2IO THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER There are in the Sudan two totally different kinds of territory, which I shall characterize as those fitted for the occupation of sedentary settlers, and those suitable only to nomadic tribes.

The former are the banks of streams and rivers, such as the French Sudan between Kayes and Bamako, with the whole reach of the Niger district up to Timbuktu. In these lands gutta-percha and cotton can be readily grown.

They are inhabited by negroes, and it is indispensable if we are to trade in security that we should have a preponderate if not exclusive territorial influence.

In what I call the nomad lands, on the other hand, on the right of the Senegal, on the Niger beyond Timbuktu (if we except the actual banks of the river), we shall find that the chief articles of export arc gum and the products of flocks of sheep, which arc indeed the only things the nomad tribes have to offer to our traders.

It is absolutely useless to attempt to impose on these people a yoke against which they would never cease to rebel, and which, moreover, they would have the power as well as the will to throw off*. It is much better to give them what are called enclaves, or reserves, such as the Americans assign to the Redskins. Of course we should always have to guard against pillaging raids from these enclaves ; but I am quite convinced, that when the Tuaregs once realize that their liberty and their customs will be respected, they will willingly accept the modus vivendi suggested, especially if they find that they can sell their produce to our traders to advantage, thus gaining means for the amelioration of their present condition.

How much better would it be then, instead of condemning the Tuareg race as a whole, because of certain preconceived prejudices, if we were to set to work to study them, to gauge their real moral worth, and to make the best