THE AUTHOR RELATES SEVERAL PARTICULARS OF THE YAHOOS—THE GREAT
VIRTUES OF THE HOUYHNHNMS—THE EDUCATION AND EXERCISE OF THEIR
YOUTH—THEIR GENERAL ASSEMBLY.
As I ought to have understood human nature much better than I supposed
it possible for my master to do, it was easy to apply the character
he gave of the _yahoos_ to myself and my countrymen; and I believed I
could yet make farther discoveries from my own observation. I therefore
often begged his favor to let me go among the herds of _yahoos_ in
the neighborhood; to which he always very graciously consented, being
perfectly convinced that the hatred I bore those brutes would never
suffer me to be corrupted by them; and his honor ordered one of his
servants, a strong sorrel nag, very honest and good-natured, to be my
guard, without whose protection I durst not undertake such adventures.
For I have already told the reader how much I was pestered by these
odious animals, upon my first arrival; and I afterwards failed very
narrowly three or four times of falling into their clutches, when I
happened to stray at any distance without my hanger. And I have reason to
believe they had some imagination that I was of their own species, which
I often assisted myself by stripping up my sleeves, and showing my naked
arms and breast in their sight, when my protector was with me. At which
times they would approach as near as they durst, and imitate my actions
after the manner of monkeys, but ever with great signs of hatred; as a
tame jackdaw with cap and stockings is always persecuted by the wild
ones, when he happens to get among them.
They are prodigiously nimble from their infancy. However, I once caught
a young male of three years old, and endeavored, by all marks of
tenderness, to make it quiet; but the little imp fell a-squalling, and
scratching, and biting with such violence, that I was forced to let it
go; and it was high time, for a whole troop of old ones came about us
at the noise, but finding the cub was safe (for away it ran), and my
sorrel nag being by, they durst not venture near us. I observed the young
animal’s flesh to smell very rank, and the stink was somewhat between a
weasel and a fox, but much more disagreeable.
By what I could discover, the _yahoos_ appear to be the most unteachable
of all animals; their capacities never reaching higher than to draw or
carry burdens. Yet I am of opinion, this defect arises chiefly from
a perverse, restive disposition. For they are cunning, malicious,
treacherous, and revengeful. They are strong and hardy, but of a cowardly
spirit, and by consequence insolent, abject, and cruel. It is observed,
that the red-haired of both sexes are more mischievous than the rest,
whom they yet much exceed in strength and activity.
The Houyhnhnms keep the _yahoos_ for present use in huts not far from
the house; but the rest are sent abroad to certain fields, where they
dig up roots, eat several kinds of herbs, and search about for carrion,
or sometimes catch weasels and _luhimuhs_ (a sort of wild rat), which
they greedily devour. Nature has taught them to dig deep holes with their
nails on the side of a rising ground, wherein they lie by themselves;
only the kennels of the females are larger, sufficient to hold two or
three cubs.
They swim from their infancy like frogs, and are able to continue long
under water, where they often take fish, which the females carry home to
their young.
Having lived three years in this country, the reader, I suppose, will
expect that I should, like other travelers, give some account of the
manners and customs of its inhabitants, which it was, indeed, my
principal study to learn.
As these noble Houyhnhnms are endowed by nature with a general
disposition to all virtues, and have no conceptions or ideas of what is
evil in a rational creature; so their grand maxim is to cultivate reason,
and to be wholly governed by it. Neither is reason among them a point
problematical, as with us, where men can argue with plausibility on both
sides of the question; but strikes you with immediate conviction, as
it must needs do where it is not mingled, obscured, or discolored, by
passion and interest. I remember it was with extreme difficulty that I
could bring my master to understand the meaning of the word opinion, or
how a point could be disputable; because reason taught us to affirm or
deny only where we are certain; and beyond our knowledge we cannot do
either. So that controversies, wranglings, disputes, and positiveness in
false or dubious propositions are evils unknown among the Houyhnhnms. In
the like manner, when I used to explain to him our several systems of
natural philosophy, he would laugh that a creature pretending to reason,
should value itself upon the knowledge of other people’s conjectures,
and in things where that knowledge, if it were certain, could be of no
use. Wherein he agreed entirely with the sentiments of Socrates, as Plato
delivers them; which I mention as the highest honor I can do that prince
of philosophers. I have often since reflected, what destruction such a
doctrine would make in the libraries of Europe; and how many paths of
fame would be then shut up in the learned world.
Friendship and benevolence are the two principal virtues among the
Houyhnhnms; and these not confined to particular objects, but universal
to the whole race. For a stranger from the remotest part is equally
treated with the nearest neighbor, and wherever he goes, looks upon
himself as at home. They preserve decency and civility in the highest
degrees, but are altogether ignorant of ceremony. They have no fondness
for their colts or foals, but the care they take in educating them
proceeds entirely from the dictates of reason. And I observed my master
to show the same affection to his neighbor’s issue that he had for
his own. They will have it that nature teaches them to love the whole
species, and it is reason only that makes a distinction of persons, where
there is a superior degree of virtue.
When the matron Houyhnhnms have produced one of each sex, they no longer
accompany with their consorts, except they lose one of their issue by
some casualty, which very seldom happens; but in such a case they meet
again; or when the like accident befalls a person whose wife is past
bearing, some other couple bestow on him one of their own colts, and then
go together again until the mother is pregnant. This caution is necessary
to prevent the country from being overburdened with numbers. But the race
of inferior Houyhnhnms bred up to be servants, is not so strictly limited
upon this article; these are allowed to produce three of each sex, to be
domestics in the noble families.
In their marriages, they are exactly careful to choose such colors
as will not make any disagreeable mixture in the breed. Strength is
chiefly valued in the male, and comeliness in the female, not upon the
account of love, but to preserve the race from degenerating; for where
a female happens to excel in strength, a consort is chosen with regard
to comeliness. Courtship, love, presents, jointures, settlements, have
no place in their thoughts; or terms whereby to express them in their
language. The young couple meet, and are joined, merely because it is
the determination of their parents and friends; it is what they see done
every day, and they look upon it as one of the necessary actions of a
reasonable being. But the violation of marriage, or any other unchastity,
was never heard of, and the married pair pass their lives with the
same friendship and mutual benevolence that they bear to all others of
the same species who come in their way; without jealousy, fondness,
quarreling, or discontent.
In educating the youth of both sexes, their method is admirable, and
highly deserves our imitation. These are not suffered to taste a grain
of oats, except upon certain days, till eighteen years old; nor milk,
but very rarely; and in summer they graze two hours in the morning, and
as long in the evening, which their parents likewise observe; but the
servants are not allowed above half that time, and a great part of their
grass is brought home, which they eat at the most convenient hours, when
they can be best spared from work.
Temperance, industry, exercise, and cleanliness, are the lessons equally
enjoined to the young ones of both sexes; and my master thought it
monstrous in us to give the females a different kind of education from
the males, except in some articles of domestic management; whereby, as
he truly observed, one half of our natives were good for nothing but
bringing children into the world. And to trust the care of our children
to such useless animals, he said, was yet a greater instance of brutality.
But the Houyhnhnms train up their youth to strength, speed, and
hardiness, by exercising them in running races up and down steep hills,
and over hard stony grounds; and when they are all in a sweat they are
ordered to leap over head and ears into a pond or river. Four times a
year the youth of a certain district meet to show their proficiency in
running and leaping, and other feats of strength and agility, where the
victor is rewarded with a song in his or her praise. On this festival the
servants drive a herd of _yahoos_ into the field, laden with hay, and
oats, and milk, for a repast to the Houyhnhnms; after which these brutes
are immediately driven back again, for fear of being noisome to the
assembly.
Every fourth year, at the vernal equinox, there is a representative
council of the whole nation, which meets in a plain about twenty miles
from our house, and continues about five or six days. Here they inquire
into the state and condition of the several districts; whether they
abound or be deficient in hay, or oats, or cows, or _yahoos_; and
wherever there is any want (which is but seldom) it is immediately
supplied by unanimous consent and contribution. Here likewise the
regulation of children is settled; as for instance, if a Houyhnhnm has
two males, he changes one of them with another that has two females; and
when a child has been lost by any casualty, where the mother is past
breeding, it is determined what family shall breed another to supply the
loss.