» and having a head of enormous dimensions. 
Ry se GTAN TS. 
Been enak enecokia eattieel woke that 
at the triumph 
~ of the consul.’ In the year 1613, the French journals 
ing near the 
, that while some workmen were 
12 feet wide, and ei 
pre omer 254 feet lo 10 feet. broad 
s ne , 254° feet long, 10 feet across 
the matte ogra five feet dens from back to breast. 
Each of the teeth was the size of an ox’s hoof, and the 
leg bones were four feet long. These bones continued 
‘to be exhibited for some time as the identical remains 
of the Teutonic king mentioned by Florus, and carried 
‘under that name ‘through Flanders into England. A 
«onvent of Dominicans-at Valence, in Dauphiny, lately 
had part of a haman leg bone, and articulation of the 
knee, found near the banks of the stream Morderi, 
which they affirmed belonged to a certain tyrannical 
‘giant, Bucant, 22 feet high. He lived on a mountain, 
and was slain by one of his own vassals, the Count de 
Chatillon ; but to perpetuate his immense. stature, the 
monks preserved a painting of him in Fresco. Rio- 
land, a celebrated anatomist, is saideto have written a 
specific account, in 1614, of the discovery of a tomb 
-in the suburbs of St Germains at Paris, which contained 
‘the remains of Isoret, a giant 20 feet in height. But we 
shave understood that the same physician called in ques- 
‘tion the identity of the bones as being-of a human sub- 
ject, which were exhibited for those of the Teutonic 
ing. It is recorded, that in the course of digging a 
ditch at Rouen, near the Dominican convent, in the year 
‘1519, a tomb was found, with a plate of copper in- 
scribed: “ In this tomb lies the noble and) puissant 
lord, the Chevalier Ricon de Vallemont and his bones.” 
‘The tomb contained a skeleton whose skull held a bu- 
‘shel of corn, and whose leg bone, about four feet long, 
reached up to the girdle of the tallest man in company. 
‘Platerus, a physician, declares, that at Lucerne he saw 
real:-human bones of a 
feet high; and it is calculated, that in the preceding in- 
oars we Chevalier can marae scarce more than 
a foot shorter... A voyager to the Canary Islands speaks 
‘of the body of one or he ancient Ghanelies in’ a ca 
vern in the Peak of Teneriffe, as being 15 feet long, 
Several 
igators te the Straits of Magellan, both foreigners 
na 
and Englishmen, affirm, that on examining graves at Port 
+ Desire, they found human skeletons ten or eleven. feet 
in length, and on passing somewhat farther to the west- 
‘ward, -as appears, other bones, in no. respect inferior, 
were discovered. We shall say nothing of the giants 
to’ by Olaus Magnus, who, independent: of 
men, says that a woman was found who had been 
-killed -by a wound. in the head, clothed. in a. purple 
cloak; 50 cubits in length, and four in nadie be 
‘tween the shoulders: Reperta est puella, in capite vul- 
nerata, morta,  induta chlamy rpurea langitudinis 
cubitorum quiy inta, latitudinis pl humeros quatuor. 
But if we are to confide in-history, here are examples 
of gigantic human remains, progressively decreasing 
from: 60 cubits to 10°feet as the. height of the living 
being. Whether the historians were competent judges 
of the fact they relate, is a different enquiry; few, how- 
ever, will hesitate to reject the. gigantic skeleton spoken 
of by Strabo, ascribed to Anteus; or that supposed to 
‘be the body of Orion, exposed by the dislocation of 
the Cretan mountain, The existence of enormous giants 
who must have been 19 . 
261 
is conjectured from nothing but their remains, and it 
is extremely doubtful if there be authentic accounts of 
any living giant having been seen. whose size exceeds 
the lowest term of the remains we have quoted. . 
» The ancients acquaint us, that in the reign of ‘Clau-, 
dius, a giant named'Galbara, 10 feet high, was brought 
to Rome from the coast’ of Africa, An instance is,cited 
by Goropius, an author with whom. we are otherwise 
unacquainted, of a female of equal stature... A certain 
Greek « sophist, ‘Prowresius, is said to, have been’ nine 
feet in height. Julius Capitolinus affirms, that Maximi- 
nian the:Roman emperor was eight feet and a half: 
there was a Swede,’ one of the life guards of Frederick. 
the Great, of that size. M. Le Cat speaks of a giant 
exhibited: at Rouen, measuring eight feet and some 
inches; -and we believe some have been seen in this 
0 ; within the last 30 years, whose stature was 
not inferior. In Plott’s History of Staffordshire, there 
is an instance of a man of seven feet anda half high, 
and another in Thoresby’s account of Leeds, of seven 
feet five inches, Examples may be found elsewhere of 
several individuals seven féet in height, below which, 
after the opinion of the ancients, we may cease to con- 
sider men gigantic. A porter belonging to the Prince 
of Wales, commonly called Big Sam, though long es- 
teemed of much larger stature, we believe proved to be 
only six feet ten inches. Entire families sometimes, 
though rarely, occur of six feet four, or six feet six inch- 
es high. 
From all this we may conclude, that there may have 
possibly: been seen some solitary instances of men who 
were ten feet. in height; that. those of eight feet are 
extremely ‘uncommon, and that even six feet and a half 
far exceeds the height of men in Europe. Neither, as 
-we shall afterwards explain, is there any reason to sup- 
pose that the human race has degenerated with the pro- 
gress of time. But first let us say a few words on a 
subject which has excited much controversy, the exist- 
ence of a nation ‘of giants on the continent of South 
America. 
The earlier, navigators towards the Straits of Magel- 
lan and the neighbouring coasts, soon remarked the ex- 
traordinary size of the natives repairing to the coast ; 
and.in the narrative of Magellan’s own voyage, is an ac- 
count of the first Patagonians, so,called by the Portu- 
guese in allusion toa long measure, who came on board 
a European vessel: The strangers were also.visited by 
others displaying the same good nature, and those pro- 
perties. which still characterize the inhabitants of the 
coast ; they were pleased with every thing they saw ; 
the shackles with’ which Magellan prepared to make 
them prisoners, they took for play-things, and inno- 
cently allowed themselves to be fettered, and carried 
into captivity from a barbarous curiosity. Sir Rich- 
ard Hawkins, and Nodal, a Spanish navigator, de- 
-scribe the natives of the coast as a head taller than 
Europeans, and of such stature that the crew of their 
vessels called them giants; and Sir Thomas Caven- 
dish, speaking of those at Port Desire, says one of 
their feet measured eighteen inches long. The Spa- 
niards also, who had formed settlements in South Ame- 
rica, seem. to have been acquainted. with a tribe of 
large stature ; and a woman, who had.been many years 
in captivity, returned with an account of a whole army 
of giants. Still there was but a very imperfect know- 
ledge of their history in Europe, until the public curi- 
osity was roused, by the-narratives of the English. cir- 
cumnayigators, between the years 1760 and 1770; for 
the preceding notices of Turner, who said he had 
‘ Giants. 
Gigantic 
tribes still 
exist. 
Patagoni- 
ans. 
