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+} +.clear { + clear: both; +} +img { + width: inherit; + max-width: 100%; +} +.iw1 { width: 1000px; } +.iw2 { width: 600px; } +.iw3 { width: 600px; } +@media screen and (max-width: 1500px) { +.iw3 { + width: 350px; +} +} +.x-ebookmaker .iw3 { + max-width: 70%; +} +.iw4 { width: 330px; } +@media screen and (max-width: 1500px) { +.iw4 { + width: 250px; +} +} +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77071 ***</div> +<div class="margins"> +<div class="transnote"> +<p class="center">This article has been extracted and prepared from +<em>The Geographical Journal</em>, v. 56, 1920.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[No. 2<br> +81]</span> +</p> + +<h1>THE EXPLORATION OF TIBESTI, ERDI, BORKOU, AND ENNEDI IN +1912-1917: A Mission entrusted to the Author by the French +Institute</h1> + +<p class="center">Lieut.-Colonel Jean Tilho, Gold Medallist of the +R.G.S. 1919</p> + +<p class="center"><em>Read at the Meeting of the Society, 19 +January 1920. <a href="#map1">Map</a> following p. 160.</em> +</p> + +<p class="space-above15">[<em>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.</em>—<span class="sc">Ed.</span> +<em>G.J.</em>]</p> + +<h2>1. Object of the Mission.</h2> + +<p class="dcap">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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> 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 <i>Palæmon +Niloticus</i>, 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>In 1912 I was ordered to take command of the province of Kanem +for the purpose of preparing a projected expedition against +Borkou,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> 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 <em>résumé</em>.</p> + +<h2>2. From Congo to Borkou.</h2> + +<p><em>From Congo to Lake Chad.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>A Year in Kanem</em> (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—<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_84">[84]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h2>3. In Borkou.</h2> + +<p><em>The Conquest of Borkou.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> 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 <em>zawia</em>, 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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="01"><img src='images/i01.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">THE COLUMN HALTED AT THE WELLS OF KOUROUADI, +BORKOU</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="02"><img src='images/i02.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">THE FORT OF BERRIER-FONTAINE, OASIS OF FAYA</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="03"><img src='images/i03.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">ROCKY COUNTRY BETWEEN THE OASES OF YARDA AND BÉDO, +BORKOU</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="04"><img src='images/i04.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">DANCE OF THE NAKAZZAS, OASIS OF FAYA, BORKOU</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<p>Leaving our wounded in Ain Galakka with a small garrison, we +marched on the <em>zawia</em> 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.</p> + +<p><em>Importance of the Conquest of Borkou.</em>—This laborious +campaign had the very important result of depriving the Senoussists +of the valuable <em>tête de pont</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> accomplish their +design, the result would have been exceedingly perilous for +Franco-British rule throughout the whole of Dark Africa.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Four Years in Borkou</em> (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.</p> + +<p><em>A Bird’s-eye View of the Country.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>had</em> was +quite an event, or the discovery in the distance of a few green +bushes of <em>siwak</em>, 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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> 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.</p> + +<h2>4. The Oasis of Borkou.</h2> + +<p><em>Faya.</em>—The <em>zawia</em> 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.</p> + +<p>The huts of the Senoussist <em>zawia</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 +<em>akul</em>, a regular little bush of sharp thorns, which the +camels would eat, but not without making a funny grimace at every +mouthful.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>These jackals and gazelles are the only wild animals found in +Borkou; the latter are quite unapproachable by hunters, while the +former remain<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="05"><img src='images/i05.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">SANDSTONE ROCKS NEAR ORORI, BORKOU</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="06"><img src='images/i06.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">ROCK DRAWINGS, OASIS OF YARDA, BORKOU</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw1"> +<figure id="07"><img src='images/i07.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">SANDSTONE ROCKS ATTACKED BY MOVING DUNES, OASIS OF +YARDA, BORKOU</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<p><em>Cultivation.</em>—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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_89">[89]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Winds and Rain.</em>—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<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_90">[90]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_91">[91]</span> 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.</p> + +<p><em>Population and Commerce.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h2>5. Exploration of the Western Borders of the Libyan Desert: +Ounianga-Erdi</h2> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>From Faya to Ounianga.</em>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> 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 <em>rtem</em> or tufts of <em>akrech</em>. By chance one would +come across what had once been a field of dried-up <em>hâd</em> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter iw3"> +<figure id="08"><img src='images/i08.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">NATURAL CISTERN, ERDI</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="09"><img src='images/i09.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">THE PEAK OF DIMI (600 m.), ERDI</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="10"><img src='images/i10.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">THE PEAKS OF DOURDOURO (1000. m.), ERDI</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<p><em>Ounianga.</em>—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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_93">[93]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>The Route towards Koufra.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p><em>From Tekro to Ounianga.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Erdi.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>This expedition, though limited to the south-western border of +the massif of Erdi, revealed some interesting facts about the +configuration<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Between Erdi and Ennedi.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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).</p> + +<div class="plate"> +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="map1"> +<p class="cpm1">FRENCH SUDAN</p> + +<p class="cpm2">Map to illustrate the<br> +WORK OF THE MISSION TILHO<br> +in<br> +TIBESTI, BORKU, ERDI AND ENNEDI</p> + +<p class="ipubr">THE GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL, AUG 1920.</p> +<img src='images/map1.jpg' alt=''> +</figure> +</div> + +<table class="ipub width-full"> +<tr> +<td><em>Modified Polyconic (1/M. International Map) +Projection.</em> +</td> +<td><em>Published by the Royal Geographical Society.</em> +</td> +<td>TIBESTI Tilho</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p class="center small">(<a href="images/map1_large.jpg"><em>Large +size</em></a>)</p> +</div> + +<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[No. 3<br> +161]</span>6. Exploration of Ennedi.</h2> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Eastern Ennedi.</em>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_163">[163]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Western Ennedi.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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 +<em>détour</em> 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.</p> + +<p>In this uneven ground with its narrow horizons one +pasture-ground succeeded another, but we saw no trace of +inhabitants. And yet water<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_164">[164]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="11"><img src='images/i11.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">MOURDIA WOMEN AND CHILDREN, PLATEAU OF ERDÉBÉ (1000 +m.), ENNEDI</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="12"><img src='images/i12.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">THE FORT OF FADA, ENNEDI</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw3"> +<figure id="13"><img src='images/i13.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">CAVES OF ARCHEÏ, ENNEDI</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>In Mortcha.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>The whole region is one succession of good grazing-grounds for +camels,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> 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.</p> + +<p><em>Between Ennedi and Borkou.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>The Holy War.</em>—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<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h2>7. Exploration of Tibesti.</h2> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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,<a id="FNanchor_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1" class= +"fnanchor">[1]</a> 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.</p> + +<p>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 <em>débris</em> 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_169">[169]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>From the Plains of Borkou to the Foot of Emi +Koussi.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_170">[170]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="space-above15">Having left Faya on September 4 we arrived +on the 11th at the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Ascent of Emi Koussi.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="igrp"> +<div class="figcenter iw4 float-left"> +<figure id="14"><img src='images/i14.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">STEEP SLOPES ON THE FLANK OF EMI KOUSSI, TIBESTI</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw4 float-right"> +<figure id="16"><img src='images/i16.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">NATURAL CISTERN OF DERSO AT THE FOOT OF EMI +KOUSSI</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw4"> +<figure id="15"><img src='images/i15.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">THE GREAT CLIFF, TIBESTI</p> +</figure> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="clear"> +</p> + +<div class="margins"> +<div class="figcenter iw1"> +<figure id="17"><img src='images/i17.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">THE CRATER OF EMI KOUSSI (3400 m.), TIBESTI</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<p>From this excursion on the highest peak of the highest mountain +in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> 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:</p> + +<p>“. . . 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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.</p> + +<p>“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.”</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_174">[174]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_175">[175]</span> They can only be approached on foot and by +a difficult path, in about an hour: their altitude is 3100 feet +above the sea.</p> + +<p><em>Central Tibesti.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span> 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span> chain +that Nachtigal had only been able to locate by guesswork, and often +without having even seen them.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> going +there with all speed, in order to afford my companions, if need +was, the help of the thirty rifles of my detachment.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span> 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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter iw3"> +<figure id="18"><img src='images/i18.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">A WATER-HOLE IN TIBESTI</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter iw1"> +<figure id="19"><img src='images/i19.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp1">FIRST BUTTRESSES OF THE MASSIF OF TIBESTI</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>For another 15 miles we pursued our way in the great valley of +Miski,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.”</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Western Tibesti.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_183">[183]</span> 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.</p> + +<p><em>The Return Journey to Borkou.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h2><span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[No. 4<br> +241]</span>8. Military Operations in 1916-1917.</h2> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span> +officer whose energy, courage, and high spirit won universal +admiration.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_243">[243]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h2>9. Homeward Journey.</h2> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>From Borkou to Wadai.</em>—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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_244">[244]</span> 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.</p> + +<div class="figcenter iw2"> +<figure id="map2"><img src='images/map2.jpg' alt=''> +<p class="cp2">The author’s routes between Tibesti and the Nile</p> +</figure> +</div> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span> this +station, where, it may be added, their sojourn is usually brief +owing to the high price of food.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Abéché.</em>—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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span>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 <em>débris</em>, +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.</p> + +<p><em>From Wadai to Dar Four.</em>—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.</p> + +<p><em>Dar Tama.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_247">[247]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<a id= +"FNanchor_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> 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<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span> material, supplies, cannon, +rifles, and the unheard-of numbers of men brought into action on +both sides.</p> + +<p>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:</p> + +<table id="t249"> +<tr> +<th> +</th> +<th><em>s.</em> +</th> +<th><em>d.</em> +</th> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top">A small yearling ox</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">12</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">0</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top">200 lbs. of millet flour</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">4</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">0</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top">An average-sized sheep</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">2</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">6</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top">Chickens</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">0</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">6½</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top">One pound of butter</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">0</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">3</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top"><span class="word-spaced3"> „ </span> +<span class="word-spaced5"> „ </span> onions</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">0</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">3</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="tdl-top">A quart of milk</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">0</td> +<td class="tdr-bot">1</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Dar Guimer.</em>—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<span class="pagenum" +id="Page_250">[250]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Between Guimer and Dar Four.</em>—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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>Western Dar Four.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_252">[252]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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?</p> + +<p>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, <span class="sc2">R.E.</span>, 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.</p> + +<p>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,<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_253">[253]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_254">[254]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>El Fasher.</em>—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<span class= +"pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_256">[256]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>From El Fasher to Cairo.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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, +<span class="sc2">D.S.O.</span></p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span> 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!</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<h2>10. Conclusions.</h2> + +<p><em>Geographical Results.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>It is towards this low-lying zone that all the great valleys of +the hydrographic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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 (<i>Lates Niloticus</i>, L.) of about 6 or 7 feet in length +(in the <em>Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences</em>, 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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_259">[259]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>A fifth important result is furnished by the discovery in +northern Borkou of the <i>Harlania Harlani</i>, which authorizes us +to affirm the Upper Silurian age of all the sandstone sedimentary +formations of Tibesti, Erdi, and Ennedi.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p class="space-above15">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.</p> + +<p>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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_260">[260]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><em>The Trans-Sudanese.</em>—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.</p> + +<p>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” (<em>Comptes Rendus</em> 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:—</p> + +<p class="hang2">(<em>a</em>) Dakar and Konakry, starting-points on +the Atlantic Ocean;</p> + +<p class="hang2">(<em>b</em>) Ouagadougou, Sokoto, Kano, Fort Lamy, +Khartoum, crossing the French Sudan, British Nigeria, the French +territory of the Chad, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan;</p> + +<p class="hang2">(<em>c</em>) Port-Sudan and Djibouti, termini on +the Red Sea.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>Thirdly, this railway system would be connected with the +Mediterranean<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>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).</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>As for the Transsaharian, destined to connect the railways of +North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunis) with those of the Niger +basin, I have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span> 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.</p> + +<h2>1871-1919</h2> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p>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!</p> + +<p>From this parallel, may I venture to conclude that in her +treasure-house<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span> 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?</p> + +<p class="center space-above15 space-below15">[<em>Translated from +the French by W. G. Tweedale, M.A., Oxon.</em>]</p> + +<p>Before the paper the <span class="sc">President</span> 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.</p> + +<p class="center space-above15 space-below15"><em>Colonel Tilho +then gave in French a summary of the paper printed above, and a +discussion followed.</em> +</p> + +<p>The <span class="sc">President</span> (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.</p> + +<p>Colonel Sir <span class="sc">Henry McMahon</span>: 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<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span> +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.</p> + +<p>The <span class="sc">President</span>: The French Military +Attaché is present and we should be very pleased if he would kindly +address us.</p> + +<p>General the <span class="sc">Viscomte de la Panouse</span>: 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.</p> + +<p>The <span class="sc">President</span>: 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.</p> + +<p>Sir <span class="sc">Harry Johnston</span>: 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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_265">[265]</span> 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.</p> + +<p>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.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span>Major +<span class="sc">Hanns Vischer</span>: 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.</p> + +<p>The <span class="sc">President</span>: 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<span class="pagenum" id= +"Page_267">[267]</span> 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.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h2 class="fthead">FOOTNOTES:</h2> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1"><span class= +"label">[1]</span></a>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.</p> +</div> + +<div class="footnote"> +<p><a id="Footnote_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2"><span class= +"label">[2]</span></a>This account will be published in the next +number of the <em>Journal.</em>—<span class="sc">Ed.</span> +<em>G.J.</em></p> +</div> +</div> +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77071 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + |