— I03 — company of Fikis sat on the divan outside the curtain, and murmured their never-ending prayers." (i) Naoum Bey Shoucair interviewed Zubeir in the year 1900, and gives the following description of him; *'A tall man of powerful physique and svvarthy hue with the features of a good-looking Arab : he has a slight moustache and small beard : his voice is penetrating and his ready tongue displays a quick wit : he has a sagacious mind and a great and haughty spirit : strong-willed and generous to an extreme. He has no false pride, and is always ready to welcome anyone who comes to greet him. By nature he is prone to good rather than to evil : an enthusiast on the subject of Islam and in the cause of Mohammed ; he is fond of learning and of the conversation of pious people versed in the Koran. But at the same time he is neither narrowminded nor prejudiced against those of an alien religion. He leads the life of a native of the Sudan except that, when he goes out, he wears European clothes and a tarbush. A born ruler, always ready to help others."

And yet, for all his shrewdness and sagacity, and in spite of his having brought for many years into intimate daily communication with a people of a highly developed civilisation, he still retains the childish simplicity of his race, so that he attributes his present feebleness to the administration of (l) Sch. 2, 216.