Colonel Monteil and a small party of Frenchmen arrived in
Dakar in September 1890. He traveled by railway up the coast to
St. Louis where he hired bearers and
tirailleurs. He continued his journey up the
Sénégal River by steamer, arriving on 18 October 1890 at
Kayes, where he bought equipment and horses. Monteil reached
Ségou on the upper Niger River on 14 December, the last outpost of the French in the Sudan. The countries to the east were known to be
Moslem, were rumored to be rich in gold, slaves and ivory, but were uncharted territory to Europeans. Monteil set out eastwards, generally obtaining a friendly reception and signing treaties of friendship, although suffering from heat, mosquitos and lack of drinking water. The
Almami of
San signed a peace treaty placing the town under French protection. Monteil praised the caravan center at San, saying that transactions could be made in total security, with no duties levied on imports, exports or sales. Entering what is now
Burkina Faso, Monteil wanted
Wobogo, the
Mogho Naba of Mossy and ruler of
Ouagadougou, to agree to a French protectorate. Wobogo refused to receive him, and he was forced to make a hurried departure. He reached
Dori, the capital of
Liptako, on 22 May 1891, at a time when the Amiirou, Amadou Iisa, was dying, and became involved in a dispute over succession. Monteil started to negotiate a treaty with the followers of Issa, son of the Amiirou and next in line, but the Amiirous's nephew Sori managed to gain the support needed to become the next ruler. of
Kano In June Monteil went on to
Sebba, capital of
Yagha, where after a considerable payment to the "greedy" ruler another treaty was agreed. From there he travelled via
Torodi to
Say, a large commercial town on the
Niger River, and then onward to
Sokoto via the
Argungu triangle. He observed that the Kebbi
Argungu Emirate was independent of the
Sokoto Caliphate. This later became a point of dispute between the French and British authorities. Further, he found little evidence that the Royal Niger Company was present in the region as claimed, apart from some trading posts in the
Gwandu Emirate to the south of Argundu. Monteil was welcomed by the
Caliph of Sokoto, Abd ar-Rahman dan Abi Bakar, who at the time was engaged in a war with the
Emir of Argungu. He signed a treaty with the Caliph on 28 October 1891, and presented him with silks, brocades, embroidered caftans and money. He said the state of the Caliphate was precarious when he visited, but may have overestimated the combined effects of the war and the recent accession of an unpopular ruler. Shortly after Monteil left, Sokoto defeated Argungu. Monteil journeyed from Sokoto to the important trading center of
Kano, then via
Hadejia to Lake Chad. On 9 April 1892 he reached
Kuka on the shore of the lake, where he was met by a group of 150 cavalrymen arrayed in colorful costumes, with their horses dressed in padded
caparisons. The horsemen charged him with spears leveled, stopping at the last minute, a sign of respect and also a test of courage. He exchanged courtesies with the Sultan of
Bornu, and was his guest for several months while he explored the country around the lake – and while the Sultan tried to extract gifts in exchange for a safe conduct. When finally allowed to depart, he traveled northward across the Sahara to Tripoli, reaching the Mediterranean on 10 December 1892. His journey had done much to clarify for Europeans, and for France in particular, the geography and politics of the region. Within 15 years, almost all the territory Monteil had visited was firmly under colonial control. ==Later career==