SUMMARY : The Author's great Love of his Native Country. His Master's Observations upon the Constitution and Administration of England, as described by the Author, with parallel Cases and Comparisons. His Master's Observations upon human Nature.

 THE READER may be disposed to wonder how I could prevail on myself to give so free a Representation of my own
Species, among a Race of Mortals who were already too apt to conceive the vilest Opinion of human Kind from that entire
Congruity betwixt me and their Yahoos. But I must freely confess, that the many Virtues of those excellent Quadrupeds placed
in opposite View to human Corruptions, had so far opened my Eyes and enlightened my Understanding, that I began to view
the Actions and Passions of Man in a very different Light, and to think the Honour of my own Kind not worth managing; which,
besides, it was impossible for me to do before a Person of so acute a Judgment as my Master, who daily convinced me of a
thousand Faults in myself, whereof I had not the least Perception before, and which among us would never be numbered even
among human Infirmities, I had likewise learned from his Example an utter Detestation of all Falsehood or Disguise; and Truth
appeared so amiable to me, that I determined upon sacrificing every thing to it.

 Let me deal so candidly with the Reader, as to confess, that there was yet a much stronger Motive for the Freedom I took in
my Representation of Things. I had not been a Year in this Country, before I contracted such a Love and Veneration for the
Inhabitants, that I entered on a firm Resolution, never to return to human Kind, but to pass the rest of my Life among these
admirable Houyhnhnms in the Contemplation and Practice of every Virtue; where I could have no Example or Incitement to
Vice. But it was decreed by Fortune, my perpetual Enemy, that so great a Felicity should not fall to my Share. However, it is
now some Comfort to reflect, that in what I said of my Countrymen, I extenuated their Faults as much as I durst before so
strict an Examiner, and upon every Article, gave as favourable a Turn as the Matter would bear. For, indeed, who is there
alive that will not be swayed by his Byass and Partiality to the Place of his Birth?

 I have related the Substance of several Conversations I had with my Master, during the greatest part of the Time I had the
Honour to be in his Service, but have indeed for Brevity sake omitted much more than is here set down.

 When I had answered all his Questions, and his Curiosity seemed to be fully satisfied; he sent for me one Morning early, and
commanded me to sit down at some Distance, (an Honour which he had never before conferred upon me) he said, He had
been very seriously considering my whole Story, as far as it related both to myself and my Country: That he looked upon us as
sort of Animals to whose Share, by what Accident he could not conjecture, some small Pittance of Reason had fallen, whereof
we made no other Use than by its Assistance to aggravate our natural Corruptions, and to acquire new ones which Nature had
not given us: That we disarmed ourselves of the few Abilities she had bestowed, had been very successful in multiplying our
original Wants, and seemed to spend our whole Lives in vain Endeavours to supply them by our own Inventions. That as to
myself, it was manifest I had neither the Strength or Agility of a common Yahoo, that I walked infirmly on my hinder Feet, had
found out a Contrivance to make my Claws of no Use or Defence, and to remove the Hair from my Chin, which was intended
as a shelter from the Sun and the Weather. Lastly, That I could neither run with Speed, nor climb Trees like my Brethren (as
he called them) the Yahoos in this Country.

 That our Institutions of Government and Law were plainly owing to our gross Defects in Reason, and by Consequence, in
Vertue; because Reason alone is sufficient to govern a Rational Creature; which was therefore a Character we had no
Pretense to challenge, even from the Account I had given of my own People, although he manifestly perceived, that in order to
favour them, I had concealed many Particulars, and often said the Thing which was not.

 He was the more confirmed in this Opinion, because he observed, that as I agreed in every Feature of my Body with other
Yahoos, except where it was to my real Disadvantage in point of Strength, Speed and Activity, the shortness of my Claws, and
some other Particulars where Nature had no Part; so from the Representation I had given him of our Lives, our Manners, and
our Actions, he found as near a Resemblance in the Disposition of our Minds. He said the Yahoos were known to hate one
another more than they did any different Species of Animals; and the Reason usually assigned, was the Odiousness of their own
Shapes, which all could see in the rest, but not in themselves. He had therefore begun to think it not unwise in us to cover our
Bodies, and by that Invention, conceal many of our own Deformities from each other, which would else be hardly supportable.
But, he now found he had been mistaken, and that the Dissensions of those Brutes in his Country were owing to the same
Cause with ours, as I had described them. For, if (said he) you throw among Five Yahoos as much Food as would be sufficient
for Fifty, they will, instead of eating peaceably, fall together by the Ears, each single one impatient to have all to itself; and
therefore a Servant was usually employed to stand by while they were feeding abroad, and those kept at home were tied at a
Distance from each other: that if a Cow died of Age or Accident, before a Houyhnhnm could secure it for his own Yahoos,
those in the Neighbourhood would come in Herds to seize it, and then would ensue such a Battle as I had described, with
terrible Wounds made by their Claws on both Sides, although they seldom were able to kill one another, for want of such
convenient Instruments of Death as we had invented. At other times the like Battles have been fought between the Yahoos of
several Neighbourhoods without any visible Cause: Those of one District watching all Opportunities to surprize the next before
they are prepared. But if they find their Project hath miscarried, they return home, and for want of Enemies, engage in what I
call a Civil War among themselves.

 That in some Fields of his Country there are certain shining Stones of several Colours, whereof the Yahoos are violently fond,
and when part of these Stones is fixed in the Earth, as it sometimes happeneth, they will dig with their Claws for whole Days to
get them out, then carry them away, and hide them by Heaps in their Kennels; but still looking round with great Caution, for
Fear their Comrades should find out their Treasure. My Master said, he could never discover the Reason of this unnatural
Appetite, or how these Stones could be of any Use to a Yahoo; but now he believed it might proceed from the same Principle
of Avarice which I had ascribed to Mankind: that he had once, by way of Experiment, privately removed a Heap of these
Stones from the Place where one of his Yahoos had buried it: Whereupon, the sordid Animal missing his Treasure, by his loud
lamenting brought the whole Herd to the Place, there miserably howled, then fell to biting and tearing the rest, began to pine
away, would neither eat, nor sleep, nor work, till he ordered a Servant privately to convey the Stones into the same Hole, and
hide them as before; which when his Yahoo had found, he presently recovered his Spirits and good Humour, but took good
Care to remove them to a better hiding-place, and hath ever since been a very serviceable Brute.

 My Master farther assured me, which I also observed myself, that in the Fields where the shining Stones abound, the fiercest
and most frequent Battles are fought, occasioned by perpetual inroads of the neighbouring Yahoos.

 He said, it was common when two Yahoos discovered such a Stone in a Field, and were contending which of them should be
the Proprietor, a third would take the Advantage, and carry it away from them both; which my Master would needs contend to
have some kind of Resemblance with our Suits at Law; wherein I thought it for our Credit not to undeceive him; since the
Decision he mentioned was much more equitable than many Decrees among us: Because the Plaintiff and Defendant there lost
nothing beside the Stone they contended for, whereas our Courts of Equity, would never have dismissed the Cause while
either of them had any thing left.

 My Master, continuing his Discourse, said, There was nothing that rendered the Yahoos more odious, than their
undistinguishing Appetite to devour every Thing that came in their way, whether Herbs, Roots, Berries, the corrupted Flesh of
Animals, or all mingled together: And it was peculiar in their Temper, that they were fonder of what they could get by Rapine or
Stealth at a greater Distance, than much better Food provided for them at home. If their Prey held out, they would eat till they
were ready to burst, after which Nature had pointed out to them a certain Root that gave them a general Evacuation.

 There was also another kind of Root very juicy, but somewhat rare and difficult to be found, which the Yahoos sought for with
much Eagerness, and would suck it with great Delight; and it produced in them the same Effects that Wine hath upon us. It
would make them sometimes hug, sometimes tear one another, they would howl and grin, and chatter, and tumble, and then fall
asleep in the Dirt.

 I did indeed observe, that the Yahoos were the only Animals in this Country subject to any Diseases; which however, were
much fewer than Horses have among us, and contracted not by any ill Treatment they meet with, but by the Nastiness, and
Greediness of that sordid Brute. Neither has their Language any more than a general Appellation for those Maladies, which is
borrowed from the Name of the Beast, and called Hnea-Yahoo, or the Yahoo's Evil, and the Cure prescribed is a mixture of
their own Dung and Urine forcibly put down the Yahoo's Throat. This I have since often taken myself, and do freely
recommend it to my Countrymen, for the publick Good, as an admirable Specifick against all Diseases produced by Repletion.

 As to Learning, Government, Arts, Manufactures, and the like, my Master confessed he could find little or no Resemblance
between the Yahoos of that Country and those in ours. For, he only meant to observe what Parity there was in our Natures. He
had heard indeed some curious Houyhnhnms observe, that in most Herds there was a sort of ruling Yahoo (as among us there
is generally some leading or principal Stag in a park), who was always more deformed in Body and mischievous in
Disposition, than any of the rest. That this Leader had usually a Favourite as like himself as he could get, whose Employment
was to lick his Master's Feet and Posteriors, and drive the Female Yahoos to his Kennel; for which he was now and then
rewarded with a piece of Ass's Flesh. This Favourite is hated by the whole Herd, and therefore to protect himself, keeps
always near the Person of his Leader. He usually continues in Office till worse can be found; but the very Moment he is
discarded, his Successor at the Head of all the Yahoos in that District, Young and Old, Male and Female, come in a Body, and
discharge their Excrements upon him from Head to Foot. But how far this might be applicable to our Courts and Favourites,
and Ministers of State, my Master said I could best determine.

 I dared make no Return to this malicious Insinuation, which debased human Understanding below the Sagacity of a common
Hound, who has Judgment enough to distinguish and follow the Cry of the ablest Dog in the Pack, without being ever
mistaken.

 My Master told me, there were some Qualities remarkable in the Yahoos, which he had not observed me to mention, or at
least very slightly, in the Accounts I had given him of human kind; he said, Those Animals, like other Brutes, had their Females
in common; but in this they differed, that the She-Yahoo would admit the Male, while she was pregnant; and that the Hees
would quarrel and fight with Females as fiercely as with each other. Both which Practices were such Degrees of Brutality, that
no other sensitive Creature ever arrived at.

 Another thing he wondered at in the Yahoos, was their strange Disposition to Nastiness and Dirt, whereas there appears to be
a natural Love of Cleanliness in all other Animals. As to the two former Accusations, I was glad to let them pass without any
Reply, because I had not a Word to offer upon it in Defence of my Species, which otherwise I certainly had done from my own
Inclinations. But I could have easily vindicated Human Kind from the Imputation of Singularity upon Article, if there had been
any Swine in that Country (as unluckily for me there were not) which although it may be a sweeter Quadruped than a Yahoo,
cannot I humbly conceive in Justice pretend to more Cleanliness; and so his Honour himself must have owned, if he had seen
their filthy way of feeding, and their Custom of wallowing and sleeping in the Mud.

 My Master likewise mentioned another Quality which his Servants had discovered in several Yahoos, and to him was wholly
unaccountable. He said, a Fancy would sometimes take a Yahoo, to retire into a Corner, to lie down and howl, and groan, and
spurn away all that came near him, although he were young and fat, wanted neither Food nor Water; nor could the Servants
imagine what could possibly ail him. And the only Remedy they found was to set him to hard Work, after which he would
infallibly come to himself. To this I was silent out of Partiality to my own Kind; yet here I could plainly discover the true seeds
of Spleen, which only seize on the Lazy, the Luxurious, and the Rich; who, if they were forced to undergo the same Regimen,
I would undertake for the Cure.

 His Honour had further observed, that a Female-Yahoo would often stand behind a Bank or a Bush, to gaze on the young
Males passing by, and then appear, and hide, using many antick Gestures and Grimaces, at which time it was observed, that
she had a most offensive Smell; and when any of the Males advanced, would slowly retire, looking often back, and with a
counterfeit shew of Fear; run off into some convenient Place where she knew the Male would follow her.

 At other times if a Female Stranger came among them, Three or Four of her own Sex would get about her, and stare and
chatter, and grin, and smell her all over; and then turn off with Gestures that seemed to express Contempt and Disdain.

 Perhaps my Master might refine a little in these Speculations, which he had drawn from what he observed himself, or had been
told him by others: However, I could not reflect without some Amazement, and much Sorrow, that the Rudiments of
Lewdness, Coquetry, Censure, and Scandal, should have place by Instinct in Womankind.

 I expected every Moment that my Master would accuse the Yahoos of those unnatural Appetites in both Sexes, so common
among us. But Nature, it seems, has not been so Expert a School-mistress; and these politer Pleasures are entirely the
Productions of Art and Reason, on our Side of the Globe.