— 90 — CHAPTER 5.

CHARACTER OF ZUBEIR.

In the account that Zubeir gives of his life he appears in the role of a just and benevolent despot, who had no thought beyond the welfare and amelioration of the people he subdued. At the same time it must be remembered that he was a slave-dealer, and it has not been customary in the past to associate this calling either with altruistic or philanthropic motives.

From the days of Seneferu the land of the black had always been regarded as the legitimate prey of the unscrupulous slave dealer. In more modern times the great kingdoms of Sennar and Dar Fur had reaped no small profitfrom this nefarious trade; nor had Napoleon thought himself demeaned in writing to Sultan Abd el Rahman of Dar Fur for a consignment of slaves "over sixteen years of age, strong and vigorous" . But it was not until, in 1820, the conquest of the Sudan by Ismail Pasha let loose upon the unfortunate country a people with greater powers of organisation, and an unlimited supply of rifles, that the traffic in slaves assumed such vast proportions as, ultimately, to attract the indignant attention of Great Britain. Various official edicts, calculated to blind the eyes of the superficial observer, were issued from time to time