PREFACE IT is a simple matter to write a book if you have plenty of material as I have had, but the preface puzzles me. It should be, I think, like Sam Wellers love letter, just enough to make you wish for more. I have dealt with many lands, many peoples, many personalities and many personages. I have ventured, with all humility, even to criticise some of the systems of government of our Empire, bpth at home and abroad. I have tried to be courteous in my references to others and to avoid hard words, knowing full well that I myself am as open to criticism as are those upon whose doings I have commented. I have endeavoured as far as possible to eliminate the personal element, and to write of matters which are of general interest in connection with the countries in which I have served. I have told many stories, having, I trust, avoided the pitfall of chestnuts, and I could have told a great many more had I not exercised considerable restraint. Those who have read my manuscript protest to me that it is interesting throughout, but they look upon it with the kindly eye of personal friendship. The reading public is often elusive and hyper-critical, and it takes very little to bore it to extinction. The book has been a labour of love to me, and my hope is that there is at least something which may commend it to all, and may serve to pass away an hour or two pleasantly on a dull day. It is in this hope that I submit myself to the reviewers and to those who pay me the courtesy of reading the story of my life....