GULLIVER’S
TRAVELS
PART 24
CHAPTER III.
The author studies to learn the
language. The Houyhnhnm, his master, assists in teaching him. The
language described. Several Houyhnhnms of quality come out of curiosity
to see the author. He gives his master a short account of his voyage.
My
principal endeavour was to learn the language, which my master (for so I shall
henceforth call him), and his children, and every servant of his house, were
desirous to teach me; for they looked upon it as a prodigy, that a brute animal
should discover such marks of a rational creature. I pointed to every
thing, and inquired the name of it, which I wrote down in my journal-book when
I was alone, and corrected my bad accent by desiring those of the family to
pronounce it often. In this employment, a sorrel nag, one of the
under-servants, was very ready to assist me.
In
speaking, they pronounced through the nose and throat, and their language
approaches nearest to the High-Dutch, or German, of any I know in Europe; but
is much more graceful and significant. The emperor Charles V. made almost
the same observation, when he said “that if he were to speak to his horse, it
should be in High-Dutch.”
The curiosity
and impatience of my master were so great, that he spent many hours of his
leisure to instruct me. He was convinced (as he afterwards told me) that
I must be a Yahoo; but my teachableness, civility, and cleanliness,
astonished him; which were qualities altogether opposite to those
animals. He was most perplexed about my clothes, reasoning sometimes with
himself, whether they were a part of my body: for I never pulled them off till
the family were asleep, and got them on before they waked in the morning.
My master was eager to learn “whence I came; how I acquired those appearances
of reason, which I discovered in all my actions; and to know my story from my
own mouth, which he hoped he should soon do by the great proficiency I made in
learning and pronouncing their words and sentences.” To help my memory, I
formed all I learned into the English alphabet, and writ the words down, with
the translations. This last, after some time, I ventured to do in my
master’s presence. It cost me much trouble to explain to him what I was
doing; for the inhabitants have not the least idea of books or literature.
In about
ten weeks time, I was able to understand most of his questions; and in three
months, could give him some tolerable answers. He was extremely curious
to know “from what part of the country I came, and how I was taught to imitate
a rational creature; because the Yahoos (whom he saw I exactly resembled
in my head, hands, and face, that were only visible), with some appearance of
cunning, and the strongest disposition to mischief, were observed to be the
most unteachable of all brutes.” I answered, “that I came over the sea,
from a far place, with many others of my own kind, in a great hollow vessel
made of the bodies of trees: that my companions forced me to land on this
coast, and then left me to shift for myself.” It was with some
difficulty, and by the help of many signs, that I brought him to understand
me. He replied, “that I must needs be mistaken, or that I said the thing
which was not;” for they have no word in their language to express lying or
falsehood. “He knew it was impossible that there could be a country
beyond the sea, or that a parcel of brutes could move a wooden vessel whither
they pleased upon water. He was sure no Houyhnhnm alive could make
such a vessel, nor would trust Yahoos to manage it.”
The word Houyhnhnm,
in their tongue, signifies a horse, and, in its etymology, the perfection
of nature. I told my master, “that I was at a loss for expression,
but would improve as fast as I could; and hoped, in a short time, I should be
able to tell him wonders.” He was pleased to direct his own mare, his
colt, and foal, and the servants of the family, to take all opportunities of
instructing me; and every day, for two or three hours, he was at the same pains
himself. Several horses and mares of quality in the neighbourhood came
often to our house, upon the report spread of “a wonderful Yahoo, that
could speak like a Houyhnhnm, and seemed, in his words and actions, to
discover some glimmerings of reason.” These delighted to converse with
me: they put many questions, and received such answers as I was able to
return. By all these advantages I made so great a progress, that, in five
months from my arrival I understood whatever was spoken, and could express
myself tolerably well.
The Houyhnhnms,
who came to visit my master out of a design of seeing and talking with me,
could hardly believe me to be a right Yahoo, because my body had a
different covering from others of my kind. They were astonished to
observe me without the usual hair or skin, except on my head, face, and hands;
but I discovered that secret to my master upon an accident which happened about
a fortnight before.
I have
already told the reader, that every night, when the family were gone to bed, it
was my custom to strip, and cover myself with my clothes. It happened,
one morning early, that my master sent for me by the sorrel nag, who was his
valet. When he came I was fast asleep, my clothes fallen off on one side,
and my shirt above my waist. I awaked at the noise he made, and observed
him to deliver his message in some disorder; after which he went to my master,
and in a great fright gave him a very confused account of what he had
seen. This I presently discovered, for, going as soon as I was dressed to
pay my attendance upon his honour, he asked me “the meaning of what his servant
had reported, that I was not the same thing when I slept, as I appeared to be
at other times; that his vale assured him, some part of me was white, some
yellow, at least not so white, and some brown.”
I had
hitherto concealed the secret of my dress, in order to distinguish myself, as
much as possible, from that cursed race of Yahoos; but now I found it in
vain to do so any longer. Besides, I considered that my clothes and shoes
would soon wear out, which already were in a declining condition, and must be
supplied by some contrivance from the hides of Yahoos, or other brutes;
whereby the whole secret would be known. I therefore told my master,
“that in the country whence I came, those of my kind always covered their
bodies with the hairs of certain animals prepared by art, as well for decency
as to avoid the inclemencies of air, both hot and cold; of which, as to my own
person, I would give him immediate conviction, if he pleased to command me:
only desiring his excuse, if I did not expose those parts that nature taught us
to conceal.” He said, “my discourse was all very strange, but especially
the last part; for he could not understand, why nature should teach us to
conceal what nature had given; that neither himself nor family were ashamed of
any parts of their bodies; but, however, I might do as I pleased.”
Whereupon I first unbuttoned my coat, and pulled it off. I did the same
with my waistcoat. I drew off my shoes, stockings, and breeches. I
let my shirt down to my waist, and drew up the bottom; fastening it like a
girdle about my middle, to hide my nakedness.
My master
observed the whole performance with great signs of curiosity and admiration.
He took up all my clothes in his pastern, one piece after another, and examined
them diligently; he then stroked my body very gently, and looked round me
several times; after which, he said, it was plain I must be a perfect Yahoo;
but that I differed very much from the rest of my species in the softness,
whiteness, and smoothness of my skin; my want of hair in several parts of my
body; the shape and shortness of my claws behind and before; and my affectation
of walking continually on my two hinder feet. He desired to see no more;
and gave me leave to put on my clothes again, for I was shuddering with cold.
I
expressed my uneasiness at his giving me so often the appellation of Yahoo,
an odious animal, for which I had so utter a hatred and contempt: I begged he
would forbear applying that word to me, and make the same order in his family
and among his friends whom he suffered to see me. I requested likewise,
“that the secret of my having a false covering to my body, might be known to
none but himself, at least as long as my present clothing should last; for as
to what the sorrel nag, his valet, had observed, his honour might command him
to conceal it.”
All this
my master very graciously consented to; and thus the secret was kept till my
clothes began to wear out, which I was forced to supply by several contrivances
that shall hereafter be mentioned. In the meantime, he desired “I would
go on with my utmost diligence to learn their language, because he was more
astonished at my capacity for speech and reason, than at the figure of my body,
whether it were covered or not;” adding, “that he waited with some impatience
to hear the wonders which I promised to tell him.”
Thenceforward
he doubled the pains he had been at to instruct me: he brought me into all
company, and made them treat me with civility; “because,” as he told them,
privately, “this would put me into good humour, and make me more diverting.”
Every day,
when I waited on him, beside the trouble he was at in teaching, he would ask me
several questions concerning myself, which I answered as well as I could, and
by these means he had already received some general ideas, though very
imperfect. It would be tedious to relate the several steps by which I
advanced to a more regular conversation; but the first account I gave of myself
in any order and length was to this purpose:
“That I
came from a very far country, as I already had attempted to tell him, with
about fifty more of my own species; that we travelled upon the seas in a great
hollow vessel made of wood, and larger than his honour’s house. I
described the ship to him in the best terms I could, and explained, by the help
of my handkerchief displayed, how it was driven forward by the wind. That
upon a quarrel among us, I was set on shore on this coast, where I walked
forward, without knowing whither, till he delivered me from the persecution of
those execrable Yahoos.” He asked me, “who made the ship, and how
it was possible that the Houyhnhnms of my country would leave it to the
management of brutes?” My answer was, “that I durst proceed no further in
my relation, unless he would give me his word and honour that he would not be
offended, and then I would tell him the wonders I had so often promised.”
He agreed; and I went on by assuring him, that the ship was made by creatures
like myself; who, in all the countries I had travelled, as well as in my own,
were the only governing rational animals; and that upon my arrival hither, I
was as much astonished to see the Houyhnhnms act like rational beings,
as he, or his friends, could be, in finding some marks of reason in a creature
he was pleased to call a Yahoo; to which I owned my resemblance in every
part, but could not account for their degenerate and brutal nature. I
said farther, “that if good fortune ever restored me to my native country, to
relate my travels hither, as I resolved to do, everybody would believe, that I
said the thing that was not, that I invented the story out of my own head; and
(with all possible respect to himself, his family, and friends, and under his
promise of not being offended) our countrymen would hardly think it probable
that a Houyhnhnm should be the presiding creature of a nation, and a Yahoo
the brute.”
CHAPTER IV.
The Houyhnhnm’s notion of truth
and falsehood. The author’s discourse disapproved by his master.
The author gives a more particular account of himself, and the accidents of his
voyage.
My master
heard me with great appearances of uneasiness in his countenance; because
doubting, or not believing, are so little known in this country, that the
inhabitants cannot tell how to behave themselves under such
circumstances. And I remember, in frequent discourses with my master
concerning the nature of manhood in other parts of the world, having occasion
to talk of lying and false representation, it was with much difficulty that he
comprehended what I meant, although he had otherwise a most acute
judgment. For he argued thus: “that the use of speech was to make us
understand one another, and to receive information of facts; now, if any one
said the thing which was not, these ends were defeated, because I cannot
properly be said to understand him; and I am so far from receiving information,
that he leaves me worse than in ignorance; for I am led to believe a thing
black, when it is white, and short, when it is long.” And these were all
the notions he had concerning that faculty of lying, so perfectly well
understood, and so universally practised, among human creatures.
To return from
this digression. When I asserted that the Yahoos were the only
governing animals in my country, which my master said was altogether past his
conception, he desired to know, “whether we had Houyhnhnms among us, and
what was their employment?” I told him, “we had great numbers; that in
summer they grazed in the fields, and in winter were kept in houses with hay
and oats, where Yahoo servants were employed to rub their skins smooth,
comb their manes, pick their feet, serve them with food, and make their
beds.” “I understand you well,” said my master: “it is now very plain,
from all you have spoken, that whatever share of reason the Yahoos
pretend to, the Houyhnhnms are your masters; I heartily wish our Yahoos
would be so tractable.” I begged “his honour would please to excuse me
from proceeding any further, because I was very certain that the account he
expected from me would be highly displeasing.” But he insisted in
commanding me to let him know the best and the worst. I told him “he should
be obeyed.” I owned “that the Houyhnhnms among us, whom we called
horses, were the most generous and comely animals we had; that they excelled in
strength and swiftness; and when they belonged to persons of quality, were
employed in travelling, racing, or drawing chariots; they were treated with
much kindness and care, till they fell into diseases, or became foundered in
the feet; but then they were sold, and used to all kind of drudgery till they
died; after which their skins were stripped, and sold for what they were worth,
and their bodies left to be devoured by dogs and birds of prey. But the
common race of horses had not so good fortune, being kept by farmers and
carriers, and other mean people, who put them to greater labour, and fed them
worse.” I described, as well as I could, our way of riding; the shape and
use of a bridle, a saddle, a spur, and a whip; of harness and wheels. I
added, “that we fastened plates of a certain hard substance, called iron, at
the bottom of their feet, to preserve their hoofs from being broken by the
stony ways, on which we often travelled.”
My master,
after some expressions of great indignation, wondered “how we dared to venture
upon a Houyhnhnm’s back; for he was sure, that the weakest servant in
his house would be able to shake off the strongest Yahoo; or by lying
down and rolling on his back, squeeze the brute to death.” I answered
“that our horses were trained up, from three or four years old, to the several
uses we intended them for; that if any of them proved intolerably vicious, they
were employed for carriages; that they were severely beaten, while they were
young, for any mischievous tricks; that the males, designed for the common use
of riding or draught, were generally castrated about two years after their
birth, to take down their spirits, and make them more tame and gentle; that
they were indeed sensible of rewards and punishments; but his honour would
please to consider, that they had not the least tincture of reason, any more
than the Yahoos in this country.”
It put me
to the pains of many circumlocutions, to give my master a right idea of what I
spoke; for their language does not abound in variety of words, because their
wants and passions are fewer than among us. But it is impossible to
express his noble resentment at our savage treatment of the Houyhnhnm
race; particularly after I had explained the manner and use of castrating
horses among us, to hinder them from propagating their kind, and to render them
more servile. He said, “if it were possible there could be any country
where Yahoos alone were endued with reason, they certainly must be the
governing animal; because reason in time will always prevail against brutal
strength. But, considering the frame of our bodies, and especially of
mine, he thought no creature of equal bulk was so ill-contrived for employing
that reason in the common offices of life;” whereupon he desired to know
“whether those among whom I lived resembled me, or the Yahoos of his
country?” I assured him, “that I was as well shaped as most of my age;
but the younger, and the females, were much more soft and tender, and the skins
of the latter generally as white as milk.” He said, “I differed indeed
from other Yahoos, being much more cleanly, and not altogether so
deformed; but, in point of real advantage, he thought I differed for the worse:
that my nails were of no use either to my fore or hinder feet; as to my fore
feet, he could not properly call them by that name, for he never observed me to
walk upon them; that they were too soft to bear the ground; that I generally
went with them uncovered; neither was the covering I sometimes wore on them of
the same shape, or so strong as that on my feet behind: that I could not walk
with any security, for if either of my hinder feet slipped, I must inevitably
fail.” He then began to find fault with other parts of my body: “the
flatness of my face, the prominence of my nose, mine eyes placed directly in
front, so that I could not look on either side without turning my head: that I
was not able to feed myself, without lifting one of my fore-feet to my mouth:
and therefore nature had placed those joints to answer that necessity. He
knew not what could be the use of those several clefts and divisions in my feet
behind; that these were too soft to bear the hardness and sharpness of stones,
without a covering made from the skin of some other brute; that my whole body
wanted a fence against heat and cold, which I was forced to put on and off
every day, with tediousness and trouble: and lastly, that he observed every
animal in this country naturally to abhor the Yahoos, whom the weaker
avoided, and the stronger drove from them. So that, supposing us to have
the gift of reason, he could not see how it were possible to cure that natural
antipathy, which every creature discovered against us; nor consequently how we
could tame and render them serviceable. However, he would,” as he said,
“debate the matter no farther, because he was more desirous to know my own
story, the country where I was born, and the several actions and events of my
life, before I came hither.”
I assured
him, “how extremely desirous I was that he should be satisfied on every point;
but I doubted much, whether it would be possible for me to explain myself on
several subjects, whereof his honour could have no conception; because I saw
nothing in his country to which I could resemble them; that, however, I would
do my best, and strive to express myself by similitudes, humbly desiring his
assistance when I wanted proper words;” which he was pleased to promise me.
I said,
“my birth was of honest parents, in an island called England; which was remote
from his country, as many days’ journey as the strongest of his honour’s
servants could travel in the annual course of the sun; that I was bred a surgeon,
whose trade it is to cure wounds and hurts in the body, gotten by accident or
violence; that my country was governed by a female man, whom we called queen;
that I left it to get riches, whereby I might maintain myself and family, when
I should return; that, in my last voyage, I was commander of the ship, and had
about fifty Yahoos under me, many of which died at sea, and I was forced
to supply them by others picked out from several nations; that our ship was
twice in danger of being sunk, the first time by a great storm, and the second
by striking against a rock.” Here my master interposed, by asking me,
“how I could persuade strangers, out of different countries, to venture with
me, after the losses I had sustained, and the hazards I had run?” I said,
“they were fellows of desperate fortunes, forced to fly from the places of
their birth on account of their poverty or their crimes. Some were undone
by lawsuits; others spent all they had in drinking, whoring, and gaming; others
fled for treason; many for murder, theft, poisoning, robbery, perjury, forgery,
coining false money, for committing rapes, or sodomy; for flying from their
colours, or deserting to the enemy; and most of them had broken prison; none of
these durst return to their native countries, for fear of being hanged, or of
starving in a jail; and therefore they were under the necessity of seeking a
livelihood in other places.”
During
this discourse, my master was pleased to interrupt me several times. I
had made use of many circumlocutions in describing to him the nature of the
several crimes for which most of our crew had been forced to fly their
country. This labour took up several days’ conversation, before he was
able to comprehend me. He was wholly at a loss to know what could be the
use or necessity of practising those vices. To clear up which, I
endeavoured to give some ideas of the desire of power and riches; of the
terrible effects of lust, intemperance, malice, and envy. All this I was
forced to define and describe by putting cases and making suppositions.
After which, like one whose imagination was struck with something never seen or
heard of before, he would lift up his eyes with amazement and
indignation. Power, government, war, law, punishment, and a thousand
other things, had no terms wherein that language could express them, which made
the difficulty almost insuperable, to give my master any conception of what I
meant. But being of an excellent understanding, much improved by
contemplation and converse, he at last arrived at a competent knowledge of what
human nature, in our parts of the world, is capable to perform, and desired I
would give him some particular account of that land which we call Europe, but
especially of my own country.
CHAPTER V.
To be continued
