PATAGONIANS. 



285 



gallantry displayed by that nation. Recent 

 accounts, by Spanish navigators, confirm these 

 details. Maltbrun, who mentions many of these 

 facts, concludes by remarking, that it appears 

 now beyond a doubt, that the Patagonians, for 

 three centuries, have preserved a stature consi- 

 derably above that of any other human race ; 

 since the smallest of them was seen to be 

 above five feet and a half, French measure, and 

 the mean size was seven, or at least six feet 

 and a half, and that there is no improbability 

 in the accounts which represent some of these 

 individuals to be as much as eight feet high. 



Other countries of the world have perhaps 

 contained tribes, of a stature not less than the 

 above mentioned. Effeminate habits and com- 

 merce with other nations may have caused 

 them to degenerate, whilst the Patagonians, in 

 the most isolated part of the globe, have pre- 



