3-085-662 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Lieutenants Simon and Castellani, of the Marchand Expedition, in the Mayombe Forest, 1898. '...no less than five different expeditions, representing the Governments of Great Britain, France, and Belgium respectively, are journeying...into the regions around the Upper Nile...the French force headed by Captain Marchand has begun to loom large upon the Upper Nile...its object being, in the words of one of its officers, to occupy Upper Egypt, give the Dervishes some idea of the strength of France, launch French boats on the Upper Nile, and draw a line of union between the French colony and protectorate of Obok, on the Gulf of Aden, and the French possessions on the Congo...it is now certain that Captain Marchand has reached Fashoda, on the "White River" arm of the Nile, and that the French Government will probably support him in flying its flag there...Captain Marchand has undoubtedly achieved the distinction of being first in the field. Whether it has been reserved for him to dispel the British dream of a continuous territory from Cairo to the Cape...remains a question to which the British Government alone possesses the answer'. From "Illustrated London News", 1898.