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Houyhnhnms are a race of intelligent horses described in the last part of Jonathan Swift's satirical ''Gulliver's Travels''. The name is pronounced either or .〔Daniel Jones: ''English Pronouncing Dictionary.'' Cambridge/New York/Melbourne: Cambridge University Press 1997. ISBN 0-521-45272-4, ISBN 0-521-45903-6〕 (Swift apparently intended all words of the Houyhnhnm language to echo the neighing of horses.) ==Description== Gulliver's visit to the Land of the Houyhnhnms is described in Part IV of his ''Travels'', and its location illustrated on the map at the start of Part IV.〔''Gulliver's Travels'' (GT), part IV, ch 1: Oxford World Classic (OWC) p206〕 The map shows Houyhnhnms Land to be south of Australia, it indicates Edels Land and Lewins Land to the north, and Nuyts Land to the north-east, on the mainland with the islands of St Francis and St Pieter further east, and Sweers, Maatsuyker and De Wit islands to the east. The map is somewhat careless with the scale, however; Edels Land to Lewins Land are shown adjacent, while in reality they are some 1000 km apart, while the sweep of the Great Australian Bight, from Cape Leeuwin, Australia's south-westerly point to the Maatsuyker Islands, off the southern tip of Tasmania, is over 3000 km. Gulliver describes the land as "divided by long rows of trees, not regularly planted but naturally growing", with a "great plenty of grass, and several fields of oats".〔GT Pt IV, ch 1: OWC p208〕 The Houyhnhnms are rational, equine beings and are masters of the land, contrasting strongly with the Yahoos, savage humanoid creatures who are no better than beasts of burden, or livestock. Whereas the Yahoos represent all that is bad about humans, Houyhnhnms have a settled, calm, reliable and rational society. Gulliver much prefers the Houyhnhnms' company to the Yahoos', even though the latter are biologically closer to him. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Houyhnhnm」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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