128 
EUROPE AND AFRICA 
of Central Sudan from the eastern border via Kano to 
Lake Chad, and returned to Europe by way of Tripoli, 
which he reached on December 10, 1892. He had traveled 
five thousand miles and explored a path by which France 
might reach the lake. 
Meanwhile, Colonels Frey and Archinard were taking 
over for France the whole of the great district between the 
Senegal and the Upper Niger, as far north as Nioro; and 
Lieutenants Caron Jaime and Davoust explored the Niger 
northward from Bamaku to Kourioumé.! Jenne was 
permanently occupied in 1893 and the gallant Colonel Bon- 
nier took Timbuctu in 1894. In this latter year, in Daho- 
mey, which had been taken under French protection in 1884 
at the instigation of Felix Faure (then Secretary of the 
Colonies) and created a French colony in 1893 through the 
campaigns of General Dodds against the King of Behansin, 
Captain Toutée was starting on a remarkable journey. 
From Porto Novo on the Gulf of Guinea he made his way 
slowly north to Badjibo on the Niger River, which he 
ascended past Boussa and Say to Tibi-Farca (opposite 
Zinder.) On November 8, 1895, Lieutenant Hourst 2 left 
Timbuctu in an aluminum boat; brought from France in 
sections and specially constructed for running the cataracts; 
and, carefully surveying the country as he proceeded, he 
made his way down the river to Zinder, Say, and Boussa. 
After remarkable adventures, he reached the northern out- 
posts of the British Royal Niger Company, by whose agents 
he was escorted to the coast, and, finally, arrived at the 
French consulate in Porto Novo on November 1, 1896. 
Thus accurate knowledge of the Upper Niger was obtained 
for the first time by the French and a definite connection 
1 The port for Timbuctu. 
2 His adventures are described in detail in his entertaining volume, en- 
titled French Enterprise in Africa, published in 1898.