The Sudan official speedily settles down in his strange surroundings, establishes himself quietly in his simple straw-hut or his mud-brick residence, decorating the ugly walls with such of his lares et penates as he may have been enabled to collect around him during his exile, and forthwith sets about forming a tennis, squash rackets or fives' court. To 'keep fit' is his main concern. He cannot afford to become flabby or 'run down'; to avoid qualifying for the sick-list any sacrifice will be made, and almost any inconveniences endured. Not only does indisposition interfere with views of promotion and customary leave, but it is considered to be unjust to 'the other fellow,' the colleague and chum, upon whose already sufficiently burdened shoulders must fall the performance of neglected or postponed duties. The spirit of loyalty and good-fellowship among the officials is very pronounced. In concluding his report for 1906, Lord Cromer wrote:

'In order really to appreciate the zeal and intelligence which the various officials in the Sudan are bringing to bear upon their work, it would be necessary not merely to read their reports but to visit the remote and inhospitable localities in which their work is conducted. Their country has every reason to be proud of them, and I hope and believe that, with the exception possibly of a few individuals, it is proud of them.'

To the uninitiated the frequent changes which occur among the personnel of the local administration may appear unusual, and even undesirable. It is supposed that, when an official has once become accustomed to a district and has made himself known to the greater part of the people, his influence must be considerable and should not be lightly interfered with. Nevertheless few changes are effected without due consideration or ample cause being afforded; for obvious reasons, however, no explanations are offered or deemed necessary. In one case, where an Egyptian Mamur had proved himself to be a thoroughly competent officer, and had admittedly carried out his difficult duties intelligently and, so far as could be judged, fairly, his removal to another and far-distant district, in which he had had no previous experience, occasioned some adverse comment, the official

even posing as a martyr to administrative injustice. The chief reason, as I subsequently discovered, was the large amount of personal interest which the Mamur, contrary to regulations, had gradually and secretively acquired in neighbouring properties and local enterprises, rendering his independence as a junior magistrate and administrator open to question. The aim of the Central Government is to remove all possibility of corruption or temptation from the personnel; and the strictest discipline as well as the closest supervision are necessary. Were even the most trivial case to be overlooked, the disease would spread like a canker. The old Egyptian rulers had been accustomed for almost a century, and until the advent of the British into the Sudan, to fatten upon the possessions of the unfortunate inhabitants whom they ruled; among them the spirit of oppression and corruption still exists; indeed, it can never be altogether repressed, although, under a strong and alert government, it can be controlled. Were this control to be in the slightest degree relaxed, the people of the Sudan would once again fall victims to the greed and injustice of their Egyptian rulers.

The mental strain entailed upon Government officials in remote districts is occasionally very severe. Sometimes a hundred miles or more will separate their headquarters from the nearest white man's habitation, and months may elapse before a friend's face is seen. The nearest telegraph office is possibly many miles distant, and the mails are but rarely received. A single officer placed in charge of a district covering perhaps some 6000 square miles may have no more than twenty or thirty native troops to assist him in maintaining order among a population of, perhaps, 15,000 or 20,000 people, composed of several distinct tribes, some of which may be at enmity with others, and among whom petty larceny is a very common crime, demanding continual watchfulness and almost as continual punishment. Murders are less common but still not infrequent; the authority of the British official alone stands between the criminals and their victims. While the general attitude of the natives towards the Government-born of a recognition of the benefits attendant upon a sound and just administration-may be, and undoubtedly is, friendly, this sentiment cannot be expected to control to any extent the Vol. 222.-No. 442.

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naturally suspicious and piratical nature of the people, who have been accustomed for centuries to prey upon one another, and between whom blood feuds and tribal incursions are of traditional meritoriousness.

Occasionally a punitive expedition must, perforce, be entered upon in order to vindicate the authority of Government which has been defied; and in connexion with such an undertaking the discretion of the officer in charge is put to a severe test. Headquarters would scarcely be pleased were any armed interference to be entered upon lightly; nevertheless probably any action, if taken at all, calls for urgency. An officer may entertain doubts concerning the subsequent approval of his superior, but prompt and vigorous measures may well mean the instant repression of a tribal disturbance, which, if allowed to remain unattended to, even for a few hours, may develop into trouble of far greater significance and call for wider measures of repression. Herein comes the opportunity of the responsible official to show his powers of discrimination; and it speaks eloquently for the generally dependable character of the officials employed that so few of them have been found lacking in this essential.

If the Anglo-Egyptian administration of the Sudan has hitherto proved a success, it is chiefly due to the experience which England has gained in the management of semi-barbarous peoples, to the skill with which the machinery of Government has been devised, and to the care which has been throughout bestowed on the selection of the officials on whom so great a responsibility is thrown. A summary view of the progress of the country under British rule forms a natural sequel to the foregoing account of the system by which it is governed. Lord Rosebery has declared that 'the British Empire is the greatest secular agency for good known in the world.' To realise the justice of this statement one has but to glance at the condition of Egypt to-day, and compare its peaceful prosperity with the anarchic situation of, say, 1882-4. But the transformation which has been accomplished there in the space of thirty years has been exceeded in completeness by the Sudan within one-half of that time. This beneficial change, moreover, has come

about without réclame, almost without remark; the channel through which the course of events may best be traced is that of the official blue books, which few people take the trouble to read.

The secret of the success achieved in the Sudan by the administration, which is but little changed in regard to its personnel since the commencement of its work in 1899, may perhaps be found in the strict application of Lord Cromer's policy foreshadowed at the time when the country passed under joint British and Egyptian control. Addressing an assembly of Sudanese Sheikhs and notables at Omdurman on January 5, 1899, Lord Cromer, then British Agent in Egypt, said:

'No attempt will be made to govern your country from Cairo, still less from London. You must look to the Sirdar alone for justice and good government. I do not doubt that you will have no cause for disappointment.'

This pledge has been consistently upheld, and it would be difficult to point to a people more thoroughly content with their government than the Sudanese, who have found their rulers animated by a spirit of justice and moderation entirely different from anything of the kind experienced in former times. Whatever qualms or misgivings this largely Mohammedan people may have entertained upon passing under the control of Christian rulers, were dispelled by Lord Cromer's further assurance: 'There will be no interference whatever in your religion.' There has been none; neither has the dreaded religious question-sensitive and fanatical though the people remain as yet occasioned any offence to Moslem subjects nor any cause for anxiety to their Christian governors. In the Sudan, as in Egypt, Islam is not only a religion; it is a political system; it is also a phase-and an important phase-of social life. Bearing in mind that the changes effected in the political and social customs of a Moslem people are almost invariably achieved at the expense of loyalty to the religion of Islam, the Administration of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan has shown much wisdom by interfering as little as possible with the customs and prejudices of the Moslem world; on the other hand, it has sought to encourage the practice of Mohammedanism among the people, thus further acting

upon the sound judgment of Lord Cromer, who has expressed the opinion that in introducing European civilisation it should never be forgotten that Islam cannot be reformed; that is to say, reformed Islam is Islam no longer; it becomes something else.

Some critics consider that the Administration of the Sudan, by following the British policy in Egypt and making the form of government so largely pro-Moslem, has acted wrongly. They cite as an example the closing of all Government offices on Friday-the Moslem sabbath -and the opening of them on Sunday-the Christian day of rest; and they contend that this concession to Islam, far from creating a favourable impression upon the native mind, has developed in Moslem ranks a spirit of pride which leads to the belief that Islam is accepted as superior to Christianity, and that the votary of Mohammed enjoys a right of precedence over the worshipper of Christ. This contention, I think, may best be answered by pointing to the fact that though the ruling class in the Sudan is mainly Christian, the Christians are in a great minority, the proportion among the employees of the Government being less than one-half per cent., while among the population in general it is not more than between 8 and 10 per cent. It is obviously impossible to allow two holidays in a week, and in view of the immensely larger proportion of Mohammedans the preference must necessarily be given to the followers of Islam. On the other hand, all Christians can, if they choose, attend the services of their church twice on Sunday, for the office hours on that day are arranged so as to permit of this with the greatest facility. Officials are on duty for a few hours only in the forenoon, being rarely called upon to do more than glance through their departmental correspondence with a view to attending to any imperatively important matters. A special governmental order has long been in force designed to smooth the path of all Christian employees carrying out their religious obligations.

Nor would it appear that complete satisfaction has been reached in connexion with the religious instruction given at the Gordon Memorial College at Khartoum, the amount of time devoted to the teaching of Christianity being deemed insufficient. But the percentage of