CHAPTER IV.

THE COUNTRY DESCRIBED. A PROPOSAL FOR CORRECTING MODERN MAPS. THE

KING'S PALACE, AND SOME ACCOUNT OF THE METROPOLIS. THE AUTHOR'S WAY

OF TRAVELLING. THE CHIEF TEMPLE DESCRIBED.

I now intend to give the reader a short description of this country, as

far as I travelled in it, which was not above two thousand miles round

Lorbrulgrud, the metropolis. For the queen, whom I always attended,

never went farther when she accompanied the king in his progresses, and

there staid till his majesty returned from viewing his frontiers. The

whole extent of this prince's dominions reacheth about six thousand

miles in length, and from three to five in breadth. From whence I cannot

but conclude, that our geographers of Europe are in a great error, by

supposing nothing but sea between Japan and California; for it was ever

my opinion, that there must be a balance of earth to counterpoise the

great continent of Tartary; and therefore they ought to correct their

maps and charts, by joining this vast tract of land to the northwest

parts of America, wherein I shall be ready to lend them my assistance.

The kingdom is a peninsula, terminated to the northeast by a ridge of

mountains, thirty miles high, which are altogether impassable, by reason

of the volcanoes upon the tops: neither do the most learned know what

sort of mortals inhabit beyond those mountains, or whether they be

inhabited at all. On the three other sides it is bounded by the ocean.

There is not one sea-port in the whole kingdom, and those parts of the

coasts into which the rivers issue, are so full of pointed rocks, and

the sea generally so rough, that there is no venturing with the smallest

of their boats; so that these people are wholly excluded from any

commerce with the rest of the world.

But the large rivers are full of vessels, and abound with excellent

fish, for they seldom get any from the sea, because the sea-fish are of

the same size with those in Europe, and consequently not worth catching,

whereby it is manifest, that nature, in the production of plants and

animals of so extraordinary a bulk, is wholly confined to this

continent, of which I leave the reasons to be determined by

philosophers. However, now and then, they take a whale, that happens to

be dashed against the rocks, which the common people feed on heartily.

These whales I have known so large, that a man could hardly carry one

upon his shoulders; and sometimes, for curiosity, they are brought in

hampers to Lorbrulgrud: I saw one of them in a dish at the king's table,

which passed for a rarity, but I did not observe he was fond of it; for

I think indeed the bigness disgusted him, although I have seen one

somewhat larger in Greenland.

The country is well inhabited, for it contains fifty-one cities, near a

hundred walled towns, and a great number of villages. To satisfy my

curious reader, it may be sufficient to describe Lorbrulgrud. This city

stands upon almost two equal parts on each side the river that passes

through. It contains above eighty thousand houses, and about six hundred

thousand inhabitants. It is in length three _glomglungs_ (which make

about fifty-four English miles) and two and a half in breadth, as I

measured it myself in the royal map made by the king's order, which was

laid on the ground on purpose for me, and extended a hundred feet: I

paced the diameter and circumference several times barefoot, and,

computing by the scale, measured it pretty exactly.

The king's palace is no regular edifice, but a heap of buildings, about

seven miles round: the chief rooms are generally two hundred and forty

feet high, and broad and long in proportion. A coach was allowed to

Glumdalclitch and me, wherein her governess frequently took her out to

see the town, or go among the shops; and I was always of the party,

carried in my box; although the girl, at my own desire, would often take

me out, and hold me in her hand, that I might more conveniently view the

houses and the people as we passed along the streets, I reckoned our

coach to be about the square of Westminster-hall, but not altogether so

high: however, I cannot be very exact.

Besides the large box in which I was usually carried, the queen ordered

a smaller one to be made for me, of about twelve feet square and ten

high, for the convenience of travelling, because the other was somewhat

too large for Glumdalclitch's lap, and cumbersome in the coach. It was

made by the same artist, whom I directed in the whole contrivance. This

travelling closet was an exact square,[64] with a window in the middle

of three of the squares, and each window was latticed with iron wire on

the outside, to prevent accidents in long journeys. On the fourth side,

which had no window, two strong staples were fixed, through which the

person who carried me, when I had a mind to be on horseback, put a

leathern belt, and buckled it about his waist. This was always the

office of some grave, trusty servant, in whom I could confide, whether I

attended the king and queen in their progresses, or were disposed to see

the gardens, or pay a visit to some great lady or minister of state in

the court; for I soon began to be known and esteemed among the greatest

officers, I suppose more on account of their majesties' favor than any

merit of my own.

In journeys, when I was weary of the coach, a servant on horseback would

buckle on my box, and place it upon a cushion before him; and there I

had a full prospect of the country on three sides from my three windows.

I had in this closet a field-bed, and a hammock hung from the ceiling,

two chairs and a table, neatly screwed to the floor, to prevent being

tossed about by the agitation of the horse or the coach. And having been

long used to sea voyages, those motions, although sometimes very

violent, did not much discompose me.

Whenever I had a mind to see the town, it was always in my travelling

closet, which Glumdalclitch held in her lap, in a kind of open sedan,

after the fashion of the country, borne by four men, and attended by two

others in the queen's livery. The people, who had often heard of me,

were very curious to crowd about the sedan, and the girl was complaisant

enough to make the bearers stop, and to take me in her hand, that I

might be more conveniently seen.

I was very desirous to see the chief temple, and particularly the tower

belonging to it, which is reckoned the highest in the kingdom.

Accordingly, one day my nurse carried me thither, but I must truly say

I came back disappointed; for the height is not above three thousand

feet, reckoning from the ground to the highest pinnacle top; which,

allowing for the difference between the size of those people and us in

Europe, is no great matter for admiration, nor at all equal in

proportion (if I rightly remember) to Salisbury steeple.[65] But, not to

detract from a nation, to which during my life I shall acknowledge

myself extremely obliged, it must be allowed that whatever this famous

tower wants in height is amply made up in beauty and strength. For the

walls are nearly a hundred feet thick, built of hewn stone, whereof each

is about forty feet square, and adorned on all sides with statues of

gods and emperors, cut in marble larger than life, placed in their

several niches. I measured a little finger which had fallen down from

one of these statues, and lay unperceived among some rubbish, and found

it exactly four feet and an inch in length. Glumdalclitch wrapped it up

in her handkerchief and carried it home in her pocket, to keep among

other trinkets, of which the girl was very fond, as children at her age

usually are.

The king's kitchen is indeed a noble building, vaulted at top, and about

six hundred feet high. The great oven is not so wide by ten paces as the

cupola at St. Paul's, for I measured the latter on purpose after my

return. But if I should describe the kitchen-grate, the prodigious pots

and kettles, the joints of meat turning on the spits, with many other

particulars, perhaps I should be hardly believed; at least, a severe

critic would be apt to think I enlarged a little, as travellers are

often suspected to do. To avoid which censure, I fear I have run too

much into the other extreme; and that if this treatise should happen to

be translated into the language of Brobdingnag (which is the general

name of that kingdom) and transmitted thither, the king and his people

would have reason to complain that I had done them an injury, by a false

and diminutive representation.

His majesty seldom keeps above six hundred horses in his stables: they

are generally from fifty-four to sixty feet high. But when he goes

abroad on solemn days, he is attended for state by a militia guard of

five hundred horse, which indeed I thought was the most splendid sight

that could be ever beheld, till I saw part of his army in battalia,[66]

whereof I shall find another occasion to speak.

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