The Amours of Zeokinizul, King of the Kofirans | Page 4

were only a confused Assemblage
of Huts. It is true, that there were Kings among them from their first
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

Emperor of the Maregins, who were all its professed Enemies.
Especially the King of Alniob, who, taking Advantage of the Frenzy of
one of its Sovereigns, made such a Progress, as to wrest the Sceptre out
of his Hands; but the great Zokitarezoul, having compelled him to
renounce even the very Title, has brought all the others into Subjection
so as to acknowledge his Superiority over all the Sovereigns of Africa.
It is to this illustrious Monarch, that the Kingdom of the Kofirans owes
its unparalleled Riches and Grandeur. His Courage and good Fortune
have reduced all his Enemies, his Liberality and Wisdom has
established Commerce, his good Sense has civilized it, and his
Successors must attribute the ardent Loyalty and Love of the Kofirans
towards them, to the Plans and Labours of this Prince for the Happiness
and Glory of his Subjects. After having driven from the Throne of
Jerebi, a Family which had been an Enemy to his, placing one of his
Grandsons on it, he died covered with Glory, and left the Crown to his
great Grandson Zeokinizul, who is the particular Hero of this History.
This young Prince being the only Remains of a numerous Royal Family,
was the Darling of the great Zokitarezoul, who apprehending that he
might fall a Victim to the same untimely Fate which had laid so many
of his Descendants in their Graves, was not wanting to secure him by
all possible Precautions. Being persuaded, that the People loved him
too well to suffer any Infractions of his last Disposals, he made a Will;
in which he deprived the Kam of Anserol, his Nephew, whose
Ambition he dreaded, of the Regency, in Favour of the Kam of Meani,
his natural Son. The Kam of Anserol was highly exasperated at the
Injury done him; but being the greatest Politician of his Time, he took
Care that nothing should escape him at such a Crisis, which might
increase the Suspicions, and consequently the Precautions of his
Enemies. It was not till after the Death of Zokitarezoul, that he asserted
his Claim. Attended by a Multitude of his Adherents, he went to the
Pemenralt, which is a Phantom of the antient States. There feigning to
submit his Destiny to the Arbitration of that illustrious Senate, he set
forth, and urged his Claim with such a persuasive Eloquence, that the
whole Assembly unanimously annulled a Will, which deprived him of
an Honour that was his incontestable Right, and of a Trust for which he
was unexceptionably qualified. This so enraged his Enemies, that they

forged the vilest Scandals, in order to render him odious. They gave out,
that after having poisoned the chief Persons of the royal Blood, his
chief Aim was to take off his Pupil. Under pretence of such an
Apprehension, they