Page:The National Geographic Magazine Vol 16 1905.djvu/105

Rh as soon as they spied a caravan to fall upon it to rob and massacre. Often, too, they were wont to attack the tribes of the extreme south of Algeria, who had already submitted to French influences.

After the disaster to the Flatters mission in 1881 and several other outrages committed by the Touaregs, the French military authorities had postponed for a while all further desire to penetrate into the Sahara and remained simply on the defensive.

During this period of official inaction, M. Foureau accomplished a series of very fruitful expeditions in the desert regions south of Algeria. From 1883 to 1897 ne traveled no less than 13,200 miles, of which 9,600 were in regions entirely unknown.

Not only did M. Foureau notably augment our geographic knowledge by this journey, but he inaugurated a mode of traveling which has been very fruitful for the exploration of the Sahara. Instead of being accompanied by a heavy caravan, like preceding missions, this traveler adopted the mode of life and transport of the natives, taking with him only a few faithful Arabs. His little troop was mounted on "meharis," used by the Touaregs—rapid camels, which are to the ordinary camels of the caravan what race-horses are to cart horses. Thanks to the mobility of his caravan, M. Foureau could perform long raids without being attacked by the Touaregs. Meanwhile, from 1890 to 1892, a French officer, Colonel Monteil, accomplished the crossing of the Sahara from Tchad to Tripoli by the caravan route.

The French, however, had never abandoned the idea of a junction of Algeria to the Sudan. In 1896 a member of the Geographical Society, M. Renoust des Orgeries, encouraged this idea by giving the society $50,000 to organize an expedition to carry out this program, and in 1899 M. Foureau received permission to traverse the Sahara and to make his way through the desert to the French possessions in Central Africa. To ensure the safety of his caravan and to compel a respect for the French flag from the brigands of the Sahara, the government gave M. Foureau a numerous military escort, commanded by Major Lamy.

This Foureau expedition started from Ouargla (in South Algeria) at the end of October, 1898, and a year later (November 2, 1899) arrived at Zinder, at the northeast extremity of French Sudan. In the April following, after having gone round Lake Tchad by the north and east, the expedition had effected a junction with the French troops upon the Chari, the principal affluent of the Tchad.

The march of the expedition was very slow and painful in consequence of the enormous caravan track behind it. Part of its camels soon succumbed to the fatigues of the journey, and it was im- possible to purchase new beasts of burden from the nomads. The Touaregs, confident of their strength, threw themselves at various times against the little troop ; but, having learned in these encounters that they could not be victorious, they abandoned active hostilities and limited themselves to creating a complete dearth of supplies around the explorers. It was only through the energies of M. Foureau and of the military chiefs that the expedition was able to get along at all.

The slowness of this journey has had very favorable results from the scientific point of view. It has permitted M. Foureau to acquire a very complete knowledge of the country and to collect a very rich harvest of observations of interest to all fields of geography. A great work setting forth these scientific observations is in course of publication and is being offered to all important geographic societies.

The Foureau mission opens a new era in the French penetration of the Sahara.