Gulliver's Travels (Swift)/Part 4/Chapter 11

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Jonathan Swift

Gulliver's Travels. Part 4. Chapter 11

Rescue by Pedro de Mendez and a painful homecoming

1726

Summary of a Chapter
from the Collection “Gulliver's Travels. Part 4”

The original takes about 16 minutes to read

Microsummary

After leaving the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver is rescued against his will by a Portuguese captain. He returns to England, but cannot bear his family and prefers the company of horses.

The divisions in this summary are editorial.

On February 15, 1714–15, Gulliver left the land of the Houyhnhnms in a canoe. He hoped to find an uninhabited island where he could live alone rather than return to human society. He called humans Yahoos, after the creatures he despised in the Houyhnhnms’ country.

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Lemuel Gulliver — narrator, English traveller banished from the land of the rational Houyhnhnms; he admired them and loathed his fellow humans.

A dangerous landing in New Holland

Gulliver’s Houyhnhnm master and friends watched from shore as he sailed away. A sorrel horse who had always been fond of him called out a farewell: “Take care of thyself, gentle Yahoo.”

Gulliver guessed his position from remarks he had overheard after his crew mutinied and confined him. He headed east toward New Holland, hoping to find an island on the way. After spending a night on a rocky islet, he reached the coast. He believed his journey showed that maps placed New Holland too far east.

Unarmed and afraid of discovery, he ate raw shellfish and drank from a brook for three days. On the fourth, he saw a group of local people. Several pursued him as he fled to his canoe, and an arrow wounded his knee. Fearing poison, he paddled out of range, sucked the wound and dressed it.

Unable to return safely to that landing place, Gulliver looked for another. He saw a ship, but his hatred of humans made him turn back and hide near the brook instead.

The Portuguese captain takes Gulliver aboard

The ship sent a boat ashore for fresh water. Its Portuguese sailors found Gulliver’s canoe and then Gulliver himself. His skin clothing and horse-like speech astonished them, but they understood his Portuguese. He explained that he was an Englishman seeking a lonely place to live.

The sailors thought his troubles had affected his reason. Though they spoke kindly and offered him passage to Lisbon, they would not let him escape. At their captain’s order, they tied him and carried him aboard.

The captain, Pedro de Mendez, offered Gulliver food, wine and a clean cabin. Gulliver was surprised by his kindness but could scarcely bear the smell of him or his crew.

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Pedro de Mendez — Portuguese ship’s captain, courteous and generous; he helped Gulliver despite his hostility.

Gulliver tried to jump overboard rather than remain among humans, but a sailor stopped him and he was chained in his cabin. The captain then assured him that he meant to help. Gulliver told him about the mutiny and his three years among the Houyhnhnms. When the captain doubted the story, Gulliver was offended: he had grown unused to lying or suspecting others of it.

After questioning him, Mendez came to believe him. He asked Gulliver to promise not to harm himself and to keep him company during the voyage, or else remain a prisoner. Gulliver gave his word, though he still dreaded living among humans.

The voyage passed without major incident. Gulliver occasionally sat with the captain out of gratitude, but spent most of his time alone. He refused the captain’s worn clothing, accepting only two washed shirts, which he washed himself.

Mendez persuades Gulliver to go home

They reached Lisbon on November 5, 1715. Mendez took Gulliver to his house and supplied him with new clothes. Gulliver asked him to keep the story of the Houyhnhnms secret, fearing crowds and punishment by the Inquisition, a religious tribunal.

Mendez gradually coaxed him from an upstairs room into the street. Gulliver’s fear lessened, although his hatred of people grew; when he walked outside, he held rue or tobacco to his nose against their smell.

After ten days, Mendez argued that Gulliver had a duty to return to his wife and children. He said a solitary island was impossible to find, but Gulliver could live as privately as he wished in his own house. Gulliver finally agreed. Mendez accompanied him to an English ship, lent him twenty pounds and embraced him at parting.

A homecoming without reconciliation

Gulliver sailed from Lisbon on November 24, pretending to be ill so that he could remain in his cabin. On December 5 he reached his home at Rotherhith. His wife and children, who had believed him dead, welcomed him joyfully; he felt disgust and shame at his kinship with them. When his wife embraced and kissed him, he fainted.

Writing five years later, Gulliver recalled that he could not bear his family’s presence during the first year. Even now, he would not let them touch his bread, drink from his cup or take his hand. Instead, he bought two young horses and kept them in a stable. Gulliver described the companionship he preferred:

My horses understand me tolerably well; I converse with them at least four hours every day.

He also liked the groom because he smelled of the stable. The horses wore neither bridle nor saddle and lived peaceably with Gulliver and each other.

The summary is based on the edition of the novel edited by G. Ravenscroft Dennis from volume 8 of The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift (London: George Bell and Sons, 1899).