History of the Sudanese War You will find him land for land, and you yourself will find no soul but it. One thing was that those captives from Mankudi al-Khatt did not suffer from the harshness of their ordeal and their cruelty. Their strength would wane on the road, and they would fall in droves, covering the roads with their bodies and bones, after wild beasts and birds had eaten their flesh. And those who reached Zubair's homes, he would select them in droves, and take them, and bind them, and bury them in graves, and add them to his army to be among the slave traders and the dying, and hand them over to the cruel to sell them like cattle. Zubair became famous in Sudan, reaching the farthest corners of the land, and it became a center for trade (by caravan), to which traders from all parts of the country would come and bring slaves from there, and take them to Egypt via the Nile. In 1869, His Highness the Khedive sensed Zubair's growing power and influence in Sudan, and saw that his increasing might would lead to unrest. So he sent an army of his soldiers, ostensibly to seize Darfur (which was still an independent kingdom), but secretly to humiliate Zubair, to ward off his hatred and prevent it from happening. When Zubair learned of the arrival of the Egyptian soldiers, he felt a fear within himself and knew that there was more to it than met the eye. So he hastened to meet them, rode out with his people, and fought them fiercely. Victory was his and his people's. He killed their leader and scattered their forces completely. Then he presented his excuses to the Khedivial court, which were accepted, of course, due to the circumstances and Zubair's vast control over Sudan. In 1875, a dispute arose between him and the Sultan of Darfur, so he marched on his country, and the Egyptian government supported him for reasons dictated by its policy. Zubair prevailed over the Sultan of Darfur in all battles. It is told of him a strange anecdote that he thought bullets did not do what