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 that country; whereof my master, after
his return, gave 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
animal which nature ever produced, so they were the most restive and
indocile, 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 that 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 inclosed 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 _ylnhniamshy_ (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
labor, 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
honorable member who spoke before, and affirmed, that the two _yahoos_
said to be first seen 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 his 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 had 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 color, less hairy, and with shorter claws. He added how I
had endeavored 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 preventing Houyhnhnms from propagating their kind; 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 practiced upon
the younger _yahoos_ here, which would in an age put an end to the whole
species, without destroying life. That in the meantime 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 of 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 the 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; they
grow 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
the forefoot, 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 neighbors.
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 neighborhood, 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 an
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 anything 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 farther 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 meantime, proceed to relate my own sad
catastrophe.