MEDAL OF THE MARSEILLES GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 507 MEDAL OF THE CHER GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 509 NATIVES OF SANSAN HAUSSA 510 GRAND MEDAL OF THE PARIS SOCIETY OF COMMERCIAL GEOGRAPHY 511 [Illustration: MARKET PLACE, ST. LOUIS.] THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER CHAPTER I AN ABORTIVE START Dr. Henry Barth, the greatest traveller of modern times, our illustrious predecessor on the Niger, was a prisoner at Massenya. Loaded with chains, and in hourly expectation of death, he was still devoted to his work, and had the superb courage to write—“The best way of winning the blacks from their barbarism is to create centres on the great rivers. The civilizing influence will then spread naturally, following the water-highways.” In his generous dream, which might be his last, he consoled himself in thinking that soon the ideas of tolerance and progress would advance by the river-roads, by the “moving paths,” as he called them, to the very heart of the dark continent. Perhaps the shedding of his blood might then further the cause of that humanity of which he was the apostle. More than any other, perhaps, the Niger district lends itself to this idea of Dr. Barth’s. There it is, on the banks of the river, fertilized by timely inundations, that life appears to be concentrated. It is by following the streams and rivers, and crossing the lakes, that the forward march must proceed. The Niger, with its affluents and its lacustrine systems, still partially unknown, gives, even when only seen on the map, the impression of an organism complete in itself. As in the human body, the blood-vessels and the nerves carry the life and transmit the will of their owner, so does a mighty river with its infinite ramifications, seem to convey to the remote confines of a continent, commerce, civilization, and those ideas of tolerance and of progress which are the very life and soul of a country. To utilize this gigantic artery—and this is a task which we Frenchmen have undertaken, for, at the demand of France, these countries have been characterized _as under French influence_—it was necessary first of all to know it. It is to this task we have devoted ourselves, my companions and I. Providence has aided us, Providence has willed our success, in spite of difficulties of every kind. We had the great joy of returning with ranks unbroken, all safe and sound. Yet more rare, our journey did not cost a single human life, not even amongst those who were hostile to us and opposed our passage. This I consider the greatest honour of the expedition of which I was in command.