The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-05-23
MARCHAND,s MISSION ENDED.
The Great Work Tha Has Won for Him
the Homnna of His CountrY.

The Great Work That Has Won for Him
the Homage Of His Country.
Major Marohand and his expedition arrived
at Jiboutil. near the south end Of the Red Sea.
on Tuesday. May IL. Three years. lacking
four days, had elapsed since he embarked at
Bordeaux on O mission Of great political i'm
port. A French man of war will TAKE him and
his gallant comrades home. where they will re-
ceive the greatest welcome aud honors a ma
tion can give to its heroes. The story Of those
three years in the African bush would win the
plaudits Of all men who admire unfalterlng
courage and great achievements. As a tour de
force. nothing in African pioneering has sur
passed 1t. As a political mission II was bril-
liantly successful. for though the French flag
does not wave through the Upper Nile Valley.
the dream that sent Marchand to Africa and
spurred him on to Fashoda. the vantage ground
he won and maintained there. gave to France
the splendid prize OF the Central Soudan when
she settled accounts with England. After all.
France 10 ringing with Marchand's praises no
more for the outcome than for the hard. plod-
ding. almost superhuman work that led to It.
Marchand and his party were In Africa long
before the world guessed what France meant
to do with her new expedition. The Khalifa
was supreme in the Egyptian Soudan. 1t was
two and a third years before Kitchener over
threw the Mahdist regime. 1t was given out
for a year that Marchand was TO explore and
occupy Frances new possessions on the Upper
Mobangi af1uent OF the Congo. His real pur-
pose was to cross the water parting into the Nile
basin. launch his two gunboats and his fleet OF
canoes on the Nile and carry down to Fashoda.
II not to Khartoum. q force so strong in men
and equipment that he might defy the Mahdist
" and claim for France tho abnn-
don ID provinces Of Egypt. He was to
have ample cooperation. Two exredi-
lions. leaving the Red Sea. were to
cross southern Abyssinla and meet him on
the Nile. Col. Liotard. the Governor OF the
Upper Mobangi district. was to collect and
train 5000 native soldiers. to Join him in his
descent OF the Nile. equipped with munitions
Marchand would bring them. The great
project. therefore,. was to DO carried out by the
cooperation OF four distinct expeditions. Mar
chand leading the way and the others adding
to his strength at the time he needed all the
men he could muster. The fact that Marchand
finally reached the goal. not with the powerful
auxillaries promised him. but with a single
gunboat and, a few score OF Senegalese soldiers.
only augmented the merit OF his personal
achievement. The project was not a Hzzle. but.
as events turned out. was a brilliant sue
cess. He reached the place he had been aim
ing for two years to attain and he held II until
he was able to depart with full honor and to
the ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF his country.
Never was the secret OF q great enterprise
better kept. It was suspected. but 1t was not
actually known until the fal! Of 1897. that
Marchand's destination was the Nile. About
eight months later he was at Fashoda. Most
OF the stupendous difficulties in his way had
been met and overcome before the fact was
common property that he was in the Nile Val
ley at all. and he found on the journey some OF
the touehestn nuts to crack that ever confronted
a pioneer in an untroddon field.
On July %. 1896. the leader. with eighteen
officers and sub-oflcers OF the French Army
and Navy. a doctor. an interpreter and $50
native soldiers Of Senegal. landed on the West
African coast. 1t was over seven months later.
March /. 1897. before he reached Brazzaville.
on Stanley Pool, with his very large equip
ment and was ready to steam up the river on
his way to the Nile. He carried In sections the
two gunbcats. Faidherbe and LIE Nil. and a
dozen steel and aluminium barges. His serious
difficulties did not begin until he was far on
his way and on the threshold ofthe unknown at
the mouth Of the Bomu afluent Of the MobanRl.
1t was desired to use this river as the
route toward the Nile. but no one knew
whether 1t was a practicable waterway. On
May l. 1897. some OF the officers started on a
twenty days survey Of the photography OF the
lower part Of the river. They found a series
Of Ave high falls and thirty smaller ones. ex-
tending for n long distance up the stream. but
above the region OF cataracts there appeared
to be fair navigation. The situation was aim ost
desperate. but Marchand promptly decided
that the route must be IN that river. Around
the series OF falls he built roads thirty feet in
width. on which he laid trunks Of trees stripped
Of their bark and smoothed so that the boats
might be hauled over them. Then he launched
his boats and barges on the river. and
when one OF the falls was reached they were
| haplaI ont ~ tim rIyAr npH M ak tha nhatr,,a
ton with1. 700 to 1900 men at the towropes.
1t took two months to pass the falls. and there
was still great anxiety as to their further prog
ress. for unless the upper river was navigable
there was about 300 miles Of mountain. ra-
vines. forests and marshes that must be crossed
before the fiotilla could be launched in water
leading to the Nile.
Two thousand men supplied by Liotard. with
expeditionary stores on their backs. had been
sent by the land route past the cataract region
with instructions to ascertain the navigahility
OF the upper river. All the natives said there
were no canoes in that region and the boats
could not be foated. The outlook was gloomy
indeed until messengers came back with the
joyous news. Just as Marchand was emerging
from the cataracts. that the river was deep and
smooth above the falls. The expedition then
followed the Born and its a~ffluent. the Boku,
to within forty-fve miles OF the Nile basin.
Marchand had come from Brazzaville. on Stan
ley Pool. 1904 miles. by Congo waterways.
The next thing to do was to determine the
nearest point OF navigation in the Nile basin
in order to connect the two points by the
shortest overland route. Marchand set out to
settle this important problem. He reached the
Such River. which flows into the Bahr el Dur.
and that into the large Bahr el Ghazal tribu-
tary Of the Nile. He descended the Such till he
came to the point where his fotllla might be