to defend his person and state against all invaders.

The empire of Blefuscu is an island, situated to the northeast of
Lilliput, from which 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. 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 foot of European measure; and the rest of it
fifty _glumgluffs_ at most.

I walked toward the northeast coast, over against Blefuscu, and, lying
down behind a hillock, took out my small pocket 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
packthread, 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, bending 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, about half an hour before
high-water.