AD. THE ENGLISH VOYAGES 



1572-87. 



it hath prooved very hurtfull unto them by meanes of cer- 

 taine coasters which have sayled the selfe same course. 

 The Southerly These streights stand in 52 degrees and a halfe of 

 i/r^''^//i''''' Southerly latitude. Also here is to be noted, that it 

 Magellan. ^^ colder to the Southward of the line then to the North- 

 ward : in such wise, that in forty degrees to the Southward 

 the colde is more sharpe, then in fiftie degrees to the 

 North : experience doth alwaies shew the same : for it 

 is as colde even in the streights of Magellan, as it is in 

 sixty degrees of Northerly latitude. Howbeit the colde 

 is not the cause why navigators frequent not the same, 

 but the Westerly and Southerly windes, which blowe 

 most furiously on that coast, and that oftentimes out of 

 the very mouth of the streightes, and so continue for the 

 most part of the yeere. Also there runneth sometimes 

 such a strong current, that if the winde and it goe all 

 one way, the cables cannot holde, neither can the ship 

 withstand the force thereof. For which cause, and also 

 for that there is no harbour, till you be passed 30 leagues 

 into the said streights, most part of the ships that have 

 gone thither have indured many troubles before they 

 could come to the streights, and being come to the mouth 

 thereof they have bene hindered by the current and 

 winde, and so have beene put backe againe. And to the 

 end you may understand the truth, I will declare unto 

 you all the shippes that have past through the said streights, 

 since Magellan first found them, unto this present yeere 

 of 1586, when I have once ended my discourse of 

 Magellan his owne voyage. Nowe you are by the way 

 to understande, that the North side of the enterance of 

 these streights is plaine lande without any wood or trees : 

 Patagones. here are likewise some Indians though not many, yet 

 are they very mightie men of bodie of ten or eleven foot 

 high, and good bow-men, but no man-eaters, neither 

 have they any victuals, but such as they get by hunting 

 [III. 790.] and fishing ; they cover their bodies with the skinnes of 

 beasts that they kill, to defend them from the colde: 

 neither was there ever to this day any silver or golde 



256 



