162 
Buenos Ayres have been deem- 
ed Patagons, altho* stated by 
others to consist of several na- 
tions and tribes, different in size, 
complexion and language. 
Many writers call them . a race 
of giants and lately even a pe- 
culiar species of man! while 
others deny their great size 
and even their existence ! It 
would be tedious to enumerate 
all the various false opinions to 
which they have given rise. 
Molina and Falkner’s more 
rational belief deserve alone 
attention; they deemed these 
Patagons only a branch of the 
Aucas or eastern Chilians, who 
are known to be often of a very 
tall size. 
But even this system is erro- 
neous, because the languages 
and complexions of the various 
Austral tribes, were not well 
attended to. Yet Pigafetta the 
historian of Magellan voyager 
gave a vocabulary of the true 
gigantic Patagons, and de- 
scribed them as tali men 7 feet 
high of a yellowish complexion, 
painting their bodies and wear- 
ing skin mantles. While the 
A.ucas or eastern Chilians of 
the Andes altho* often nearly 
as tall are of a different com- 
plexion and language, do not 
paint and wear woollen pon- 
chos. 
By comparing carefully and 
critically the accounts of fifty 
travellers and historians, I 
have ascertained many tribes 
in Austral America, which 
shall be distinguished and de- 
scribed in the first vol. of my 
history of America (upon Aus- 
tral America.) They may be 
reduced to 3 real nations; 1, 
The Aucas or Chilians, 2. the 
Puelches or Talahets, 3. Cunis 
or Poyas, which are all inti- 
mately connected altho’ di- 
vided into 30 or 40 tribes. 
All have been called Pata- 
gons by some travellers, but 
the original Patagons of Ma- 
gellan are only one of these 
tribes, called Tinguis , Tim- 
guis, Tinguiches , Guidiches, 
ikeyus, Tir amends, Capacs, &c. 
by various authors, andd wel- 
ling near the strait of Magel- 
lan to the Western side, from 
whence they ramble in summer 
to the Eastern shore. They 
belong to the Poyas nation ex- 
tending from South Chili to 
Statenland, which do not 
speak Chilian. 
Capf. Morrell appears to be 
the last traveller who has seen 
these true Patagons in 1823 
and 1826; but without knowing 
them as realy such. By 5 words 
of their language mentioned 
at random they are the same 
as those of Pigafetta. Such as 
God Setedos M. Setebos of P. 
&c. He visited two of their 
villages on the R. Capac* lat. 
52 and 53, of 4000 and 2000 
population. Their complexion 
is pale yellow, they paint, wear 
skin mantles, and thus are like 
those of Pigafetta. The tallest 
was 6 feet 4, but he saw in 
tombs, skeletons of 7 to 8 feet. 
The vocabulary of Pigafetta 
is of the utmost historical im- 
portance. It has enabled me 
to trace the origine of these 
Patagons, since I have detect- 
ed in it 81 pr cent of analogy 
with the Cairi of Trinidad Id. 
