largely upon our being able to fill the lower ranks at least of the administration with trained natives. At present they are manned by Egyptians and Syrians. But if the country is really going to develop as it promises to do, it will have to draw largely on the administrative capacity of the native Sudanese. As yet this has been found practically impossible owing to the complete absence of any sort of education, except that which consists in committing to memory large portions of the Koran. The Government has set actively to work to remedy this deficiency. The Gordon College has played a valuable part in keeping prominently forward the need for an educational system; it has also done a great deal of practical work. There is now housed in the College a training-school for young men, containing already nearly a hundred pupils, all representative of the highest classes in the country, going through a five years' course designed to fit them for positions as schoolmasters and cadis or other Government appointments. A selected few are just on the point of passing out. Their zeal and aptitude for learning leave nothing to be desired, and the institution promises to be of great utility. Admission to it is eagerly sought by candidates from all parts of the country. The same is true of the primary schools which have been started in the principal centres. Technical schools are also doing their best to supply the lack of all kinds of trained artisans and mechanics, such as carpenters, fitters, and so on, which dervish rule had completely extinguished. The English foremen in charge of these schools report very highly on the capacity of their pupils. Indeed, many of them appear to be able to use their toes as well as their fingers, which naturally is a great advantage.
The Sudan used to be merely another name for sun-dried desert, even in the estimation of those who knew the country. To-day a fuller acquaintance with its resources has changed that view, and capitalists are scrambling over each other in their endeavours to obtain
