hirty thousand of our best
seamen and soldiers; and the damage received by the enemy is reckoned
to be somewhat greater than ours. However, they have now equipped a
numerous fleet, and are just preparing to make a descent upon us; and
his imperial majesty, placing great confidence in your valor and
strength, hath commanded me to lay this account of his affairs before
you."

I desired the secretary to present my humble duty to the emperor; and
to let him know that I thought it would not become me, who was a
foreigner, to interfere with parties; but I was ready, with the hazard
of my life, to defend his person and state against all invaders.

The empire of Blefuscu is an island situated to the northeast side of
Lilliput, from whence it is parted only by a channel of eight hundred
yards wide. I had not yet seen it, and upon this notice of an intended
invasion I avoided appearing on that side of the coast, for fear of
being discovered by some of the enemy's ships, who had received no
intelligence of me; all intercourse between the two empires having
been strictly forbidden during the war, upon pain of death, and an
embargo laid by our emperor upon all vessels whatsoever. I
communicated to his majesty a project I had formed of seizing the
enemy's whole fleet; which, as our scouts assured us, lay at anchor in
the harbor, ready to sail with the first fair wind. I consulted the
most experienced seamen upon the depth of the channel, which they had
often plumbed; who told me that in the middle, at high water, it was
seventy _glumgluffs_ deep, which is about six feet of European
measure; and the rest of it fifty _glumgluffs_ at most. I walked
towards the northeast coast, over against Blefuscu; where, lying down
behind a hillock, I took out my small perspective glass, and viewed
the enemy's fleet at anchor, consisting of about fifty men-of-war and
a great number of transports. I then came back to my house, and gave
order (for which I had a warrant) for a great quantity of the
strongest cable and bars of iron. The cable was about as thick as
pack-thread, and the bars of the length and size of a knitting-needle.
I trebled the cable to make it stronger, and for the same reason I
twisted three of the iron bars together, binding the extremities into
a hook. Having thus fixed fifty hooks to as many cables, I went back
to the northeast coast, and, putting off my coat, shoes, and
stockings, walked into the sea in my leathern jerkin, abou