A REVIEW 287 of results following interference with Government property, and at the thought of the fist, losing his presence of mind, he missed grip and slid with his legs grasping the pole, and an expression of agony on his face, from the top to the bottom, landing on his tail with a terrible bump. He was sorry for himself for a long time after, but as a deputation of influential inhabitants of Omdurman came to protest against his continued residence at large, and threatened an evacuation of the city by its 40,000 inhabitants as an alternative, he had to console himself, and recover under unwelcome restraint.

Returned to the centre of government, a glance back may not come amiss. The Sudan covers a vast area, and presents a remarkable diversity of problems, differing with the various conditions of the provinces.

Dongola is rich, and as settled as a province of Lower Egypt ; Khartoum has the unique characteristic of being the old centre of Mahdism, with a neighbouring city of Arabs mainly hostile at heart, regretful of the old slave days and their enormous percentage of profit ; it is a country where thousands of sheep and goats can be seen watering at the river.

There is the Blue Nile province, rich in possibilities when irrigation is taken in hand, and where Mahdism has since recrudesced ; and that of Sennaar, once with its Abyssinian question, and highly advanced in actual rather than relative progress,