Gonhva's V(^age of Discoveiy 



ficient quantity to be distributed to every one^ those wlio did 

 not receive any share of the present, showed no kind of dis- 

 satisfaction, nor once attempted to disturb the joy expressed 

 by their more fortunate companions. 



JNor is the idea of commerce a stranger to these men ; at least, 

 such as it was in the earliest times, before the multitude of com- 

 modities rendered it so complicate, as no longer to be confined 

 to the simple barter or exchange of articles. Some of our 

 officers exchanged swords and cutlasses with them for their 

 furs, in which the Patagonians manifested the strictest honesty 

 and sincerity. That they are extremely sober and temperate, 

 is known from their constant refusal to taste wine or any other 

 strong liquors, of whose pernicious effects we soon discovered 

 that they were not ignorant. But this does not prevent them 

 from requiring a large supply of food, proportioned to their 

 uncommon bulk, to satisfy the demands of their appetite. 

 They are also no strangers to the generous virtue of gratitude ; 

 for every lime that our boat carried them back to the land, they 

 always made signs for omy people to wait, until they should go 

 to procure some presents and refreshments for them. 



They seem to acknowledge some kind of subordination among 

 themselves ; for the seaman Hernendez Thome, w^ho was 

 brought off by Cavendish, relates, that a Patagonian fell into 

 a violent passion, on being made to understand that Sarmiento 

 was the captain or chief; and, giving himself several bUnvs on 

 the breast, asserted that he himself was the capitano. It was also 

 observed, that the generality of one tribe paid obedience to one 

 of more than ordinary size among them, intimating that he was 

 their capitano^ — a word whose signification they seemed per- 

 fectly to comprehend. It is, however, totally unknown how 

 far this power extends, or whether the same persons always 

 live in the same community ; whether their numbers are great 

 or small, or to what bounds they extend their peregrinations; 

 what sort of religion, or if any, they profess; having on this 

 head only remarked, that, before the sun went down, they 

 constantly retired from the sea-shore to their habitations up 

 the <^ountry, showing a sort of veneration for that beneficent 

 celestial body. 



It cannot be doubted , that the greater part of these Pata- 

 gonians have frequent intercourse with the Spanish settlements 

 in Buenos Ay res and Chili, particularly with those lately es^ 

 tablished on the Patagonian coast; lor they all were weH 

 acquainted with the use of tobacco, which they begged of ns 

 with great earnestness, and sbow^ed themselves to be dextrous 

 m the art of smcaking. Besides, to be thoroughly convinced 



