July 31, 1885.' 



SCIENCE. 



93 



Straits of Magellan, the country is inhabited by two 

 distinct races, — the Tehuiliches, or true Patagonians, 

 who roam over the vast and arid plains and uplands 

 stretching east of the Andes to the Atlantic ; and tlie 

 Araucanians, who possess the strip of broken and 

 rugged coast-land lying between that mountain chain 

 and the Pacific. The languages of the two races 

 belong to the polysynthetic or incorporative class, 

 but otherwise differ totally, both in grammar and in 

 vocabulary. A like general resemblance, with an 

 equally marked differentiation in special traits, is 

 noted in their other characteristics, physical and 

 moral. The Araucanians, or ' Chileno ' Indians, are 

 well known, and have often been described. They 

 are a people of medium stature, well formed, and 

 bearing in their features and color, as well as in their 

 character and habits, the typical characteristics of 

 American Indians. Their energy and unconquerable 

 valor have made them famous ; nor only so, but, in- 

 fused into their half-breed kindred, the Chilian peo- 

 ple, these qualities seem destined to secure to that 

 nation the headship of the South-American republics. 



The Tehuiliches belong to what D'Orbigny has 

 termed the Pampean race. Their congeners, along 

 with some wandering tribes of Araucanian origin, 

 are spread over the immense treeless plains of the 

 Argentine Confederacy. From them the Tehuiliches, 

 or proper Patagonians, differ mainly in the peculiar 

 traits, bodily and mental, which they owe to the 

 nature of the country they inhabit. This is, for the 

 most part, little better than a stony desert, in which 

 a tree is seldom seen, and only a scanty herbage here 

 and there struggles into existence through the shingle 

 which covers the surface of the land. Some lakes 

 are found, mostly brackish; and a few rivers, fed 

 by the snows of the Andes, traverse the country, 

 and empty into the Atlantic. This monotonous and 

 forbidding region, an antarctic Sahara larger than 

 France, has a population of nomads Avhose number is 

 supposed not to exceed ten thousand souls. Each in- 

 dividual has therefore a space of more than twenty 

 square miles from which to derive his subsistence. 

 Their food is altogether animal. Guanacoes and 

 ostriches wander over the boundless plains. The 

 Indians, on their fleet horses, run them down, and 

 then capture them readily with their favorite weap- 

 on, the well-known holas. Two balls of stone, or 

 hardened earth, enclosed in leather, held together by 

 a thong, are whirled around the head of the pursuing 

 horseman, and then launched with such force and 

 accuracy as to strike down an animal at the distance of 

 fifty yards. Horse-flesh also, in recent times, enters 

 largely into the Patagonian diet. Like the Eskimo 

 and other tribes of the far north, these natives are 

 fond of fatty substances, which they frequently devour 

 raw. Their strong food, of which there is rarely any 

 lack, and their habits of constant movement in the 

 open air, under a climate severe but not inclement, 

 give them large and robust bodies. The tales of their 

 gigantic stature, so often told and as frequently denied, 

 are thoroughly investigated in this memoir, and with 

 a result which will be interesting to anthropologists. 



Careful measurements have been made in recent 



times, by differentjobservers, of many individuals in 

 various parts of Patagonia. The result is l?iat the 

 mean stature of adults (of both sexes, it would ap- 

 pear) is found to be about 1.78 metres, or five feet ten 

 inches English. " This mean," remarks the author, 

 "may seem rather low; but if we compare it with 

 that of France, which is only 1.65 metres (about five 

 feet five inches), and if we consider that for all 

 humankind the statistics give only 1.70 metres (rather 

 less than five feet seven inches), we shall perceive 

 that this figure represents in reality a very lofty 

 stature, and makes the Patagonians the tallest race 

 of men now existing." Men of six feet French (six 

 feet three and a half inches English) are common 

 among them; and occasionally one is found who 

 reaches two metres, or six feet six and a half inches. 



This, however, is not all. The Patagonian, in the 

 upper part of his body, is of a huge build. His trunk 

 and head are large, his chest broad, his arms long 

 and muscular. On horseback, he seems far above 

 the ordinary size of man. When he dismounts, how- 

 ever, it is seen that his legs are dispi'oportionately 

 short and slender: they frequently bend outward. 

 His walk is heavy and lumbering. These are the 

 well-known peculiarities which are found in the 

 Tartars, and in all races of men who spend most of 

 their time, like the Patagonians, on horseback. But 

 it is only a little over two centuries since the horse 

 was introduced into this region. The natives who 

 were first seen chased the swift guanaco and ostrich 

 over their immense plains on foot. Such activity 

 required long, straight, and muscular legs. It is not 

 too much to suppose that the total change in their 

 habits of life, which has occurred since they became 

 a nation of horsemen, has detracted at least two 

 inches from their stature. Adding these lost inches 

 to their present height, we recover the giants who 

 astonifehed the companions of Magellan, and vindicate 

 the narratives which later writers have discredited. 

 We gain also a notable evidence of the influence of 

 natural causes in modifying the physical character- 

 istics of men. 



The moral qualities of the Patagonians, as depicted 

 by the author, are equally in harmony with their sur- 

 roundings. Their tribes, scanty in numbers and 

 widely scattered, rarely come into collision: wars 

 are consequently infrequent. The more violent pas- 

 sions are seldom aroused. They are neither vindic- 

 tive nor cruel. Their women are well treated. Like 

 the men, they are good riders, and are, like them, tall, 

 strong, and brave. If need be, they take part in fight 

 beside their husbands and brothers. Children are 

 the objects of singular tenderness. A whole tribe 

 has been known to shift its location merely to satisfy 

 the caprice of a child. The severe trials of their en- 

 durance to which youths, on arriving at maturity, are 

 subjected among the fighting tribes of the north, are 

 unknown among these peaceful nomads of the far 

 south. It is hardly necessary to say that slavery does 

 not exist among them, and human sacrifices are un- 

 heard of. Horses, in modern times, are frequently 

 killed over the graves of their dead masters, and are 

 sometimes offered in sacrifice to their divinities; 



