; and if their Braying be no agreeable Sound, it is far preferable to the
horrible Howlings of the Yahoos.
    Several others declared their Sentiments to the same Purpose; when my Master
proposed an Expedient to the Assembly, whereof he had indeed borrowed the Hint
from me. He approved of the Tradition, mentioned by the Honourable Member, who
spoke before; and affirmed, that the two Yahoos said to be first seen among
them, had been driven thither over the Sea; that coming to Land, and being
forsaken by their Companions, they retired to the Mountains, and degenerating by
Degrees, became in Process of Time, much more savage than those of their own
Species in the Country from whence these two Originals came. The Reason of his
Assertion was, that he had now in his Possession, a certain wonderful Yahoo,
(meaning myself) which most of them had heard of, and many of them had seen. He
then related to them, how he first found me; that, my Body was all covered with
an artificial Composure of the Skins and Hairs of other Animals: That, I spoke
in a Language of my own, and had thoroughly learned theirs: That, I had related
to him the Accidents which brought me thither: That, when he saw me without my
Covering, I was an exact Yahoo in every Part, only of a whiter Colour, less
hairy, and with shorter Claws. He added, how I had endeavoured to persuade him,
that in my own and other Countries the Yahoos acted as the governing, rational
Animal, and held the Houyhnhnms in Servitude: That, he observed in me all the
Qualities of a Yahoo, only a little more civilized by some Tincture of Reason;
which however was in a Degree as far inferior to the Houyhnhnm Race, as the
Yahoos of their Country were to me: That, among other things, I mentioned a
Custom we had of castrating Houyhnhnms when they were young, in order to render
them tame; that the Operation was easy and safe; that it was no Shame to learn
Wisdom from Brutes, as Industry is taught by the Ant, and Building by the
Swallow. (For so I translate the Word Lyhannh, although it be a much larger
Fowl) That, this Invention might be practiced upon the younger Yahoos here,
which, besides rendering them tractable and fitter for Use, would in an Age put
an End to the whole Species without destroying Life. That, in the mean time the
Houyhnhnms should be exhorted to cultivate the Breed of Asses, which, as they
are in all respects more
