
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 our selves 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 my
self, 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 Virtue; because Reason alone is
sufficient to govern a Rational Creature; which was therefore a Character we had
no Pretence 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 Deformities from each other, which would else be hardly
supportable. But, he now found he had been mistaken; and that the Dissentions 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,
