II

For the veracity of some of the tales that follow

I do not vouch, and it must be born in mind that,

historically considered, the motives assigned by

Zubeir for various events are to be received with

considerable suspicion. At the same time the facts

of his life as he recounted them may be taken to

be substantially correct, for his story as he told it to me later, leaning back on his Divan, while his

trembling fingers feebly engaged in a futile endeav-

our to extract some evil smelling snuff from his

multi-coloured snuff-box, differred but little from

that which he had recounted to Naoum Bey Shoucair some twelve years before.

But this story, be it remembered, was the one

that he wished to be put on everlasting record of

his life and actions. In it he made no mention of the

slave-raiding that formed the basis of his power, and

the steppingstone to his later greatness. With this

question of slavery I hope to deal in a later publi-

cation. For the present it may be sufficient to

remark that it has been the custom to lay undue

stress on this side of his character. The public

estimate of Zubeir has been far too much coloured by the fulminations of the Anti-Slavery Society,

which chose to regard him as the personification of

the vices of all the slave-drivers.

Nor have I done more than touch upon the much debated point of the advisability, or otherwise,

of sending Zubeir, at General Gordon's request,

to rule over the Sudan. It would be mere presump-