PATAGONIANS. 



281 



Magellan straits. He brought away with 

 him an account of two Patagonian bodies which 

 he saw on the American coast, of one of which 

 he measured the foot, and found it to be four 

 times the size of his own. Little reliance can 

 be placed on this account; for the naviga- 

 tors in that expedition related as a fact, that 

 three sailors were nearly killed by rocks torn 

 up and thrown at them by one of these giants ; — - 

 a relation which bears rather too much affinity 

 to the far-famed Polyphemus of Homer's 

 Odyssey, not to endanger the credibility of 

 the whole story. 



The English navigator, Hawkins, speaks of 

 them with less exaggeration. He says, " It is 

 necessary to beware of the inhabitants of the 

 Magellan coast. They are called Patagonians ; 

 they are cruel, perfidious, and so tall in stature, 

 that many travellers give them the name of 

 giants/ 5 



