— 92 — place a man of this record in a responsible position in the Sudan ? Might not he consolidate the scattered tribes into a homogeneous unity, and prove to Egypt a far more formidable antagonist than the poverty stricken fiki ( i ) of Kordofan, against whom it was proposed to send him ? He had the ability to do so, had he the inclination ? (2) "It is a sine qua non", wrote Gordon, that you send Zubeir" (3). That is the solution to the problem of the Sudan put forward by Gordon first after his meeting with Zubeir in Cairo, when he had a "mystic feeling" that Zubeir alone could save the Sudan : that is the oft reiterated cry, that comes week after week from the beleaguered city of Khartoum, until the narrowing circle of its enemies severed its communications with a wondering and expectant world. That was the policy that was recommended, after a brief misgiving, by Sir Evelyn Baring, and approved by those most competent to weigh its merits, Nubar Pasha and Colonel Stewart. That was the (i) Religious teacher.

(2) Gordon on Jan. 8 1S84 in an interview with Mr. SteacJ as reported in the Pall Mall Gazette says, "So far from believing it impossible to make an arrangement with the Mahdi, I strongly suspect that he is a mere puppet put forward by Ellas, Zubeir's father-in-law and the largest slave owner in Obeid, and that he has assumed a religious title to give colour to his defence of the popular rights". See Egypt 1884 No. 33 Parliamentary paper.

(3) So great was Zubeir's influence at this time that Mohammed El Kheir, the Mahdi's Emir at Berber, on intercepting a letter of Zubeir's at Dongola, raised it to his head and then kissed it.