Oct.] NATIVES OF PATAGONIA. 47 



calf to the foot. Their horses, which displayed a great deal of spirit, 

 were not of the largest size, but handsomely formed, and in excellent 

 condition. The bridles were similar to our halters, made of a thong 

 of skin ; but whether their bits and spurs were of wood, or any other 

 material, it was impossible for me to determine. Something like a 

 saddle formed a seat for the rider, who managed his animal with 

 much tact and dexterity, and rode with an ease and grace not easily 

 acquired by art. 



Some voyagers have suggested that these Indians of Patagonia are 

 descendants of the natives of the Canary Islands, who were all a tall 

 people ; and it is said that they bury their dead on the eastern shores, 

 as looking to the country of their ancestors. I have found several of 

 these graves on the Atlantic coast of Patagonia, covered with large 

 heaps of stones to guard the bodies from the ravages of wild beasts. 

 But if this circumstance proves any thing, it is the fact that all un- 

 civilized people have a superstitious veneration or reverence for the 

 east. Bougainville assigns them a different origin, and suggests that 

 they might have sprung from the Tartars, as in their roaming propen- 

 sities and equestrian habits they much resemble that people. If reports 

 be true, they are also like the Tartars in another respect — that of 

 pillaging caravans and robbing travellers. 



That their life is pastoral as well as predatory I have no doubt ; 

 as they are frequently seen in such companies as I have just de- 

 scribed, watching over their flocks or herds of guanacoes while they 

 are grazing, surrounding them on horseback, and arresting such as 

 seem disposed to desert the fold. Those not actually employed in 

 this particular service are grazing their horses, or refreshing them- 

 selves. 



It is highly probable that when the grassy nutriment becomes ex- 

 hausted in one valley they remove to another ; like the sons of Jacob, 

 whose flocks having exausted the vales of Hebron and Shechem, de- 

 parted thence, and said, " Let us go to Dothan." In this respect they 

 resemble the Arabs, among whom, says the Rev. Michael Russel, a 

 pastoral and predatory life " is accounted far more noble than that 

 which leads to a residence in towns, or even in villages. They think 

 it, as Arvieux remarks, more congenial to liberty ; because the man 

 who with his herds ranges the desert at large, will be far less likely 

 to submit to oppression than people with houses and lands." In 

 another place the same excellent writer observes that the life of a 

 migratory shepherd or herdsman " has a very close alliance with the 

 habits of a freebooter ; and the attentive reader of the ancient history 

 of the Israelites will recollect many instances wherein the descendants 

 of Isaac gave ample proof of their relationship to the posterity of 

 Ishmael. The character of Abimelech the son of Gideon, for ex- 

 ample, cannot be viewed in any other light than that of a captain of 

 marauders." 



But whether the Patagonians be shepherds or robbers, or both — 

 whether they be descended from the ancient natives of the Canaries, 

 the Tartars of Northern Asia, the Arabs of its southern regions, or 

 the lost tribes of Israel — or are the natural production of the region 



