24 The V O Y 
Sehajlian and the main Land, where, carrying their Things 
on Shore, and erecting a Forge, they built a Pinnace, and 
repaired whatfoever was out of Order which Work de- 
tained them till the 23d. Upon the 26th, they fell in upon 
the Coaft of America, 1047° 2 °' North Latitude, from which 
Place they ran along the Shore, till they came into 48°, 
finding it a very deep Beach all along. 
5. November 27. they came to an Harbour, into which 
the Admiral firft entered, calling it, on that Account (from 
the Name of his Ship) Port Defire. Near this Harbour 
there are an Hand or Two, very full of Seals, and another 
as well flock’d with grey Gulls. The Harbour itfelf is 
very convenient for trimming and graving of Ships, becaufe 
of the confiderabie Ebbing and Flowing of the Water there. 
Here the Savages wounded Two of their Company with 
their Arrows, which are made of Canes headed with Flints. 
A wild and rude fort of Creatures they were *, and, as it 
fecmed, of a gigantic Race, the Meafure of one of their 
Feet being Eighteen Inches in Length: When any of 
them dies, he is buried in a Grave of Stone upon the Cliffs 
by the Sea Side, all his Darts being fattened about his 
Tomb, and his Treafures of Shells laid under his Head. 
This Defcription agrees very well with that of Magellan s ; 
though feme Pains has been taken to reprefent that as 
fabulous 5 perhaps, for want of underttanding it. He 
left this Country the Name of Patagonia , and gave the 
Inhabitants that of Patagons ; by which he meant to fig- 
nify, that they were Five Cubits, or Seven Feet and an 
half high •, which, if we confider, that the Portnguefe are 
not commonly very tall themfelves, we need not wonder 
that they ftiled them Giants. As to this Circumftance of 
the Footflep, if we take the ufual Proportions of human 
Bodies, in which the Foot is between a Fifth and Sixth of 
the whole Body, then the Account given us here by Mr. 
Cavendijh , agrees very exactly with that of Magellan ; and, 
as will be fhewn hereafter, is not falfified by any of our 
fubfequent Travellers s . 
6. December 2,8. they left Port Defire , and anchored 
near an Hand Three Leagues to the Southward, and kept 
along the Coaft South-weft and by South. The 30th they 
came to a Rock, (much like the Eddy-ftone at Plymouth ) 
lying about Five Leagues from the Land, and in 48° 30' 
South Latitude ; and, founding, they had Eight Fathom 
rocky Ground within a Mile of it. They kept on coafting 
South South-weft, and found great Store of Seals all along 
the Coaft. January 2. they fell in with a great white Cape in 
5 2 0 , and had Seven Fathom Water within a League of the 
Shore. The 3d, they fell in with another great Cape in 
52 0 45', from which Cape there runs a long Beach, about 
a League to the Southward, and reaches to the Opening 
of the Magellanic Streight : Under this Cape they an- 
chored, and loft their Anchor in a very great Storm, 
which raged violently for Three Days together. 
7. January 6 . they put into the S freights, which they 
found in fome Places Five or Six Leagues wide, and in 
other Places confiderably more narrow. The 7th, between 
the Mouth of the Streights and the narroweft Part of it, 
they took a Spaniard, who was left there with Twenty- 
three of the fame Nation ; and thefe were all remaining of 
Four hundred, left Three Years before in thefe Streights. The 
fame Day they patted the narroweft Part of thofe Streights, 
where the Spaniards fhewed them the Hull of a fmall Bark, 
fuppofed to be one left by Sir Francis Drake. The Mouth 
of the Streights is in 52 0 South Latitude, and ’tis from 
thence to the narroweft Pafs Fourteen Leagues, and the 
Courfe is Weft by North ; alfo from this narroweft Pafs to 
Penguin If and is 10 Leagues, and the Courfe is Weft 
South-weft, and a little to the Southward. Here in Pen- 
guin If and they anchored the 8 th Day, and killed and faked 
great Store of Penguins . January 9. they left this Hand, 
and failed South South-weft Civdad del Rey Felippe , or King 
Philip’s City, built by the Spaniards : It had Four Forts, 
(or Baftions rather) and each Fort had one call Piece in it, 
which were all buried, and the Carriages left Handing in 
their Places : They dug for thefe Pieces, and recovered 
them all. The City had feveral Churches in it, and feemed 
to be very well contrived, efpecially as to its Situation, 
which was in the moft happy Place in all the Streights, for 
8 Mr. Cavendijh was a Man of Senfe and Learning, and \\ 
l 
AGES of Book I; 
the Conveniencies of Wood and Water. But miferable was 
the Life which this forlorn Remnant of Spaniards had lived 
there for the Space of Two Years, having hardly any thing 
but a few Shell-fifti to fupport Nature withal, except they 
had the, good Luck to take a Deer, at any time, that came 
down from the Mountains to drink. Their Defign in come- 
ing to this Town, was to fortify thefe Streights, fo that all 
other Nations, befides themfelves, fhould be debarred of a 
Pattfage into the South Sea: But, befides theBadnefs of the 
Climate, the Barrennefs of the Soil, and the Inclemency 
of the Weather, the Indians, their moft implacable Enemies, 
broke in upon them by frequent and furious Expeditions ; 
and by thefe means they were reduced to the laft Extremities, 
ail their Stores brought out of Spain being fpent, and no 
more to be gotten abroad, the Country either not afford- 
ing it, or the Indians falling upon them, and hunting the 
Spaniards, while they hunted a few Deer for the Preferva- 
tion of their Lives: At laft they died like fo many Dogs, in 
their Houfes, in great Numbers ; and the Stench of the 
putrefying Carcafes infefting thofe that furvived, they were 
forced to quit the Town with one Confent, and go rambling 
upon the Sea Coafts, living upon Leaves and Roots, and 
Sea Herbs, or what Animals they at any time happily 
caught. They determined to march on to the River 
of Plate , and were, in this their miferable Progrefs, met by 
the Englijh , as was before obferved. The Admiral named 
this Place (for the Scarcity of all Neceffaries here) Port 
Famine : It lies in 53 0 South Latitude. The 14th, they 
left this Place, and ran 5 Leagues South-weft to Cape Fro- 
ward , which Cape is the Southermoft Part of the Streights, 
and lies in the Latitude 54 0 . From this Cape, failing 
Weft by North Five Leagues more, they put into a Bay, 
which they called Mujfel Cove , irom the Store of Muffels 
found there. The 21ft, they left that Place, and failed 
North- weft and by Weft, 10 Leagues to a fair fandy 
Bay which the Admiral called . Elizabeth Bay. The 2 2d, 
they departed from Elizabeth Pay , and, about 2 Leagues 
off, found a good River, in which the Admiral towed up 
the Boat for the Space of Three Miles : There was a plea- 
fant champagne Country that lay about the River ; but, 
except this, all near the Streights was craggy and moun- 
tainous, inhabited by a ftrong, well-made, but a very 
brutifh fort of Savages, who, it was faid, had eat up many 
a Spaniard , and would fain have made a Meal upon Englijh 
Flelh too, but that they failed of bringing them into their 
Trap : The Admiral, finding the Plot they had laid to betray 
him, made his Men falute them with their Harquebuffes, 
which did Execution upon feveral : So, leaving that River, 
they failed to St. Jerom’s Chanel, which was 2 Leagues 
off. From this Chanel they failed Weftward about 3 or 
4 Leagues, to a Cape which lies on the North of it ; from, 
which Cape, to the Mouth of the Streights, the Courfe 
runs North-weft, and North-weft by Weft ; and the Di- 
ftance from thence, to the Entrance into the South Sea, is 
about 34 Leagues ; fo that the Length of the whole Streights 
is 90 Leagues. ’Tis farther obfervable, that the Entrance 
of the Streights into the South Sea is in near the fame 
Latitude with the Pattfage out of the North Sea into the 
Streights, which is 52 0 40' South Latitude ; and here be- 
tween the fore-mentioned Cape and the Mouth of the 
Streights, they were forced to lie in Harbour till Febr. 23. 
the Reafon of which Confinement was, the ftormy Winds, 
and excellive Rains that poured down with ftich Fury from 
the Mountains, that they were brought into extreme Dan- 
ger thereby, being no leis diftreffed for want of Food, than 
by the Badnefs of the Weather, which hardly permitted 
them to land, and range the Country for a Supply. As 
they lay here in the Streights, they obferved (which had 
alfo been difcovered by the Spaniards before) that there 
were Harbours on both Sides the Shore, at every Mile or 
Two Miles Diftance, tolerably convenient, at leaft for fmall 
Ships. 
8. February 24. they entered the South Sea, obferving 
on the South Side of the Entrance a very high Cape, with 
a low Point adjoining to it j and on the North Four or Five 
Hands, lying Six Leagues off the Main, with much broken 
and funk Ground about them. March 1. they had a great 
Storm at Night, in which they loft the Company of the 
as therefore more accurate than moll Voyage-writers are. 
Hugh 
