berlain at the
court of St. James', was also the occupant of the delightful office
of public executioner, an occupation which, in that despotic country,
was frequently called into practice.

The king of Katunga, like other kings, has also his master of the
horse, who at the time of Lander's visit was an elderly person,
possessing no small degree of influence over his royal master. The
European and the African master of the horse, however, in some
respects bore a great similarity to each other, although contrary to
the opinion of the metaphysicians, the same cause produced a
different effect. The European master of the horse has a great number
of useless horses under his nominal care, and yet has nothing 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.