A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille

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and all are continually on the watch to prevent themselves from being
overreached in this way. Those who are less watchful than others are
overwhelmed with gifts by designing men, who wish to attain to the
pauper class. The position of Almah and myself illustrates this. Our
ignorance of the blessings and honors of poverty led us to receive
whatever was offered us. Taking advantage of our innocence and
ignorance, the whole city thereupon proceeded to bestow their property
upon us, and all became paupers through our fortunate arrival.
No one ever injures another unless by accident, and when this occurs
it affords the highest joy to the injured party. He has now a claim on
the injurer; he gets him into his power, is able to confer benefits on
him and force upon him all that he wishes. The unhappy injurer, thus
punished by the reception of wealth, finds himself helpless; and where
the injury is great, the injured man may bestow upon the other all his
wealth and attain to the envied condition of a pauper.
Among the Kosekin the sick are objects of the highest regard. All
classes vie with one another in their attentions. The rich send their
luxuries; the paupers, however, not having anything to give, go
themselves and wait on them and nurse them. For this there is no help,
and the rich grumble, but can do nothing. The sick are thus sought out
incessantly, and most carefully tended. When they die there is great
rejoicing, since death is a blessing; but the nurses labor hard to
preserve them in life, so as to prolong the enjoyment of the high
privilege of nursing. Of all sick the incurable are most honored,
since they require nursing always. Children also are highly honored
and esteemed, and the aged too, since both classes require the care of
others and must be the recipients of favors which all are anxious to
bestow. Those who suffer from contagious diseases are more sought
after than any other class, for in waiting on these there is the
chance of gaining the blessing of death; indeed, in these cases much
trouble is usually experienced from the rush of those who insist on
offering their services.
For it must never be forgotten that the Kosekin love death as we love
life; and this accounts for all those ceremonies which to me were so
abhorrent, especially the scenes of the Mista Kosek. To them a dead
human body is no more than the dead body of a bird: there is no awe
felt, no sense of sanctity, of superstitious horror; and so I learned,
with a shudder, that the hate of life is a far worse thing than the