Cordovah Voyage of Discovery 



nancio Tom6, the Spanish seaman who was delivered by 

 Cavendish, in his passage through tlic strait, affirms, in liisdecla- 

 ration, that the Indians with whom the colony of Sarmiento had 

 intercourse were of gigantic size ; and, in another place, that 

 they were very bulky and ugly, or unshapely. We have al- 

 ready mentioned the opinion of the Nodales; so that, upon the 

 whole, it is evident, that not one of the first Spanish navigators 

 attributes to the Patagonians that prodigious stature, nor the 

 other extraordinary circumstances spread abroad to the world, 

 by authors who, even down to Seixas, in 1690, have written 

 multitudes of inventions and falsehoods. 



The Italian Pagifeta, in the romance which he published, as 

 a History of Magellanes* Expedition, is the first who gave to 

 the Patagonians a stature of more than four yards ; but, ab- 

 stracting from the little credit due to this author, on account of 

 the absurdities and falsehoods scattered over his work, in the 

 circumstance of their size he is so inconsistent, that, alter hav- 

 ing furnished them with heads of a monstrous size, he says 

 that Magellanes, amongst other presents, gave to one of theiu 

 his own cap, which the other immediately put on and wore, 

 although Magellanes was himself far from being a giant. So 

 fond was Pagifeta of such prodigies, that be has even planted 

 giants on the banks of the Rio de la Plata. 



Maximilian Transilvanus, who in his work only translated 

 Pagifeta's book, repeats the same absurd story, and even em- 

 bellishes it with some improbabilities of his own invention. 



j!\s these two were the only works which had general circula- 

 tion in the world, they fell into the hands of authors of more 

 simplicity than discernment, such as Gonzalo Fernandez Oviedo, 

 who translated the above and many other fables into his General 

 and Natural History of the Indies j enlarging much on the 

 Patagonians, confiding in the information he received from the 

 clergyman Arizega, who, wantonly abusing his credulity, told 

 liim many things which do not ajDpear in the formal declaration 

 he afterwards made, and which are totally undeserving of cre- 

 dit: such as, that even a tall man could not reach with his 

 band to the waist of a Patagonian ; that these people devoured 

 a couple of pounds of raw fiesh at a mouthful ; that they drank 

 off six or seven arrobas (18 or 20 gallons) of water at a draught, 

 and other ridiculous exaggerations, to be seen in the above 

 history. 



Wtien this opinion came to be published by Oviedo, a co- 

 temporary author, it is not to be wondered at ttiat it began to 

 gain credit, and was adopted by Gomara, Argensela, and other 

 writers, who, with excessive credulity, committed to ivriting 



