CHAPTER X.

The author’s economy, and happy life among the Houyhnhnms. His great

improvement in virtue by conversing with them. Their conversations. The

author has notice given him by his master, that he must depart from the

country. He falls into a swoon for grief; but submits. He contrives and

finishes a canoe by the help of a fellow-servant, and puts to sea at a

venture.

I had settled my little economy to my own heart’s content. My master

had ordered a room to be made for me, after their manner, about six

yards from the house: the sides and floors of which I plastered with

clay, and covered with rush-mats of my own contriving. I had beaten

hemp, which there grows wild, and made of it a sort of ticking; this I

filled with the feathers of several birds I had taken with springes

made of _Yahoos’_ hairs, and were excellent food. I had worked two

chairs with my knife, the sorrel nag helping me in the grosser and more

laborious part. When my clothes were worn to rags, I made myself others

with the skins of rabbits, and of a certain beautiful animal, about the

same size, called _nnuhnoh_, the skin of which is covered with a fine

down. Of these I also made very tolerable stockings. I soled my shoes

with wood, which I cut from a tree, and fitted to the upper-leather;

and when this was worn out, I supplied it with the skins of _Yahoos_

dried in the sun. I often got honey out of hollow trees, which I

mingled with water, or ate with my bread. No man could more verify the

truth of these two maxims, “That nature is very easily satisfied;” and,

“That necessity is the mother of invention.” I enjoyed perfect health

of body, and tranquillity of mind; I did not feel the treachery or

inconstancy of a friend, nor the injuries of a secret or open enemy. I

had no occasion of bribing, flattering, or pimping, to procure the

favour of any great man, or of his minion; I wanted no fence against

fraud or oppression: here was neither physician to destroy my body, nor

lawyer to ruin my fortune; no informer to watch my words and actions,

or forge accusations against me for hire: here were no gibers,

censurers, backbiters, pickpockets, highwaymen, housebreakers,

attorneys, bawds, buffoons, gamesters, politicians, wits, splenetics,

tedious talkers, controvertists, ravishers, murderers, robbers,

virtuosos; no leaders, or followers, of party and faction; no

encouragers to vice, by seducement or examples; no dungeon, axes,

gibbets, whipping-posts, or pillories; no cheating shopkeepers or

mechanics; no pride, vanity, or affectation; no fops, bullies,

drunkards, strolling whores, or poxes; no ranting, lewd, expensive

wives; no stupid, proud pedants; no importunate, overbearing,

quarrelsome, noisy, roaring, empty, conceited, swearing companions; no

scoundrels raised from the dust upon the merit of their vices, or

nobility thrown into it on account of their virtues; no lords,

fiddlers, judges, or dancing-masters.

I had the favour of being admitted to several _Houyhnhnms_, who came to

visit or dine with my master; where his honour graciously suffered me

to wait in the room, and listen to their discourse. Both he and his

company would often descend to ask me questions, and receive my

answers. I had also sometimes the honour of attending my master in his

visits to others. I never presumed to speak, except in answer to a

question; and then I did it with inward regret, because it was a loss

of so much time for improving myself; but I was infinitely delighted

with the station of an humble auditor in such conversations, where

nothing passed but what was useful, expressed in the fewest and most

significant words; where, as I have already said, the greatest decency

was observed, without the least degree of ceremony; where no person

spoke without being pleased himself, and pleasing his companions; where

there was no interruption, tediousness, heat, or difference of

sentiments. They have a notion, that when people are met together, a

short silence does much improve conversation: this I found to be true;

for during those little intermissions of talk, new ideas would arise in

their minds, which very much enlivened the discourse. Their subjects

are generally on friendship and benevolence, on order and economy;

sometimes upon the visible operations of nature, or ancient traditions;

upon the bounds and limits of virtue; upon the unerring rules of

reason, or upon some determinations to be taken at the next great

assembly: and often upon the various excellences of poetry. I may add,

without vanity, that my presence often gave them sufficient matter for

discourse, because it afforded my master an occasion of letting his

friends into the history of me and my country, upon which they were all

pleased to descant, in a manner not very advantageous to humankind: and

for that reason I shall not repeat what they said; only I may be

allowed to observe, that his honour, to my great admiration, appeared

to understand the nature of _Yahoos_ much better than myself. He went

through all our vices and follies, and discovered many, which I had

never mentioned to him, by only supposing what qualities a _Yahoo_ of

their country, with a small proportion of reason, might be capable of

exerting; and concluded, with too much probability, “how vile, as well

as miserable, such a creature must be.”

I freely confess, that all the little knowledge I have of any value,

was acquired by the lectures I received from my master, and from

hearing the discourses of him and his friends; to which I should be

prouder to listen, than to dictate to the greatest and wisest assembly

in Europe. I admired the strength, comeliness, and speed of the

inhabitants; and such a constellation of virtues, in such amiable

persons, produced in me the highest veneration. At first, indeed, I did

not feel that natural awe, which the _Yahoos_ and all other animals

bear toward them; but it grew upon me by degrees, much sooner than I

imagined, and was mingled with a respectful love and gratitude, that

they would condescend to distinguish me from the rest of my species.

When I thought of my family, my friends, my countrymen, or the human

race in general, I considered them, as they really were, _Yahoos_ in

shape and disposition, perhaps a little more civilized, and qualified

with the gift of speech; but making no other use of reason, than to

improve and multiply those vices whereof their brethren in this country

had only the share that nature allotted them. When I happened to behold

the reflection of my own form in a lake or fountain, I turned away my

face in horror and detestation of myself, and could better endure the

sight of a common _Yahoo_ than of my own person. By conversing with the

_Houyhnhnms_, and looking upon them with delight, I fell to imitate

their gait and gesture, which is now grown into a habit; and my friends

often tell me, in a blunt way, “that I trot like a horse;” which,

however, I take for a great compliment. Neither shall I disown, that in

speaking I am apt to fall into the voice and manner of the

_Houyhnhnms_, and hear myself ridiculed on that account, without the

least mortification.

In the midst of all this happiness, and when I looked upon myself to be

fully settled for life, my master sent for me one morning a little

earlier than his usual hour. I observed by his countenance that he was

in some perplexity, and at a loss how to begin what he had to speak.

After a short silence, he told me, “he did not know how I would take

what he was going to say: that in the last general assembly, when the

affair of the _Yahoos_ was entered upon, the representatives had taken

offence at his keeping a _Yahoo_ (meaning myself) in his family, more

like a _Houyhnhnm_ than a brute animal; that he was known frequently to

converse with me, as if he could receive some advantage or pleasure in

my company; that such a practice was not agreeable to reason or nature,

or a thing ever heard of before among them; the assembly did therefore

exhort him either to employ me like the rest of my species, or command

me to swim back to the place whence I came: that the first of these

expedients was utterly rejected by all the _Houyhnhnms_ who had ever

seen me at his house or their own; for they alleged, that because I had

some rudiments of reason, added to the natural pravity of those

animals, it was to be feared I might be able to seduce them into the

woody and mountainous parts of the country, and bring them in troops by

night to destroy the _Houyhnhnms’_ cattle, as being naturally of the

ravenous kind, and averse from labour.”

My master added, “that he was daily pressed by the _Houyhnhnms_ of the

neighbourhood to have the assembly’s exhortation executed, which he

could not put off much longer. He doubted it would be impossible for me

to swim to another country; and therefore wished I would contrive some

sort of vehicle, resembling those I had described to him, that might

carry me on the sea; in which work I should have the assistance of his

own servants, as well as those of his neighbours.” He concluded, “that

for his own part, he could have been content to keep me in his service

as long as I lived; because he found I had cured myself of some bad

habits and dispositions, by endeavouring, as far as my inferior nature

was capable, to imitate the _Houyhnhnms_.”

I should here observe to the reader, that a decree of the general

assembly in this country is expressed by the word _hnhloayn_, which

signifies an exhortation, as near as I can render it; for they have no

conception how a rational creature can be compelled, but only advised,

or exhorted; because no person can disobey reason, without giving up

his claim to be a rational creature.

I was struck with the utmost grief and despair at my master’s

discourse; and being unable to support the agonies I was under, I fell

into a swoon at his feet. When I came to myself, he told me “that he

concluded I had been dead;” for these people are subject to no such

imbecilities of nature. I answered in a faint voice, “that death would

have been too great a happiness; that although I could not blame the

assembly’s exhortation, or the urgency of his friends; yet, in my weak

and corrupt judgment, I thought it might consist with reason to have

been less rigorous; that I could not swim a league, and probably the

nearest land to theirs might be distant above a hundred: that many

materials, necessary for making a small vessel to carry me off, were

wholly wanting in this country; which, however, I would attempt, in

obedience and gratitude to his honour, although I concluded the thing

to be impossible, and therefore looked on myself as already devoted to

destruction; that the certain prospect of an unnatural death was the

least of my evils; for, supposing I should escape with life by some

strange adventure, how could I think with temper of passing my days

among _Yahoos_, and relapsing into my old corruptions, for want of

examples to lead and keep me within the paths of virtue? That I knew

too well upon what solid reasons all the determinations of the wise

_Houyhnhnms_ were founded, not to be shaken by arguments of mine, a

miserable _Yahoo_; and therefore, after presenting him with my humble

thanks for the offer of his servants’ assistance in making a vessel,

and desiring a reasonable time for so difficult a work, I told him I

would endeavour to preserve a wretched being; and if ever I returned to

England, was not without hopes of being useful to my own species, by

celebrating the praises of the renowned _Houyhnhnms_, and proposing

their virtues to the imitation of mankind.”

My master, in a few words, made me a very gracious reply; allowed me

the space of two months to finish my boat; and ordered the sorrel nag,

my fellow-servant (for so, at this distance, I may presume to call

him), to follow my instruction; because I told my master, “that his

help would be sufficient, and I knew he had a tenderness for me.”

In his company, my first business was to go to that part of the coast

where my rebellious crew had ordered me to be set on shore. I got upon

a height, and looking on every side into the sea, fancied I saw a small

island toward the north-east. I took out my pocket glass, and could

then clearly distinguish it above five leagues off, as I computed; but

it appeared to the sorrel nag to be only a blue cloud: for as he had no

conception of any country beside his own, so he could not be as expert

in distinguishing remote objects at sea, as we who so much converse in

that element.

After I had discovered this island, I considered no further; but

resolved it should, if possible, be the first place of my banishment,

leaving the consequence to fortune.

I returned home, and consulting with the sorrel nag, we went into a

copse at some distance, where I with my knife, and he with a sharp

flint, fastened very artificially after their manner, to a wooden

handle, cut down several oak wattles, about the thickness of a

walking-staff, and some larger pieces. But I shall not trouble the

reader with a particular description of my own mechanics; let it

suffice to say, that in six weeks time with the help of the sorrel nag,

who performed the parts that required most labour, I finished a sort of

Indian canoe, but much larger, covering it with the skins of _Yahoos_,

well stitched together with hempen threads of my own making. My sail

was likewise composed of the skins of the same animal; but I made use

of the youngest I could get, the older being too tough and thick; and I

likewise provided myself with four paddles. I laid in a stock of boiled

flesh, of rabbits and fowls, and took with me two vessels, one filled

with milk and the other with water.

I tried my canoe in a large pond, near my master’s house, and then

corrected in it what was amiss; stopping all the chinks with _Yahoos’_

tallow, till I found it staunch, and able to bear me and my freight;

and, when it was as complete as I could possibly make it, I had it

drawn on a carriage very gently by _Yahoos_ to the sea-side, under the

conduct of the sorrel nag and another servant.

When all was ready, and the day came for my departure, I took leave of

my master and lady and the whole family, my eyes flowing with tears,

and my heart quite sunk with grief. But his honour, out of curiosity,

and, perhaps, (if I may speak without vanity,) partly out of kindness,

was determined to see me in my canoe, and got several of his

neighbouring friends to accompany him. I was forced to wait above an

hour for the tide; and then observing the wind very fortunately bearing

toward the island to which I intended to steer my course, I took a

second leave of my master; but as I was going to prostrate myself to

kiss his hoof, he did me the honour to raise it gently to my mouth. I

am not ignorant how much I have been censured for mentioning this last

particular. Detractors are pleased to think it improbable, that so

illustrious a person should descend to give so great a mark of

distinction to a creature so inferior as I. Neither have I forgotten

how apt some travellers are to boast of extraordinary favours they have

received. But, if these censurers were better acquainted with the noble

and courteous disposition of the _Houyhnhnms_, they would soon change

their opinion.

I paid my respects to the rest of the _Houyhnhnms_ in his honour’s

company; then getting into my canoe, I pushed off from shore.