depression, production and commerce have been greatly increased under the French protectorate, and enormous progress has been made in justice, education, and civil government. Railroads, 260 miles in length, connect with the Algerian system. The length of telegraphs is 2,000 miles.

In May, 1890, the Bey issued a decree requiring every employer of negro domestics to give them an official certificate that they are free and imposing a penalty of imprisonment from three months to three years on all persons selling, buying, or holding slaves. Cardinal Lavigerie says that a few of the old families have kept their slaves from tradition, but the number is constantly diminishing, and soon none will be left. Colonies.-The area of the colonies of France, including Algeria, which is considered politically as a part of the republic, with that of the protectorates, was in 1887 about 1,250,000 square miles and the total population nearly 30,000,000. In Asia the old colony of Pondicherry, with an area of 203 square miles, in 1887 had, with dependencies, a population of 282,723, of whom 279,970 are Indians and 962 Europeans by descent. The local budget in 1888 was 1,952,014 francs; the expenditure of the Central Government, 469,296 francs. The imports in 1887 were 5,900,000 francs; the exports, 21,400,000 francs, of which 9,600,000 francs were exports of produce of the colony.

French Cochin-China, annexed in 1861, is 23,000 square miles in extent, and in 1887 contained 1,864,214 inhabitants. Cambodia, which was taken under the French protection in 1862. with an area of 32,390 square miles, has about 1,500,000 inhabitants. Tonquin, which was made a French colony in 1884, contains a population of 12,000,000 in a territory of 34,700 square miles, and the less thickly peopled Kingdom of Annam, declared a protectorate in the same year, has some 5,000,000 more on an area of 106,250 square miles. The administration is in the hands of native officials. Prince Bun Can was proclaimed King on Jan. 31, 1889. French troops occupy part of the citadel at Hué, the capital. The port of Tulane has been ceded to France, and Quin Hon and Xuan Day are open to European commerce. The four colonies and protectorates were placed in 1887 under the direction of a Superior Council of Indo-China and were united in a customs union. The imports of the union in 1888 amounted to 71,828,153 francs, and the exports to 68,079,305 francs. From Annam the chief exports are cinnamon, sugar, cotton, tea, coffee, tobacco, and seeds; from Cambodia, salt fish, cotton, beans, cardamom seeds, and sugar. In Cochin-China, where 2,000 Europeans are settled, the main product is rice, which constitutes 70 per cent. of the total exports. Tonquin produces rice, sugar, silk, and cotton, raw and manufactured, oils, pepper, tobacco, copper, and iron. The total imports of Annam were reported in 1888 as 4,362,370 francs; exports, 3,372,383 francs. From Cambodia the exports of native produce amounted to 12,000 francs. The imports of Cochin-China were valued at 39,392,851 francs, and the exports at 69,513,433 francs. In 1889 the rice crop was short. Only 280,000 tons were exported, against 500,000 tons in 1888, and in the country districts the people suffered from want of food. The

deficiency in the exports was partly supplied by the trade in raw cotton that has sprung up between the colony and Japan. The imports into Tonquin were 23,881,012 francs in value and the exports 6,988,249 francs. The revenue of Tonquin and Annam in 1888 was 17,321,000 francs, and the expenditure 17,034,620 francs; the revenue of Cambodia was 3,275,000, and the expenditure 3,059,236 francs; the revenue and expenditure of Cochin-China were made to balance at 30,215,943 francs. These sums do not include the expenditures of the French Government, which are given in the budget for 1890 as 12,450,000 francs for Tonquin and Annam and 6,288,718 francs for Cochin-China. In Annam 23,230 troops are maintained, of whom 11,830 are native levies; in Cambodia the French garrison numbers 300; in Tonquin there were 11,475 French troops and 6,500 native soldiers in 1889. In Cochin-China a garrison is kept of 5,660 European troops in addition to 2,800 Annamite soldiers. In the early months of 1890 several fights took place between the French troops and pirates in the remoter provinces of Tonquin. In February the bands of Doc Sung and Thanh Dhuat were pursued in Bacninh and an attempt was made to surround them. Pirates attacked the post of Lakaon in Haiduong on Feb. 2, and were repelled after a severe combat. The Doi Vo was surprised in his village by a French force early in March, and offered a desperate resistance, but was finally killed, freeing the province of Bacninh from a troublesome brigand. At the end of March a severe encounter took place between Thanh Dhuat and a French patrol, which carried his village at the point of the bayonet. A few days later Lieut. de Miribel laid an ambuscade for a band of 300 Chinese brigands, and put them to flight, rescuing their captives. Lun Ky, who infests the neighborhood of Dong Trien, captured two Frenchmen, who were only released on the payment of a heavy ransom.

The American colonies of France are Guadaloupe and adjacent islands, in the Lesser Antilles, the island of Martinique, French Guiana, and the fishing islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, near the coast of Newfoundland. Guadaloupe has an area of 720 square miles, and contained 182,182 inhabitants in 1888. The revenue and expenditure were made to balance at 5,027,130 francs in 1889. The expenditure of the mother country in 1890 was 2,122,085 francs. Besides sugar, of which 58,075,430 kilogrammes were produced in 1886, valued at 17,670,250 francs, coffee, cacao, spices, vanilla, manioc, and other food plants, and to some extent cotton, ramie, and tobacco are grown, and valuable timber is cut in the forests. There are 60 miles of railroad. The imports in 1887 were 14,196,966 francs in value, and the exports 21,519,696 francs. Martinique, with an area of 380 square miles, and 175,391 inhabitants in 1888, grows sugar and a little coffee, cacao, and tobacco for export, and manioc, yams, and bananas for food. The imports in 1887 amounted to 23,461,450 francs, the chief items being textiles, flour, fertilizers, salt fish, and rice. The exports were valued at 20,859,310 francs, 11,873,774 francs standing for sugar, and 5,401,211 francs for liquors. The chief commercial center is St. Pierre, with 20,000

inhabitants, Fort de France, the political capital, with 14,000 inhabitants, was half destroyed by a fire on June 22, 1890. Guiana is a penal colony. There are about 8,500 inhabitants in the town of Cayenne and 12,000 in the interior, besides savage tribes in the mountains. The number of convicts is about 3,500 in the penitentiaries and at large. The local budget was 2,003,374 in 1888 and the French expenditure was 1,597,805 francs. St. Pierre and Miquelon had 5,992 inhabitants in 1887. The catch of codfish was valued at 13,439,532 francs, and the total exports at 18,230,272 francs.

New Caladonia, in the Pacific, is a penal colony, having an area of 6,000 square miles, one third of which has been alloted to natives and colonists, leaving only about 600 square miles of land suitable for cultivation. The population in 1887 was 62,752, of which number 5,585 were colonists, 3,476 officials and military, 41,874 natives, 1,825 imported laborers, 2,515 liberated convicts, and 7,477 convicts under sentence. The local revenue in 1888 was 2,109,626 francs, and the grant from the French Government in 1890 was 2,377,000 francs. Wheat, Indian corn, and other cereals are cultivated, as well as coffee, sugar, cocoa-nuts, cotton, and other sub-tropical products. There are about 120,000 cattle in the island. Copper, nickel, cobalt, and coal have been found. The imports amounted in 1887 to 8,052,378 francs, and the exports to 2,406,475 francs. In the same region of the ocean France possesses the Loyalty Islands, the Isle of Pines, and the uninhabited Huron and Chesterfield groups of guano islands. The Loyalty Islands have an area of 730 square miles. There are also the Uvea or Wallis Islands, with an area of 39 square miles and 3.500 inhabitants, and the Isles sous le Vent, annexed in 1888. The French establishments in Oceanica consist of the Society Islands, the Marquesas, Tuamotu, Gambier, and Tubuai groups, with the island of Rapa, and the Howe Islands. Tahiti, the chief of the Society Islands, is 412 square miles in area, and Moorea, the second largest, 50 square miles, the former containing 11,200 and the latter 1,600 inhabitants. The expenditure of the local administration in 1888 was 1,077,998 francs; that of the French Government, 795,866 francs. The total imports in 1887 amounted to 3,099,167 francs, and the exports, consisting of copra, cotton, sugar, coffee, pearls, and shells, to 3,215,045 francs. Northwest of the group France possesses Raiatea and Tubuai-Moru, Huahine, Bora-Bora, and other scattered islands. In the summer of 1890 war ships bombarded two villages in Huahine, and a landing party reduced the inhabitants to submission. An attempt to subjugate the rebellious inhabitants of Raiatea was less successful, as they fled to the mountains.

The French possessions and protected territories in Africa had in 1876 a total extent of 283,450 square miles. The expansion of Algeria and the acquisition of Tunis, Madagascar, and the Congo region swelled this dominion to 861,600 square miles before 1888, and this area has been more than trebled by the accessions in the Sahara, the Western Soudan, and the regions of the Niger and upper Senegal, announced since then and confirmed by international agreement. In 1890 the French colonies, protectorates, and

acknowledged sphere of influence had an extent of 2,800,248 square miles, more territory than is actually claimed by any other power and nearly one fourth of the entire surface of the continent. The colony of Senegal or Senegambia has a coast line from Cape Blanco in the north, though this boundary is disputed, to the northern limit of Liberia, broken by the districts belonging to Great Britain and Portugal. The boundaries between the French possessions and the English colonies of Sierra Leone and Gambier were settled by a diplomatic arrangement made at Paris on Aug. 10, 1889. The settled coast region has an area of 14,600 square miles, not including the territory of the Southern Rivers, which was set apart from Senegal in January, 1890, and placed under the administration of the Lieutenant-Governor of Senegal, residing at Konakry, on the Dubreka river, whose authority extends to the settlements on the Gold Coast. The population of Senegal is 181,600, and that of the Southern Rivers district 43,898, 1,470 of the total being whites. In the rear of Senegal is the French Soudan, of which 50,600 square miles, with 283,660 inhabitants, had been annexed before 1890 and 97,300 square miles, with 299,580 inhabitants, had been taken under French protection through treaties with the native rulers. St. Louis, the capital of Senegal, has 20,000 inhabitants. The chief exports are gum, ground-nuts, India-rubber, woods, and skins, the total value in 1889 having been 16,500,000 francs. The cultivated area in 1886 was 1,653,000 acres and the value of the product was 15,658,000 francs. The revenue in 1889 was 2,782,474 francs, not counting the expenditure of the French Government, which was 7,639,309 francs. There are 164 miles of railroad on the coast, and a line is building from Medina, the head of navigation on the Senegal, to the Niger, of which 74 miles have been built, reaching Bafulabe. The French have endeavored to join their settlements on the Guinea coast to the territories acquired on the upper Niger. In Ashantee and Mossi the British have forestalled them, leaving only Dahomey and the country beyond, in which the British Niger Company is seeking to gain a foothold. The occupation of Kotonu and the war with the King of Dahomey have revived the traditional claims to that country (see DAHOMEY). The possessions on the Gold Coast consist of Grand Bassam and Assinie, Grand Popo and Agoué, Porto Novo and Kotonu. Although placed under the supervision of the Lieutenant-Governor of Senegal, they are separate colonies with an autonomous administration. Since Jan. 1, 1890, they have been divided into two distinct colonies, one embracing the western settlements on the Gold Coast and the other the group on the Bight of Benin. The area of French territory in Guinea is about 9,000 square miles. Porto Novo is separated from the English colony of Lagos by a line from Agarrah creek to the coast. The Gold Coast exports to France in 1888 were 1,229,670 francs in value.

For more than thirty years French administrators have pursued the purpose of extending the Algerian and Senegambian territories until they joined in an uninterrupted domain reaching from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, and more recently the idea has been conceived of a continuous belt binding the acquisitions on the

upper Niger to the French territories on the Congo, embracing the rich states of the Western and Central Soudan. It has been proposed to continue the Trans-Saharan Railroad, long since planned to connect Algeria through the Tuareg country with Kuka, the capital of Bornu, on Lake Tchad, southward to the Congo as well as westward to Senegal. A few years ago French influence in the Niger region was undisputed, and consequently no strong efforts were made to confirm and extend it. Factories that once existed were abandoned by reason of the barbarity of the people and lack of trade. After the British, whose attention had been called to the commercial possibilities of the Niger by the explorations of Robert Flegel, the German traveler, established themselves on the lower Niger and the Benue, a French commercial company was founded to dispute the field with the Royal Niger Company, and maintained itself for two years. In 1882, after making a vain appeal for assistance to the French Government, it sold its factories to its rival. Since 1888 the French Government has made strong efforts to perfect its title to the upper Niger and the region in the bend of the river. On April 6, 1890, Capt. Archinard, commander-in-chief of the French Soudan, occupied Segu-Sikoro, the capital of Ahmadou, on the left bank of the upper Niger. The French have had relations with Ahmadou since 1866. He is the son of the prophet El Hadj Omar, who founded the empire of Segu and during his lifetime divided it among his three sons. One of the provinces is south of the Senegal in the Foutah Djalon, one north of the river, and one on both sides of it. Ahmadou overcame his brothers and reunited the empire, but the Beleduju and other regions asserted their independence. Since the French have extended their dominion to the upper Niger and connected it with a chain of occupied posts to Senegal the Mohammedan Kingdom of Ahmadou, was the only formidable obstacle to the progress of French influence in the Soudan. The sacred city was taken without losing a man. The French were aided by the Bambaras, who possessed the country forty years ago, and have since been subjected to the yoke of Ahmadou. The King's son Madani, and all his court fled, leaving the royal treasure, which was found to consist of English gold. There were other indications that the English of Sierra Leone intrigued to supplant French influence. A Bambara chief was installed as ruler when the Mussulmans were subdued in a final encounter. September Ahmadu resumed the offensive and attempted to besiege Kuniakari, but was repelled with the loss of 380, and his army fled in confusion toward Nioro. During the summer Capt. Binger made treaties with all the chiefs in the bend of the Niger, and by a treaty with Samory sought to establish a connection with the French possessions on the Gulf of Guinea. This design the English authorities in Sierra Leone attempted to frustate by sending a mission to Almany Samory.

In

The Anglo-German agreement, handing over Zanzibar to the English protectorate, gave M. Ribot an opportunity to ask for the recognition of a French sphere in Africa, for an English protectorate could not be established without

breach of a covenant entered into between France and Great Britain on March 10, 1862, guaranteeing the independence of the Sultan of Zanzibar. A verbal agreement of similar tenor which the French Government had made in respect to Madagascar had given ground to Great Britain, and through its example to other powers. to refuse to recognize the French protectorate over that island, and in consequence the consuls and agents have never applied for exequaturs through the intermediary of the French Resident-General, as required in the French treaty with the Hovas Queen. The French minister requested, as a condition of assenting to the protectorate over Zanzibar and Pemba, that the British Government should formally acknowledge the rights acquired by France over Madagascar and recognize French claims to the Hinterland of Algeria and Senegambia. French pretensions were put forward to the whole of the Niger from the point where it turns eastward and to a sphere of influence embracing the Lake Tehad States and the whole of the Western and Central Soudan, and extending southward to the Mcbangi tributary of the Congo. The English claimed Sokoto and its vassal state, Gando, by virtue of a treaty made by Joseph Thomson in 1885. This treaty only conferred commercial privileges for a distance of 30 miles on either side of the Benue and Niger, but while the discussion was going on it was supplemented by a new treaty granting the British Niger Company juisdiction over all foreigners throughout the two kingdoms. The British Government would at first concede only the region above Borum, but finally agreed to a line of demarkation between the French and English spheres starting from Say, on the Niger, thus dividing Gando, and ending at Baruwwa, on Lake Tchad, in the country of Bornu, a little distance north of Koka. An agreement to this effect was embodied in declarations exchanged on Aug. 5, 1890, and the details of the line were left to commissioners to be appointed by the two Governments, it being understood that the whole of Sokoto is included in the British sphere. Bornu, Wadai, and the other states of the Soudan are left to be the future prize of whichever power can first establish protectorates by treaty with the native sovereigns.

The contiguous territories of Gaboon and the French Congo have a combined area of 297,900 square miles. The population of Gaboon is 186,500, and that of the Congo region is roughly estimated at 500,000. On the coast, along the Ogowé and the road to the Congo, and on the Congo are 27 stations. Besides the garrisons there are about 300 whites in the country. Ivory, palm oil, caoutchouc, and ebony are exported, and trials are being made in planting coffee, tobacco, sugar-cane, and the vanilla orchid. The total trade in 1887 amounted to 7,374,800 francs, the bulk of it being in the hands of the Dutch. The revenue of 743,884 franes was supplemented by a grant of 2,805,377 francs from the French treasury in 1888. In March, 1890, a dispatch was received from the acting Governor of the Congo State that a French post on the Ubangi had been attacked and all the whites massacred by cannibals.

Madagascar has an estimated area of 228,500

square miles, and a population of about 3,500,000; the Hovas, who are the dominant race, numbering something like 1,000,000; the Sakalavas, in the western parts of the island, about the same; the Betsileos and Betsimi Sakaras together, 1,000,000; and the Bavas and Antatiavas, 250,000 each. Antananarivo, the capital, has 100,000 inhabitants. The Queen of the Hovas is Ranavalona III. She professes Christianity, together with the chief officers of her court, the London Missionary Society having introduced Christianity into the island many years ago. There are about 350,000 Protestant Christians, and 35,000 Catholics. By a treaty signed at Tamatave on Dec. 12, 1885, the direction of all the foreign relations of the country was transferred to the French Government, and must be conducted through the French Resident-General, who resides at the capital and is permitted to maintain a military escort. The United States alone among the powers protested against this treaty, but none of them have hitherto formally recognized the French protectorate, and the Malagasy Government has assumed the right to grant exequaturs to consuls and to continue direct diplomatic intercourse with foreign governments. By the Anglo-French agreement of Aug. 5, 1890, the British Government recognizes the protectorate, with its consequences, especially as regards exequaturs. The missonaries of both countries shall enjoy complete protection, and toleration and liberty for all forms of worship and religious teaching is guaranteed. Rights and immunities enjoyed by British subjects can not be suppressed or abridged. The district on the Bay of Diego Suarez annexed as a French colony contained 4,607 inhabitants in 1887. The home Government in 1890 appropriated 1,956,455 francs for the colony, in addition to the local budget of 100,720 francs. Gold has been discovered at Maeratanarivo, on the west coast, and in February, 1890, white adventurers began to flock to the new gold field from all quarters, but mostly from the islands of Mauritius and Bourbon. Gold has long been known to exist, besides copper, galena, iron, graphite, and coal, and considerable quantities of gold, as well as of copper, have been mined for the Government, which has been able before these last discoveries to prevent an influx of foreign miners and has employed 1,000 natives in the mines. Ancient laws were in force which prohibited under severe penalties any search for precious metals. The French protectorate has led to the repeal of these and all statutes against the commercial development of the country by foreigners. The forests, which abound in valuable cabinet woods, have been leased on the northeast coast to European companies, and much timber has been felled and shipped abroad. The natives breed cattle, cultivate rice, sugar, coffee, and cotton, and are skillful in working metals and weaving cloth from silk, cotton, and the fiber of the rofia palm. Cattle, caoutchouc, hides, hemp, rofia, coffee, sugar, vanilla, wax, gum copal, and rice are exported. The trade is principally with Great Britain, France, and Réunion, the United States, and Mauritius. The American trade is on the increase. Of $287,000 worth of exports from Tamatave, the principal port, in the first half of 1887 the share of France was $84,000, while that VOL. XXX. 22 A

of the United States was $117,000. The total imports for 1888 were estimated at $810,000, the chief item being cotton goods of the value of $357,000, mainly of English manufacture. The total exports were $870,000, the largest items being skins of the value of $352,000, caoutchouc of the value of $273,000, rofia of the value of $80,000, and wax of the value of $57,000.

Of the small islands near Madagascar, Ste. Marie and Réunion have been subject to France for more than two hundred years. The latter, 970 square miles in extent, had a population in 1887 of 163,881, of whom 120,532 were Creoles. The product of sugar in 1886 was 31,847 tons, 8,559,663 francs in value. Of coffee 343 tons were exported, and of vanilla 69 tons. Spices are also raised, and rice, wheat, beans, and Indian corn are some of the food products. The plantations are cultivated by East Indian and negro indentured laborers, slavery having been abolished in 1870. The number of Hindu coolies imported in 1887 was 25,801; of Africans, 15,480. The total value of imports in 1887 was 28,123,361 francs; of exports, 13,319,046 francs. The local revenue was 4,639,034 francs in 1888; the expenditure, 4,639,002 francs; expenditure of the French Government, 4,255,860 francs. Ste. Marie de Madagascar has an area of 64 square miles, with a population in 1887 of 7,468. Cloves are cultivated for export. Nossi Bé, off the west coast of Madagascar, has an area of 112 square miles and a population of 8.281, mostly Malagasy and African natives. Sugar, rice, and coffee are cultivated. Mayotte, with an area of 140 square miles and 10,551 inhabitants in 1887, of whom only 38 were French, produced in that year 3,000 tons of sugar and 18,000 gallons of rum. Another product is vanilla. The total value of imports in 1887 was 1,130,000 francs; of exports, 1,695,000 francs. The local expenditure was 234,000 francs; and that of the home Government in 1889 was 250,440 francs, besides 12,200 francs for the Comoro Islands, which are under the same administration. These islands, equidistant from Madagascar and the African shore, were declared a protectorate in 1886. They have an area of 618 square miles and an estimated population of 53,000, most of whom are Mohammedans.

The colony and coaling station of Obock, on the Gulf of Aden has, with the territory on the Bay of Tajurah, an area of 2,300 square miles and a population of 22,370 souls. There is some trade with Shoa and other countries inland. The expenditure of France in 1890 was 497,441 francs, including 121,191 francs in the naval budget. The Italian Government has desired to annex Harrar, an independent country, through which passes all the trade of Shoa, but has been semiofficially informed whenever the subject was spoken of that the French Government would not accept an Italian occupation of that territory. The people of Harrar have shown hostility to Europeans for some time, and marauding tribes have threatened French caravans. About Jan 1, 1890, one was attacked near Obock, but the assailants were driven off by the Soudanese soldiery in the service of the French. Shortly afterward the English suffered defeat when they sent a force of Sepoys under Brig.-Gen. Hogg to punish the natives for a raid on Bulhar.

FREMONT, JOHN CHARLES, an American explorer, born in Savannah, Ga., Jan. 21, 1813; died in New York city, July 13, 1890. He was descended from a good family of Lyons, France. His father, driven from his home by political trouble, was seeking refuge with a relative in Santo Domingo, when he was captured by a British cruiser and imprisoned. After several years he made his escape, intending to return to his native land; but, on reaching Norfolk, Va., he was compelled to remain there waiting for a vessel and money for his voyage. He began teaching French in Norfolk, and soon an attachment sprang up between him and Anne Beverly Whiting, which resulted in their marriage and the abandonment by Frémont of his purpose to go home. Soon after their marriage the couple set out on a journey, of the nature of an exploration, to the South and West, visiting the Indian tribes and examining aboriginal remains. During this tour their first child, John Charles, was born. After the death of her husband in 1818 Mrs. Frémont, with her three children, settled in Charleston, S. C.

At the age of fourteen John was placed in the law office of John W. Mitchell, who, recognizing his talent, and pleased with his energy and devotion to study, placed him under the tuition of Dr. Robertson, a private classical teacher, with whom he remained a year, when he entered the junior class in Charleston College. In after-life he wrote to Dr. Robertson: "I am far from either forgetting you, or neglecting you, or in any way losing the old regard I had for you. There is no time to which I go back with more pleasure than that spent with you, for there was no time so thoroughly well spent; and of anything I may have learned I remember nothing so well and so distinctly as what I acquired with you." Dr. Robertson adds: "I can not help saying that the merit was almost all his own. It is true that I encouraged and cheered him on; but if the soil into which I put the seeds of learning had not been of the richest quality they would never have sprung up to a hundred-fold in the full ear." Frémont's mother was exceedingly anxious that her son should become a clergyman, and at this time he united with the Protestant Episcopal Church. He showed at first the same ardor in study that had characterized him earlier, but, becoming enamored of a West Indian beauty, he absented himself so often from recitations that he was reprimanded. As he refused to apologize or to return to his duties, he was expelled from college. After the death of a brother and a sister, he privately resumed his studies, but he abandoned all thought of the ministry, and devoted himself with ardor to scientific and mathematical work, teaching mathematics in an evening school, and becoming a private tutor. In 1833 the United States sloop-of-war "Natchez" was sent to Charleston because of the "nullification" troubles, whence it was ordered to cruise along the coast of South America. Frémont obtained the post of teacher of mathematics on board, and set out on a voyage of two and a half years. On his return the college bestowed on him the degree of A. B. and afterward that of A. M. He applied for one of the then recently established naval mathematical professorships, and was one of a few who were

able to pass at Baltimore the rigid examination required. He was appointed to the frigate Independence," when he suddenly determined to exchange his profession for a more active one. He became a surveyor and civil engineer, and examined a railroad route between Charleston and Augusta, He then obtained the place of assistant engineer under Capt. William G. Williams, of the United States Topographical Corps, on surveys for a railroad to be built between Charleston and Cincinnati, his work being espe cially the exploration of the mountain passes between North Carolina and Tennessee. When this work was finished, Frémont accompanied Capt. Williams in an examination of the Cherokee country of Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. The region was mountainous, and the reconnoissance was made rapidly, in midwinter, in anticipation of war with those Indians.

In 1838 Frémont accompanied Jean Nicolas Nicollet in a governmental survey of the country between the Missouri and the northern boundary, and in July of that year he was commissioned by President Van Buren as second lieutenant of Topographical Engineers. He spent two years with the expedition, and then went to Washington to prepare his report. Here he met Miss Jessie Benton, daughter of Thomas H. Benton, Senator from Missouri. She was but fifteen years old, and her parents objected to her receiving the addresses of the young lieutenant, who was captivated at first sight, and when he was ordered on a Government survey of Des Moines river the young lovers believed that Senator Benton had obtained the order for the purpose of separating them. The survey was done rapidly, and on Frémont's return they ran away and were married privately on Oct. 19, 1841. À year later Frémont was placed in command of an expedition to explore the Rocky mountains, especially the South Pass. In his report he says: "I set out from Washington city on the 2d day of May, 1842, and arrived at St. Louis, by way of New York, the 22d of May, where the necessary preparations were completed, and the expedition commenced. I had collected in the neighborhood of St. Louis 21 men, principally Creole and Canadian voyageurs, who had become familiar with prairie life in the service of the fur companies in the Indian country. Mr. Charles Preuss, a native of Germany, was my assistant in the topographical part of the survey; L. Maxwell, of Kaskaskia, had been engaged as hunter; and Christopher Carson (more familiarly known, for his exploits in the mountains, as Kit Carson) was our guide." During this journey Frémont ascended the highest peak of the Rocky mountains, in the Wind River range, and examined the headwaters of the Platte river. An extract from his report of these occurrences will serve better than the words of another to show Frémont's courage, his skill as a writer, and his ability to serve the several sciences that his expedition called for. His report excited admiration in Europe as well as at home, and forms an interesting page in the voluminous records of the man who, from his services of this kind, was popularly called the "Pathfinder":

I was desirous to keep strictly within the scope of my instructions, and it would have required ten or fifteen additional days for the accomplishment of this