of that river, he discovered
the Alima and Likona, but did not descend either stream. Thence turning
northwards the travellers eventually regained the coast at the end of
November 1878, having left Paris in August 1875. On arrival in Paris, de
Brazza learned of the navigation of the Congo by H.M. Stanley, and
recognized that the rivers he had discovered were affluents of that
stream.

De Brazza was anxious to obtain for France some part of the Congo. The
French ministry, however, determined to utilize his energies in another
quarter of Africa. Their attention had been drawn to the Niger through
the formation of the United African Company by Sir George Goldie (then
Mr Goldie Taubman) in July 1879, Goldie's object being to secure Nigeria
for Great Britain. A new expedition was fitted out, and de Brazza left
Paris at the end of 1879 with orders to go to the Niger, make treaties,
and plant French flags. When on the point of sailing; from Lisbon he
received a telegram cancelling these instructions, and altering his
destination to the Congo. This was a decision of great moment. Had the
Nigerian policy of France been maintained the International African
Association (afterwards the Congo Free State) would have had a clear
field on the Congo, while the young British Company would have been
crushed out by French opposition; so that the two great basins of the
Niger and the Congo would have had a vastly different history.

Acting on his new instructions, de Brazza, who was again accompanied by
Ballay, reached the Gabun early in 1880. Rapidly ascending the Ogowe he
founded the station of Franceville on the upper waters of that river and
pushed on to the Congo at Stanley Pool, where Brazzaville was
subsequently founded. With Makoko, chief of the Bateke tribe, de Brazza
concluded treaties in September and October 1880, placing the country
under French protection. With these treaties in his possession Brazza
proceeded down the Congo, and at Isangila on the 7th of November met
Stanley, who was working his way up stream concluding treaties with the
chiefs on behalf of the International African Association. De Brazza
spent the next eighteen months exploring the hinterland of the Gabun,
and returned to France in June 1882. The ratification by the French
chambers in the following November of the treaties with Makoko
(described by Stanley as worthless pieces of paper) committed France to
the action of her agent.

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