CAIRO TO KISUMU mixed with silver, one would think him much younger. His face is free from wrinkles and his complexion rosy, his eyes are full of light, and his whole appearance indicates health and strength. A great part of his career has been spent in the saddle. He has not only travelled over most of Egypt and the Sudan, but has gone on diplomatic missions to Abyssinia. He spends a portion of every year travelling by boat or on camels through his far-away prov¬ inces, and has just recently returned from a long trip to Kordofan. He talks freely about his country, which he knows so well that what he says is of special interest.

During my conversations with His Excellency 1 asked him about the possibilities of the Sudan, reminding him that most people looked upon it as nothing more than a vast desert. He replied:* “That idea comes largely from the desolate sands through which the railroad takes travellers on their way to Khartum. They have also read of the immense swamps of the Upper Nile, and, putting the two together, they look upon the country as only swamp and desert. The truth is the Sudan is an undeveloped empire so far as its natural resources are concerned. It is a land of many climates and of all sorts of soils. The desert stops not far from Khar¬ tum, beyond which is a region where the rainfall is suffi¬ cient for regular crops. Still farther south the country has more rain than is needed. In the west are great areas fitted for stock raising.

“Take, for instance, the country along the Abyssinian border and that which lies between the White and Blue ♦Since this interview with Sir Reginald occurred he has retired from office at the end of a lifetime spent in the Sudan. He will always be considered one of thebest authorities on that vast and comparatively unknown region, and his views, espe¬ cially when expressed, as here, in the height of his activities, are of perennial value.

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