A lieutenant of the French navy takes a small flotilla down the Niger from Timbuktu to the Atlantic, a passage no one had yet completed. He describes running the rapids with anchor and grappling-iron, long dealings with the Tuaregs, and stays at river towns such as Say, all coloured by open rivalry with the British.
A lively first-hand account of the West African interior in the scramble for Africa, read with its imperial bias in view. Download the free EPUB.