<p class="gutsumm">A grand debate at the general assembly of the
<i>Houyhnhnms</i>, and how it was determined. The learning
of the <i>Houyhnhnms</i>. Their buildings. Their
manner of burials. The defectiveness of their language.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The question to be debated was, “whether the
<i>Yahoos</i> 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 <i>Yahoos</i> 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 <i>Houyhnhnms’</i> 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 <i>Yahoos</i> 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 <i>Yahoos</i> engendered, and
their brood, in a short time, grew so numerous as to overrun and
infest the whole nation; that the <i>Houyhnhnms</i>, to get rid
of this evil, made a general hunting, and at last enclosed the
whole herd; and destroying the elder, every <i>Houyhnhnm</i> 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 <i>yinhniamshy</i> (or <i>aborigines</i> of the
land), because of the violent hatred the <i>Houyhnhnms</i>, 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 <i>aborigines</i>, or else they
would have long since been rooted out; that the inhabitants,
taking a fancy to use the service of the <i>Yahoos</i>, 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 <i>Yahoos</i>.”</p>
<p>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 <i>Yahoos</i> 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 <i>Yahoo</i> (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 <i>Yahoo</i> 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 <i>Yahoos</i> acted as the governing,
rational animal, and held the <i>Houyhnhnms</i> in servitude;
that he observed in me all the qualities of a <i>Yahoo</i>, only
a little more civilized by some tincture of reason, which,
however, was in a degree as far inferior to the <i>Houyhnhnm</i>
race, as the <i>Yahoos</i> of their country were to me; that,
among other things, I mentioned a custom we had of castrating
<i>Houyhnhnms</i> 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
<i>lyhannh</i>, although it be a much larger fowl); that this
invention might be practised upon the younger <i>Yahoos</i> 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 <i>Houyhnhnms</i> 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.”</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>The <i>Houyhnhnms</i> 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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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: it grows very straight, and being pointed
like stakes with a sharp stone (for the <i>Houyhnhnms</i> 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.</p>
<p>The <i>Houyhnhnms</i> 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
<i>Yahoos</i> 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.</p>
<p>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 <i>shnuwnh</i>.
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.</p>
<p>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 <i>Yahoos</i>; 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 <i>Houyhnhnms</i> 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.</p>
<p>I know not whether it may be worth observing, that the
<i>Houyhnhnms</i> 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 <i>Yahoos</i>. 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 <i>Yahoo</i>.
For instance, <i>hhnm Yahoo</i>; <i>whnaholm Yahoo</i>,
<i>ynlhmndwihlma Yahoo</i>, and an ill-contrived house
<i>ynholmhnmrohlnw Yahoo</i>.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<h3>IV - CHAPTER X.</h3>
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