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19 - Gulliver's Travels - Jonathan Swift · Classic Adventure Books Library

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  Chapter three, a phenomenon solved by modern philosophy and astronomy, the Aputi's great
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  improvements in the latter the King's method of suppressing insurrections. I desired leave of
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  this Prince to see the curiosities of the island, which he was graciously pleased
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  to grant, and ordered my tutor to attend me. I chiefly wanted to
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  know to what cause, in art or in nature it owed its several motions,
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  whereof I will now give a philosophical account to the reader. The flying
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  off floating island is exactly circular, its diameters seven thousand, eight hundred thirty
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  seven yards or about four miles and a half, and consequently contains ten thousand
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  acres. It is three hundred yards thick. The bottom or under surface,
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  which appears to those who view it below, is one even regular plate of
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  adamant, shooting up to the height of about two hundred yards. Above it
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  lie the several minerals in their usual order, and over all is a coat
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  of rich mold ten or twelve feet deep. The declivity of the upper surface
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  from the circumference to the centre is the natural cause by all the Jews and
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  rains which fall upon the island are conveyed in small rivulets towards the middle,
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  where they are emptied into four large basins, each of about half a mile
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  in circuit and two hundred yards distant from the center. From these basins,
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  the water is continually exhaled by the sun in the daytime, which effectually prevents
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  their overflowing. Besides, as it is in the power of the monarch to
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  raise the island above the rain of clouds and vapors, he can prevent the
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  falling of dews and rain whenever he pleases. For the highest clouds cannot rise
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  above two miles, as naturalists are, at least they were never known to
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  do so. In that country. At the center of the island there is
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  a chasm about fifty yards in diameter, whence the astronomers descend into a large
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  dome, which is thereof called Flandona Gagnol, or the Astronomer's cave, situated
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  at the depth of one hundred yards beneath the upper surface of the adamant.
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  In this cave are twenty lamps continually burning, which, from the reflection of
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  the adamant, cast a strong light into every part the place is stored with
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  great variety of sextants, quadrants, telescopes, astrolabs, and other astronomical instruments.
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  But the greatest curiosity upon which the fate of the island depends is a
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  loadstone of a prodigious size in shape resembling a weaver's shuttle. It is in
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  length six yards and in the thickest part of it least three yards over.
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  This magnet is sustained by a very strong axle of adamant passing through its middle,
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  upon which it plays and is poised so exactly that the weakest hand can
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  turn it. It is hooped round with a hollow cylinder of adamant four feet
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  yards in diameter, placed horizontally and supported by eight adamantin feet each six yards
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  high. In the middle of the concave side. There is a groove twelve
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  inches deep in which the extremities of the axle are lodged and turned around as
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  there is occasion. The stone cannot be removed from its place by any force,
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  because the hoop and its feet are one continued piece with that body of
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  adamant which constitutes the bottom of the island. By means of this loadstone,
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  the island is made to rise and fall, and move from one place to
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  another. For with respect to that part of the earth over which the monarch
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  presides, the stone is endured at one side of its side with an attractive
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  power, and at the other with a repulsive upon place in the magnet.
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  Erect with its attracting end towards the earth, the island descends. But when
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  the repelling extremity points downwards, the island bounds directly upwards. When the position
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  of the stone is oblique, the motion of the island is too, for
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  in this magnet the forces always act in lines parallel to its direction. By
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  this oblique motion, the island is conveyed to different parts of the monarch's dominions.
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  To explain the manner of its progress, let a B represent a line
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  drawn across the dominions of Banna Barbi. Let the line CD represent the loadstone,
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  of which D be the repelling end, and C the attracting en,
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  and the island being over capital C. Let the stone be placed in position
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  C D with its repelling end downwards. Then the island will be driven upwards
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  obliquely towards capital D. When it has arrived at capital D, let the
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  stone be turned upon its axil till the attracting end points towards E, and
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  then the island will be carried obliquely towards E. Where if the stone being
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  again turned upon its axil till it stands in the position e F, with
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  its repelling point downwards, the island will rise obliquely towards F. Where by
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  directing the attracting end towards G, the island may be carried to G,
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  and from G to H. By turning the stone so as to make its
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  repelling extremity to point directly downwards, and thus by changing the situation of the
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  stone, as often as there is occasion, the island is made to rise
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  and fall by turns in an oblique direction, and by those alternate risings and
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  fallings, the obliquity, being not considerable, is conveyed from one part of
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  the dominions to the other. But it must be observed that this island cannot
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  move beyond the extent of the dominions below, nor can it rise above the
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  height of four miles, for which the astronomers who have written large systems concerning
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  the stone as sign the following reason that the magnetic virtue does not extend beyond
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  the distance of four miles, and that the mineral which acts upon the stone
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  in the bowels of the earth and in the sea about six leagues distance from
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  the shore, is not diffused through the whole globe, but terminated with the
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  limits of the king's dominions. And it was easy, from the great advantage
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  of such a superior situation for a prince to bring under his obedience whatever country
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  lay within the attraction of that magnet. When the stone is put parallel to
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  the plane of the horizon, the islands stand still, for in that case
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  the extremities of it, being at equal distance from the earth, act with
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  equal force, the one in drawing downwards, the other in pushing upwards,
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  and consequently no motion can ensue. This load. Stone is under the care
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  of certain astronomers, who, from time to time gimmit such positions as the
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  Monarch directs. They spend the greatest part of their lives and observe in the
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  celestial bodies, which they do by the assistance of glasses far excelling hours and
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  goodness, for although their largest telescopes do not exceed three feet, they magnify
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  much more than those of a hundred with us, and show the stars with
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  greater clears. This advantage has enabled them to extend their discoveries much further than
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  now astronomers in Europe, For they have made a catalog of ten thousand fixed
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  stars, whereas the largest of ours do not contain above one third part of
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  that number. They have likewise discovered two lesser stars or satellites, which revolve
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  about Mars, whereof the innermost is distant from the center of the primary planet
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  exactly three of his diameters, and the outermost five. The former revolves in
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  the space of ten hours, and the latter in twenty one and a half,
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  so that the squares the periodical times are very near in the same proportion
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  with the cubes of their distance from the center of Mars, which evidently shows
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  them to be governed by the same law of gravitation that influences the other heavenly
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  bodies. They have observed ninety three different comets and settled their periods with great
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  exactness. If this be true, and they affirm it with great confidence,
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  it is much to be wished that their observations were made public. Whereby the
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  theory of comets, which at present is very lame and defective, might be
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  brought to the same perfection with other arts of astronomy. The king would be
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  the most absolute prince in the universe if he could but fail on the ministry
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  to join with him. But these, having their estates below on the continent,
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  and considering that the office of a favorite has a very uncertain tenure,
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  would never consent to the enslaving of their country. If any town should engage
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  in rebellion or mutiny, fall into violent factions, or refuse to pay the
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  usual tribute, the king as two methods of reducing them to obedience. The
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  first and mildest course is by keep in the island hovering over such a town
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  and the lands about it, whereby he can deprive them of the benefit of
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  the sun and the rain, and consequently afflict the inhabitants with dearth and disease.
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  And if the crime deserve it, they are at the same time pelted
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  from above with great stones, against which they have no defense, but by
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  creeping into cellars or caves, while the roofs of their houses are beaten to
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  pieces. But if they still continue obstinate or offer to raise insurrections, he
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  proceeds to the last remedy by letting the island drop directly upon their heads,
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  which makes a universal destruction, both of houses and men. However, this
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  is an extremity to which the Prince is seldom driven. Neither indeed is he
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  willing to put it in execution, nor dare his ministers advise him to an
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  action which, as it would render them odious to the people, so it
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  would be a great damage to their own estates, which all lie below,
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  for the island as the king's domain. But there is still, indeed a
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  more weighty reason. Wings of this country have always been averse from executing so
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  terrible an action, unless upon the utmost necessity. For if the town intended
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  to be destroyed should have in it any tall rocks, as it generally falls
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  out in the largest cities, a situation probably chosen at first with a view
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  to prevent such a catastrophe, Or if it abound in high spires or pillars
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  of stone, a sudden full might endanger the bottom or under surface of the
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  island, which, although it couldsist, as I have said, of one
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  entire adamant two hundred yards thick, might happen to crack by too great a
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  shock or burst, by approaching two near the fires from the houses below,
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  as the backs both of iron and stone, will often do in our chimneys.
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  Of all this, the people are well appraised and understand how far to
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  carry their obstinacy where their liberty or property is concerned. And the King,
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  when he is highest provoked and most determined to press a city to rubbish,
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  orders the island to descend with great gentleness, out of a pretense of tenderness
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  to his people, but indeed for fear of break in the adamantine bottom,
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  in which case it is the opinion of all the philosophers that the lodestone could
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  no longer hold it up, and the whole mass would fall to the ground.
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  By a fundamental lore of this realm, neither the King nor either of
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  his two eldest sons are permitted to leave the island, nor the Queen till
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  she is past child bearing end Apart three. Chapter three