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GULLIVER’S TRAVELS

into several

REMOTE NATIONS OF THE WORLD

BY JONATHAN SWIFT, D.D.,

dean of st. patrick’s, dublin.

[First published in 1726–7.]

THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER.

[As given in the original edition.]

The author of these Travels, Mr. Lemuel Gulliver, is my ancient and intimate friend; there is likewise some relation between us on the mother’s side. About three years ago, Mr. Gulliver growing weary of the concourse of curious people coming to him at his house at Redriff, made a small purchase of land, with a convenient house, near Newark, in Nottinghamshire, his native country; where he now lives retired, yet in good esteem among his neighbours.

Although Mr. Gulliver was born in Nottinghamshire, where his father dwelt, yet I have heard him say his family came from Oxfordshire; to confirm which, I have observed in the churchyard at Banbury in that county, several tombs and monuments of the Gullivers.

Before he quitted Redriff, he left the custody of the following papers in my hands, with the liberty to dispose of them as I should think fit. I have carefully perused them three times. The style is very plain and simple; and the only fault I find is, that the author, after the manner of travellers, is a little too circumstantial. There is an air of truth apparent through the whole; and indeed the author was so distinguished for his veracity, that it became a sort of proverb among his neighbours at Redriff, when any one affirmed a thing, to say, it was as true as if Mr. Gulliver had spoken it.

By the advice of several worthy persons, to whom, with the author’s permission, I communicated these papers, I now venture to send them into the world, hoping they may be, at least for some time, a better entertainment to our young noblemen, than the common scribbles of politics and party.

This volume would have been at least twice as large, if I had not made bold to strike out innumerable passages relating to the winds and tides, as well as to the variations and bearings in the several voyages, together with the minute descriptions of the management of the ship in storms, in the style of sailors; likewise the account of longitudes and latitudes; wherein I have reason to apprehend, that Mr. Gulliver may be a little dissatisfied. But I was resolved to fit the work as much as possible to the general capacity of readers. However, if my own ignorance in sea affairs shall have led me to commit some mistakes, I alone am answerable for them. And if any traveller hath a curiosity to see the whole work at large, as it came from the hands of the author, I will be ready to gratify him.

As for any further particulars relating to the author, the reader will receive satisfaction from the first pages of the book.

RICHARD SYMPSON.

A LETTER FROM CAPTAIN GULLIVER TO HIS COUSIN SYMPSON.

Written in the Year 1727.

I hope you will be ready to own publicly, whenever you shall be called to it, that by your great and frequent urgency you prevailed on me to publish a very loose and uncorrect account of my travels, with directions to hire some young gentleman of either university to put them in order, and correct the style, as my cousin Dampier did, by my advice, in his book called “A Voyage round the world.” But I do not remember I gave you power to consent that any thing should be omitted, and much less that any thing should be inserted; therefore, as to the latter, I do here renounce every thing of that kind; particularly a paragraph about her majesty Queen Anne, of most pious and glorious memory; although I did reverence and esteem her more than any of human species. But you, or your interpolator, ought to have considered, that it was not my inclination, so was it not decent to praise any animal of our composition before my master Houyhnhnm: And besides, the fact was altogether false; for to my knowledge, being in England during some part of her majesty’s reign, she did govern by a chief minister; nay even by two successively, the first whereof was the lord of Godolphin, and the second the lord of Oxford; so that you have made me say the thing that was not. Likewise in

PART I. A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT.

Chapter I.

My father had left me about two thousand pounds after paying his debts, with the management of which my mother could not well know how to act for me, as my elder brother was prematurely dead. She therefore bound me an apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent surgeon and anatomist in London, with whom I lived five years. But though my inclination to the sea was great, my father thought fit to restrain me from the service of a ship, till I arrived at my eleventh year of age.

When I was seventeen years old, I was sent to Emmanuel College in Cambridge, where I resided for three years under the care of my uncle, the Reverend Mr. William Gulliver. I studied hard, and made some acquaintance with mathematical knowledge, and the theory of navigation, by allowing myself but six hours for sleep, and allotting the rest of my time to merry company and rambles about the town, or distorting my father’s allowance by frequent visits to London.

When I came from the university, I was placed in the care of Mr. William Clippern, an able surgeon in Bristol; and the money left me by my father I laid out in a very happy choice of a shop in Fleet-street, near the Royal Exchange, to carry on a business, where I had the happiness to grow in business and reputation thirty months by the goodwill of so good a master.

But my father’s expences at Cambridge, and my own, were too great for my father’s estate. I found myself quickly obliged to break from my business. I did so, and, by the advice of Mr. Bates, chose rather to apply myself to the study of physic, by which I might have some prospect of increasing my fortune. I took my bachelor’s degree at seven years’ end, and immediately took lodgings in a garret, and fell to studying physic very hard. And I had the good luck to employ my leisure hours in reading all the famous books of navigation, and nautical mathematics, and to be intimate with Captain John Holman, a worthy man, and commander of a Bristol ship, who, passing some of my hours with me, grew fond of my company.

I became acquainted with several captains and owners, and soon learned enough of the seamanship to make myself capable of commanding a ship. I persuaded my father or mother, whichever could spare the money, to put me to sea for two years, with an abatement of twelve pounds a year for the first two years after my return to practise.

I was absent from England five years, and had employed my time usefully, but not with much advantage to my fortune. My father died about the time I came to sea, and left me the management of the remainder of his estate. I called home my wife, Mary, the daughter of Mr. John Harris, of Liverpoole, draper, and for some years followed my business; but the excess of company and perpetual solicitation of patients so harassed and fatigued me, that I began again to neglect my family and affairs. I resolved to accept a proposal offered by Captain William Prichard, of the Antelope, to go abroad about the South Sea, as a second-mate, by the promise of being first-mate in the same vessel to the South Sea, or in another ship in the same employ a year after my return. I took leave of my wife and children, and Mrs. Bates, with the utmost concern and regret, and thankfully accepted this proposal.

We set sail from Bristol in May, 1716. The Captain followed his business for some time: and, after an unfortunate voyage, we set sail for the East Indies, but in the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope, a violent storm arose, in the midst of which, we were, by the fury of the waves, driven into a sea where I had never seen, and all my assurances flatly denied that there was any land in that part of the world.

The storm continuing, we disregarded all fears of danger, and the Captain ordered us to be under the main-deck; but on the 5th of November, being the 14th day of our voyage, there was a violent crack, and I expected to be wholly drowned. The ship broke in pieces, and all hands, except myself, were lost. The surge tossed me many times, till I alighted on some piece of spar, that had fortunately kept me a-float.

I give no account of my manner of subsistence for the next nine hours, till I found myself into a strange land, which, by the bubbles in my throat, I perceived to be dry land. I thanked God, and went to sleep on the grass, which was as soft as a bed of down, and less bruised by the fall than I expected.

Having slept there about eight hours, I began to awake, and found myself pinioned on my back, and the sun very strong upon my face, which roused me. I could scarcely move, for bands on each of my arms and legs, and also by my waist, and over my head, were fastened with strings that tied me down and fastened to little stakes in the ground. I beheld my hands and feet, and endeavoured to free myself, but I could not, even with the utmost strain of my muscles.

I roared so loud, that a small voice was heard among the trees, which grew like our shrubs, and at last a human creature not taller than a my little finger, appeared on my right side, in person, and many more behind him. I believe I made an astonishing noise, for at the sight of me those that were nearest to my head gave a great shout, and some of them leaped into the air, and then fell to the ground. I lay still for some time, confounded with the stupendous sight of these tiny people; and the dread of what these creatures could do, made me afraid to move. I kept my face as downward as I could, without any sign of life, till they persuaded themselves I was dead.

But I soon found myself pricked with several hundred needles, like so many arrows. On this I roared loud again, and there were a great number of people running from every quarter to behold me. Some of them, as I perceived, were clad in a coat and breeches of a very fine thin substance, whom I judged to be officers. Others were dressed in capes made of linen, and had feathers in their caps, which they wore like hats, and the rest were in simple clothes. All I could see about me were hundreds of the little people, with bows and arrows in their hands, and other weapons prepared for battle. I could not forbear smiling a little at the sight of so many diminutive antagonists; which augured instant death to my beholders.

I was unable to speak, so I tried to move my tongue, which at last I did with some difficulty. They were all in a fright, and some of them leaped off the ground five or six times from the place where they stood. I found that I could speak some of their language before I could see them.

I observed the people to be about six inches high, with proportions as neat and human as we are. I felt an extreme thirst, but I could not move my hands to try to get any relief.

The little people, seeing I was quiet, came a little nearer, and one that seemed to be a person of quality, with a very thin purple cap, approached my face, and spoke in a language I did not understand; and to show them I intended no harm, I advanced my left hand a little, and waving the fingers, made a sign of friendship. I bent my body, as much as the strings would allow, and gestured with my thumb, as a signal to the officer, that I desired meat and drink.

The officer understood me well enough, for he soon raised his hand, and made a signal for others to bring food. Immediately a company of about an hundred of them came forward, carrying ladders, which they fixed against my side. They mounted these ladders quickly, and after many efforts, brought up a quantity of meat and drink, such as they used to eat and drink, which they placed at my right ear, or as near as they could get it.

I lay still to let them work, and as they prepared the victuals, I could smell them very well, though they were as thin as wafers, and seemed to me to be dry meat. I soon made an end of my meal, and drank the contents of a flagon, which was about half the size of a wine glass. This refreshment made me able to speak their language more distinctly.

Chapter II.

The Emperor of Lilliput, a person of the smallest stature that ever was seen, and much taller than any of his subjects, was curious to see me taken alive and entire. He gave the strictest orders for my preservation. He appointed a council to meet at the same place, to consult about what should be done with me. There were thirty engineers appointed to measure my body. After they had done their work, they reported the dimensions to the Emperor. I shall set down the most material parts of their report.

“His Majesty,” said the first engineer, “hath the most mighty man of nature ever seen by us, his body is ten thousand, one hundred and forty two times bigger than that of a Lilliputian man, and his bulk is proportionably greater.”

Another said, “If a square foot of our country, which is a common computation, be reckoned the eight hundredth part of an acre, the great man’s body contains about ninety-one thousand, seven hundred and one square or little feet, with a proportionable quantity of his hide, hair, cloth, &c.”

These calculations were very pleasing to the Emperor, who ordered a quantity of the finest silks to be brought, which, with the help of fifty tailors, were just able to make me a shirt and a headcloth. After some days, the officers of the Ordnance prepared ten wagons, each with twenty wagons to carry my necessary implements. They also brought up a great quantity of provisions, of all sorts, that my meal might not spoil before it reached the Emperor’s palace.

I was kept in the same posture for about three weeks, during which time the Lilliputians went on with their work, preparing a way for my removal to the chief city, Lingonul, the capital of the empire.

The Emperor sent fifty purveyors, attended by a guard of a thousand soldiers, to guard me while I slept. They were all very diligent and careful, but I was soon tired of lying so long in one posture, and had great need of exercise.

I took the liberty to speak to the little man who was appointed to be my guardian and governor, whose name was Flimnap. I desired that he would let me go to the city, or at least allow me to walk about in the field. He told me that the Emperor would allow it, provided I would take an oath to do no harm to any of his subjects. I readily consented, and took the oath, which was administered to me by the chief justice, in person, and in the presence of the whole court.

The Emperor then ordered that I should be carried in the most magnificent manner to the capital city. He commanded that a stage should be built, forty feet square, and as high as the top of our houses. This stage was drawn by the greatest team of horses that ever was seen, one hundred and fifty of each sort, which, with the utmost effort, drew the stage to the city, at the pace of about four yards an hour.

I was placed upon the stage in the middle of the city, and the Emperor and his court came out to give me a welcome. The Emperor mounted his horse, which was about the size of a common cat, and made a speech to me from his throne, which I could not understand, but I guessed his meaning by the gestures of his hands and arms. I bowed low, and made signs of obedience and fidelity.

Chapter III.

The Emperor often delighted to have me in his presence, which was a great satisfaction to me, for by conversing with him and his ministers, I began in six months to learn their language. I soon found that the Lilliputians were not only very small, but also very cunning and malicious.

The first thing I learned was the name of the Emperor, which was _Golbasto Momarem Linum Vaspom Gozim, Alma Cum Traü Baden, Ubre Fulmar Ban Defa Schon*.

I desired my governor, Flimnap, to tell me the history of his country, which he did in a very long discourse. I shall only give the reader a small abstract of what he told me.

The empire of Lilliput is an island, the continent whereof is not in the reader’s map. It lies north of the continent of Asia, and is subject to the same revolutions of the seasons. The circumference of the island is about eighteen thousand miles. It is governed by the lineal descent of Godol-phlam, the grandson of the first emperor, who made the first landing there about an hundred and one thousand years ago.

The Emperor inherits the throne by the right of succession, and has the title of Dilbercluk Egrem Shael to express the object of the people’s love, honour, and delight.

Their laws are more ancient than

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