PAT 
771 
PAT 
/ilia Dominus or Doinine, Lord or Lady of Brafil; reverfe, 
an armillary fphere, placed on a crofs ; legend, suboue 
signo nata stabili; “Born under a fteady fign.” 
Pataca is alio the name given to the German dollars 
in Egypt; which formerly palled for 85 medini, but have 
been raifed to 90 medini. In making bargains, however, 
where patacas are.to be received in payment, it is necef- 
fary previoully to fettle the value of the coin. 
Pataca Chica and Pataca Gourda, two moneys of ac¬ 
count at Algiers. The pataca chica is worth njd. fter- 
ling; the pataca gourda, or piaftre, contains three pata¬ 
cas chicas. 
PATA'CHE, f. [French.} A fmall lhip. Ainfworth. 
PATACK', a town of Hindooftan, in Palnaud : twen¬ 
ty miles weft of Timerycotta. 
PATACOO'N, f. A fdver coin, worth four flail 1 ings 
and eight pence Englilh,—This makes Spain to purchafe 
peace of her with his Italian patacoons. Howell. 
The Patacoon, patacon, or patagon, is a denomina¬ 
tion of fdver coin current in Swifferland, and alfo at 
Liege in Germany. The patagon, or ecu, of Geneva, 
which is fometimes ufed in accounts, is a real coin, worth 
3 livres, or 10} florins ; or 4s. id. fterling. The patagon, 
or crown, of Bern, is in value 4s. 93d, fterling. The 
old patagon of Balil, is in value 4s. 4gd. fterling : the 
patagon of 1795 is in value only 3s. iod. fterling. The 
patagon of Geneva is worth 4s. id. fterling. Laftly, the 
patacon of Liege is w'orth 4s. 4d. fterling ; but the pata- 
con of account is worth only 4s. 2^d. 
PATADA', a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of 
Aurangabad : thirty miles north of Darore. 
PATAGO'A, a river of Brafil, which runs into the 
fea near Rio Janeiro. 
PATAGO'NIA, [fo named by Magellan from the 
Spanifli puta, foot, and guanaco, becaufe the inhabitants 
wore on their feet the hairy Ikin of the guanaco, or hua- 
naco, Camelus huanacus.] A country of South America, 
bounded on the north by the vice-royalty of La Plata or 
Buenos Ayres, on the eaft by the Atlantic Ocean, on the 
fouth by the Straits of Magellan, and on the weft by the 
South Pacific Ocean, extending from about Ion. 64. 30. 
to 74. 30. W. and from about lat. 38. to 54. S. The 
boundaries of this country, however, are not accurately 
afcertained, and its figure is very irregular. 
This country was firft difcovered in the year 1519, by 
Ferdinand Magellan, who palfed through the narrow fea 
which feparates this country from the illand of Fuego; 
and the country, as w r ell as the ftraits, was called by his 
name; as Land of. Magellan, or The Magellanic Lands; 
and by others, we cannot tell why, Tehuelia; but it is 
now more generally known by the name of Patagonia. 
The Voyage of Magellan round the World was the firft 
ever made; for it would be ungenerous to deny the 
title, becaufe that great navigator was flain at the Phi¬ 
lippine iflands. Pigafetta, who accompanied Magellan, 
drew up an account of this memorable voyage in Italian, 
wdiich has been recently publilhed in a fplendid manner. 
But the fixteenth century was not the age of philofophy ; 
it was an age wherein marvellous ftories met with a ready 
belief; and accordingly Pigafetta thought fit to aflign to 
the Patagonians a ftature of more than four yards ; but, 
abftraSing from the little credit due to this author, on 
account of the abfurdities and faifehoods fcattered over 
his work, in the circumftance of their fize he is fo in¬ 
continent, that, after having furnifhed them wdth heads 
of a monftrous iize, he fays, that Magellan, amongft other 
prefents, gave to one of them his own cap, which the 
other immediately put on and wore, although Magellan 
was himfelf far from being a giant. Maximilian Tran- 
filvanus, who in his work only tranflated Pigafetta’s 
book, repeats the fame abfurd ltory, and embeliifhes it 
with fome improbabilities of his own invention. As 
thefe two were the only works which had general circula¬ 
tion for fome time, they fell into the hands of authors 
of more fimplicity than difcernment, fuch as Gonzalo 
Fernandez Oviedo, who tranflated the above and many 
other fables into his General and Natural Hiftory of the 
Indies; enlarging much on the Patagonians, confiding 
in the information he received from the clergyman Ari- 
zega, who, wantonly abufing his credulity, told him 
many things which do not appear in the formal declara¬ 
tion he afterwards made, and which are totally undefer- 
ving of credit : fuch as, that even a tall man could not 
reach with his hand to the w'aift of a Paragonian; that 
thefe people devoured a couple of pounds of raw flelhat 
a mouthful; that they drank off fix or feven arrobas (18 
or 20 gallons) of water at a draught, and other ridicu¬ 
lous exaggerations, to be feen in the above hiftory. When 
all this came to be publifhed by Oviedo, a cotemporary 
author, it is not to be wondered at that it began to gain 
credit, and was adopted by Gomara, Argenfela, and other 
writers, who, with exceflive credulity, committed to wri¬ 
ting whatever they heard of thefe remote regions. Go¬ 
mara not only copied Pigafetta, but added many other 
abfurdities, colledted from other quarters. 
Our countryman Cavendifh allowed 18 inches to the 
foot of the Patagonians, in which he is followed by 
Hawkins and Knivet. But thofe who have added the molt 
to their bulk, were the Dutch navigators; and Sebaldus 
Veert even goes fo far as to fay, that they were of a 
height to fill men .with horror; that they ufed to pluck 
up whole trees by the roots, &c. &c. and he has been 
followed, but with fome moderation, by Noort, Spilberg, 
and Le Maire. The adventurers of St. Maloes likewife 
bear teftimony to the tallnefs of the Patagonians; but 
other travellers, and thofe undoubtedly of more credit, 
fuch as Winter and Narborough, the Dutch admiral, S. 
Hermite, and the French M.Froger, have refuted thefe 
impoftures : and alfo fuch as have made no mention at 
all of that people, are evidently againlt the vulgar opi¬ 
nion, as they never would have opiitted a matter of fuch 
note and Angularity. But, after all, the great ftature 
of the Patagonians remained problematical, having ftill 
many fupporters ; although the aflertors of the gigantic 
fize of that people were far from being agreed amongft 
themfelves, fluftuating in their imaginary meafurements 
from 10 to 13 feet; until the lateft and repeated expedi¬ 
tions of the Englifh, the French, and the Spaniards, in 
our own times, under the command of officers of dif- 
tindion, judgment, and veracity,have for ever overturned 
and deftroyed thofe fables and faifehoods, and reduced 
the Patagonians to their true and proper ftature and ap¬ 
pearance. 
Commodore Byron and his men, who entered the 
ftraits in 1764, reprefent them to be of a gigantic ftature, 
and to realize the tales of monlters in a human (hape. 
One of them, who appeared to be a chief, had the lkin 
of fome wild beaft thrown over his fhoulders, and was 
painted fo as to exhibit a hideous appearance : round one 
eye was a large circle of white, a circle of black furrounded 
the other, and the reft of his face was ftreaked with paint 
of different colours. Byron did not meafure him ; but, 
judging of his ftature by its proportion to his own, he 
concluded it could not be much lefs than Jevenfeet. This 
was the general fize of the men ; the women were pro¬ 
portionally lefs. They were all painted and clothed 
nearly in the fame manner : their teeth were as white as 
ivory, remarkably even and well fet; but, except the 
(kins, which they wore with the hair inwards, molt of 
them were naked, fome few only having upon their legs 
a kind of boot, with a fhort,pointed (tick fattened to each 
heel, which ferved as a fpur. When they were prevailed 
upon to fit down, they accepted a quantity of yellow and 
white beads, which were diftributed among them, with 
plea’fure. They did not appear to be wholly ftrangers to 
European ornaments ; for one woman among them, of an 
enormous fize, and having her face frightfully painted, 
had bracelets, either of brafs or very pale gold, upon her 
arms, and fome beads of blue glafs lining upon two 
plaits of her hair. Thefe apparent giants had with them 
a great 
