lo THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER

incapable even of preserving the memory of the brave fellows buried beneath them.

But we must not bemoan too much the fate of these noble dead. We must honour them and follow their

example.

Well then, Davoust being dead, without having accom-

plished his task, I vowed that a boat bearing his name should descend the river. This promise I made in 1888, but it was not until 1896 that I was able to redeem it. Now I have fulfilled my vow.

There is no doubt that it would have made all the

difference in the political results of my mission, if it could have been undertaken eight or ten years earlier. For

instance, in the negotiations which took place in 1890, and were so inauspicious for our influence on the Lower Niger,

our plenipotentiaries would have been able to assert, that the rapids at Burrum existed only in the imagination of

Sir Edward Malet, a fact not without its importance.

But we will not trouble ourselves with what the expedition

ought to have done — we will merely record what it did do.

My project, adopted by M. Delcasse, was that of Davoust,

slightly modified. Instead of employing gunboats drawing about three feet of water, I found it best to employ barges

of very slight draught worked with oars. An attentive

study of Dr. Earth's narrative reveals how very great were the difficulties of navigation, at least on those parts of the river he himself explored ; for it must be remembered

that he never spoke by hearsay. Of course a boat drawing

a foot or so only of water would easily pass over rapids, where such vessels as the Mage and the Niger must inevitably come to grief

Moreover, a steam-boat needs fuel, and that fuel would have to be wood. Then we must go and cut that wood, which would give the natives opportunities for hostility.