INTRODUCTION. 



BECESTT years have witnessed a great growth of interest among the people of this country 

 in the more distant races of mankind. Until lately our relations with the rest of the 

 world seemed so remote 

 and accidental that colonial 

 expansion was a fact for 

 which statesmen were al- 

 most apologetic. Our views 

 of foreign politics rarely 

 extended beyond the Con- 

 tinent of Europe, and we 

 were content for the most 

 part that they should be 

 directed, without criticism, 

 by the experts in Downing 

 Street. The attention of 

 the nation was mainly 

 directed to internal affairs, 

 local government, taxation, 

 and the electorate. A great 

 change has now taken 

 place. The rise of new. 

 and the decline of old, 

 powers; the stress of com- 

 mercial competition ; the 

 extraordinary expansion of 

 Greater Britain, and the 

 " pin -pricks " inflicted 

 upon some of its long 

 limbs by Continental rivals; 

 the improved facilities for 

 travel; the books of certain 

 popular writers; and, above 

 all, the growth of the im- 

 perial spirit called forth by 



t 



Photo by the Tnt/ 



t Monastery, Mariann 11UL \itttil. 

 A SWAZI WARRIOR. 



