Australian National University researcher Debbie Argue may have solved one of English literature’s most enduring mysteries: Jonathan Swift’s inspiration for the Yahoo characters in his famous novel Gulliver’s Travels. In a paper Dr. Argue published in the Relict Hominoid Inquiry she suggests that Swift based the Yahoo on a creature called sasquatch that is derived from the ethnography of North American indigenous peoples.
The Servants Drive a Herd of Yahoos into the Field by Louis John Rhead. Image credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Gulliver’s Travels is a political and social satire by Jonathan Swift, published in 1726.
Part IV of this fictional work is an account of Lemuel Gulliver’s voyage to the country of the Houyhnhms, in which he discovers two animal populations.
One comprises horses, the articulate Houyhnhms, and the other is a subservient humanoid group called Yahoos.
“Swift gave quite a detailed description of what the Yahoos looked like, how they acted and what they ate,” said Dr. Argue, a visiting fellow in the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University.
“As I read about the Native American descriptions of the sasquatch I noticed they had similar descriptions.”
“Both represent a large, hairy, tailless, strong and agile humanoid form with tough skin; both have an offensive odor and are variously described as an ugly monster,” she said.
“Hands and feet have sharp claws or nails and the skin on their palms is coarse; females have pendulous breasts; both males and females may have beards.”
“Neither has capacity for speech but they vocalize by chattering, howling, grinning, roaring (the sasquatch is said to yell, whinny, scream, gibber and chatter, and make a sound like a crying child).”
“They both eat herbs, roots, berries, carrion, fish, and a wild rat-like animal.”
England had a lot of involvement with Native American Indians in the early 1700s, and it’s conceivable that Swift could have been inspired by their stories.
The book makes reference to three specific dates, two of which are known to correspond with significant events in Swift’s own life, but the relevance of the third has remained a mystery.
“I think the date relates to the visit of the four Native American ‘Kings’ who arrived for a visit to England on 10 April in 1710,” Dr. Argue said.
“The ‘Kings’ were actually four Native American leaders who visited for diplomatic reasons.”
“They were received in London by Queen Anne at the Court of St. James Palace, hosted by the nobility, and transported around the city in Royal carriages.”
“I think Swift used the date of the ‘Kings’ arrival after he heard about their beliefs in these beings. These mystical beings became the model for the Yahoos.”
Dr. Argue said the theory was given further weight when you look at the placement of the date within the book.
“Swift uses this date for the arrival of Gulliver back in London following a voyage, and he places this date within three sentences of introducing us to the Yahoos,” she added.
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Debbie Argue. 2018. Does the Yahoo in Gulliver’s Travels Represent an Eighteenth Century Description of the Sasquatch? The Relict Hominoid Inquiry 7: 97-106
