CHAPTER IX.
A grand debate at the general assembly of the _Houyhnhnms_, and how itwas 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 monthsbefore my departure, whither my master went as the representative of ourdistrict. In this council was resumed their old debate, and indeed theonly debate that ever happened in their country; whereof my master, afterhis return, give me a very particular account.
The question to be debated was, whether the _Yahoos_ should beexterminated from the face of the earth? One of the members for theaffirmative offered several arguments of great strength and weight,alleging, that as the _Yahoos_ were the most filthy, noisome, anddeformed animals which nature ever produced, so they were the mostrestive and indocible, mischievous and malicious; they would privatelysuck 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 generaltradition, that _Yahoos_ had not been always in their country; but thatmany ages ago, two of these brutes appeared together upon a mountain;whether produced by the heat of the sun upon corrupted mud and slime, orfrom 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 tooverrun and infest the whole nation; that the _Houyhnhnms_, to get rid ofthis evil, made a general hunting, and at last enclosed the whole herd;and destroying the elder, every _Houyhnhnm_ kept two young ones in akennel, and brought them to such a degree of tameness, as an animal, sosavage by nature, can be capable of acquiring, using them for draught andcarriage; that there seemed to be much truth in this tradition, and thatthose creatures could not be _yinhniamshy_ (or _aborigines_ of the land),because of the violent hatred the _Houyhnhnms_, as well as all otheranimals, bore them, which, although their evil disposition sufficientlydeserved, could never have arrived at so high a degree if they had been_aborigines_, or else they would have long since been rooted out; thatthe inhabitants, taking a fancy to use the service of the _Yahoos_, had,very imprudently, neglected to cultivate the breed of asses, which are acomely animal, easily kept, more tame and orderly, without any offensivesmell, strong enough for labour, although they yield to the other inagility of body, and if their braying be no agreeable sound, it is farpreferable to the horrible howlings of the _Yahoos_.
Several others declared their sentiments to the same purpose, when mymaster proposed an expedient to the assembly, whereof he had indeedborrowed the hint from me. He approved of the tradition mentioned bythe honourable member who spoke before, and affirmed, that the two_Yahoos_ said to be seen first among them, had been driven thither overthe sea; that coming to land, and being forsaken by their companions,they retired to the mountains, and degenerating by degrees, became inprocess of time much more savage than those of their own species in thecountry whence these two originals came. The reason of this assertionwas, that he had now in his possession a certain wonderful _Yahoo_(meaning myself) which most of them had heard of, and many of them hadseen. He then related to them how he first found me; that my body wasall covered with an artificial composure of the skins and hairs of otheranimals; that I spoke in a language of my own, and had thoroughly learnedtheirs; 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 everypart, only of a whiter colour, less hairy, and with shorter claws. Headded, how I had endeavoured to persuade him, that in my own and othercountries, the _Yahoos_ acted as the governing, rational animal, and heldthe _Houyhnhnms_ in servitude; that he observed in me all the qualitiesof 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, Imentioned a custom we had of castrating _Houyhnhnms_ when they wereyoung, in order to render them tame; that the operation was easy andsafe; that it was no shame to learn wisdom from brutes, as industry istaught by the ant, and building by the swallow (for so I translate theword _lyhannh_, although it be a much larger fowl); that this inventionmight be practised upon the younger _Yahoos_ here, which besidesrendering them tractable and fitter for use, would in an age put an endto 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 thisadvantage, to be fit for service at five years old, which the others arenot till twelve.
This was all my master thought fit to tell me, at that time, of whatpassed in the grand council. But he was pleased to conceal oneparticular, which related personally to myself, whereof I soon felt theunhappy effect, as the reader will know in its proper place, and whence Idate all the succeeding misfortunes of my life.
The _Houyhnhnms_ have no letters, and consequently their knowledge is alltraditional. But there happening few events of any moment among a peopleso well united, naturally disposed to every virtue, wholly governed byreason, and cut off from all commerce with other nations, the historicalpart is easily preserved without burdening their memories. I havealready observed that they are subject to no diseases, and therefore canhave no need of physicians. However, they have excellent medicines,composed of herbs, to cure accidental bruises and cuts in the pastern orfrog of the foot, by sharp stones, as well as other maims and hurts inthe several parts of the body.
They calculate the year by the revolution of the sun and moon, but use nosubdivisions into weeks. They are well enough acquainted with themotions 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 thejustness of their similes, and the minuteness as well as exactness oftheir descriptions, are indeed inimitable. Their verses abound very muchin both of these, and usually contain either some exalted notions offriendship and benevolence or the praises of those who were victors inraces and other bodily exercises. Their buildings, although very rudeand simple, are not inconvenient, but well contrived to defend them fromall injuries of cold and heat. They have a kind of tree, which at fortyyears old loosens in the root, and falls with the first storm: it growsvery straight, and being pointed like stakes with a sharp stone (for the_Houyhnhnms_ know not the use of iron), they stick them erect in theground, about ten inches asunder, and then weave in oat straw, orsometimes 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 oftheir fore-foot, as we do our hands, and this with greater dexterity thanI could at first imagine. I have seen a white mare of our family threada needle (which I lent her on purpose) with that joint. They milk theircows, reap their oats, and do all the work which requires hands, in thesame manner. They have a kind of hard flints, which, by grinding againstother stones, they form into instruments, that serve instead of wedges,axes, and hammers. With tools made of these flints, they likewise cuttheir hay, and reap their oats, which there grow naturally in severalfields; the _Yahoos_ draw home the sheaves in carriages, and the servantstread them in certain covered huts to get out the grain, which is kept instores. They make a rude kind of earthen and wooden vessels, and bakethe former in the sun.
If they can avoid casualties, they die only of old age, and are buried inthe obscurest places that can be found, their friends and relationsexpressing neither joy nor grief at their departure; nor does the dyingperson discover the least regret that he is leaving the world, any morethan if he were upon returning home from a visit to one of hisneighbours. I remember my master having once made an appointment with afriend and his family to come to his house, upon some affair ofimportance: on the day fixed, the mistress and her two children came verylate; she made two excuses, first for her husband, who, as she said,happened that very morning to _shnuwnh_. The word is strongly expressivein 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 whileconsulting her servants about a convenient place where his body should belaid; and I observed, she behaved herself at our house as cheerfully asthe rest. She died about three months after.
They live generally to seventy, or seventy-five years, very seldom tofourscore. Some weeks before their death, they feel a gradual decay; butwithout 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 incomputing, they return the visits that have been made them by those whoare nearest in the neighbourhood, being carried in a convenient sledgedrawn 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 anyaccident: and therefore when the dying _Houyhnhnms_ return those visits,they take a solemn leave of their friends, as if they were going to someremote part of the country, where they designed to pass the rest of theirlives.
I know not whether it may be worth observing, that the _Houyhnhnms_ haveno word in their language to express any thing that is evil, except whatthey borrow from the deformities or ill qualities of the _Yahoos_. Thusthey denote the folly of a servant, an omission of a child, a stone thatcuts their feet, a continuance of foul or unseasonable weather, and thelike, by adding to each the epithet of _Yahoo_. For instance, _hhnmYahoo_; _whnaholm Yahoo_, _ynlhmndwihlma Yahoo_, and an ill-contrivedhouse _ynholmhnmrohlnw Yahoo_.
I could, with great pleasure, enlarge further upon the manners andvirtues of this excellent people; but intending in a short time topublish a volume by itself, expressly upon that subject, I refer thereader thither; and, in the mean time, proceed to relate my own sadcatastrophe.