APPExSTDlX. lOS 



sewed ; his arms, a stout and thick bow, a quiver of long arrows 

 feathered at one end, and armed at the other with flint. The height 

 of these people was about seven feet (French) ; but they were not 

 so tall as the person who approached them first, who is represented 

 to have been of so gigantic a size that Magellan's men did not, with 

 their heads, reach as high as the waist of this Patagonian. They 

 had with them beasts of burden, on which they placed their wives. 

 By Magellan's description of them, they appear to have been the 

 animals now known by the name of Llama. These interviews ended 

 with the captivating two of the people, who were carried away in two 

 different ships ; but, as soon as they arrived in a hot climate, each 

 of them died. I dwell the longer on this account, as it appears ex- 

 tremely deserving of credit ; as the courage of Magellan made him 

 incapable of giving an exaggerated account through the influence of 

 fear ; nor could there be any mistake about the height, as he had not 

 only a long intercourse with them, but the actual possession of two 

 for a very considerable space of time.* It was Magellan who first 

 gave them the name of Patagons, because they wore a sort of slipper 

 made of the skin of animals. "Tellement," says M. de Brosse,t 

 qu'ils paroissoient avoir des pattes de betes." In 1525 Garcia de 

 Loaisa saw, within the Straits of Magellan, savages of a very 

 great stature, but he does not particularize their height. After 

 Loaisa, the same Straits were passed in 1535 by Simon de Alcazova, 

 and attempted in 1540 by Alphonso de Camargo, but without being 

 visited by our tall people. The same happened to our countryman. 

 Sir Francis Drake ; but, because it was not the fortune of that able 

 and popular seaman to meet with these gigantic people, his contem- 

 poraries considered the report as the invention of the Spaniards. 



In 1579, Pedro Sarmiento asserts that those he saw were three ells 

 high. This is a vnriter I would never venture to quote singly, for 

 he destroys his own credibility by saying the savage he made pri- 

 soner was an errant Cyclops. I only cite him to prove that he 

 fell in with a tall race, though he mixes fable with truth. In 1586 

 our countryman. Sir Thomas Cavendish, in his voyage, had only 



* Vide Ramusio's Coll. Voyages, Venice, 1 550 ; also the Letter of Maxi- 

 milian Transylvanus, Sec. to Charles V. ; and in the lirst volume, p. 376, 

 A. and B. 



t This account, as well as the others where I do not quote my authority, 

 are taken from that judicious writer, M. de Brosse. 



