When you place a man upon a throne, even though that throne be a wooden stool worth in the mart fourpence more or less, you assume a responsibility which greatly outweighs all the satisfaction or personal gratification you may derive from your achievement. There is a grave in Toledo, a slab of brass, over a great king-maker who lived long enough to realise his insignificance. The epitaph upon that brass tomb of his is eloquent of his sum knowledge of life and human effort. PULVIS ET NIHIL says the inscription, and Powder and Nothing is the ultimate destiny of all king-makers. Sanders was a maker of kings in the early days. He helped break a few, so it was in obedience to the laws of compensation that he took his part in reconstructive work. He broke Esindini, Matabini, T'saki--to name three--and helped, in the very old days, and in another country, to break Lobengula, the Great Bull. King-maker he was beyond question--you could see Republicanism written legibly in the amused grin with which he made them--but the kings he made were little ones--that is the custom of the British-African rule, they break a big king and put many little kings in his place, because it is much safer. Somewhere about 12 north, and in longitude 0, is a land which is peculiar for the fact that it is British, French, German, and Italian--according to which map of Africa you judge it by. At the time of which I write it was neither, but it was ruled by Mensikilimbili for the Great King. He was the most powerful of monarchs, and, for the matter of that, the most cruel. His dominion stretched "from moonrise to sunset," said the natives, and he held undisputed sway. He had a court, and sat upon an ivory throne, and wore over the leopard skins of his rank a mantle woven of gold thread and scarlet thread, and he administered justice. He had three hundred wives and forty thousand fighting men, and his acquaintance with white men began and ended with the coming of a French Mission, who presented him with a tall hat, a barrel organ, and one hundred thousand francs in gold. This was Limbili, the great King of Yitingi. The little kings of the Southern lands spoke of him with bated breath; his name was uttered in a low voice, as of a god; he was the symbol of majesty and of might--the Isisi people, themselves a nation of some importance, and boastful likewise, referred to themselves disparagingly when the kingdom of Yitingi was mentioned. Following the French Mission, Sanders went up as envoy to the Limbilu, carrying presents of a kind and messages of good will. He was escorted into the territory by a great army and was lodged in the city of the king. After two days' waiting he was informed that his Majesty would see him, and was led to the Presence. The Presence was an old man, a vicious old man, if Sanders was any judge of character, who showed unmistakable signs of anger and contempt when the Commissioner displayed his presents.