I forget when, but not very long after I had published "Erewhon" in 1872, it occurred to me to ask myself what course events in Erewhon would probably take after Mr. Higgs, as I suppose I may now call him, had made his escape in the balloon with Arowhena. Given a people in the conditions supposed to exist in Erewhon, and given the apparently miraculous ascent of a remarkable stranger into the heavens with an earthly bride--what would be the effect on the people generally?
       There was no use in trying to solve this problem before, say, twenty years should have given time for Erewhonian developments to assume something like permanent shape, and in 1892 I was too busy with books now published to be able to attend to Erewhon. It was not till the early winter of 1900, i.e. as nearly as may be thirty years after the date of Higgs's escape, that I found time to deal with the question above stated, and to answer it, according to my lights, in the book which I now lay before the public.
       I have concluded, I believe rightly, that the events described in Chapter XXIV. of "Erewhon" would give rise to such a cataclysmic change in the old Erewhonian opinions as would result in the development of a new religion. Now the development of all new religions follows much the same general course. In all cases the times are more or less out of joint--older faiths are losing their hold upon the masses. At such times, let a personality appear, strong in itself, and made to seem still stronger by association with some supposed transcendent miracle, and it will be easy to raise a Lo here! that will attract many followers. If there be a single great, and apparently well-authenticated, miracle, others will accrete round it; then, in all religions that have so originated, there will follow temples, priests, rites, sincere believers, and unscrupulous exploiters of public credulity. To chronicle the events that followed Higgs's balloon ascent without shewing that they were much as they have been under like conditions in other places, would be to hold the mirror up to something very wide of nature.
       Analogy, however, between courses of events is one thing--historic parallelisms abound; analogy between the main actors in events is a very different one, and one, moreover, of which few examples can be found. The development of the new ideas in Erewhon is a familiar one, but there is no more likeness between Higgs and the founder of any other religion, than there is between Jesus Christ and Mahomet. He is a typical middle-class Englishman, deeply tainted with priggishness in his earlier years, but in great part freed from it by the sweet uses of adversity.
       If I may be allowed for a moment to speak about myself, I would say that I have never ceased to profess myself a member of the more advanced wing of the English Broad Church. What those who belong to this wing believe, I believe. What they reject, I reject. No two people think absolutely alike on any subject, but when I converse with advanced Broad Churchmen I find myself in substantial harmony with them. I believe--and should be very sorry if I did not believe--that, mutatis mutandis, such men will find the advice given on pp. 277-281 and 287-291 of this book much what, under the supposed circumstances, they would themselves give.
       Lastly, I should express my great obligations to Mr. R. A. Streatfeild of the British Museum, who, in the absence from England of my friend Mr. H. Festing Jones, has kindly supervised the corrections of my book as it passed through the press.
       SAMUEL BUTLER.
       May 1, 1901.

Author's Note
Chapter I: Ups and Downs of Fortune--My Father Starts for Erewhon
Chapter II: To the Foot of the Pass Into Erewhon
Chapter III: My Father While Camping is Accosted by Professors Hanky and Panky
Chapter IV: My Father Overhears More of Hanky and Panky's Conversation
Chapter V: My Father Meets a Son, of Whose Existence He was Ignorant; and Strikes a Bargain with Him
Chapter VI: Further Conversation Between Father and Son--The Professors' Hoard
Chapter VII: Signs of the New Order of Things Catch My Father's Eye on Every Side
Chapter VIII: Yram, Now Mayoress, Gives a Dinner-Party, in the Course of Which She is Disquieted by What She Learns From Professor Hanky: She Sends for Her Son George and Questions Him
Chapter IX: Interview Between Yram and Her Son
Chapter X: My Father, Fearing Recognition at Sunch'ston, Betakes Himself to the Neighbouring Town of Fairmead
Chapter XI: President Gurgoyle's Pamphlet "On the Physics of Vicarious Existence"
Chapter XII: George Fails to Find My Father, Whereon Yram Cautions the Professors
Chapter XIII: A Visit to the Provincial Deformatory at Fairmead
Chapter XIV: My Father Makes the Acquaintance of Mr Balmy, and Walks With Him Next Day to Sunch'ston
Chapter XV: The Temple is Dedicated to My Father, and Certain Extracts are Read From His Supposed Sayings
Chapter XVI: Professor Hanky Preaches a Sermon, in the Course of Which My Father Declares Himself to Be The Sunchild
Chapter XVII: George Takes His Father to Prison, and There Obtains Some Useful Information
Chapter XVIII: Yram Invites Dr. Downie and Mrs. Humdrum to Luncheon--A Passage at Arms Between Her and Hanky is Amicably Arranged
Chapter XIX: A Council is Held at the Mayor's, in the Course of Which George Turns the Tables on the Professors
Chapter XX: Mrs. Humdrum and Dr. Downie Propose a Compromise, Which, After an Amendment by George, is Carried Nem. Con.
Chapter XXI: Yram, on Getting Rid of her Guests, Goes to the Prison to See My Father
Chapter XXII: Mainly Occupied With a Veracious Extract From a Sunch'stonian Journal
Chapter XXIII: My Father is Escorted to the Mayor's House, and is Introduced to a Future Daughter-in-Law
Chapter XXIV: After Dinner, Dr. Downie and the Professors Would Be Glad to Know What is to Be Done About Sunchildism
Chapter XXV: George Escorts My Father to the Statues; The Two Then Part
Chapter XXVI: My Father Reaches Home, and Dies Not Long Afterwards
Chapter XXVII: I Meet My Brother George at the Statues, on the Top of the Pass Into Erewhon
Chapter XXVIII: George and I Spend a Few Hours Together at the Statues, and Then Part--I Reach Home--Postscript