Gulliver's Travels

he Houyhnhnms’ 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 forefeet, 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
fall.” He then began to find fault with other parts of my body: “the
flatness of my face, the prominence of my nose, my 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
forefeet 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.