“ Zobeir, described by Sir Reginald Wingate, who knew him well, as “a quiet, far-seeing, thoughtful man of iron will—a born ruler of men” (Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan, book v.) , might have been able to stem the mahdist movement. But to reinstate the notorious slave-dealer was regarded in London as too perilous an expedient, even in the extreme circumstances then existing, although Colonel Stewart (Gordon’s companion in Khartum) , Sir Evelyn Baring and Nubar Pasha in Cairo, and Queen Victoria and Mr Gladstone, all favoured such a course. ”

“ At the height of his power Zobar was visited (1871) by Georg Schweinfurth who found him “surrounded with a court which was little less than princely in its details” (Heart of Africa, vol ii, chap. xv.) ”