290
WEST AFRICA.
defeated on the Senegal, Omar was still victorious on the Niger, reducing Kaarta and Bele-dugu, and advancing through Segu and Massina to Timbuktu. After his death family dissensions, followed by the revolt of the oppressed Bambaras and Mandingans, brought about the dismemberment of the state, which was broken into detached fragments by the advance of the French to the Niger. The
Fig. 132. — Inhabitants of the Upper Niger.
instability of the states in this region is well expressed by the Bambara proverb: "No king can cross the Joliba twice in his lifetime." It is now no longer possible to restore unity to an empire consisting of the three widely separated sections of Kaarta in the north-west, Segu in the east, and Jallonké dugu in the southwest.
