 Person spoke without being pleased himself, and pleasing
his Companions: Where there was no Interruption, Tediousness, Heat, or
Difference of Sentiments. They have a Notion, That when People are met together,
a short Silence doth much improve Conversation: This I found to be true; for
during those little Intermissions of Talk, new Ideas would arise in their Minds,
which very much enlivened the Discourse. Their Subjects are generally on
Friendship and Benevolence; on Order and Oeconomy; sometimes upon the visible
Operations of Nature, or ancient Traditions; upon the Bounds and Limits of
Virtue; upon the unerring Rules of Reason; or upon some Determinations, to be
taken at the next great Assembly; and often upon the various Excellencies of
Poetry. I may add, without Vanity, that my Presence often gave them sufficient
Matter for Discourse, because it afforded my Master an Occasion of letting his
Friends into the History of me and my Country, upon which they were all pleased
to discant in a Manner not very advantageous to human Kind; and for that Reason
I shall not repeat what they said: Only I may be allowed to observe, That his
Honour, to my great Admiration, appeared to understand the Nature of Yahoos much
better than my self. He went through all our Vices and Follies, and discovered
many which I had never mentioned to him; by only supposing what Qualities a
Yahoo of their Country, with a small Proportion of Reason, might be capable of
exerting: And concluded, with too much Probability, how vile as well as
miserable such a Creature must be.
    I freely confess, that all the little Knowledge I have of any Value, was
acquired by the Lectures I received from my Master, and from hearing the
Discourses of him and his Friends; to which I should be prouder to listen, than
to dictate to the greatest and wisest Assembly in Europe. I admired the
Strength, Comeliness and Speed of the Inhabitants; and such a Constellation of
Virtues in such amiable Persons produced in me the highest Veneration. At first,
indeed, I did not feel that natural Awe which the Yahoos and all other Animals
bear towards them; but it grew upon me by Degrees, much sooner than I imagined,
and was mingled with a respectful Love and Gratitude, that they would condescend
to distinguish me from the rest of my Species.
    When I thought of my Family, my Friends, my Countrymen, or human Race in
general, I considered them as they really were, Yahoos in Shape and Disposition,
perhaps a little more civilized, and qualified with the Gift of Speech; but
making
