CHAPTER FOUR
THE MALLAM AND THE QADIS: A POSTING TO ZINDER, 1900–19031
Setting a Course for West Africa
In October 1900, Gaden found a berth on the steamer Mananhao to travel from France to West Africa. He was part of Gouraud’s new mission under Colonel Peroz to Zinder in Niger, an area of increasing importance now that Chad had been stabilised. An outbreak of yellow fever had occurred in Dakar, and this prevented Gaden from disembarking at the port and head- ing overland through Senegal to the Niger and beyond. Instead, he went around the coast into the Gulf of Guinea, calling at the port of Conakry and then on to Kotonou in Dahomey. From there the column of men and sup- plies would travel directly north along the border with Nigeria until it reached the Niger River, where it would have to make its way east towards Zinder on the fringes of the Sahara desert. Gouraud had left France about ten days earlier than Gaden and with him were travelling the two Lieutenant-Colonels who were responsible for the new mission: Gaden’s superior officer from Bandiagara, Destenave, now promoted in rank; and Peroz, a tall, thin man of Spanish origin with a hooked nose, piercing eyes and a moustache in the style of Louis XIII. Destenave was to take charge of the mission to Chad, now ‘pacified’ after the defeat of Rabah and his armies. His party continued on board their ocean-going steamer until the mouth of the Congo, which they would navi- gate up as far as its tributary, the Ubangi, following its course until they reached the area around the Chari River. From there they would descend the river in the direction of Chad. Peroz, who headed up the mission to the region now designated the ‘Third Military Territory’, would be based in Zinder, a town perched above the frontier of British-held Nigeria almost exactly halfway along its east-west axis. The Third Territory was to be divided into two regions, with Peroz allocating himself the eastern part and the western part he gave to Gouraud, under whose orders Gaden envisaged himself serving once they arrived.
1 A mallam is the title of a respected Muslim religious leader or scholar in West Africa, and a qadi is Muslim judge with jurisdiction over religious and secular matters, who oper- ates in relation to the prevailing consensus among the community of scholars, the ulema.
S A H A R A
F R E N C H W E S T A F R I C A
Bilma TERRITOIRE DU NIGER
Gao Agadez TERRITOIRE MILITAIRE DAMERGOU DU TCHAD DJERMA Battle of KANEM R.Niger GANDA Tahoua Zanguébé Djadjidouna L.Chad Bir Alali OUADDAI Filingué le Guidam Mao rc Dankori e Zinder Baroua Sansané C Bado Ngouri Ati Abéché Niamey Haoussa e Battle of Guidjigaoua L.Fitri d Tessaoua c Galma Moito Sorbo Haoussa? r Yao
A Goulfei Say Kazaoure Mai Bokoro R.Batha Sokoto Fort Aîche Dikoa BARGHIRMI Sana na? Lamy Gaya Kano Kousseri Tchekna Badanga Karnak-Logone Massenya Bahr Erigg Mel Kandi Mandjafa BORNU R.Logone R.Chari Bahr Salamat Bousso (German)TO GO Fort Archambault Parakou Laï Ndélé DAHOMEY NIGERIA
(British) Bahr Sara R.Bamingui R.Gribingui R.Bénoué Logone Occidental Abomey Zagnanado Fort Crampel Porto Novo Lagos R.Niger OUBANGUI CHARI Logone Oriental Krébedjé Kotonou CAMEROON (Fort Sibut) (German) Fort de Possel Bangui Douala Zongo Yaounde Mongoumba
FRENCH R.Congo EQUATORIAL AFRICA
R.Ubangi Libreville FRENCH CONGO Cap Lopez BELGIAN CONGO
R.Kassai Brazzaville Stanley Pool 0 200 miles 400 Leopoldville R.Congo 0 300 kilometres 600 Boma Matadi
Map 3. Missions to Zinder 1900–1903 and to Chad 1904–1907.