Gulliver's Travels Part 2, Chapter 4 Summary

"The country described. A proposal for correcting modern maps. The king's palace; and some account of the metropolis. The author's way of travelling. The chief temple described."

  • The island is 6,000 miles long and between 3,000 and 5,000 miles wide. It's a whole continent right smack dab in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, between California and Japan.
  • The kingdom of Brobdingnag sits at the southern end of the island, surrounded on three sides by ocean and on one side by impassable mountains.
  • The country has 51 cities, the largest of which is Lorbrulgrud.
  • The king's palace in Lorbrulgrud is a mass of buildings about 7 miles around.
  • Glumdalclitch takes Gulliver on frequent outings into the city, accompanied by her governess (a woman who acts as both caretaker and private tutor for young kids).
  • When Gulliver goes on these outings, he is placed in a special box for travel, with windows on three sides to allow him to look out.
  • Whenever they travel through the city, passersby always stop to look at Gulliver – he has become very famous.
  • Gulliver and Glumdalclitch go out to see the primary temple of the city, which is both beautiful and 3,000 feet in height – about three-fifths of a mile.
  • (To give you a sense of scale, this makes the steeple of this temple almost three times the height of the Empire State Building.)
  • Believe it or not, Gulliver is disappointed – he expected the temple to be taller.
  • Gulliver tells us that the king's kitchen is also amazing: it's 600 feet high (just under half the height of the Empire State Building).
  • Gulliver is also most impressed by the sight of the Brobdingnagian King's military guard on parade, in detachments of 500. The horses are, of course, enormous – around 60 feet high.