Can anyone help me make sense of this:
"By this oblique motion, the island is conveyed to different parts of the monarch’s dominions. To explain the manner of its progress, let A B represent a line drawn across the dominions of Balnibarbi, let the line c d represent the loadstone, of which let d be the repelling end, and c the attracting end, the island being over C: let the stone be placed in position c d, with its repelling end downwards; then the island will be driven upwards obliquely towards D. When it is arrived at D, let the stone be turned upon its axle, till its attracting end points towards E, and then the island will be carried obliquely towards E; where, if the stone be again turned upon its axle till it stands in the position E F, with its repelling point downwards, the island will rise obliquely towards F, where, by directing the attracting end towards G, the island may be carried to G, and from G to H, by turning the stone, so as to make its repelling extremity to point directly downward. And thus, by changing the situation of the stone, as often as there is occasion, the island is made to rise and fall by turns in an oblique direction, and by those alternate risings and fallings (the obliquity being not considerable) is conveyed from one part of the dominions to the other." (125)
I've read it a few times and it just has my head spinning in circles. I'm also still slightly confused how the island actually moves, up to this point I've essentially just been like, "ok... it moves. moving on....".
I was also rather confused until I stumbled upon a grainy diagram on Wikipedia depicting the Balnibarbian realm:
ReplyDeletehttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Laputa_map.gif
It appears that Gulliver was giving a 2.5D representation of the area, using 2D geometry of lines to illustrate a 3D concept. This does not fit well in our heads, because we think of lines as 2D and not 3D.
I find it interesting that despite the knowledge the Laputians have to manipulate a magnetic rock to levitate a 7000-yard-long piece of floating rock, they do not care less for tidy clothes and sturdy houses.