Settlement, but the Men thus dignified, were in Reality only Generals
elected out of the Troops, and whose Prerogative was limited to Military
Affairs. These Chiefs, whose Savageness was rather augmented by the
Power with which they were invested, made no Scruple to dispatch a
neighbouring Competitor with the Sword or Poison, and their History is
full of unnatural Instances, of Brothers stabbing Brothers, Subjects
poisoning their Sovereigns to usurp their dangerous Stations.

The Religion of _Suesi_, which the fifth of their Kings embraced, tho'
its Maxims are far from countenancing Ambition and Murder, but entirely
adapted to the Welfare of Society; yet have been so perverted by the
Depravity of the _Faquirs_ and the _Imans_, as to be alledged in
Vindication of them, and have besides, set on Foot so many Cheats and
Errors, that the holy Books, _Bileb_ and _Liegnelau_ in their Purity, as
dictated by the divine Spirit to the Legislators, has been treated by
them with Contempt, as mutilated and inconsistent. In Defence of their
respective Notions, these People have engaged in furious Wars with each
other, and out of a Zeal for Religion, have assassinated several of
their Kings. The Times seem now more tranquil, and without any
Apprehension of such shocking Crimes. Their Faith is very different from
what it was, and the lower Sort of People, who alone adhere to the
Tenets of _Suesi_, are entirely recovered from that stupid Obedience
formerly paid to the _Pepa_, who, having made the World believe, that
the Keys of Paradise were in his Hands, required an implicit Compliance
with his Decrees, and be ready to second any Scheme of his Revenge or
Ambition, with their Lives and Fortunes.

The Destruction of the Empire of the _Kofirans_, seems morally
impossible in its present confirm'd State. It has hitherto withstood
several violent Shocks from the Kings of _Jerebi and Alniob_, and the