Gulliver's Travels

he author leaves Lagado: arrives at Maldonada. No ship ready. He takes
a short voyage to Glubbdubdrib. His reception by the governor.

The continent, of which this kingdom is a part, extends itself, as I
have reason to believe, eastward, to that unknown tract of America
westward of California; and north, to the Pacific Ocean, which is not
above a hundred and fifty miles from Lagado; where there is a good
port, and much commerce with the great island of Luggnagg, situated to
the north-west about 29 degrees north latitude, and 140 longitude. This
island of Luggnagg stands south-eastward of Japan, about a hundred
leagues distant. There is a strict alliance between the Japanese
emperor and the king of Luggnagg; which affords frequent opportunities
of sailing from one island to the other. I determined therefore to
direct my course this way, in order to direct my return to Europe. I
hired two mules, with a guide, to show me the way, and carry my small
baggage. I took leave of my noble protector, who had shown me so much
favour, and made me a generous present at my departure.

My journey was without any accident or adventure worth relating. When I
arrived at the port of Maldonada (for so it is called) there was no
ship in the harbour bound for Luggnagg, nor likely to be in some time.
The town is about as large as Portsmouth. I soon fell into some
acquaintance, and was very hospitably received. A gentleman of
distinction said to me, “that since the ships bound for Luggnagg could
not be ready in less than a month, it might be no disagreeable
amusement for me to take a trip to the little island of Glubbdubdrib,
about five leagues off to the south-west.” He offered himself and a
friend to accompany me, and that I should be provided with a small
convenient bark for the voyage.

Glubbdubdrib, as nearly as I can interpret the word, signifies the
island of sorcerers or magicians. It is about one third as large as the
Isle of Wight, and extremely fruitful: it is governed by the head of a
certain tribe, who are all magicians. This tribe marries only among
each other, and the eldest in succession is prince or governor. He has
a noble palace, and a park of about three thousand acres, surrounded by
a wall of hewn stone twenty feet high. In this park are several small
enclosures for cattle, corn, and gardening.

The governor and his family are served and attended by domestics of a
kind somewhat unusual. By his skill in necromancy he has a power of
calling whom he pleases from the dead, and commanding their service for
twenty-four hours, but no longer; nor can he call the same persons up
again in less than three months, except upon very extraordinary
occasions.

When we arrived at the island, which was about eleven in the morning,
one of the gentlemen who accompanied me went to the governor, and
desired admittance for a stranger, who came on purpose to have the
honour of attending on his highness. This was immediately granted, and
we all three entered the gate of the palace between two rows of guards,
armed and dressed after a very antic manner, and with something in
their countenances that made my flesh creep with a horror I cannot
express. We passed through several apartments, between servants of the
same sort, ranked on each side as before, till we came to the chamber
of presence; where, after three profound obeisances, and a few general
questions, we were permitted to sit on three stools, near the lowest
step of his highness’s throne. He understood the language of
Balnibarbi, although it was different from that of this island. He
desired me to give him some account of my travels; and, to let me see
that I should be treated without ceremony, he dismissed all his
attendants with a turn of his finger; at which, to my great
astonishment, they vanished in an instant, like visions in a dream when
we awake on a sudden. I could not recover myself in some time, till the
governor assured me, “that I should receive no hurt;” and observing my
two companions to be under no concern, who had been often entertained
in the same manner, I began to take courage, and related to his
highness a short history of my several adventures; yet not without some
hesitation, and frequently looking behind me to the place where I had
seen those domestic spectres. I had the honour to dine with the
governor, where a new set of ghosts served up the meat, and waited at
table. I now observed myself to be less terrified than I had been in
the morning. I stayed till sunset, but humbly desired his highness to
excuse me for not accepting his invitation of lodging in the palace. My
two friends and I lay at a private house in the town adjoining, which
is the capital of this little island; and the next morning we returned
to pay our duty to the governor, as he was pleased to command us.

After this manner we continued in the island for ten days, most part of
every day with the governor, and at night in our lodging. I soon grew
so familiarized to the sight of spirits, that after the third or fourth
time they gave me no emotion at all: or, if I had any apprehensions
left, my curiosity prevailed over them. For his highness the governor
ordered me “to call up whatever persons I would choose to name, and in
whatever numbers, among all the dead from the beginning of the world to
the present time, and command them to answer any questions I should
think fit to ask; with this condition, that my questions must be
confined within the compass of the times they lived in. And one thing I
might depend upon, that they would certainly tell me the truth, for
lying was a talent of no use in the lower world.”

I made my humble acknowledgments to his highness for so great a favour.
We were in a chamber, from whence there was a fair prospect into the
park. And because my first inclination was to be entertained with
scenes of pomp and magnificence, I desired to see Alexander the Great
at the head of his army, just after the battle of Arbela: which, upon a
motion of the governor’s finger, immediately appeared in a large field,
under the window where we stood. Alexander was called up into the room:
it was with great difficulty that I understood his Greek, and had but
little of my own. He assured me upon his honour “that he was not
poisoned, but died of a bad fever by excessive drinking.”

Next, I saw Hannibal passing the Alps, who told me “he had not a drop
of vinegar in his camp.”

I saw Cæsar and Pompey at the head of their troops, just ready to
engage. I saw the former, in his last great triumph. I desired that the
senate of Rome might appear before me, in one large chamber, and an
assembly of somewhat a later age in counterview, in another. The first
seemed to be an assembly of heroes and demigods; the other, a knot of
pedlars, pick-pockets, highwaymen, and bullies.

The governor, at my request, gave the sign for Cæsar and Brutus to
advance towards us. I was struck with a profound veneration at the
sight of Brutus, and could easily discover the most consummate virtue,
the greatest intrepidity and firmness of mind, the truest love of his
country, and general benevolence for mankind, in every lineament of his
countenance. I observed, with much pleasure, that these two persons
were in good intelligence with each other; and Cæsar freely confessed
to me, “that the greatest actions of his own life were not equal, by
many degrees, to the glory of taking it away.” I had the honour to have
much conversation with Brutus; and was told, “that his ancestor Junius,
Socrates, Epaminondas, Cato the younger, Sir Thomas More, and himself
were perpetually together:” a sextumvirate, to which all the ages of
the world cannot add a seventh.

It would be tedious to trouble the reader with relating what vast
numbers of illustrious persons were called up to gratify that
insatiable desire I had to see the world in every period of antiquity
placed before me. I chiefly fed my eyes with beholding the destroyers
of tyrants and usurpers, and the restorers of liberty to oppressed and
injured nations. But it is impossible to express the satisfaction I
received in my own mind, after such a manner as to make it a suitable
entertainment to the reader.