FRENCH COLONIAL EXPANSION 135 
joined her enlarged southern colonies of Guinea. Ivory 
Coast, and Dahomey. 
Meanwhile, before the details of the agreement were 
worked out, an incident occurred in the eastern Sudan 
which threatened for a time to undo the good work of the 
commissioners and diplomats in western Africa, but which 
ended finally in an amicable delimitation of the French and 
British spheres of influence in the eastern Sudan and 
Sahara. 
This incident is intimately connected with the attempt 
of the French to unite their Congo possessions with their 
Niger-Sudan territories, and is best understood when stud- 
ied in the light of these operations. Savorgnan de Brazza, 
who for ten years, 1875 to 1885, was the inspired and ener- 
getic promoter of French expansion on the Gaboon and 
Congo Rivers, and who was only prevented from crossing 
the Congo by the earlier arrival there of Henry M. Stanley 
representing the Congo Association, was the originator of 
this design. He performed a remarkable work exploring the 
whole region between the Gaboon and Upper Congo and 
penetrating far to the east and north. His third journey, 
known officially as “la Mission de I’Ouest Africain,” 1881- 
85, accomplished a particularly splendid piece of exploring 
and surveying for some four thousand kilometers from 
Franceville on the Upper Ogoove River northward toward 
Lake Chad. Between 1888 and 1891, Paul Crampel tried 
to establish a connection between this Congo Colony and 
Lake Chad. He traveled without European companions 
or interpreters, and had astounding adventures. For three 
years he was singularly successful, reaching the Baguirmi 
country and El-Kouti in safety; but unfortunately he lost 
his life in the territory of the chief of the Senoussi, who was 
severely punished by the French under M. Dybowsky in 
November, 1891.