Gulliver's Travels (Swift)/Part 3/Chapter 3
from the Collection âGulliver's Travels. Part 3â
The division of this summary into sections is editorial.
On the flying island of Laputa, Gulliver asked the king for permission to see its curiosities, especially the means by which it moved. The king granted his request and sent his tutor with him.
The magnet that moves the island
Laputa was a circular island about four and a half miles across, with a thick, unbroken adamant base. Its upper surface sloped towards four central basins, collecting rain and dew. The king could also raise the island above the clouds to prevent rain from falling on it.
At the centre, astronomers descended into a brightly lit chamber filled with instruments. There a huge magnet, balanced on an axle and secured to the islandâs base, controlled its movement. One end attracted the mineral beneath the kingâs dominions; the other repelled it. Pointing the appropriate end down raised or lowered the island, while tilting it carried the island sideways. Set horizontally, the magnet held it still.
The island could rise no more than four miles or travel beyond the territory where the mineral was found. Astronomers adjusted the magnet as the king directed.
The astronomersâ discoveries
The Laputian astronomers spent much of their lives observing the heavens. Their short but powerful telescopes had helped them catalogue ten thousand fixed stars and discover two satellites of Mars. They had also observed ninety-three comets and calculated their periods. Gulliver hoped their findings would be published to improve the study of comets.
How the king threatened rebellious towns
The island gave the king formidable power over the continent of Balnibarbi. To punish a town for rebellion, faction or failure to pay tribute, he could hover above it, blocking sun and rain until the inhabitants suffered hunger and disease. He could also have stones dropped on them.
His final threat was to lower the island onto a town and destroy it. Yet his ministers owned estates on the land below and opposed the enslavement of their country. They and the king also feared damaging their property and provoking the people.
There was another danger: tall rocks, towers or fires might crack the islandâs adamant base. The countryâs philosophers believed that, if this happened, the magnet could no longer keep the island aloft. People below knew this and judged how far they could resist. Even when the king threatened destruction, he lowered the island gently, pretending to spare his subjects while protecting the base.
Lindalino forces a settlement
About three years before Gulliverâs arrival, the people of Lindalino, the kingdomâs second city, rebelled after long complaining of oppression. Three days after the king had visited on a tour, they shut the gates and seized the governor. They built four towers, each as high as the pointed rock in the city centre, and placed a large magnet on each tower and on the rock. They also gathered fuel to damage the islandâs base if the magnets failed.
Eight months passed before the king received full news of the rebellion. He took the island over Lindalino and blocked its sun and rain for several days. The united citizens had stored provisions and had a river running through the town. When the king lowered cords for petitions, they sent up demands instead, including relief from their grievances and the right to choose their governor.
The king ordered stones thrown down, but the citizens had sheltered themselves and their belongings in strong buildings and underground vaults. He then ordered the island lowered towards the towers. As it approached, the officers struggled to control its descent and warned him that it was tending to fall. He allowed them to raise it again and summoned a council.
An experienced officer tested the towers by lowering a piece of adamant containing iron mineral on a line. He found that it was pulled forcefully towards them; smaller pieces were drawn to all four towers and the central rock. The magnets had defeated the kingâs plan, and Gulliver reported the result:
This incident broke entirely the Kingâs measures, and (to dwell no longer on other circumstances) he was forced to give the town their own conditions.
A senior minister assured Gulliver that, had the island come too close to rise again, the citizens intended to hold it fast, kill the king and his servants, and change the government. Gulliver also noted a fundamental law: the king and his two eldest sons could not leave the island, nor could the queen until she was past child-bearing.