On every hand, Carl and Sana saw bodies of soldiers in training. On inquiring as to this, they were informed that ages ago France had taught them the military arts. Today these people believed the entire world was in fear of them. In fact they were bragging of the great military strength and boasted of the fact that for centuries no nation had even so much as dared try to exploit them. Sana pointed out to Carl that these people were not as dark of skin as they were when the land was still a desert. On hearing her remark, a native man, of apparent great learning, and who was acting as a sort of self-appointed guide to the couple, explained, saying: “Ages ago, that is, some two thousand years ago, France used our people to fight her wars against other nations of white peoples. France realized that if she had more of us available to fight her battles, she could soon gain control of the entire world. To this end she established this great African country of ours, believing at the time that the people of this great land would always remain subject to her rule and would always be at her call to aid her against the world. “In this she was partly right. If she could always control the colonies of black peoples, she could defy any nation on the earth.” The speaker paused, then continued, with a smile of satisfaction, “But France overlooked the fact that France herself, as a white race was dying gradually. She overlooked too, to what great extent the black races had mingled with the white French, with its self-evident result. “Today, the African and the Asiatic races rule the world, thanks to the one-time French and the English. “We two colored races, that is the black and yellow races, are the only ones on earth that amount to anything. We are the mighty ones of the earth today and none dare interfere or disturb us. “When France realized that the tables were being turned against her, and that she was sure to be the loser, she tried to avert the impending disaster to France, by attempting to make this great country a barren waste of sand once more. But it was too late. Too late for France to undo the great wrong she had done the white races of the earth. We were already strong enough to resist any such action on her part. Rising up in our might, much to their surprise, we overthrew our masters and became a nation independent and free from the yoke that had rested on our necks for so many years. “From that time on the white French disappeared still faster from the face of the earth. Our histories tell us that in the course of the two following generations there were no more white French in France. “These colored people you now see here are to a great extent the descendants of the French. In other words they are the result of the mingling of the white and the black, with the black, as you see, predominating.” “But how was it that the black races prospered so?” Carl interrupted. Things were not quite clear to him, as yet.