[3] Monteil's brother Louis-Parfait took him to French West Africa in 1893, where he began work as a native affairs clerk, and later rose through several administrative levels and held many positions.
He worked with the Comité des études historiques et scientifiques de l’AOF and the Institut d’Afrique Noire in Dakar, Senegal.
D'après Tudo Yaresi (1953) Monteil discusses the origin of Dinga, founder of the Ghana Empire, who came from lands in the direction of Mecca, spent some time in Djenné, and had many descendants from three marriages.
He was born in Lulami or Durame, spent his youth in Masya, went to Uruguntu where his mother died, and arrived in Louti where he acquired power over the rain, before coming to Djenné.
[6] In a posthumous article on Problems of Western Sudan Monteil presents the hypothesis that modern blacksmiths and singers in West Africa are descended from Judaised blacks, which he bases on the idea of a period of Jewish hegemony in the Maghreb before the Arabs arrived.
The theory is based only on a text by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi (1100–65), and on Sudanese local traditions about the origins of the blacksmiths.