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_ CHAPTER IX
[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 their
country; whereof my master, after his return, give 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 animals which nature ever produced, so they
were the most restive and indocible, 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 their 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 enclosed 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 yinhniamshy (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 labour, 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 honourable member who spoke before, and affirmed,
that the two Yahoos said to be seen first 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 this 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 spoke in 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 colour, less hairy,
and with shorter claws. He added, how I had endeavoured 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 castrating Houyhnhnms when they were
young, in order to render them tame; that the operation was easy
and safe; 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 practised upon the younger Yahoos
here, which besides rendering them tractable and fitter for use,
would in an age put an end to the whole species, without destroying
life; that in the mean time 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 to 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 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 and heat. They have a kind of tree, which at forty years old
loosens in the root, and falls with the first storm: it grows 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 their fore-foot, 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 neighbours. 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 neighbourhood,
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 any 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 any thing 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 further 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 mean time, proceed to relate my own
sad catastrophe.
_____
Content of PART IV - A VOYAGE TO THE COUNTRY OF THE HOUYHNHNMS CHAPTER VIII [Jonathan Swift's novel: Gulliver's Travels] _
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