INTRODUCTION. 



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

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

 world seemed so remote 

 and accidental that colonial 

 expansion was a fact for 

 which statesmen were al- 

 most apologetic. Our views 

 of foreign polities 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 



country 

 of the 



Photo by t fie t'fap]n*t Monastery, M<tn<u>n I/itl* Natal, 

 A SWAZI WARRIOR. 



