ogous to our crime of piracy
is the forcible arrest of ships at sea and the transfer to them of
valuables. Sometimes the Kosekin pirates give themselves up as slaves.
Kidnapping, assault, highway robbery, and crimes of violence have
their parallel here in cases where a strong man, meeting a weaker,
forces himself upon him as his slave or compels him to take his purse.
If the weaker refuse, the assailant threatens to kill himself, which
act would lay the other under obligations to receive punishment from
the state in the shape of gifts and honors, or at least subject him
to unpleasant inquiries. Murder has its counterpart among the Kosekin
in cases where one man meets another, forces money on him, and kills
himself. Forgery occurs where one uses another's name so as to confer
money on him.

There are many other crimes, all of which are severely punished. The
worse the offence is, the better is the offender treated. Among the
Kosekin capital punishment is imprisonment amid the greatest splendor,
where the prisoner is treated like a king, and has many palaces and
great retinues; for that which we consider the highest they regard as
the lowest, and with them the chief post of honor is what we would
call the lowest menial office. Of course, among such a people, any
suffering from want is unknown, except when it is voluntary. The
pauper class, with all their great privileges, have this restriction,
that they are forced to receive enough for food and clothing. Some,
indeed, manage by living in out-of-the-way places to deprive
themselves of these, and have been known to die of starvation; but
this is regarded as dishonorable, as taking an undue advantage of a
great position, and where it can be proved, the children and relatives
of the offender are severely punished according to the Kosekin
fashion.

State politics here move, like individual affairs, upon the great
principle of contempt for earthly things. The state is willing to
destroy itself for the good of other states; but as other states are
in the same position, nothing can result. In times of war the object
of each army is to honor the other and benefit it by giving it the
glory of defeat. The contest is thus most fierce. The Kosekin, through
their passionate love of death, are terrible in battle; and when they
are also animated by the desire to confer glory on their enemies by
defeating them, they generally succeed in their aim. This makes them
almost always victori