Show colonial soldiers are valuable to mother country prepared by national geographic society washington D C service france has received assurance of the loyalty of citizens of her colonies in west afek aari ca including the colony of senegal which is smaller than nebraska or south dakota french west africa the group name for frances half dozen or more colonies in in the western portion of the dark continent has a population of nearly fifteen million included are the colonies of senegal french guinea the ivory coast dahomey mauritania the sudan and the niger in the world war senegal alone provided france with several hundred thousand men they proved courageous fighters according to the germans who spoke of 0 them as strong wild fellows wh who 0 dashed over no mans land with a grin their black heads wrapped in dirty rags some with rifles and bayonets fixed others armed only with knives while often preserving their su superstitions and pagan practices throbbing tom toms and strenuous dances the majority ot of the senegalese profess mohammedanism this religion permits the retention ol of their fundamental customs particularly ticul arly polygamy long practiced especially in the middle classes worlds peanut capital dakar the principal seaport has been called the peanut capital of the world americans are sometimes confused cont used because peanuts in translated reports and statistics are called groundnuts ground nuts during the harvesting season the quays are piled high with peanuts from which ships are loaded to the hatches peanuts constitute the principal crop of senegal the production some years 3 ears exceeding a billion pounds about one third of the population of senegal is made up I A 1 r i V TYPICAL NATIVE SOL DIER this picture shows one of the typical native soldiers ready to serve france according to reports from the world war of 1914 18 these natives are courageous and daring fighters ot of jolois the more intelligent eind and influential ot of the many negro tribes many are skillful workers in gold and silver weavers weaver s and dyers they largely dominate the colonial council which has considerable power both with respect to taxation and general legislation senegalese women are remore more interested in 1 coiffeurs coiffe Iff urs eurs and trinkets than in clothing their dress may be i a loin cloth or an elaborate cotton print prin t the french claim to have traded with the west african coast since sometime in the fourteenth century st louis capital of senegal is said to have been the site of a european settlement in the fifteenth century french occupation is dated from the founding of st louis rn n 1626 when a fort was built on the island at the mouth of the senegal river |