BRITAIN'S TASK 289 the south, the centre where the slave trade dies hardest, adjoins the province of Darfur, which has relapsed into native conditions of rule since Gessi fled from revolt, and is governed by a nominal tributary until railways develop and communication is rendered more easy, which is now within sight.

Every year sees progress, and the extension of the railway over the Blue Nile and up to Sennaar, with the bridging of the White at Hillet Abbas for the tapping of Kordofan, tightens the grip of the white man for the welfare of the country.

I have seen something of the work done by the Governors and Inspectors of various provinces, and can speak in nothing but terms of admiration of the whole-hearted devotion to the highest and best interests of their charges. There is no mere perfunctory discharge of administrative duties, but a forceful, intelligent, personal mastery of every condition and each individual problem, a painstaking grasp of detail, a masterful grip where the master is needed. One is impressed by the intense personal interest that is displayed, and the amount of hard work voluntarily undertaken in a climate where no man passes long unscathed, under conditions of life which are at the best difficult, and often entail great hardship and exhausting exertion, both mental and physical.

Khartoum, with all its varied responsibilities for the general conduct of the country as a whole, with its social constellation, its pleasant residences, 19