Study Questions
1. In what capacity does Gulliver go on his fourth voyage?

2. How does he get to the land of the Houyhnhms?

3. Who does he first meet there?

4. What are the Yahoos?

5. What are the Houyhnhms?

6. What amazes Gulliver in this country?

7. What do the Houyhnhms think of Gulliver at first?

8. How do they treat him?

9. What does Gulliver do about food in the land of the Houyhnhms?

10. What is the attitude of the Yahoos to Gulliver in these chapters?

Answers
1. On his fourth voyage, Gulliver is the captain of a ship.

2. Gulliver’s crew mutinies and puts him ashore at the first land they reach.

3. At first, Gulliver meets disgusting, repulsive animals.

4. The Yahoos are extremely degraded, animal-like human beings. They are the first forms of animal life Gulliver sees in the land of the Houyhnhms. Some of them serve the Houyhnhms.

5. The Houyhnhms are intelligent, rational, horses, and they are the most advanced form of life in their country.

6. Gulliver is amazed that horses are able to communicate in a language that Gulliver can learn. They live in buildings, and are generally intelligent.

7. The Houyhnhms at first think Gulliver is not exactly the same form of life as the Yahoos, because of his clothing.

8. The Houyhnhms treat Gulliver well and hospitably.

9. Gulliver is unable to eat the oats the Houyhnhms eat. Finding the Yahoos’ food disgusting, he drinks milk and makes cakes of oats.

10. The Yahoos attack Gulliver; he has to be rescued by two Houyhnhms.