BAGIRMI  , a

country of north-central Africa, lying S.E. of Lake Chad and forming part of the Chad circumscription of French Congo . It extends some 240 M. north to south and has a breadth of about 15o m., with an area of 20,000 sq. m . The population in 1903 was estimated at loo,000, having been greatly reduced as the result of wars and slave-raiding . By including districts S. and S.E. occupied by former vassal states, the area and population of Bagirmi would be more than doubled . The surface of the country, which lies about r000 ft. above sea-level, is almost flat with a very slight inclination N. to Lake Chad . It forms part of what seems to be the basin of an immense lake, of which Chad is the remnant . The soil is clay . The river Shari(q.v.) forms the western boundary . Numerous tributaries of the Shari flow through the country, but much of the water is absorbed by swamps and sand-obstructed channels, and seasons of drought are recurrent . The southern part of the country is the most fertile . Among the trees the acacia and the dum-palm are common . Various kinds of rubber vine are found .

The

fauna includes the elephant, hippopotamus, lion and several species of antelope . Ants are very numerous . Millet and sesame are the principal grains cultivated . Rice grows wild, and several kinds of Poa grass are used as food by the natives . Cotton and indigo are grown to a considerable extent, especially by Bornu immigrants . The capital is Chekna, on a tributary of the Shari, the former capital, Massenia, having been destroyed in 1898 . Fort Lamy at the confluence of the Logone and Shari, and Fort de Cointet on the middle Shari, are French posts round which towns have grown . Trade is chiefly with Yola, a town on the Benue in British Nigeria, and with Khartum via Wadai . There is also an ancient caravan route which runs through Kanem and across the Sahara to Tripoli . The population of Bagirmi is mixed . Negroid peoples pre-dominate, but there are many pastoral Fula and Arabs . The Bagirmese proper are a vigorous, well-formed race of Negroid-Arab blood, who, according to their own traditions, came from the eastward several centuries ago, a tradition borne out by their language, which resembles those spoken on the White Nile .

On their arrival they appear to have taken the

place of the Bulala dynasty . They subdued the Fula and Arabs already settled in the district, and after being converted to Islam under Abdullah, their fourth king (about 1600), they extended their authority over a large number of tribes living to the south and east . The most important of these tribes are the Saras, Gaberi, Somrai, Gulla, Nduka, Nuba and Sokoro . These pagan tribes were repeatedly raided by the Bagirmese for slaves . Most of them are of a primitive type and appear to be dying out . The Saras are remarkable for their herculean stature, and are one of the most promising of African races . Tree worship is prevalent among the Somrai and the Gaberi . All the tribes believe in a supreme being whose voice is the thunder . Polygamy is general in upper Bagirmi, where some traces of a matriarchal stage of society linger, one small state being called Beled-el-Mra, " Women's Land," because its ruler is always a queen . Bagirmi was made known to Europe by the travels of Dixon Denham (1823), Heinrich Barth (1852), who was imprisoned by the Bagirmcse for some time, Gustav Nachtigal (1872), and P . Matteucci and A . 1VI .

Massari (1881) . The country in 1871 had been conquered by the

sultan of Wadai, and about 1890 was over-run by Rabah Zobeir (q.v.) who subsequently removed farther west to Bornu . About this time French interest in the countries surrounding Lake Chad was aroused . The first expedition led thither through Bagirmi met with disaster, its leader, Paul Crampel, being killed by order of Rabah . Subsequent missions were more fortunate, and in 1897 Emile Gentil, the French commissioner for the district, concluded a treaty with the sultan of Bagirmi, placing his country under French protection . A resident was left at the capital, Massenia, but on Gentil's withdrawal Rabah descended from Bornu and forced sultan and resident to flee . It was not until after the death of Rabah in battle and the rout of his sons (1901) that French authority was firmly established . Kanem, a country north of Bagirmi and subject in turn to it and to Wadai, was at the same time brought under French control . So far as its European rivals are concerned, the French right to these regions is based on the Franco-German convention of the 15th of March 1894 and the Anglo-French declaration of the 21st of March 1899 . See H . Barth, Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa (London, 1857–1858) ; G . Nachtigal, Sahara and Sudan (Berlin, 1879–1889) ; E .

Gentil, La Chute de l'

Empire de Rabah (Paris, 19oz) . Also FRENCH CONGO .