Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 3.djvu/353

 now "protected" by France, is in the hands of four powerful families, whose members deliberate in common. East of the Joliba the chief market for slaves and gold-dust is Kankaré, some 60 miles from the bank of the river. Kaniera, 24 miles south-east of Falaba, till recently "very large and very rich," was destroyed in 1882 by the army of Samory just four days before the arrival of a French detachment sent to its relief.

The Mandingan state, also now a French protectorate, has some flourishing places on the left bank of the Joliba and in the interior on the waterparting between the Niger and Senegal basins. Such are Kangaba, on the Joliba, and Sibi on a bluff rising above an extensive alluvial plain to the west. Bamaku (Bamako), formerly a populous trading-place much frequented in the time of Mungo Park, has again

acquired some importance, the French having chosen it as the capital of their possessions on the Niger. In 1883 the total population of the town and neighbouring hamlets scarcely exceeded eight hundred souls. Yet the little Bambara state had hitherto succeeded in maintaining its political independence Neither Ahmadu's Toucouleurs nor Samory's Mussulman Mandingans had been able to capture it when the French appeared on the scene and began to erect the fort. At that time the plain around Bamaku seemed, almost uninhabited; now it is intersected b} routes lined with trees, some plantations have been laid out round about the white walls of the fortress, and the little riverain port is already crowded with boats. In 1884 the total exchanges amounted to no less than £200,000.

Below Bamaku and the neighbouring Sotuba cascade the first large villages