— 1 1 r — It is not just to point the finger to reprobation at Zubeir because he put to profit the spirit of the time, or followed a custom that is sanctioned by the practice and religion of every Mohammedan country. Rather should it be placed to his credit that he treated the prisoners whom he captured so well that thousands of other slaves flocked to him, to serve in his army and to be enrolled under his banner. Were it not better that they should employ their manhood in the field and in the chase, rather than that they should squander it on the vices of a city ?.

But though Zubeir thus engaged the slaves whom he enlisted in hunting and fighting there is no evidence that he either encouraged or allowed this army to batten on the weak and defenceless.

His natural abilities made him a power to be reckoned with, in whatever part of the country he happened to be. In his case it was exceptionally true that trade followed the flag, and it is no matter for surprise if his rivals were disposed to resent his success. Far from engendering in his army a provocative spirit he seems to have behaved during the years he spent in the Bahr el Ghazal with praiseworthy selfrestraint. War, like greatness, was thrust upon him, from the time that he saved the caravanserai of Ali Amuri to the day when he laid the great Kingdom of Dar Fur at the feet of the