to do; the African master of the horse has also nothing to do, for the very best of all reasons, that he has no horses to take care of, the whole African stud consisting of one or two half-starved, ragged ponies, which would disgrace a costermonger’s cart in the streets of London.  Katunga, however, is not the only place in which the sun shines, where the office is made for the man, and not the man for the office; but as they have no pension list in Katunga, nor any retired allowances, nor any Chiltern Hundreds, to enable them to vacate their offices, they are immediately sent about their business when age, sickness, or other infirmity disables them from performing the duties of their office.  The age of the master of the horse of the king of Katunga was about seventy, but he contrived, similar to the plan adopted in some other countries, of keeping to himself all the emoluments of his office, and getting a deputy to perform the labour; thus for a mess of Indian corn, the stud of the king of Katunga could be very ably looked after by some half-starved native, whilst the holder of the office was comfortably reposing himself amongst his twenty or thirty wives.

This important personage had been hitherto overlooked by the Landers, that is, they had not as yet made him any present; in order, however, to let them know that there was such a being in existence, he sent them a sheep as a present, on the principle of the English adage, of throwing a sprat to catch a mackerel.  A present from an African master of the horse is not a disinterested gift; he had seen the presents delivered to the king, and he ardently longed for a slip of the red cloth wherewith to decorate his person, and set off the jetty blackness of his skin.

The pride of an African dignitary will not allow him to beg, and therefore he conjectured that on the receipt of his present of the sheep, common courtesy would instruct the Landers to return the compliment, by a present of some European article of corresponding value.  Nor was the master of the horse wrong in his conjectures, for a present was sent him, and to his great delight a strip of red cloth was included in it.  The unfortunate master of the horse, however, discovered, that although he filled the high office of master of the horse, he was not master of himself, nor was he master of that, which he believed did in reality belong to him, for his master and king no sooner heard that he had received a present of a piece of red cloth, than his majesty discovered that it was a colour, which royalty alone was entitled to wear.  The master of the horse had scarcely exhibited his valuable present to his admiring wives, all of whom begged for a bit wherewith to enhance the charms of their unwieldy persons, than a messenger from the king arrived, bearing the afflicting intelligence to the master of the horse, to deliver up for the use of his majesty, a certain piece of red cloth presented to him by the Europeans then in the town, or submit to have his head cut off by the dexterity of his chief eunuch.  The master of the horse judged it better to lose the cloth than his head, and with a very ill grace, and muttering some expressions partaking strongly of the enormous crime of high treason, the cloth was delivered up, and the master of the horse returned to his wives to condole with them on the heavy loss which they had sustained.