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28 - Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift · Classic Adventure Books Collection

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  Part four, A Voyage to the Country of the Whinnams. Chapter one,
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  the author sets out as captain of a ship. His men conspire against him,
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  confine him a long time to his cabin, and set him on shore
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  in an unknown land. He travels up into the country the Aa, who's
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  a strange sort of animal described the author meets two Whinnams. I continued at
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  home with my wife and children about five months, in a very happy condition.
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  If I could have learned the lesson of knowing when I was well,
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  I left my poor wife, big with child, and accepted an advantageous offer
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  made me to be captain of the Adventurer, a stout merchantman of three hundred
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  and fifty tons, For I understood navigation well, and being grown weary of
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  a surgeon's employment at sea, which however, I could exercise upon occasion,
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  I took a skillful young man of that calling, one Robert Purefoy, into
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  my ship. We set sail from Portsmouth upon the seventh day of September seventeen
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  ten. On the fourteenth who met with Captain Pocock of Bristol at Tenerife,
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  who was going to the Bay of Campeachy to cut Logwood. On the sixteenth
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  he was parted from us by a storm. I heard since my return that
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  his ship founded, and none escaped but one cabin boy. He was an
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  honest man and a good sailor, but a little too positive in his own
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  opinions, which was the cause of his destruction, as it has been with
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  several others, For if he had followed my advice, he might have been
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  safe at home with his family. At this time, as well as myself,
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  I had several men who died in my ship of Callynchers, so that
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  I was forced to get recruits out of Barbados and the Leeward Islands where I
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  touched by the direction of the merchants roomy me, which I had soon too
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  much cause to repent, for I found afterwards that most of them had been
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  buccaneers. I had fifty hands on board, and my orders were that I
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  should trade with the Indians in the South Sea and make what discoveries I could.
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  These rogues, whom I had picked up, debauched my other men,
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  and they all formed a conspiracy to seize the ship and secure me, which
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  they did one morning, rushing into my cabin and binding me hand and foot.
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  Threatening to throw me overboard if I offered to stir. I told them
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  I was their prisoner and would submit this. They made me swear to do,
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  and then they unbound me, only fastening one of my legs of a
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  chain near my bed, and placed a sentry at my door with his peace
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  charged, who was commanded to shoot me dead if I attempted my liberty.
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  They sent me own victuals and drink, and took the government of the ship
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  to themselves. Their design was to turn pirates and plunder the Spaniards, which
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  they could not do till they got more men. But first they resolved to
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  sell the goods in the ship and then go to Madagascar for recruits, several
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  among them having died since my confinement. They sailed many weeks and traded with
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  the Indians. But I knew not what course they took, being kept a
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  prisoner in my cabin and expecting nothing less than to be murdered, as they
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  often threatened me. Upon the ninth day of May seventeen eleven, one James
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  Welch came down to my cabin and said he had orders from the captain to
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  set me ashore. I expostulated with him, but in vain. Neither would
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  he so much as tell me who their new captain was. They forced me
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  into the long boat, let me put on my best suit of clothes,
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  which were as good as new, and take a small bundle of linen,
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  but no arms except my hanger. And they were so civil as not to
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  search my pockets, into which I conveyed what money I had, with some
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  other little necessaries. They rode about a league and then set me down on
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  a strand. I desired them to tell me what country it was. They
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  all swore they knew no more than myself, but said that the captain,
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  as they called him, was resolved after they had sold the ladding to get
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  rid of me in the first place where they could discover land. They pushed
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  off, immediately, advising me to make haste for fear of being overtaken by
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  the tide, and so bade me farewell in this desolate condition. I advanced
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  forward and soon got upon firm ground, where I sat down on a bank
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  to rest myself and consider what I had best do. When I was a
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  little refreshed, I went up into the country, resolving to deliver myself to
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  the first savages I should meet, and purchase my life from them by some
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  bracelets, glass rings, and other toys which sailors usually provide themselves with in
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  those voyages, and whereof I had some about me. The land was divided
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  by long rows of trees, not regularly planted, but naturally growing. There
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  was great plenty of grass and several fields of oats. I walked very circumspectully,
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  for fear of being surprised or suddenly shot with an arrow from behind or
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  on either side. I fell into a beaten road, where I saw many
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  tracks of human feet, and some of cows, but most of horses.
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  At last I beheld several animals in a field, and one or two of
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  the same kind sitting in trees. Their shape was very singular and deformed,
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  which a little discomposed me, so that I lay down behind a thicket to
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  observe them better. Some of them, coming forward near the place where I
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  lay, gave me an opportunity of distinctly making their form. Their heads and
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  breasts were covered with a thick hair, some frizzled and others lank. They
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  had beards like goats, and a long ridge of hair down their backs and
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  the foreparts of their legs, and feet, but the rest of their bodies
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  was bare, so that I might see their skins, which were of a
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  brown buff color. They had no tails, nor any hair at all on
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  their buttocks, except about the anus, which I presume nature had planted there
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  to defend them as they sat on the ground. For this posture they used
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  as well as lying down, and often stood on their hind feet. They
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  climbed high trees as nimbly as a squirrel, for they had strong, extended
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  claws before and behind, terminating in sharp points, and hooked. They would
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  often spring and bound and leap with prodigious agility. The females were not so
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  large as the males. They had long, lank hair on their heads,
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  but none on their faces, nor anything more than a sort of down on
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  the rest of their bodies, except about the anus and pudenda. The dogs
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  hung between their fore feet and often reached almost to the ground as they walked.
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  The hair of both sexes was of several colors, brown, red,
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  black, and yellow. Upon the whole. I never beheld in all my
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  travels so disagreeable an animal, or one against which I naturally conceived so strong
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  an antipathy, so that, thinking I had seen enough. Full of contempt
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  and aversion, I got up and pursued the beaten road, hoping it might
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  direct me to the cabin of some Indian. I had not got far when
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  I met one of these creatures, full in my way and coming up directly
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  to me. The ugly monster, when he saw me, distorted several ways
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  every feature of his visage and steared as at an object he had never seen
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  before. Then, approaching nearer, lifted up his forepow. Whether out of
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  curiosity or mischief, I could not tell, But I drew my hanger and
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  gave him a good blow with the flat side of it, for I durst
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  not strike with the edge, fearing the inhabitants might be provoked against me if
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  they should come to know that I had killed or maimed any of their cattle.
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  When the beast felt the smart he drew back and roared so loud that
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  I heard of at least forty came flocking about me from the next field,
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  howling and making odious faces. But I ran to the body of a tree,
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  and, leaning my back against it, kept them off by waving my
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  hanger. Several of this cursed brew getting hold of the branches behind leaped up
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  into the tree, whence they began to discharge their excrements on my head.
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  However, I escaped pretty well by sticking close to the stem of the tree,
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  but was almost stifled with the filth which fell about me on every side.
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  In the midst of this distress, I observed them all to run away
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  on a sudden as fast as they could, at which I ventured to leave
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  the tree and pursue the road, wondering what it was that could put them
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  into this fright. But looking on my left hand, I saw a horse
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  walking softly in the field, which my persecutors, having sooner discovered, was
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  the cause of their flight. The horse started a little when he came near
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  me, but soon recovering himself, looked full in my face with manifest tokens
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  of wonder. He viewed my hands and feet walking round me. Several times.
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  I would have pursued my journey, but he placed himself directly in the
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  way, yet looking with a very mild aspect, never offering the least violence.
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  We stood gazing at each other for some time. At last I took
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  the boldness to reach my hand towards his neck, with a design to stroke
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  it using the common style and whistle of jockeys when they are going to handle
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  a strange horse. But this strange animal seemed to receive my civilities with disdain,
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  shook his head and bent his brows, softly, raising up his right
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  forefoot to remove my hand. Then he neighed three or four times, but
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  in so different accadence that I began to think he was speaking to himself in
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  some language of his own. While he and I were thus employed, another
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  horse came up, who, applying himself to the first, in a very
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  formal manner, they gently struck each other's right hoof, before neighing several times,
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  by turns and varying the sound, which seemed to be almost articulate.
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  They went some paces off, as if it were to confer together, walking
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  side by side, backward and forward, like persons deliberating upon some affair of
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  weight, but often turning their eyes towards me, as if it were to
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  watch that I might not escape. I was amazed to see such actions and
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  behavior in brute beasts, and concluded with myself that if the inhabitants of this
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  country were endued with a proportional degree of reason, they must needs be the
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  wisest people upon earth. This thought gave me so much comfort that I resolved
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  to go forward until I could discover some house or village, or meet with
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  any of the natives, leaving the two horses to discourse together as they pleased.
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  But the first, who was a dapple gray, observed having me to
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  steal off, nade after me in so expressive a tone that I fancied myself
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  to understand what he meant. Whereupon I turned back and came near to him
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  to expect his father commands, but concealing my fear as much as I could,
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  for I began to be in some pain. How this adventure might terminate,
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  and the reader will easily believe I did not much like my present situation.
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  The two horses came up close to me, looking with great earnestness upon
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  my face and hands. The gray steed rubbed my hat all around with his
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  right forehoof and discomposed it so much that I was forced to adjust it better
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  by taking it off and settling it again, whereat both he and his companion,
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  who was a brown bay, appeared to be much surprised. The latter
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  felt the lappet of my coat, and finding it to hang loose about me.
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  They both looked with new signs of wonder. He stroked my right hand,
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  seeming to admire the softness and color, but he squeezed it so hard
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  between his hoof and his pastern that I was forced to roar, after which
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  they both touched me with all possible tenderness. They were under great perplexity about
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  my shoes and stockings, which they felt, very often neighing to each other
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  and using various gestures, not unlike those of a philosopher when he would attempt
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  to solve some new and difficult phenomenon. Upon the whole, the behavior of
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  these animals was so orderly and rational, so acute and judicious, that I
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  at last concluded they must needs be magicians who had thus metamorphosed to themselves upon
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  some design, and seeing a stranger in the way, resolved to divert themselves
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  with him, or perhaps were really amazed at the sight of a man so
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  very different in habit, feature and complet from those who might probably live in
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  so remote a climate. Upon the strength of this reasoning, I ventured to
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  address them in the following manner. Gentlemen, if you be conjurers, as
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  I have good cause to believe you can understand my language. Therefore I make
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  bold to let your worships know the I'm a poor, distressed Englishman, driven
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  by his misfortunes upon your coast, and I entreat one of you to let
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  me ride upon his back, as if you were a real horse, to
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  some house or village where I can be relieved. In return of which favor,
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  I will make you a present of this knife and bracelet. Taken them
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  out of my pocket. The two greatiors stood silent while I spoke, seeming
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  to listen with great attention, and when I had ended, they neighed frequently
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  towards each other, as if they were engaged in serious conversation. I plainly
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  observed that their language expres rest the passions very well, and the words might,
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  with little pains, be resolved into an alphabet more easily than the Chinese.
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  I could frequently distinguish the word yahoo, which was repeated by each of
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  them several times, And although it was impossible for me to conjecture what it
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  meant, yet, while the two horses were busy in conversation, I endeavored
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  to practice this word upon my tongue, And as soon as they were silent,
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  I boldly pronounced yahoo in a loud voice, imitating at the same time
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  as near as I could, the neighing of a horse, at which they
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  were both visibly surprised, and the gray repeated the same word twice, as
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  if he meant to teach me the right accent. Wherein I spoke after him
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  as well as I could, and found myself perceivably to improve every time,
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  though very far from any degree of perfection. The Bay tried me with a
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  second word, much harder to be pronounced, but reducing it to the English
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  orthography, may be spelt thus hinnum. I did not succeed in this so
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  well as in the former, but after two or three father trials, I
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  had better fortune, and they both appeared amazed at my capacity. After some
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  further discourse, which I then conjectured might relate to me, the two friends
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  took their leave with the same compliment of striking each other's hoof, and the
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  gray made me signs that I should walk before him, wherein I thought it
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  prudent to comply till I could find a better director. When I offered to
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  slacken my pace, he would cry hum hum. I guessed his meaning and
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  gave him to understand as well as I could, that I was weary and
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  not able to walk faster upon which he would stand awhile to let me rest
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  end Apart four, Chapter one,