The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1888-02-06
A WONDERFUL CONQUEST,

A WONDERFUL CONQUEST,
The Soudan is the great central
region of Africa, extending from
Senegambia on the west to the Nile,
or, according to common recent
use of the name, to the Red Sea it
self. 1t is vast region, barren in
some parts and fruitful in others,
and inhabited by great many ma
tions, some of which, especially in
the west, approach condition of
civilization, and have large and
prosperous cities, where trade and
manufactures are carried on.
While the English have been
sending expeditions to meet with
terrible disasters in the Eastern Sou
dan, and making very little impress
sion upon that region, the French
have been making peaceful con-
quest of n region in the west almost
as large as the whole of France, and
containing great population. The
French, in their operations upon
the Soudan, have in contemplation
the joining of the Sierra Leone and
Senegal, which now extend far in
land, and then connecting the whole
with Algiers and Tunis, and thus
gradually establishing q French do
minion over the whole of Western
Africa, and giving France foreign
possession larger than India itself.
The French plans include a railway
across the Sahara TO connect Algiers
with the river systems of the Sene-
gal and Niger, the flooding of a part
of the Sahara, and the development
of great commerce with the whole
region.
In their movements into the West
ern Soudan, the French were aided
by the Senegal and Niger rivers,
which approach very near each
other. They have not only opened
a road from the Senegal to the Nj
ger, but have built gun-boats upon
the Niger, and are decending that
river, extending a peaceful conquest
as they go. Their expedition, which
makes peace with the natives and
not war, comprised, at last accounts,
only 513 men, of whom 302 were
Europeans. The expedition is un-
der the command of Colonel Gallieni,
who is still a young man. In 1870,
Gallieni, then Captain, set out
from the Senegal with q small expe-
dition to 90 to Segou, q town on the
Niger, and establish friendly rela-
tions with Ahmadou, the Sultan OF
that region. Before he reached
Segou, his little party was captured
and plundered by hostile natives
who, however, allowed him to 90 or
to Segou. Arrived at that Capital.
young Gallieni and his companion;
were thrust into prison by Su!tar
Ahmadou, and kept there for ONT
year. An expedition under CoIone
Desbordes was sent to relieve them
Ahmadou heard that the French hat
taken Goubanko, place which h
believed to be impregnable, where
upon he at one liberated Gallien
and his companions.
. The young Captain returned t
st. Louis, in Senegal, and was no
long afterward placed in comman'
of the entire interior region. II
, returned to the Niger, not to re
venge himself upon Ahmadou, bu
to conciliate him and gain his friend
ship. The Lultan OF Segou, VIII
2 had probably acquired a high re
I gard for his former captive, tinall
made peace with the French; an
7 not only was he won over, but Colc
/; mel Gallieni, by slillful and wis
Z management, obtained treaty wit
Samoary, the most powerful potter
q tate of the whole region north of IL
q Niger, ceding to the French I'll
9 whole country as far south as I'll
a Niger and the Tankisso, its tribl
g tary. Operating from Bammakd'
o town on the bank of the 'Nige
a Colonel Gallieni has traversed Il
! Soudan as far north as the Sahar
and as far down the Niger as Lal
"a Debo, not far from Timbuctoo.
~ In the next campaign the Fren'
dominion will probably be extend'
=. as far as Timbuctoo, for the col
: mandant of the gun-boat on the n
J. gerhas orders to decend to Kabar
e the river port of the great Central A
rican Capital of Timbuctoo and G
> lionel Gallieni has established su
n friendly relations with Chief Tidia
# and the principal Sheillhs of th
IS city that he does not look for III
resistance. The conquest of t
a Western Soudan, with less than hi
a hundred men, will, if it is full
f consummated, be more remarkat
: than Lord Clive's conquest of Indi
/ or the Spanish conquest of Pc
q and Mexico, because it will ha
q been accomplished without bloc
. shed.-[Youth's Companion.