THE 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 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 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 honor
would please excuse me from proceeding any farther, 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 traveling, racing, or drawing
chariots; they were treated with much kindness and care, till they fell
into diseases, or became foundered in the feet; and 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 great labor, 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 traveled.
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 they were indeed sensible of rewards and punishments; but his honor
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 represent his noble resentment at our savage treatment
of the Houyhnhnm race. He said, if it were possible there could be any
country where _yahoos_ alone were indued with reason, they certainly
must be the governing animal; because reason in time will always prevail
against brutal strength. But, considering the frames 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 this 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 honor 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 this country, as many days’ journey as the strongest of
his honor’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, got by accident or violence; that my country was governed by a
female man, called a 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 and gaming; others fled for
treason; many for murder, theft, poisoning, robbery, perjury, forgery,
coining false money, for flying from their colors, 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 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 several crimes for which most of our crew had been forced to
fly their country. This labor 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 practicing those vices. To clear up which I
endeavored to give him some idea 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 of cases and making of
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.
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