-89 -carriage ! PVom youth up thou wast born to command, and so they did give thee peace, fearing thy power. In the Sudan there has been none like unto thee, Oh thou mountain of pure gold, ithou art not of brass ! As the powder of the Christians on the cap of a rifle, thou didst crush the pagans until they became softer than paper. Throughout thy life hast thou been of good repute in the countries of the people, and in the west thou didst set the foundations of progress for the inhabitants. How many were the Sultans that thou didst destroy. How many their dominions thou didst lay waste, j Oh Zubeir, son of Rahma, the soul of all that is manly." The Sudan has yet to produce its Shakespeare.

CHAPTER 4.

ZUBEIR AND GORDON.

For the average Englishman the interest in Zubeir's life will lie in the fact that he was so intimately bound up with the tragedy that ended in the death of General Gordon, and the abandonment of the Sudan to untold misery and starvation.

In January 1885, Gordon was sent out "to report on the military situation in the Sudan and on the measures which it may be advisable to take for the safety of the Europeans in Khartoum" . The I'oreign Office also gave him "wide discretionary powers", inasmuch as it had not "sufficient local knowledge".