oung, for any mischievous tricks;
that the males, designed for the common use of riding or draught, were
generally castrated about two years after their birth, to take down their
spirits, and make them more tame and gentle; that they were indeed
sensible of rewards and punishments; but his honour would please to
consider, that they had not the least tincture of reason, any more than
the _Yahoos_ in this country."

It put me to the pains of many circumlocutions, to give my master a right
idea of what I spoke; for their language does not abound in variety of
words, because their wants and passions are fewer than among us. But it
is impossible to express his noble resentment at our savage treatment of
the _Houyhnhnm_ race; particularly after I had explained the manner and
use of castrating horses among us, to hinder them from propagating their
kind, and to render them more servile. He said, "if it were possible
there could be any country where _Yahoos_ alone were endued with reason,
they certainly must be the governing animal; because reason in time will
always prevail against brutal strength. But, considering the frame of
our bodies, and especially of mine, he thought no creature of equal bulk
was so ill-contrived for employing that reason in the common offices of
life;" whereupon he desired to know "whether those among whom I lived
resembled me, or the _Yahoos_ of his country?" I assured him, "that I
was as well shaped as most of my age; but the younger, and the females,
were much more soft and tender, and the skins of the latter generally as
white as milk." He said, "I differed indeed from other _Yahoos_, being
much more cleanly, and not altogether so deformed; but, in point of real
advantage, he thought I differed for the worse: that my nails were of no
use either to my fore or hinder feet; as to my fore feet, he could not
properly call them by that name, for he never observed me to walk upon
them; that they were too soft to bear the ground; that I generally went
with them uncovered; neither was the covering I sometimes wore on them of
the same shape, or so strong as that on my feet behind: that I could not
walk with any security, for if either of my hinder feet slipped, I must
inevitably fail." He then began to find fault with other parts of my
body: "the flatness of my face, the prominence of my nose, mine eyes
placed directly in front, so that I could not look on either side without
turning my head: that I was