the basin of that great lake, and for a time exercised formidable sway. Rabah's power was broken and he himself slain by the French expeditions, under Gentil, which converged upon Lake Chad, in 1898, destroyed this resurgence of Mahdist political power and established the strength of Europe on Lake Chad.

Mahdism, however, still persists, and the spirit of revolt which it represents breaks out in minor rebellions from time to time. The concessions made by the British government in Egypt, just and salutary though they may be, make government in the central Sudan more difficult. Reports of such a matter as Egyptian independence and disaffection at Khartum spread very rapidly, and are widely discussed throughout the Sudan. In all the important towns there are "imams", or religious leaders, who, while living quietly in their own homes, are the recipients of constant intelligence that comes and goes swiftly throughout the breadth of Africa. Each one of these singular men is a center of anti-European feeling, and a focus of future difficulty. One feels this to be truer of Northern Nigeria at the present time than of French West Africa, but the ties that bind together the secret religious orders of the Mohammedan world are intricate, strong, and apparently hard to trace down.

It is not to be presumed that the blacks, conscious though they may be, in a way, of the extraordinary benefits they have received from French and British rule, will remain perpetually content with their subordinate position. Great care, intelligence and patience must be exercised to advance the development of these

peoples and not have their progress broken by revolutions and religious convulsions. Success may lie in binding the interests of the more intelligent classes to those of the foreign ruler, until the fortune of a native prince or leader rests upon the permanence of foreign support. This is the British principle. The French proceed in a different way, and expect to hold native attachment, particularly among the influential and more intelligent classes, by inculcating a respect, admiration and even an affection for French culture. In this process the French clearly are proceeding along the lines of imperial Rome. That white rule in the Sudan, both French and British, is beneficent and just, is obvious and beyond disproof. Nowhere in colonial life have the moral qualities of Europe been given finer emphasis than in the relations here established between the white and black races. The prospects of the Sudan rest entirely in the continuation of this authority.

The only question is, Can the black participate and, if so, how far? It is clear that the race, including the mixed stocks, is, in general, deficient in political capacity. Its culture produces only despotisms, and these of a singularly brutal type. The occasional benevolence of a vigorous ruler is quickly succeeded by a record of infamy and bestiality under which political authority is shattered or decays. The arrest of African culture may perhaps be better explained by the political incapacity of the race than by any other intellectual deficiency. The black lacks an inherent passion for freedom, the ability to distinguish

between what justly may be demanded of him and what is oppression. No part of the problem of Africa is of more interest than that which has to do with the political competence and aspirations of the native. Because of the present strength of white rule, and not in spite of it, I have a belief that here, in this great area of the Sudan, lie perhaps the best prospects which the African race possesses, and that if striking results are to be hoped for through the influence of European civilization, they will occur here. Few regions of the earth present a more attractive laboratory for the study of the relations between the races than does this Land of the Blacks.

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