XVII
Dialdé was situated at the confluence of the Senegal and a nameless stream, a tributary which flowed in from the south.
The post consisted of an unimportant negro village and a small protecting blockhouse of French construction, resembling the isolated forts of Upper Algeria.
It was the nearest point to the country of Boubakar-Ségou, and here in the midst of tribes that were still friendly, the French forces were to effect a junction, and to camp with the allied army of the Bambaras.
The flat country surrounding the village had the same monotony and aridity that characterised the banks of the lower Senegal.
None the less clumps of trees, or forests even, were already to be seen, indicating that this was the threshold of the land of Galam, the wooded regions of the interior.