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12 - Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter four, The country described, a proposal for correcting modern maps,
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  Speaker 1: the King's Palace, and some account of the metropolis. The
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  Speaker 1: author's way of traveling the Chief Temple described. I now
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  Speaker 1: intend to give the reader a short description of this country,
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  Speaker 1: as far as I traveled in it, which was not
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  Speaker 1: above two thousand miles round Lauberalgrud, the metropolis, for the Queen,
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  Speaker 1: whom I always attended, never went farther when she was
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  Speaker 1: accompanied the King in his progress, and there stayed till
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  Speaker 1: his Majesty returned from viewing his frontiers. The whole extent
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  Speaker 1: of this prince's dominions reached about six thousand miles in length,
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  Speaker 1: and from three to five in breadth. Whence I cannot
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  Speaker 1: but conclude that our geographers of Europe are in a
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  Speaker 1: great error by supposing nothing but sea between Japan and California.
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  Speaker 1: For it was ever my opinion that there must be
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  Speaker 1: a balance of earth to counterpose the great continent of Tartary,
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  Speaker 1: And therefore they ought to correct their maps and charts
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  Speaker 1: by joining this vast tract of land to the northwest
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  Speaker 1: parts of America, wherein I shall be ready to lend
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  Speaker 1: them my assistance. The Kingdom is a peninsula terminated to
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  Speaker 1: the northeast by a ridge of mountains thirty miles high,
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  Speaker 1: which are altogether impossible by reason of the volcanoes upon
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  Speaker 1: the tops. Neither do most the learned know what sort
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  Speaker 1: of mortals inhabit beyond those mountains, or whether they be
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  Speaker 1: inhabited at all. On the three other sides, it is
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  Speaker 1: bounded by the ocean. There is not one seaport in
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  Speaker 1: the whole kingdom, And those parts of the coasts into
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  Speaker 1: which the rivers issue are so full of pointed rocks,
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  Speaker 1: and the sea generally so rough, that there is no
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  Speaker 1: venturing with the smallest of their boats, so that these
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  Speaker 1: people are wholly excluded from any commerce with the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the world. But the large rivers are full of
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  Speaker 1: vessels and abound with excellent fish, for they seldom get
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  Speaker 1: any from the sea, because the sea fish are on
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  Speaker 1: the same size with those in Europe, and consequently not
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  Speaker 1: worth catching. Whereby it is manifest that nature, in the
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  Speaker 1: production of plants and animals are so extremely a bulk
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  Speaker 1: is wholly confined to this continent, of which I leave
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  Speaker 1: the reasons to be determined by philosophers. However, now and
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  Speaker 1: then they take a whale that happens to be dashed
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  Speaker 1: against the rocks which the common people feed on heartily.
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  Speaker 1: These whales I have known, so large that a man
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  Speaker 1: could hardly carry one upon his shoulders, and sometimes for
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  Speaker 1: curiosity they are brought in hampers to liberal grows. I
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  Speaker 1: saw one of them in a dish at the King's table,
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  Speaker 1: which passed for a rarity, but I did not observe
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  Speaker 1: he was fond of it, for I think indeed the
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  Speaker 1: bigness disgusted him, although I have seen one somewhat larger
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  Speaker 1: in Greenland. The country is well inhabited, for it contains
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  Speaker 1: fifty one cities, near a hundred walled towns, and a
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  Speaker 1: great number of villages. To satisfy my curious reader, it
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  Speaker 1: may be sufficient to describe globeral Grud. This city stands
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  Speaker 1: upon almost two equal parts on each side of the
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  Speaker 1: river that passes through. It contains above eighty thousand houses
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  Speaker 1: and about six hundred thousand inhabitants. It is in length
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  Speaker 1: three glong lungs, which make about fifty four English miles
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  Speaker 1: and two and a half in breadth. As I measured
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  Speaker 1: it myself in the royal map made by the King's order,
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  Speaker 1: which was laid on the ground on purpose for me,
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  Speaker 1: and extended a hundred feet. I paced the diameter and
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  Speaker 1: circumference several times bare foot, and computing by the scale,
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  Speaker 1: measured it pretty exactly. The King's Palace is no regular edifice,
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  Speaker 1: but a heap of buildings about seven miles round. The
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  Speaker 1: chief rooms are generally two hundred and forty feet high,
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  Speaker 1: and broad and long in proportion. The coach was allowed
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  Speaker 1: to Glumdalklitch and me wherein her. Governess frequently took her
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  Speaker 1: out to see the town or go among the shops,
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  Speaker 1: and I was always of the party, carried in my box,
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  Speaker 1: although the girl, at my own desire, would often take
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  Speaker 1: me out and hold me in her hand, that I
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  Speaker 1: might more conveniently view the houses and the people as
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  Speaker 1: we passed along the streets. I reckoned our coach to
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  Speaker 1: be about a square of Westminster, but not altogether so high. However,
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  Speaker 1: I cannot be very exact. One day the Governess ordered
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  Speaker 1: our coachman to stop at several shops, where the beggars,
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  Speaker 1: watching their opportunity, crowded to the sides of the coach,
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  Speaker 1: and gave me the most horrible spectacle that ever a
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  Speaker 1: European eye beheld. There was a woman with a cancer
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  Speaker 1: in her breast, swelled to a monstrous size, full of
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  Speaker 1: holes in two or three of which I could easily
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  Speaker 1: have crept and covered my whole body. There was a
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  Speaker 1: fellow with a wen in his neck larger than five
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  Speaker 1: wool packs, and another with a couple of wooden legs,
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  Speaker 1: each about twenty feet high. But the most hateful sight
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  Speaker 1: of all was the lice crawling on their clothes. I
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  Speaker 1: could see distinctly the limbs of these vermin with my
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  Speaker 1: naked eye, much better than those of a European louse
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  Speaker 1: through a microscope, and their snouts, with which they rooted
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  Speaker 1: like swine. They were the first I had ever beheld,
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  Speaker 1: and I should have been curious enough to dissect one
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  Speaker 1: of them if I had had proper instruments, which I
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  Speaker 1: unluckily left behind me in the ship, although indeed the
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  Speaker 1: sight was so nauseous that it perfectly turned my stomach.
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  Speaker 1: Besides the large box in which I was usually carried,
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  Speaker 1: the Queen ordered a smaller one to be made for me,
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  Speaker 1: of about twelve feet square and ten high, for the
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  Speaker 1: convenience of traveling. Because the other was somewhat too large
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  Speaker 1: for Glumdalklitch's lap and Cumberson in the coach. It was
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  Speaker 1: made by the same artist whom I directed in the
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  Speaker 1: whole contrivance. This traveling closet was an exact square, with
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  Speaker 1: the window in the middle of three of the squares,
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  Speaker 1: and each window was latticed with iron wire on the
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  Speaker 1: outside to prevent accidents in long journeys. On the fourth side,
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  Speaker 1: which had no window, two strong staples were fixed through
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  Speaker 1: which the person that carried me, when I had a
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  Speaker 1: mind to be on horseback, put a leathern belt and
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  Speaker 1: buckled it about his waist. This was always the office
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  Speaker 1: of some grave, trusty servant in whom I could confide
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  Speaker 1: whether I attended the King and Queen in their progresses,
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  Speaker 1: or were disposed to see the gardens, or pay a
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  Speaker 1: visit to some great lady or minister of state in
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  Speaker 1: the court. When Glumdalklitch happened to be out of order,
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  Speaker 1: for I soon began to be known and esteemed among
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  Speaker 1: the greatest officers. I suppose, more upon account of their
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  Speaker 1: Majesty's favor than any merit of my own. In journeys,
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  Speaker 1: when I was weary of the coach, a servant on
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  Speaker 1: horseback would buckle on my box and place it on
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  Speaker 1: a cushion before him, and there I had a full
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  Speaker 1: prospect of the country on three sides from my three windows.
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  Speaker 1: I had in this closet a field bed and a
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  Speaker 1: hammock hung from the ceiling, two chairs and a table
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  Speaker 1: neatly screwed to the floor to prevent being tossed about
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  Speaker 1: by the agitation of the horse or the coach, And
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  Speaker 1: having been long used to see voyages, those motions, although
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  Speaker 1: sometimes very violent, did not much discompose me. Whenever I
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  Speaker 1: had a mind to see the town, it was always
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  Speaker 1: in my traveling closet, which Glumdalklitch held in her lap
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  Speaker 1: in a kind of open sedan after the fashion of
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  Speaker 1: the country, borne by four men and attended by two
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  Speaker 1: others in the queen's livery. The people who had often
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  Speaker 1: heard of me were very curious to crowd about the sedan,
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  Speaker 1: and the girl was complaisant enough to make the bearers
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  Speaker 1: stop and take me in a hand that I might
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  Speaker 1: be more conveniently seen. I was very desirous to see
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  Speaker 1: the chief temple, and particularly the tower belonging to it,
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  Speaker 1: which which is reckoned the highest in the kingdom. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: one day my nurse carried me thither, But I may
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  Speaker 1: truly say I came back disappointed, for the height is
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  Speaker 1: not above three thousand feet reckoning from the ground to
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  Speaker 1: the highest pinnacle top which align for the difference between
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  Speaker 1: the size of those people and us in Europe is
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  Speaker 1: no great matter for redmiration, nor at all equal in proportion.
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  Speaker 1: If I rightly remember to Salisbury' steeple, but not to
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  Speaker 1: detract from a nation to which during my life I
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  Speaker 1: shall acknowledge myself extremely obliged. It must be allowed that
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  Speaker 1: whatever this famous tower wants in height, it is amply
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  Speaker 1: made up in beauty and strength. For the walls a
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  Speaker 1: near one hundred feet thick, built of hewn stone, whereof
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  Speaker 1: each is about forty feet square, and adorned on all
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  Speaker 1: sides with statues of gods and emperors cut in marble
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  Speaker 1: larger than life, placed in several niches. I meationed a
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  Speaker 1: little finger which had fallen down from one of these
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  Speaker 1: statues and lay unperceived among some rubbish, and found it
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  Speaker 1: exactly four feet and an inch in length. Plumder Klitch
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  Speaker 1: wrapped it up in her handkerchief, and carried it home
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  Speaker 1: in her pocket to keep among other trinkets of which
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  Speaker 1: the girl was very fond, as children at her age
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  Speaker 1: usually are. The King's kitchen is indeed a noble building,
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  Speaker 1: vaulted at top and about six hundred feet high. The
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  Speaker 1: great oven is not so wide by ten paces as
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  Speaker 1: a coupel are at Saint Paul's. For I measured the
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  Speaker 1: latter on purpose after my return. But if I should
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  Speaker 1: describe the kitchen grate, the prodigious pots and kettles, the
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  Speaker 1: joints of meat turning on the spits, with many other particulars,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps I should be hard hardly believed. At least a
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  Speaker 1: severe critic would be apt to think I enlarged a little,
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  Speaker 1: as travelers are often suspected to do, to avoid which censor.
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  Speaker 1: I fear I have run too much into the other extreme,
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  Speaker 1: And that of this treatise should happen to be translated
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  Speaker 1: into the language of brobden Nag, which is the general
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  Speaker 1: name of that kingdom, and transmitted thither, the king and
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  Speaker 1: his people would have reason to complain that I'd done
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  Speaker 1: them an injury by a false and diminutive representation. His
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  Speaker 1: Majesty seldom keeps above six hundred horses. In his stables,
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  Speaker 1: they are generally from fifty four to sixty feet high.
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  Speaker 1: But when it goes abroad on solemn days, he is
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  Speaker 1: attended for state by a military guard of five hundred horses,
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  Speaker 1: which indeed I thought was the most splendid sights that
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  Speaker 1: could ever be beheld, till I saw a part of
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  Speaker 1: his army in Battler, where I shall find another occasion
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  Speaker 1: to speak. End of Chapter four, Part two,