IN THE TORRID SUDAN CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY Well on to two decades ago it was my fortune, after much wandering in " New South Africa " or what then was the " newest " South Afi-ica—to write on the manifold problems which at that time confronted the student and politician there, and to hazard a conjecture as to their ultimate solution which, sooner than even the most sanguine, and more satisfactorily than the most optimistic could have possibly ventured to hope for, has in this year come to pass.

The uniting of the " States of South Africa " has become an accomplished fact. The mutual respect caused by the demonstration to each combatant of the sterling qualities of the other was born during a period of three years' warfare which put to the test every attribute of manhood on either side, and formed the basis for a junction of interests. But more than this : with the removal of irreconcilable and unstatesmanlike factors—both Boer and British 1