European visitors to Patagonia were amazed 

 at tlie size of ttie Indians, as Pigafetta 

 pointed out in liis journal of Magellan's 

 voyage. Here, an officer accompanying Cook 

 on a voyage to the Pacific gives a 

 string of beads to a Patagonian woman. 



storms — during some of which the ships were temporarily scattered 

 — he found on March 31a sheltered anchorage at Port St. Julian. 

 Once again he put his men on reduced rations, in anticipation of 

 the long period that they must wait before resupplying themselves 

 with fresh food — though there were, says Pigafetta, "a great plenty 

 of fish" in the sea around them. 



This time the reduction in rations broke the spirit of the men. 

 They were cold, tired, frightened, and discouraged. The future 

 seemed too hideous to face, and there was a general demand for the 

 restoration of full rations and return home. Although Magellan 

 managed to shame the rank and file into some degree of acqui- 

 escence, his captains were bent on mutiny. On Easter Day, only the 

 new captain of the Santo Antonio obeyed a summons to dine on the 

 flagship, and that night the Santo Antonio was captured by the dis- 

 loyal captains. Realizing that the situation was critical, Magellan 

 took swift and desperate action in order to crush the mutiny. 



One captain was killed during the affair, a second died of wounds, 

 a third was later beheaded, and Juan de Cartagena and a priest were 

 condemned to be marooned on that bleak coast when the armada 

 moved on. Soon there was another crisis, this time an accident that 

 resulted in the loss of one of the ships. Toward the beginning of 

 May the Santiago, which had gone south on a reconnaissance, was 

 wrecked some seventy miles away from St. Julian. Luckily, only 

 one man was drowned; the thirty-seven survivors managed to 

 struggle back to the anchorage over land. Soon afterward a tall 

 savage appeared on the beach; "so taU was this man," writes 

 Pigafetta, "that we came only to the level of his waistbelt." Friendly 

 relations were soon established with the tribe, whom the Spaniards 

 called Patagao, from the size of their feet. 



With the return of warmer weather, on October 18 the four 

 remaining ships resumed the voyage. Three days later they saw 

 "an opening like unto a bay." They were off Cape Virgenes and the 

 long-dreamed-of strait was before them. Whether or not he realized 

 that success was at hand, Magellan must have been a very hopeful 

 man as his eyes followed the inviting water stretching toward the 

 western horizon. The Santo Antonio and the Concepcion were sent 

 ahead to reconnoiter. Meanwhile the other two ships waited anx- 

 iously, riding the storms that swept into the strait. At last the two 

 ships hove in sight, flags flying, guns saluting, bringing the welcome 

 news that they had sailed up the passage for three days without 

 seeing an end to it. All along the way soundings had remained deep, 

 in some places "bottomless," and the flood tide was stronger than the 

 ebb — all surely proof that a through passage had been found. 



The accounts of the voyage through the Todos los Santos (All 

 Saints Strait), as Magellan called it, are somewhat confused. To 

 navigate the Strait of Magellan at any time takes considerable skill. 

 The fact that Magellan was able to accomplish it without charts, 

 and in only thirty-eight days, is a measure of his genius. The direct 

 link for the passage is about 3 20 miles, but the little fleet must have 

 covered a much greater distance. In addition to exploring the maze 

 of sounds and channels bordering the Strait, Magellan had to waste 

 several days searching for the Santo Antonio, which had slipped 

 away and deserted when the ships had split into two parties to 

 explore alternate channels. 



Earlier, when they were part way through the Strait and 



32 



