Nevertheless, there is almost certainly oil in France, in the Ain valley, the Jura Mountains, Auvergne, and the Landes; there is oil in the French possessions in Northern Africa and in Madagascar; there must be some in the Cameroons, in Indo-China, and in New Caledonia. Is it not abnormal that the West Indies and Guiana, when in British or American hands, produce oil, but when in French hands never yield anything? The same applies to Oceania. But there is no reason to be astonished at this; for, under the legislation which was in force since 1810, no Frenchman had any inducement to search for oil. This explains the epigram of one of the most important members of the French cartel, when he declared that "the greatest misfortune that could happen to an oil magnate in France would be to discover a spring of oil." Happily, on March 22, 1922, the Chamber altered this state of affairs by granting, as was suggested in the first edition of this book, the guarantees which are indispensable to prospectors. Till that year, the exploitation of deposits which a prospector had discovered might be conceded to any foreign company which came on the scene at the right moment to reap the fruits of his labours. Repayment of money laid out was highly problematical, for the local authorities used to grant this only to those responsible for the final investigations leading directly to the discovery of oil. Now, hunting for a "wild cat"--the American term for a boring--is a very risky operation, which entails considerable expenditure. In a protest submitted to the Ministry of Public Works by five Algerian colonists, who had carried out explorations and borings upon land for which a concession was now asked by a company of foreign origin, the colonists stated by affidavit that they had spent 870,000 francs upon 14 borings and 85 wells, of which seven alone were actually producing a few tons of petroleum. Even so, the proportion of seven successful wells out of 85 is rather high. O'Donnell, the president of the American Petroleum Institute, estimates that, out of every hundred borings made, 98 are unprofitable. But for fifty years the 2 per cent. which succeeded sufficed for the consumption of the world. The policy of France in the Near East since the War has been simply one long suicide. Little by little, French diplomacy has abandoned everything that was promised by the agreements of London. While the San Remo Agreement marked the complete downfall of France in Asia, it considerably strengthened the position of Britain: not only does it recognize all rights acquired by Great Britain, including those which, as in Mesopotamia, rested upon a highly insecure foundation, but it gives British capitalists an important opening in French colonies which are still almost untouched, whereas the corresponding advantages which it confers upon France in some (not all) British colonies apply to territories where the most desirable fields are already being exploited.