THE STRUGGLE WITH SAMORY. 763 the Niger, on February 18th. Then gaining the Bani Valley by a forced march,he attacked andutterly routedtherebelson the 26th,raising the blockade of Diena. Having thus disposedof Ahmadu and secured the Segu country, he proceeded to operateagainst Samory.

The advance from Kankan began on January 9th. Bissandougou was occupied on the 12th, after two sharp engagements. In these fights Samory's followers were startled at finding that even the trunks of large trees afforded no protection against the new French rifle, the bullets from which could pierce the tree and kill the man sheltering behind it— this, too, at a range at which their own rifles were useless.

Hestarted from Nyamina onMarch 8th,1891, with a strong column, marched up the north bank of the Niger to Siguiri, and, crossing the river there on April 2nd, advanced upon the fortress of Kankan, in the Milo Valley, which was held by Samory. The enemy abandoned and burned it on the approach of the French, and Achinard occupied tlae ruined town on April 7th. Samory was in position on the further side of the ravine of Kokouna, a few miles to the south of the place. Achinard attacked him next day and stormed his position, theFrenchmeeting witha determinedresistance andlosing heavily. They captured a number of prisonersandlargequantitiesofEuropeanbreechloading rifles and cartridges. Pursuing the enemy,Achinard next day overtook and again defeated Samory at the creek of Diamanko. The result of the fight was the occupation of Bissandougou, which had for many years been Samory's capital. But he had set fire to the town before retreating from it. The rainy season was now approaching, and the campaign ended for the season with the occupation of Bissandougou. The French troops withdrewto Kankan, which was the starting-point of the next expedition.

The advance up theMilo Valley was resumed by Humbert on January 22nd, and after a series of skirmishes on the three following days he occupied Kerouane on the 26th, and, after fortifying himselfthere, sent out a small column to discover where Samory had taken refuge with the remains of his army. It was discoveredthat he had collected a great quantity of warlike stores on a stockaded hill in the neighbourhood known as " Toutou Kourou." This place was stormed on February 14th,and some tens of thousands of cartridges packed in boxes werecaptured, as well as many thousands of cartridge cases andmore than 50,000 pounds of gunpowder.

Samory had, meanwhile,broken up his forces into numerous bands, which were carrying on harassing guerilla warfare along the French line of communications, attacking convoys and firing into camps. When pursued they were soon lost in the bush. Till the close of the dry season Humbert was busy provisioning tlae advanced post of Kerouane. Towards the end of April Humbert withdrew to the Niger, leaving garrisons at Kankan, Eissandougou, and Kerouane to hold the country. He was no sooner gone than the Kerouane garrison was closely blockaded by Samory. On the whole, notwithstanding the successes that had been obtained,the resultsof the campaign of 1892 in the Niger country were disappointing. Lieutenant Marchand (afterwards the hero of the march to the Nile)had been sent eastward into Tieba's country to induce him to co-operate with the French against Samory, but his efforts had been unavailing. North of the Niger, Ahmadu had reappeared and got together a following, and there were fears of further trouble in this direction.

In the autumn of 1891 Colonel Humbert replaced Colonel Achinard as commander of the French troops in the Western Soudan. At the close of the year he concentrated at Kankan a column of 1,000 fighting men and 2,000 baggage porters with about 300 mules, for the New Year's campaign against Samory, who had again established himself at Bissandougou. Most of Humbert's soldierswerenative troops under French officers. They wereraised in the Senegal and Niger country, and formed into the battalions of Tirailleurs Senegalais (Senegalese Rifles) which have done splendid service in all the recent French colonial wars. There were only 144 Europeans with the column,officers and men. Some of these were in charge of a battery of four mountain guns.

Thirty-two of them, all picked shots, were armedwith the new Lebel small-bore repeating rifle. The rest of the troops were armed with theGras rifle, which was now being replaced as the weapon of the French army by the Lebel.

But in the coast region the French had obtained a decided success, which had great consequences in the immediate future. Behanzin, King of Dahomey, had been overthrown, his capital, Abomey,occupied, and his country annexed to the French Republic. In 1890 Behanzin had tried to capture the coast town of