07 (82) Unit 8d, ex. 3, p. 144 — Module 8

Exercise 3, page 144, Gulliver's Travels.0:00

It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the reader with the particulars of our adventures in those seas.0:17

Let it suffice to inform him that during our voyage to the East Indies, we were driven by a violent storm to the northwest of Van Diemen's.0:24

We found ourselves in the latitude of 30 degrees, 2 minutes south.0:33

12 of our crew were dead due to overwork and poor food.0:37

The rest were in a very weak condition.0:42

On 5 November, which was the beginning of summer in those parts, the weather being very hazy, the seamen spied a rock within half a cable's length of the ship.0:45

But the wind was so strong that we were driven directly onto it, and the ship immediately split.0:55

Six of the crew, including myself, having let down the boat into the sea, attempted to get clear of the ship and the rock.1:04

I estimate that we rowed about three leagues till we were able to row, no longer being already exhausted from our labor on the ship.1:11

We therefore trusted ourselves to the mercy of the waves, and in about half an hour the boat was overturned by a sudden strong gust of wind from the north.1:19

What became of my companions in the boat, as well as of those who escaped on the rock or were left in the vessel, I don'. Know, but I must assume that they were all lost.1:29

As for me, I swam as fortune directed me and was pushed forward by wind and tide.1:42

I often let my legs drop and could feel no bottom.1:48

But when I was almost gone and able to struggle no longer, I found that I could touch the bottom, and by this time the storm had calmed.1:52

The slope was so small that I walked almost a mile before I got to the shore.2:00

Guessing that it was about 8 o' clock in the evening, I then advanced forward nearly half a mile, but did not see any sign of houses or inhabitants.2:05

At least I was in so weak a condition that I did not notice them.2:14

I was extremely tired, and with that and the heat of the weather, I found myself very much wanting to sleep.2:18

I lay down on the grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept more soundly than I ever remembered having done in my life for about nine hours, for when I awoke it was just daylight.2:26

I attempted to rise, but was not able to move, for as I happened to be lying on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground, and my hair, which was2:39

long and thick, tied down in the same manner.2:51

I likewise felt several slender cords across my body from my armpits to my thighs, I could only look upwards.2:54

The sun began to grow hot, and the light blinded my eyes.3:03

I heard a confused noise around me, but in the position I lay, I could see nothing except the sky.3:07

After a while I felt something alive moving on my left leg, which, advancing gently forward over my breast, came almost up to my chin.3:14

When, bending my eyes downwards as much as I could, I saw that it was a human creature, not 6 inches high, with a bow and arrow in his hands and a quiver on his back.3:23

In the meantime, I felt at least 40 more of the same kind following the first.3:34

I was in the utmost astonishment and roared so loud that they all ran back in fright, and some of them, as I was afterwards told, were hurt with the falls they got by leaping from my sides upon the3:39

ground.3:53

However, they soon returned, and one of them had, who ventured so far as to get a full sight of my face, lifting up his hands and eyes by way of admiration, cried out in a shrill but distinct voice,3:54

heckin a degal.4:06

The others repeated the same words several times.4:08

Heckin a degal, Heckin a de nadagal.4:10

But then I knew not what they meant.4:21

I lay all this while, as the reader may believe, in great uneasiness.4:23

At length, struggling to get loose, I had the fortune to break the strings and wrench out the pegs that fastened my left arm to the ground, for by lifting it up to my face, I discovered the methods they4:29

had taken to bind me, and at the same time, with a violent pull, which gave me excessive pain, I loosened a little the strings that tied down my hair on the left side, so that I was just able4:42

to turn my head, head about 2 inches.4:54