GULLIVER’S
TRAVELS
PART 26
CHAPTER IX.
A grand debate at the general
assembly of the Houyhnhnms, and how it was determined. The
learning of the Houyhnhnms. Their buildings. Their manner of
burials. The defectiveness of their language.
One of
these grand assemblies was held in my time, about three months before my
departure, whither my master went as the representative of our district.
In this council was resumed their old debate, and indeed the only debate that
ever happened in their country; whereof my master, after his return, give me a
very particular account.
The
question to be debated was, “whether the Yahoos should be exterminated
from the face of the earth?” One of the members for the affirmative
offered several arguments of great strength and weight, alleging, “that as the Yahoos
were the most filthy, noisome, and deformed animals which nature ever produced,
so they were the most restive and indocible, mischievous and malicious; they
would privately suck the teats of the Houyhnhnms’ cows, kill and devour
their cats, trample down their oats and grass, if they were not continually
watched, and commit a thousand other extravagancies.” He took notice of a
general tradition, “that Yahoos had not been always in their country;
but that many ages ago, two of these brutes appeared together upon a mountain;
whether produced by the heat of the sun upon corrupted mud and slime, or from
the ooze and froth of the sea, was never known; that these Yahoos
engendered, and their brood, in a short time, grew so numerous as to overrun
and infest the whole nation; that the Houyhnhnms, to get rid of this
evil, made a general hunting, and at last enclosed the whole herd; and
destroying the elder, every Houyhnhnm kept two young ones in a kennel,
and brought them to such a degree of tameness, as an animal, so savage by
nature, can be capable of acquiring, using them for draught and carriage; that
there seemed to be much truth in this tradition, and that those creatures could
not be yinhniamshy (or aborigines of the land), because of the
violent hatred the Houyhnhnms, as well as all other animals, bore them,
which, although their evil disposition sufficiently deserved, could never have
arrived at so high a degree if they had been aborigines, or else they
would have long since been rooted out; that the inhabitants, taking a fancy to
use the service of the Yahoos, had, very imprudently, neglected to
cultivate the breed of asses, which are a comely animal, easily kept, more tame
and orderly, without any offensive smell, strong enough for labour, although
they yield to the other in agility of body, and if their braying be no
agreeable sound, it is far preferable to the horrible howlings of the Yahoos.”
Several
others declared their sentiments to the same purpose, when my master proposed
an expedient to the assembly, whereof he had indeed borrowed the hint from
me. “He approved of the tradition mentioned by the honourable member who
spoke before, and affirmed, that the two Yahoos said to be seen first
among them, had been driven thither over the sea; that coming to land, and
being forsaken by their companions, they retired to the mountains, and
degenerating by degrees, became in process of time much more savage than those
of their own species in the country whence these two originals came. The
reason of this assertion was, that he had now in his possession a certain
wonderful Yahoo (meaning myself) which most of them had heard of, and
many of them had seen. He then related to them how he first found me;
that my body was all covered with an artificial composure of the skins and
hairs of other animals; that I spoke in a language of my own, and had
thoroughly learned theirs; that I had related to him the accidents which
brought me thither; that when he saw me without my covering, I was an exact Yahoo
in every part, only of a whiter colour, less hairy, and with shorter
claws. He added, how I had endeavoured to persuade him, that in my own
and other countries, the Yahoos acted as the governing, rational animal,
and held the Houyhnhnms in servitude; that he observed in me all the
qualities of a Yahoo, only a little more civilized by some tincture of
reason, which, however, was in a degree as far inferior to the Houyhnhnm
race, as the Yahoos of their country were to me; that, among other
things, I mentioned a custom we had of castrating Houyhnhnms when they
were young, in order to render them tame; that the operation was easy and safe;
that it was no shame to learn wisdom from brutes, as industry is taught by the
ant, and building by the swallow (for so I translate the word lyhannh,
although it be a much larger fowl); that this invention might be practised upon
the younger Yahoos here, which besides rendering them tractable and
fitter for use, would in an age put an end to the whole species, without
destroying life; that in the mean time the Houyhnhnms should be exhorted
to cultivate the breed of asses, which, as they are in all respects more
valuable brutes, so they have this advantage, to be fit for service at five
years old, which the others are not till twelve.”
This was
all my master thought fit to tell me, at that time, of what passed in the grand
council. But he was pleased to conceal one particular, which related
personally to myself, whereof I soon felt the unhappy effect, as the reader
will know in its proper place, and whence I date all the succeeding misfortunes
of my life.
The Houyhnhnms
have no letters, and consequently their knowledge is all traditional. But
there happening few events of any moment among a people so well united,
naturally disposed to every virtue, wholly governed by reason, and cut off from
all commerce with other nations, the historical part is easily preserved
without burdening their memories. I have already observed that they are
subject to no diseases, and therefore can have no need of physicians.
However, they have excellent medicines, composed of herbs, to cure accidental
bruises and cuts in the pastern or frog of the foot, by sharp stones, as well
as other maims and hurts in the several parts of the body.
They
calculate the year by the revolution of the sun and moon, but use no
subdivisions into weeks. They are well enough acquainted with the motions
of those two luminaries, and understand the nature of eclipses; and this is the
utmost progress of their astronomy.
In poetry,
they must be allowed to excel all other mortals; wherein the justness of their
similes, and the minuteness as well as exactness of their descriptions, are
indeed inimitable. Their verses abound very much in both of these, and
usually contain either some exalted notions of friendship and benevolence or
the praises of those who were victors in races and other bodily
exercises. Their buildings, although very rude and simple, are not
inconvenient, but well contrived to defend them from all injuries of cold and
heat. They have a kind of tree, which at forty years old loosens in the
root, and falls with the first storm: it grows very straight, and being pointed
like stakes with a sharp stone (for the Houyhnhnms know not the use of
iron), they stick them erect in the ground, about ten inches asunder, and then
weave in oat straw, or sometimes wattles, between them. The roof is made
after the same manner, and so are the doors.
The Houyhnhnms
use the hollow part, between the pastern and the hoof of their fore-foot, as we
do our hands, and this with greater dexterity than I could at first
imagine. I have seen a white mare of our family thread a needle (which I
lent her on purpose) with that joint. They milk their cows, reap their
oats, and do all the work which requires hands, in the same manner. They
have a kind of hard flints, which, by grinding against other stones, they form
into instruments, that serve instead of wedges, axes, and hammers. With
tools made of these flints, they likewise cut their hay, and reap their oats,
which there grow naturally in several fields; the Yahoos draw home the
sheaves in carriages, and the servants tread them in certain covered huts to
get out the grain, which is kept in stores. They make a rude kind of
earthen and wooden vessels, and bake the former in the sun.
If they
can avoid casualties, they die only of old age, and are buried in the obscurest
places that can be found, their friends and relations expressing neither joy
nor grief at their departure; nor does the dying person discover the least
regret that he is leaving the world, any more than if he were upon returning
home from a visit to one of his neighbours. I remember my master having
once made an appointment with a friend and his family to come to his house,
upon some affair of importance: on the day fixed, the mistress and her two
children came very late; she made two excuses, first for her husband, who, as
she said, happened that very morning to shnuwnh. The word is
strongly expressive in their language, but not easily rendered into English; it
signifies, “to retire to his first mother.” Her excuse for not coming
sooner, was, that her husband dying late in the morning, she was a good while
consulting her servants about a convenient place where his body should be laid;
and I observed, she behaved herself at our house as cheerfully as the
rest. She died about three months after.
They live
generally to seventy, or seventy-five years, very seldom to fourscore.
Some weeks before their death, they feel a gradual decay; but without
pain. During this time they are much visited by their friends, because
they cannot go abroad with their usual ease and satisfaction. However,
about ten days before their death, which they seldom fail in computing, they return
the visits that have been made them by those who are nearest in the
neighbourhood, being carried in a convenient sledge drawn by Yahoos;
which vehicle they use, not only upon this occasion, but when they grow old,
upon long journeys, or when they are lamed by any accident: and therefore when
the dying Houyhnhnms return those visits, they take a solemn leave of
their friends, as if they were going to some remote part of the country, where
they designed to pass the rest of their lives.
I know not
whether it may be worth observing, that the Houyhnhnms have no word in
their language to express any thing that is evil, except what they borrow from
the deformities or ill qualities of the Yahoos. Thus they denote
the folly of a servant, an omission of a child, a stone that cuts their feet, a
continuance of foul or unseasonable weather, and the like, by adding to each
the epithet of Yahoo. For instance, hhnm Yahoo; whnaholm
Yahoo, ynlhmndwihlma Yahoo, and an ill-contrived house ynholmhnmrohlnw
Yahoo.
I could,
with great pleasure, enlarge further upon the manners and virtues of this
excellent people; but intending in a short time to publish a volume by itself,
expressly upon that subject, I refer the reader thither; and, in the mean time,
proceed to relate my own sad catastrophe.
CHAPTER X.
The author’s economy, and happy
life, among the Houyhnhnms. His great improvement in virtue by conversing
with them. Their conversations. The author has notice given him by
his master, that he must depart from the country. He falls into a swoon
for grief; but submits. He contrives and finishes a canoe by the help of
a fellow-servant, and puts to sea at a venture.
I had
settled my little economy to my own heart’s content. My master had ordered
a room to be made for me, after their manner, about six yards from the house:
the sides and floors of which I plastered with clay, and covered with rush-mats
of my own contriving. I had beaten hemp, which there grows wild, and made
of it a sort of ticking; this I filled with the feathers of several birds I had
taken with springes made of Yahoos’ hairs, and were excellent
food. I had worked two chairs with my knife, the sorrel nag helping me in
the grosser and more laborious part. When my clothes were worn to rags, I
made myself others with the skins of rabbits, and of a certain beautiful
animal, about the same size, called nnuhnoh, the skin of which is
covered with a fine down. Of these I also made very tolerable
stockings. I soled my shoes with wood, which I cut from a tree, and
fitted to the upper-leather; and when this was worn out, I supplied it with the
skins of Yahoos dried in the sun. I often got honey out of hollow
trees, which I mingled with water, or ate with my bread. No man could
more verify the truth of these two maxims, “That nature is very easily
satisfied;” and, “That necessity is the mother of invention.” I enjoyed
perfect health of body, and tranquillity of mind; I did not feel the treachery
or inconstancy of a friend, nor the injuries of a secret or open enemy. I
had no occasion of bribing, flattering, or pimping, to procure the favour of
any great man, or of his minion; I wanted no fence against fraud or oppression:
here was neither physician to destroy my body, nor lawyer to ruin my fortune;
no informer to watch my words and actions, or forge accusations against me for
hire: here were no gibers, censurers, backbiters, pickpockets, highwaymen,
housebreakers, attorneys, bawds, buffoons, gamesters, politicians, wits,
splenetics, tedious talkers, controvertists, ravishers, murderers, robbers,
virtuosos; no leaders, or followers, of party and faction; no encouragers to
vice, by seducement or examples; no dungeon, axes, gibbets, whipping-posts, or
pillories; no cheating shopkeepers or mechanics; no pride, vanity, or
affectation; no fops, bullies, drunkards, strolling whores, or poxes; no
ranting, lewd, expensive wives; no stupid, proud pedants; no importunate,
overbearing, quarrelsome, noisy, roaring, empty, conceited, swearing companions;
no scoundrels raised from the dust upon the merit of their vices, or nobility
thrown into it on account of their virtues; no lords, fiddlers, judges, or
dancing-masters.
I had the
favour of being admitted to several Houyhnhnms, who came to visit or dine
with my master; where his honour graciously suffered me to wait in the room,
and listen to their discourse. Both he and his company would often
descend to ask me questions, and receive my answers. I had also sometimes
the honour of attending my master in his visits to others. I never
presumed to speak, except in answer to a question; and then I did it with
inward regret, because it was a loss of so much time for improving myself; but
I was infinitely delighted with the station of an humble auditor in such
conversations, where nothing passed but what was useful, expressed in the
fewest and most significant words; where, as I have already said, the greatest
decency was observed, without the least degree of ceremony; where no person
spoke without being pleased himself, and pleasing his companions; where there
was no interruption, tediousness, heat, or difference of sentiments. They
have a notion, that when people are met together, a short silence does much
improve conversation: this I found to be true; for during those little
intermissions of talk, new ideas would arise in their minds, which very much
enlivened the discourse. Their subjects are, generally on friendship and
benevolence, on order and economy; sometimes upon the visible operations of
nature, or ancient traditions; upon the bounds and limits of virtue; upon the
unerring rules of reason, or upon some determinations to be taken at the next
great assembly: and often upon the various excellences of poetry. I may
add, without vanity, that my presence often gave them sufficient matter for
discourse, because it afforded my master an occasion of letting his friends
into the history of me and my country, upon which they were all pleased to
descant, in a manner not very advantageous to humankind: and for that reason I
shall not repeat what they said; only I may be allowed to observe, that his
honour, to my great admiration, appeared to understand the nature of Yahoos
much better than myself. He went through all our vices and follies, and
discovered many, which I had never mentioned to him, by only supposing what
qualities a Yahoo of their country, with a small proportion of reason,
might be capable of exerting; and concluded, with too much probability, “how
vile, as well as miserable, such a creature must be.”
I freely
confess, that all the little knowledge I have of any value, was acquired by the
lectures I received from my master, and from hearing the discourses of him and
his friends; to which I should be prouder to listen, than to dictate to the greatest
and wisest assembly in Europe. I admired the strength, comeliness, and
speed of the inhabitants; and such a constellation of virtues, in such amiable
persons, produced in me the highest veneration. At first, indeed, I did
not feel that natural awe, which the Yahoos and all other animals bear
toward them; but it grew upon me by decrees, much sooner than I imagined, and
was mingled with a respectful love and gratitude, that they would condescend to
distinguish me from the rest of my species.
When I thought
of my family, my friends, my countrymen, or the human race in general, I
considered them, as they really were, Yahoos in shape and disposition,
perhaps a little more civilized, and qualified with the gift of speech; but
making no other use of reason, than to improve and multiply those vices whereof
their brethren in this country had only the share that nature allotted
them. When I happened to behold the reflection of my own form in a lake
or fountain, I turned away my face in horror and detestation of myself, and
could better endure the sight of a common Yahoo than of my own
person. By conversing with the Houyhnhnms, and looking upon them
with delight, I fell to imitate their gait and gesture, which is now grown into
a habit; and my friends often tell me, in a blunt way, “that I trot like a
horse;” which, however, I take for a great compliment. Neither shall I
disown, that in speaking I am apt to fall into the voice and manner of the Houyhnhnms,
and hear myself ridiculed on that account, without the least mortification.
In the
midst of all this happiness, and when I looked upon myself to be fully settled
for life, my master sent for me one morning a little earlier than his usual
hour. I observed by his countenance that he was in some perplexity, and
at a loss how to begin what he had to speak. After a short silence, he
told me, “he did not know how I would take what he was going to say: that in
the last general assembly, when the affair of the Yahoos was entered
upon, the representatives had taken offence at his keeping a Yahoo
(meaning myself) in his family, more like a Houyhnhnm than a brute
animal; that he was known frequently to converse with me, as if he could
receive some advantage or pleasure in my company; that such a practice was not
agreeable to reason or nature, or a thing ever heard of before among them; the
assembly did therefore exhort him either to employ me like the rest of my
species, or command me to swim back to the place whence I came: that the first
of these expedients was utterly rejected by all the Houyhnhnms who had
ever seen me at his house or their own; for they alleged, that because I had
some rudiments of reason, added to the natural pravity of those animals, it was
to be feared I might be able to seduce them into the woody and mountainous
parts of the country, and bring them in troops by night to destroy the Houyhnhnms’
cattle, as being naturally of the ravenous kind, and averse from labour.”
My master
added, “that he was daily pressed by the Houyhnhnms of the neighbourhood
to have the assembly’s exhortation executed, which he could not put off much
longer. He doubted it would be impossible for me to swim to another
country; and therefore wished I would contrive some sort of vehicle, resembling
those I had described to him, that might carry me on the sea; in which work I
should have the assistance of his own servants, as well as those of his
neighbours.” He concluded, “that for his own part, he could have been
content to keep me in his service as long as I lived; because he found I had
cured myself of some bad habits and dispositions, by endeavouring, as far as my
inferior nature was capable, to imitate the Houyhnhnms.”
I should
here observe to the reader, that a decree of the general assembly in this
country is expressed by the word hnhloayn, which signifies an
exhortation, as near as I can render it; for they have no conception how a
rational creature can be compelled, but only advised, or exhorted; because no
person can disobey reason, without giving up his claim to be a rational
creature.
I was
struck with the utmost grief and despair at my master’s discourse; and being
unable to support the agonies I was under, I fell into a swoon at his
feet. When I came to myself, he told me “that he concluded I had been
dead;” for these people are subject to no such imbecilities of nature. I
answered in a faint voice, “that death would have been too great a happiness;
that although I could not blame the assembly’s exhortation, or the urgency of
his friends; yet, in my weak and corrupt judgment, I thought it might consist
with reason to have been less rigorous; that I could not swim a league, and
probably the nearest land to theirs might be distant above a hundred: that many
materials, necessary for making a small vessel to carry me off, were wholly
wanting in this country; which, however, I would attempt, in obedience and
gratitude to his honour, although I concluded the thing to be impossible, and
therefore looked on myself as already devoted to destruction; that the certain
prospect of an unnatural death was the least of my evils; for, supposing I
should escape with life by some strange adventure, how could I think with
temper of passing my days among Yahoos, and relapsing into my old
corruptions, for want of examples to lead and keep me within the paths of
virtue? that I knew too well upon what solid reasons all the determinations of
the wise Houyhnhnms were founded, not to be shaken by arguments of mine,
a miserable Yahoo; and therefore, after presenting him with my humble
thanks for the offer of his servants’ assistance in making a vessel, and
desiring a reasonable time for so difficult a work, I told him I would
endeavour to preserve a wretched being; and if ever I returned to England, was
not without hopes of being useful to my own species, by celebrating the praises
of the renowned Houyhnhnms, and proposing their virtues to the imitation
of mankind.”
My master,
in a few words, made me a very gracious reply; allowed me the space of two
months to finish my boat; and ordered the sorrel nag, my fellow-servant (for
so, at this distance, I may presume to call him), to follow my instruction;
because I told my master, “that his help would be sufficient, and I knew he had
a tenderness for me.”
In his
company, my first business was to go to that part of the coast where my
rebellious crew had ordered me to be set on shore. I got upon a height,
and looking on every side into the sea; fancied I saw a small island toward the
north-east. I took out my pocket glass, and could then clearly distinguish
it above five leagues off, as I computed; but it appeared to the sorrel nag to
be only a blue cloud: for as he had no conception of any country beside his
own, so he could not be as expert in distinguishing remote objects at sea, as
we who so much converse in that element.
After I
had discovered this island, I considered no further; but resolved it should if
possible, be the first place of my banishment, leaving the consequence to
fortune.
I returned
home, and consulting with the sorrel nag, we went into a copse at some
distance, where I with my knife, and he with a sharp flint, fastened very
artificially after their manner, to a wooden handle, cut down several oak
wattles, about the thickness of a walking-staff, and some larger pieces.
But I shall not trouble the reader with a particular description of my own
mechanics; let it suffice to say, that in six weeks time with the help of the
sorrel nag, who performed the parts that required most labour, I finished a
sort of Indian canoe, but much larger, covering it with the skins of Yahoos,
well stitched together with hempen threads of my own making. My sail was
likewise composed of the skins of the same animal; but I made use of the
youngest I could get, the older being too tough and thick; and I likewise
provided myself with four paddles. I laid in a stock of boiled flesh, of
rabbits and fowls, and took with me two vessels, one filled with milk and the
other with water.
I tried my
canoe in a large pond, near my master’s house, and then corrected in it what
was amiss; stopping all the chinks with Yahoos’ tallow, till I found it
staunch, and able to bear me and my freight; and, when it was as complete as I
could possibly make it, I had it drawn on a carriage very gently by Yahoos
to the sea-side, under the conduct of the sorrel nag and another servant.
When all
was ready, and the day came for my departure, I took leave of my master and
lady and the whole family, my eyes flowing with tears, and my heart quite sunk
with grief. But his honour, out of curiosity, and, perhaps, (if I may
speak without vanity,) partly out of kindness, was determined to see me in my
canoe, and got several of his neighbouring friends to accompany him. I
was forced to wait above an hour for the tide; and then observing the wind very
fortunately bearing toward the island to which I intended to steer my course, I
took a second leave of my master: but as I was going to prostrate myself to
kiss his hoof, he did me the honour to raise it gently to my mouth. I am
not ignorant how much I have been censured for mentioning this last
particular. Detractors are pleased to think it improbable, that so
illustrious a person should descend to give so great a mark of distinction to a
creature so inferior as I. Neither have I forgotten how apt some
travellers are to boast of extraordinary favours they have received. But,
if these censurers were better acquainted with the noble and courteous
disposition of the Houyhnhnms, they would soon change their opinion.
I paid my
respects to the rest of the Houyhnhnms in his honour’s company; then
getting into my canoe, I pushed off from shore.
To be continued
