel Marra on the south-east, +passing through the massif of Tibesti, the plateau of Jef-Jef, the +tablelands of Erdi and Ennedi, the hills of Zagawa, and the mountains of +western Dar Four. + +In the second place, the lowest altitudes of the Chad basin are found in +the plains of the low-lying region situated to the north-east of Lake +Chad, which we have designated as “the Lowlands of the Chad.” The lowest +altitude, of 160 metres (about 520 feet), was found in the ancient lake +of Kirri, at a distance of about 250 miles from Lake Chad. + +It is towards this low-lying zone that all the great valleys of the +hydrographic system of the Western Sahara seem to converge. It is to be +presumed that, such being the conditions, the tracing of a hypsometric +curve of 250 or 260 metres of altitude (that is to say, slightly +superior to that of the actual Chad) would fix the limits, in the region +of the Chad, the Lowlands of the Chad, and Borkou, of the ancient +Central African lake zone, the existence of which is proved by the +agreement of the geological, topographical, ichthyological, +malacological, and other observations made in these regions in the +course of the last twenty years. Are we to see in the remains of this +former Caspian of the Sahara the Chelonide marshes of the geographers of +the ancient world? To do so would not be altogether unreasonable if it +be taken into account that, so far as I am aware, there is not to be +found in the south-west of the Lybian desert any other low-lying region +combining conditions so favourable to the existence of a vast zone of +lake or marsh. + +Again, if we bear in mind certain local traditions declaring that +towards the beginning of the nineteenth century native navigators were +able to go in boats from the Chad to the Lowlands of the Chad by the +Bahr el Ghazal (an assertion that the present appearance of Lake Kirri, +recently dried up, makes sufficiently probable), one may conclude that +until the early centuries of the Christian era this low-lying and now +completely waterless region of the lowlands of the Chad may have been a +great zone of lakes and marshes dotted with sandy or rocky +archipelagoes. + +Other facts may equally be noted in corroboration of this hypothesis. +Firstly, the numerous layers of shells of river molluscs and the large +quantity of fish-bones to be met with there: among the latter a fragment +of a skull and vertebræ examined by M. J. Pellegrin, which he thought +were to be attributed to a Nile perch (_Lates Niloticus_, L.) of about 6 +or 7 feet in length (in the _Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences_, +tome 168, No. 19, p. 963. Séance de 12 May 1919); and the discovery of +an elephant skeleton in a region where neither grass nor water is any +longer to be found. Attention might also be drawn to the rock-drawings +of Yarda, where hippopotami are represented among horses, camels, dogs, +and ostriches; or to the numerous ruins of settled villages found all up +and down, especially where the Bahr el Ghazal falls into the Djourab. +Lastly, it may be mentioned that on the platform of certain rocks in +Borkou may be found great cemeteries that a native chief attributes to a +completely vanished race of “black Christians.” But our researches +revealed to us no trace or vestige of Christian religion, perhaps +because we could not devote enough time to them. + +A third important result has been to reveal the geographical form of +important mountain masses like Tibesti and Ennedi, hitherto shown in a +very imperfect fashion on the maps of Africa, and the existence of +another important massif called that of Erdi, connecting the two above +mentioned. Moreover, the information we received permits us to reveal to +geographers the existence in the centre of the Lybian desert of yet +another mountain mass, the Djebel El Aouinat, situated about 150 miles +south-east of the oasis of Koufra, and of which the altitude probably +exceeds 4000 feet. + +A fourth interesting result has been the precise determination of the +difference of longitude Paris-Faya by direct hearing of the wireless +time-signals of the Eiffel Tower. Numerous rectifications of the +positions attributed to various important points have resulted, the most +notable being that which throws more than 50 miles to the N.N.W. the +positions attributed by Nachtigal to Bardaï, the peak of Toussidé, the +valley of Zouar, etc. + +A fifth important result is furnished by the discovery in northern +Borkou of the _Harlania Harlani_, which authorizes us to affirm the +Upper Silurian age of all the sandstone sedimentary formations of +Tibesti, Erdi, and Ennedi. + +A sixth point will also, no doubt, be remarked by geographers: from the +peak of Toussidé that dominates the north-west of the Tibestian massif +to the Djebel Marra overlooking the plains of south-western Dar Four, +that is to say, for more than 800 miles in a straight line, numerous +hypsometric determinations have been effected which modify—sometimes by +several thousand feet—the altitudes of the chief summits of the mountain +chain that separates the basin of the Chad from that of the +Mediterranean: in Tibesti, Toussidé, 10,700 feet instead of 8200, Emi +Koussi, 11,200 feet; in Ennedi, the plateau of Erdébé, 4300 feet; in +Tama, the peak of Niéré, 4700 feet; in Dar Four, the peak of Dourboullé, +7200 feet, the Djebel Marra, 9800 feet instead of 6000. These figures +are given merely as an indication subject to the rectifications that +will follow the revision now proceeding of the summary calculations +rapidly effected during my journey. + +Lastly, the establishment of the geographical liaison between the Niger, +the Chad, and the Nile, by a chain of astronomical positions determined +with very satisfactory exactitude, constitutes a seventh result, all the +more interesting in that it will permit the drawing up of four sheets of +the international map of the world, thanks to the 10,000 kilometres of +surveys traced by my collaborators and myself during this long +expedition. + + +From this geographical liaison allow me to pass to another kind of +liaison and say a few words on a subject I have particularly at heart, +and which is the conclusion not only of this five years’ journey but +also of all the journeys I have had the opportunity of making in Central +Africa since the beginning of the twentieth century,—I mean the +importance, I will even say the necessity, of Franco-British +collaboration in the great work of African civilization. + +When I first set foot on the Dark Continent, in 1896, tropical and still +mysterious Africa was a subject of discussions and rivalries between +French and British colonials; but at the present time twenty years of +fruitful emulation have ended in a definite and final division of our +various possessions, and it seems to me that henceforth Africa is +destined to be the tangible pledge of the union of our two countries. + +I believe that in England as in France a considerable number of +thoughtful men hold that it is above all to the African continent that +we must look in a very large proportion for the supply of raw material +and foodstuffs that we need. The question is whether it is more to the +advantage of France and England to co-operate as closely as possible in +developing these vast and practically unworked regions, or whether it is +preferable for them to pursue this object separately, each country +limiting its means of action to its own sphere of influence. + +For my part, I hold that the answer is not doubtful: our two countries +should unite their resources for a loyal collaboration in this essential +work, so as to assure its complete success as rapidly as possible. I +know that the problem is no very simple one; but have we not solved +harder ones in the course of these last years, when for both our +countries the question was “to be or not to be”? And since it would +appear that the great and formidable economic struggle that is beginning +on the morrow of the victory is destined to be as keen, if not keener, +than the military struggle, it seems to me that the hearty, loyal, and +complete union of our efforts can alone assure us of success. + +_The Trans-Sudanese._—It is an axiom henceforth beyond argument that the +utilization of the riches running to waste in Tropical Africa cannot be +seriously taken in hand until an adequate system of railways is +constructed. Allow me, in bringing this lecture to an end, to explain +what seems to me the most rational way of conceiving the general +programme of the African railways north of the equator. + +In the first place, we must endow Africa with a great transcontinental +line from west to east, destined to ensure rapid communication between +the different French and British colonies bordering on the Sudan. I have +proposed for this railway the name “Transsudanese” (_Comptes Rendus_ of +the Academy of Sciences, vol. 169, p. 418. Sitting of 1 September 1919 +(Gauthier Villars, Paris)); and its main lines, roughly indicated by the +natural features of Africa, and following the 13th degree of north +latitude, should include the following points:— + +(_a_) Dakar and Konakry, starting-points on the Atlantic Ocean; + +(_b_) Ouagadougou, Sokoto, Kano, Fort Lamy, Khartoum, crossing the +French Sudan, British Nigeria, the French territory of the Chad, and the +Anglo-Egyptian Sudan; + +(_c_) Port-Sudan and Djibouti, termini on the Red Sea. + +Secondly, along this “Transsudanese” would be formed junctions at the +most suitable points, with local branch lines from the different French +and British colonies that succeed one another along the Atlantic coast +from the mouth of the Senegal to that of the Congo. + +Thirdly, this railway system would be connected with the Mediterranean +ports—on the east by the Nile valley railway from Khartoum to Cairo; on +the west by a French “Transsaharian,” starting from the great bend of +the Niger and connecting with the railway systems of Tunis, Algeria, and +Morocco, and at some future time with that of Europe by a tunnel under +the Straits of Gibraltar, or simply by train-ferry. + +Among the many reasons urgently in favour of the construction of the +Transsudanese, I will confine myself to stating what seems to me the +most important and perhaps the least known, the question of labour. For +it is generally agreed that the opening up of Tropical Africa cannot be +undertaken without the large co-operation of black labour. Now, for long +years to come four-fifths of that labour will have to be supplied by the +Sudanese populations, much less wild and much less indolent than the +great majority of the coast populations, and consequently better fitted +to lend useful aid to European enterprises. This Sudanese population, +which may be estimated at some fifteen millions at the lowest count, is +spread over more than a million square miles (4000 miles from west to +east from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, and 250 to 300 miles from north +to south, between the 11th and the 15th degrees of north latitude). + +To recruit workmen scattered over such vast distances and convey them +without loss of time to the points where European enterprises are ready +to employ them, it is evident that an unbroken line of railway must pass +through the total length of the inhabited zone—that is to say, of +Sudanese Africa. And it is of supreme importance that this railway +should not have to take into account the political frontiers of the +various colonies passed through, and that its one concern should be to +traverse the regions in which the population is densest. + +Such is one of the main considerations that fix the choice of the +itinerary and bring me to the conclusion that the Transsudanese—a work +of general interest in Africa, and more particularly a work of specially +Franco-British interest—ought to be undertaken without delay, and pushed +forward as actively as may be by the cordial co-operation of France and +Great Britain. + +These remarks do not apply to the local railways of the different +colonies, though they may be expected to participate largely in the +traffic of the Transsudanese, either by carrying down the products of +the interior to the ports of the coast or by giving access to the +regions in need of development, and in which Sudanese labour will be +required. I am of opinion that these railways, limited as they are to +the particular territories of the several colonies whose economic +development they ensure, should continue to be constructed and managed, +as hitherto, by the colonies they serve: those colonies should bear the +expense of such local lines by their own financial resources, or by +those placed at their disposal by the mother-country. + +As for the Transsaharian, destined to connect the railways of North +Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunis) with those of the Niger basin, I have +had the opportunity of saying in another place that it has become a +vital necessity of French colonial policy in Africa—a necessity that the +great war has proved to demonstration. For this reason I hold that its +construction should be regarded as a work of strictly national interest. +Still, a glance at the map will convince the observer of the profit that +will accrue to the British West African colonies, especially when it +becomes possible to cross from Europe to Africa without the +inconvenience of a sea-passage. I have often been met by the objection +that the Transsaharian “will not pay”; that it will be almost +exclusively a strategic railway, very laborious to construct, and very +costly to keep in working order. Such is not my opinion. The +Transsaharian, once the junction effected with the Transsudanese, will +connect two exceedingly rich regions—the Africa of the Arab and Berber +races and Black Africa. Between these regions a considerable commercial +traffic will arise, which will have an influence as great or even +greater than that of the Transsudanese itself on the economic +development of Africa; its receipts per kilometre will be as large if +not larger than those of the most favoured of the railways running from +the colonies along the coast inland towards the Sudan, for the +Transsaharian will be the direct means of penetration into the richest +regions of tropical Africa, not only from North Africa, but also from +the whole of Western Europe. + + +=1871-1919= + + +May I say one word about Tibesti and Borkou, and so conclude? Half a +century ago, when Nachtigal, after exploring the Tibesti, came to the +shores of Lake Chad, before setting out again to complete his work by +the exploration of Kanem and Borkou, he learnt by letters from Tripoli +the victories that his native country of Germany had won over France. +And again, when he returned to Europe after four long years of absence, +he found that peace had been made two years earlier, and that our +provinces of Alsace and Lorraine had become part of Germany and were +called the Reichsland; France, humiliated, was just finishing the +payment to the conqueror of the milliards that were to hasten the +liberation of her territory. + +By a striking example of the way in which history sometimes repeats +itself, but with a difference, war was once more forced on France by +Germany at a moment when French explorers had just set foot in Borkou +and Tibesti in order to rectify, revise, and complete the unfinished +work of the German explorer! And the joy that filled the heart of +Nachtigal when he returned to Europe to find his country triumphant, and +her borders widened with the spoils of war, swells in our hearts to-day! +For it is Germany now that knows the humiliation of paying milliards to +obtain the liberation of her own territory, while the tricolour floats +over Metz and Strasburg, and watch indeed is kept, but to other music, +on the Rhine! + +From this parallel, may I venture to conclude that in her treasure-house +of colonial jewels France may well find a place for arid Borkou and the +barren Tibesti. For would it not seem that they are, in some sort, +talismans, and that when Gaul and German grapple on the banks of the +great river that was set by nature and destiny to hold them apart, +Fortune, that wayward goddess, shall give victory to whichever country +has a son exiled in those mysterious regions, seeking, by rock and +desert, new ways across their ancient sand? + + [_Translated from the French by W. G. Tweedale, M.A., Oxon._] + + +Before the paper the PRESIDENT said: It is a special pleasure to us to +welcome here this evening that well-known French explorer and +geographer, Colonel Tilho. We had been long hoping to have the pleasure +of receiving him and of hearing an account of his recent journeys from +1912 to 1917, but owing to the press of official business he was not +able to come here in the summer, and it is only by the greatest good +fortune, and by the exercise of a little tactful pressure upon the +different Governments, that he has been able to be present this evening. +This is not the first occasion upon which he has been before the +Society. He gave us a most interesting paper about ten years ago, so +that he is not a stranger, and we are very glad to welcome him again. +What he will describe to us this evening will be his journeys in Central +Africa and the French Sudan between the years 1912 and 1917; and it was +for the valuable work which he did during those journeys and for his +general contribution to geographical knowledge that we awarded him, two +years ago, our Patron’s Gold Medal. I have, therefore, very great +pleasure in introducing Colonel Tilho to you and asking him now to +address us. + + +_Colonel Tilho then gave in French a summary of the paper printed above, + and a discussion followed._ + +The PRESIDENT (after the paper): Sir Henry McMahon, who was High +Commissioner in Egypt during part of the war, is present here, and we +shall be very glad if he will kindly make some observations in regard to +Colonel Tilho’s interesting lecture. + +Colonel Sir HENRY MCMAHON: We are much indebted to Colonel Tilho for a +most interesting paper to-night. It is not only of very great interest, +but a valuable contribution to geographical knowledge. I will leave the +discussion of the lecture as regards its geographical and cartographical +aspect to others, but there is one portion of the paper to which I +should like to call your attention. As Colonel Tilho has told you, +during the war the Germans and Turks got a footing in Tripoli. He has +told you how Enver Pasha’s brother, Nuri Bey, landed on that coast, and +with him many Germans. Their object was to get into touch with the +Senussi; raise the whole country against us through the Senussi +influence, and threaten our western flank both in Egypt and the Sudan. +They very nearly succeeded; and if our brave allies, the French, had not +forestalled them in the country described to-night, they would +undoubtedly have established themselves there. It is a valuable +objective as being the first place in which water and supplies can be +got after leaving the oasis of Kufra. We will imagine for one moment +that they had established themselves there. You can at once see what a +dangerous focus of intrigue and unrest, what a source of danger it would +have been on our flank all along our western front. Having forestalled +the enemy there, no further trouble ensued, but our friend the Sultan of +Darfur, who misjudged the time of the Senussi arrival and counted too +confidently on their aid, had already started hostilities with us, and a +war ensued which in times of peace would have attracted wide public +attention but in the days when our interest was so concentrated on other +fronts it almost escaped notice. Suffice to say that by a brilliant +series of military operations, our troops, under the direction of Sir +Reginald Wingate, the Sirdar of the Sudan, drove him out of his capital +and took the whole of his country. If the Senussi had at this time been +established with their German and Turkish assistants on our flank, it +might have been a very different job indeed. I look upon this incident +as an object lesson of the good that co-operation can effect in a work +of this kind, and it is, I hope, not only an object lesson of what has +been done in the past times of war, but an augury of what we can do and +should do between us in the future times of peace. As Colonel Tilho has +explained to you, co-operation is essential for the development of this +great country of Africa, and I trust that it will be the guiding +principle of our two great nations not only in the development of that +country, but in furthering the welfare of the backward peoples placed +under our guardianship. + +The PRESIDENT: The French Military Attaché is present and we should be +very pleased if he would kindly address us. + +General the VISCOMTE DE LA PANOUSE: Je ne savais pas que j’aurais à +prendre la parole ce soir en sorte que je me trouve un peu pris au +dépourvu. Je vous demanderais donc la permission de m’exprimer en +Français. Il y a quelques vingt ans, il eut été impossible de discuter +ici dans une atmosphère de calme et de confiance mutuelle une question +relative au centre du Continent Africain. Heureusement depuis cette +époque, grâce aux bienfaisants accords de 1904, les malentendus entre le +Royaume Uni et la France se sont dissipés, l’Entente Cordiale est née, +elle s’est développée et elle a vu son couronnement dans une alliance +militaire étroite et loyale pendant la plus grande guerre que le monde +ait vue. Le Colonel Tilho vous a exposé pourquoi dans le développement +économique de ce Grand Centre Africain, l’action unie des deux grandes +Nations est nécessaire sous peine d’aboutir à un gaspillage inutile +d’efforts et d’argent. Mais je vois aussi une autre raison pour laquelle +nous devons travailler ensemble; l’Empire Britannique et la France ont +lutté pendant cette grande guerre pour faire triompher les principes du +droit et de la liberté contre l’oppression et la barbarie. Notre +victoire nous a créé des obligations et en particulier celle de défendre +les populations noires contre la tyrannie des marchands d’esclaves et de +l’oppression des sectes musulmanes et de leur donner le bien-être auquel +a droit tout être humain. Ce devoir ne sera utilement rempli que si nos +nations s’entendent sur les mesures à prendre et les réalisent en +commun. La belle œuvre d’humanité à accomplir sera ainsi un nouveau lien +entre les deux Grandes Puissances qui se partagent le continent +Africain. + +The PRESIDENT: We have been fortunate to catch Sir Harry Johnston. He is +one of our greatest authorities upon Africa generally, both Central and +Northern. We should be very glad if he would make some remarks. + +Sir HARRY JOHNSTON: I had the honour some years ago, just after the war +had started, of showing you a somewhat similar map of Africa with +railways designed on it partly by my own fancy, and I may say to a great +extent by following French fancies too; for about that time I had been +in the north of Africa, and had been allowed to pursue for a certain +distance the tracing of the projected trans-Saharan railway, the +progress of which was only stopped by the war. I conceived then the idea +that it was of the highest importance to Western Europe that that line +should be made, though I, like most of you, did not appreciate the +influence on affairs that the submarine would have; but of course that +conviction has been strengthened by the events of the war. Had we had +the trans-Saharan railway in existence during the war we should not have +suffered as much as we did from the loss of some of the most important +materials for our industries caused by the interruptions of the sea +routes, the destruction of steamers, etc. It is a matter of absolute +necessity, I consider, that that trans-Saharan line should be made to +link up the valley of the Niger with French North Africa, and further +with Western Europe; because, as Colonel Tilho has pointed out, the +channel between Tangier and the Spanish coast could be easily patrolled +and kept free of submarines, and even crossed by train ferries. Then +another point I should like to raise is as to the further exploration of +those Tibesti highlands and the lofty plateaus that are connected with +them on the north-west and south-east. Colonel Tilho did not mention in +his discourse what he said to me privately, that he had found in some +parts of that region, possibly Borku, fossilized bones of elephants. He +has referred to the native legends and to the drawings on the rocks +which point to the existence of hippopotami in regions now entirely +devoid of surface water. He showed some of these engravings. They are +very similar to rock drawings which can be traced right across the +Sahara desert, exhibiting a fauna now completely passed away. One reason +why Tibesti should be explored is, that we might find there the fossil +and semi-fossil remains of a very extensive tropical African fauna, +because that isthmus of high land between the south of Tunis on the +north, and Darfur and the regions round Lake Chad on the south, seems to +have been the principal route by which the fauna of Miocene and Pliocene +Europe and the Mediterranean basin reached Tropical Africa. There are +more and more indications that the Sahara desert to the west and the +Libyan and Nubian deserts to the east were formerly under water, and +therefore checked the progress of beasts and man across the Sahara into +Central Africa; but this high ridge always remained well above the +limits of such lakes, marshes, or inland seas. Tibesti was a well- +watered region with at one time quite a heavy rainfall down to about +twenty thousand years ago. + +Before the war suspended such enterprises, the savants of France were +exploring the wonderful sub-fossil remains of Algeria which revealed to +us the existence there of a mammalian fauna resembling that of modern +tropical Africa, of the region south of the Sahara. With that fauna were +mingled in a very interesting degree creatures which at the present time +are restricted to India. For instance, there was something so like an +Indian elephant that it might be called the Indian elephant, existing +almost down to the human period in Algeria. There was a wild camel, an +equine resembling a zebra; there were gnus, hartebeests, oryxes, and +other types of modern African antelopes; and there was a Tragelaph +allied to the Nilghai; there was a huge buffalo with almost incredible +horns—14 feet long—incredible were it not that its existence is proved +not only by its fossil remains but by the drawings of primitive man. The +Foureau-Lamy Expedition, I believe, found many of the dry torrent-beds +of the elevated Ahaggar region choked with hippopotamus bones. There is +everything to point to quite a recent and rapid change in the climate of +the Sahara, which, well within the human period, was a region abounding +in water derived from a heavy rainfall, and richly endowed with forest +areas, as we may see from the remains of petrified trees. This will +bring home to you what gains might come to science and to our knowledge +of the evolution of life on this planet if we could only thoroughly +explore the Sahara, and above all such regions as the Tibesti highlands. + +Major HANNS VISCHER: Just after I had crossed the Sahara, some years +ago, I had the great pleasure to meet Colonel Tilho in Nigeria; and last +time we met—I think in 1909—to celebrate our homecoming in Paris, we +spoke of the work in Africa of our two respective countries. During my +journey, and whenever I met the French in those regions, I was +particularly impressed by the difficulties and privations these officers +suffered so cheerfully. In Nigeria we had our railway, and we got +frequent leave. As I remembered those isolated posts in the heart of the +Sahara, while looking at the pictures we saw to-night, separated by +hundreds of miles, rarely getting a mail or any provisions from the +coast during those long years of war, when few boats went to the West +Coast of Africa, I was filled with admiration for the work done by +Colonel Tilho and his comrades. In the course of his lecture the Colonel +showed clearly how necessary it is for us to co-operate in Africa, not +only for the welfare of the native people but also for the very +existence of our respective colonies. He has shown to us to-night how +well we can complement each other. When that German-Turkish column +advanced south across the desert, at a moment when we had sent most of +our troops from Nigeria to East Africa, it would have been a hard thing +for the people in our colony if the officers under Colonel Tilho’s +orders, assisted by some native troops sent north from Nigeria, had not +been able to arrest the enemy’s progress. + +The PRESIDENT: I know you will all want me to congratulate Colonel Tilho +on your behalf on the lucid, graceful, and humorous lecture he has given +us this evening. There has been great talk about the co-operation +between us and the French, and I think we might go a little deeper even +than that. When we can get a French officer like Colonel Tilho over here +in the flesh, and can hear from his own lips what he has done, when he +shows us pictures of the kind of country he has had to make his way +through, the kind of people he has had to make friends with: when we see +all that, certainly we who have had to do similar work in other parts of +the world—and probably you at home, even though you have not had that +great pleasure and honour, must have a very deep fellow-feeling with him +and his compatriots—we feel that there is something deep and common +between us when we realize so vividly the work that they are doing, the +difficulties that they have had to encounter, and the great work of +civilization and humanization which they are carrying on in these far +remote recesses of Central Africa. We have had to do the same things +ourselves in other parts of the world. We see the results of our own +efforts, and Colonel Tilho this evening has shown us what the French +have done in opening out the great arid wastes of the Sahara desert and +the French Sudan. What they have done and what we have done is good for +the world as a whole. It has all been opened out gradually in the course +of years, not only for the French and not only for the British, but for +all nations. Therefore we here in England, we in this Society, will send +forth a very hearty word of congratulation to the French, and especially +to Colonel Tilho, for the great work which they are doing in Central +Africa. He has made very important geographical discoveries, and has +referred to new methods of geographical observation. Wireless telegraphy +for the purpose of determining longitude is a comparatively new method, +but one which is vastly valuable, because, as we who have tried to +determine longitudes in far-away places know, in old days it was +impossible to get the longitude at all exactly. We could get the +latitude fairly accurately, within a few hundred yards, but longitude we +could never get to within a few miles. Now by means of wireless +telegraphy we are able to get longitude with almost complete exactitude, +even in the heart of the French Sudan. Colonel Tilho has also made a +slight allusion to another modern invention which I think in future will +prove of great service, and that is the aeroplane. We shall hear more of +that at our next meeting; but when you see those vast waterless regions, +when you hear from Colonel Tilho of the enormous difficulty in getting +across them with camels, then we see of what use the aeroplane might +have been made for preliminary geographical reconnaissance. Those two +inventions, I am certain, will be of enormous service to geography. I +now wish on your behalf to tender to Colonel Tilho a most hearty vote of +thanks for his lecture this evening, and also for his great kindness, at +considerable personal inconvenience, in coming across from Paris to give +us this paper. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[Footnote 1: A sort of camp-followers whose business in life is warfare +in all its branches except that of fighting: experts in all manner of +desert craft, scouts, flank-guards, finders of strayed camels or sorely +needed wells. Swift to detect the incompetence or bad faith of local +guides, they form the necessary complement to the fighting strength of +any expedition in Central Africa.] + +[Footnote 2: This account will be published in the next number of the +_Journal._—ED. _G.J._] + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77071 *** |