Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/212

 170 WEST AFRICA. Justice is administered by two tribunals, at Saint-Louis and Goree, and a Court of Appeal. At the capital there is also a cadi, nominated by the governor, as well as a Mussulman tribunal presided over by the tamsir, or chief marabout, for regu- latinar affairs of inheritance and marriaj^es in conformity with the Koran and Mohammedan tradition. The commandants, especially of the more remote military stations, necessarily enjoy much discretionary power, and usually judge according to the local customs. In principle, however, the French Civil Code prevails, pro- mulgated first in 1830 and again in 1855. But the territory to which the French judicial and administrative sj-stems have been fully extended comprises only the four communes of Saint-Louis, Goree, Dakar, and Rufisque, which are administered by municipal councils and mayors nominated by election. The " occupied " territories, comprising the outskirts of the forts, military stations, and factories en the coast, en the Senegal, and in the interior, are also considered as French soil governed by the colonial administration. But the " annexed " territories are administered by the chiefs, some chosen by the governor, some hereditary or nominated by the people with the approval of the suzerain power. Lastly, the '* protected " territories are ruled by semi-independent chiefs, who have surrendered part cf their sovereign rights, in return for which France secures to them the possession of their states, since 1879, however, reserv- ing to herself the right of permanently acquiring the lands necessary for the con- struction of forts, factories, roads, and railways. The spread of French influence appears to have had the indirect consequence of arresting the progress of Islam, which at one time seemed irresistible. The zealous Berber and Toucouleur proselytisers were at the same lime the chief enemies of France, and their overthrow naturally put an end to their propaganda. Although past treaties and letters patent, dating as far back as 1681, 1685, and 1696, seemed to assign the whole coast region to France as far north as Cape Blanco, Spain has recently founded a station on Levrier Bay, in Spanish Bahia del Galgo, sheltered on the west by the projecting headland of the Cape. This question is now the subject of the negotiations undertaken to define accurately the respective limits of the French and Spanish possessions. In the Appendix will be found a table of the French circumscriptions and of the vassal territories in North Senegambia. Each circle is administered by an officer or a civil commandant with the attributes of a French prefect, and under him are the heads of the cantons, military stations, and native villages.