At the moment when this expedition was setting out the French government gave up the defensive attitude, and, abandoning the merely defensive policy observed since the Flatters mission in 1881, decided to extend further southward the zone of French influence, which then did not pass 30º latitude north. On the 28th of December, 1899, M. Flamand, a naturalist, was instructed to make a study of the region which it was proposed to annex, and was attacked at In-Sala. Immediately the French troops advanced on their "meharis," commanded by Captains Germain and Pein, two brilliant Sahara officers. Some months later the French occupied the chain of oases of Gourara, Touat, and Tidikelt, more than 300 kilometers in length, which runs along the subterranean courses of rivers descending from the high plateaus of Morocco and Algeria. In this way the French had advanced nearly half the distance from the Mediterranean to the northern curve of the Niger at Timbuctoo.
Scenes on Lake Tchad
This military advance has had interesting results from the point of view of geography. An excellent map on the scale of 1:250,000 has been made by Lieutenant Nieger of the whole region of Touat and Tidikelt, hitherto imperfectly known. Moreover, M. Flamand has published interesting notes on the morphology and geology of this part of the desert. To ensure protection of the oases thus acquired against the incursions of the Touaregs, the military authorities recognized the necessity of abandoning the old mistake of simply remaining on the defensive. In order to assure the tranquillity of the country, it was necessary at the first attack from the brigand tribes to pursue them vigorously through the desert, and not to give up until a sharp lesson had been inflicted.
This result could only be obtained by
