Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Sikasso

The Barsac expedition arrived at Sikasso on January 12.In the past six weeks, they have traveled at an average speed of 25 kilometers per day, and they have traveled about 1,100 kilometers. "French Expansion" has stopped publishing Ameijie.Floras' newsletter because he hadn't sent it to the editorial office.We would never have known anything about the expedition if this able reporter had not kept his travels in his diary.Now, this diary is on the desk of the author of this book.We will also draw heavily from his travel journals as we tell this story. The reader will recall that we have already mentioned that the Barsac expedition will be divided into two detachments at Sikasso.A small detachment will be led by Barsac himself, passing through Ouagadougou, Mocia, Burka and other places, and ending the investigation in Cotonou, the seaport of Dahomey.The other detachment, led by Boudrier, turned south and advanced almost in a straight line to Gran Bazaar, Ivory Coast.

Sikasso, like other towns in the country, was walled.This city wall is called Dada locally, it is six meters high, and the thickness of the wall base is no less than eight meters. The French garrison at Sikasso consisted of three companies.The young officers warmly received the expedition team and held a grand welcome ceremony for these rare visitors. The next day, the expedition team separated.Kiriye and Helier, according to the order, followed Poterier; there was also Isidore.Denson himself had proposed to be with Bautrier.Following Balsac are Dr. Posain, Dr. Shadore, and reporter Ameijie.Floras is also in this team, because this team has a longer distance, he can interview more news.

Captain Marthale gave the order to assign his hundred cavalry under the command of a lieutenant of the Sikasso garrison to escort the detachment of Poitrier;The young officer, who had received a good military discipline, guessed with a shy and depressed feeling: Jeanne.Morna and De.Which team will Sunberling follow? He breathed a sigh of relief when the young woman announced that she was joining the Balsac unit.But Jeanna added that she and Sunberlin will not be staying with the respected Balsac expedition for a long time, and after a while, they will leave this expedition and go to the north to complete their scheduled private expedition.At this time, our captain sighed again in disappointment.

Morna and Samblin had ten donkeys, and they employed five drivers and ten porters.These people naturally wanted to go with them, and the rest of the donkey drivers, porters and animals were divided into two unequal parts.The larger portion belongs to the investigation team with a longer return journey, that is, the team of Balsac.The guide Molière will also remain in this detachment. However, just after such a combination, Molile immediately and firmly refused.It was no use asking him repeatedly.According to him, when he was hired, he only had the intention of sending the expedition team to Sikasso.In any case, he didn't want to go any further.The expedition team had to spend a lot of time talking before he reluctantly agreed to lead a section of the way for Boudriere's team.

No sooner had the matter been settled than there was another problem with the donkey driver and the porter: they all refused to go any further.Asking them, making wishes, even threatening them, has no result. So, had to look for new guides and workers.It was not too difficult to find a donkey driver and a porter, but it took a few days to choose a trustworthy native as a guide.It was a Negro named Barragolier. At this moment, Molile made a 180-degree turn.At first, he stood idly by, and even watched with glee as the masters hired people everywhere but couldn't find them.But when their efforts paid off, his stance changed immediately.He approached Barsac and humbly confessed that he had refused to advance so obstinately because he was afraid of danger; he said he had now figured it out and was willing to send the expedition to Ouagadougou and Dahomey. go.Strange to say, those porters also changed their stand all of a sudden, and declared that as long as their guides lead the way, they are willing to go to the ends of the world.

This sudden unity clearly showed that the sole perpetrator of the unexpected delay of the expedition was Molière.At first they wanted to reject the belated request, but then they thought that since this group of people were familiar with the work and the guides were born and bred in the country they were going to investigate, it would be useful to keep them here.Therefore, everyone had to turn a blind eye to Moliere's fault. They arrived in Sikasso on January 12th, and it was January 21st when they left here. Balsac and Baudrier shook hands excitedly, and the two teams parted ways. Pouerier went south.Balsac, Posain, Dr. Shadore, Amijay.Floras, Jeanna.Morna and Semblin, escorted by a hundred cavalry under the command of Captain Marthare, advanced to the left and disappeared into the eastern plains.

However, these two largely identical squads had completely different encounters.While Bautrier's detachment successfully completed their expedition, Barsac's detachment encountered many unusual and thrilling incidents. In this way, in the following chapters of this book, we will ignore the general trivialities that happened to the Portrier detachment during the peaceful journey, and focus on looking at the man who was led by Molière and headed towards the black man. What happened to the expedition team that passed away eastward in the district.