BOOK II (1) : The Geography of Utopia
The island's geography |
On the other side of the island there are likewise many harbors; and
the coast is so fortified, both by nature and art, that a small number
of men can hinder the descent of a great army. But they report (and there
remain good marks of it to make it credible) that this was no island at
first, but a part of the continent. Utopus that conquered it (whose name
it still carries, for Abraxa was its first name) brought the rude and uncivilized
inhabitants into such a good government, and to that measure of politeness,
that they now far excel all the rest of mankind; having soon subdued them,
he designed to separate them from the continent, and to bring the sea quite
round them. To accomplish this, he ordered a deep channel to be dug fifteen
miles long; and that the natives might not think he treated them like slaves,
he not only forced the inhabitants, but also his own soldiers, to labor
in carrying it on. As he set a vast number of men to work, he beyond all
men's expectations brought it to a speedy conclusion. And his neighbors
who at first laughed at the folly of the undertaking, no sooner saw it
brought to perfection than they were struck with admiration and terror.
Town and country |
Every year twenty of this family come back to the town, after they have stayed two years in the country; and in their room there are other twenty sent from the town, that they may learn country work from those that have been already one year in the country, as they must teach those that come to them the next from the town. By this means such as dwell in those country farms are never ignorant of agriculture, and so commit no errors, which might otherwise be fatal, and bring them under a scarcity of corn. But though there is every year such a shifting of the husbandmen, to prevent any man being forced against his will to follow that hard course of life too long, yet many among them take such pleasure in it that they desire leave to continue in it many years. These husbandmen till the ground, breed cattle, hew wood, and convey it to the towns, either by land or water, as is most convenient. They breed an infinite multitude of chickens in a very curious manner; for the hens do not sit and hatch them, but vast numbers of eggs are laid in a gentle and equal heat, in order to be hatched, and they are no sooner out of the shell, and able to stir about, but they seem to consider those that feed them as their mothers, and follow them as other chickens do the hen that hatched them.
They breed very few horses, but those they have are full of mettle, and are kept only for exercising their youth in the art of sitting and riding them; for they do not put them to any work, either of ploughing or carriage, in which they employ oxen; for though their horses are stronger, yet they find oxen can hold out longer; and as they are not subject to so many diseases, so they are kept upon a less charge, and with less trouble; and even when they are so worn out, that they are no more fit for labor, they are good meat at last. They sow no corn, but that which is to be their bread; for they drink either wine, cider, or perry, and often water, sometimes boiled with honey or licorice, with which they abound; and though they know exactly how much corn will serve every town, and all that tract of country which belongs to it, yet they sow much more, and breed more cattle than are necessary for their consumption; and they give that overplus of which they make no use to their neighbors. When they want anything in the country which it does not produce, they fetch that from the town, without carrying anything in exchange for it. And the magistrates of the town take care to see it given them; for they meet generally in the town once a month, upon a festival day. When the time of harvest comes, the magistrates in the country send to those in the towns, and let them know how many hands they will need for reaping the harvest; and the number they call for being sent to them, they commonly despatch it all in one day.