414 THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER of achieving prosperity under the paternal authority of the French, so different' from the commercial control aimed at by our rivals?

Lord Salisbury, in the English Parliament, said scoffingly that they had left nothing for the Gallic cock to do but to scratch up the sand. Let us at least reclaim that sand, and if we can find a little corner of fertile land which the diplomacy of that time forgot to abandon, shall we let the diplomacy of to-day generously hand that also over to our neighbours? Or will our diplomatists, eager to avenge the insult put upon us, reply, " You deceived us by false affirmations, we were stupid enough to have confidence enough in your good faith without any preliminaries to assure us of it, we are willing to bear with the results of our own simplicity, but it has been a good lesson, and we forbid you to attempt to give us another like it"?

I remember an Arab saying, which well applies to the circumstances under discussion : "If my enemy deceives me once, may God curse him ; if he deceives me twice, may God curse us both ; but if he deceives me three times, may God curse me only."

After having chatted for a few hours with the notables of Goruberi, distributed some presents, and hoisted a flag, we went to pass the night opposite Karimama or Karma, a very strong and densely-populated village which is at war with the rest of Dendi. It was the people of this place, who, by calling in the Toucouleurs, had caused all the misery, which had lasted more than a year, to the natives of the banks of the Niger in Dendi. The brother of the chief of Tenda advised me to bombard Karma, and but for the pacific character of my expedition, which I was so extremely anxious to maintain, I would willingly have adopted his suggestion. I contented myself, however, with