OF THE PATAGONIANS.
FORMED from the relation of Father FALKENER a Jesuit who had resided among them thirty eight Years. And from the different Voyagers who had met with this tall race.
PRINTED BY THE FRIENDSHIP OF GEORGE ALLAN ESQ. AT HIS PRIVATE PRESS AT DARLINGTON.
MDCCLXXXVIII.
IN the Year 1771 happening to fall into company in which the subject of the
Patagonians
was mentioned, several opinions arose, some savoring of scepticism: others gave full credit to the accounts lately published. By accident I heard of Father
Falkener,
who had been expelled the
Spanish
Dominions in
America
and sent to
Europe
with the rest of his Brethren. He was at that time at
Spetchley
near
Worcester.
I immediately procured recommendation to the worthy owner
Robert Berkely
Esq
from whom I met with every politeness. I then commenced with him a friendship which ever since has given me singular pleasure. I found Father
Falkener
to be a man of about seventy Years of age, active in mind and body,
Brusque
in his manners, having never shaken off those he had acquired in his thirty eight Years residence among the Savages. He very freely communicated to me every thing he knew respecting those People. He informed me also that he was born at
Manchester;
that about the Year 1731 he was a Surgeon in the
Assiento
Ship, and in that Year became at
Buenos Ayres
a convert to Popery; and in due time of the society of
Jesuits,
and was sent on the mission of
Paraquay.
This little piece would never have seen the light but for the friendship of Mr. ALLAN; and let the few to whom this may give pleasure, unite in thanks to that liberal Gentleman, with
his obliged and affect: humble Servant
THOMAS PENNANT.
Downing
March
1st. 1788.
TO THE HONORABLE DAINES BARRINGTON.
DEAR SIR,
I NOW execute the promise I made in Town some time ago, of communicating to you the result of my visit to Mr.
Falkener
an antient Jesuit who had passed thirty eight Years of his life in the Southern part of South
America
between the River
la Plata
and the streights of
Magellan.
Let me endeavour to prejudice you in favor of my new Friend, by assuring you, that by his long intercourse with the Inhabitants of
Patagonia,
he seems to have lost all
European
guile, and to have acquired all the simplicity and honest impetuosity of the people he has been so long conversant with. I venture to give you only as much of his narrative as he could vouch for the authenticity of; which consists of such as he was eye witness to, and such as will (I believe) establish past contradiction the veracity of our late Circumnavigators and give new lights into the manners of this singular race of Men: It will not I flatter myself be deemed impertinent to lay before you a Chronological Mention of the several evidences that will tend to prove the existence of a People of a supernatural height inhabiting the Southern Tract. You will find, that the majority of Voyagers who have touched on that Coast have seen them, and made reports of their size that will very well keep in countenance the verbal account given by Mr.
Byron,
and the printed by Mr.
Clarke;
you will observe, that if the old Voyagers did exaggerate, it was thro' the novelty and amazement at so singular a sight; but the latter forewarn'd by the preceding accounts, seem to have made their remarks with coolness, and confirmed them by the experiment of measurement.
A. D. 1519. The first who saw these people was the great
Magellan,
one of them just made his appearance on the banks of the River
la Plata,
and then made his retreat, but during
Magellan's
long stay at
Port St. Ju
an,
he was visited by numbers of this tall Race. The first approached him, singing, and flinging the Dust over his head; and shewed all signs of a mild and peaceable disposition; his visage was painted, his Garment the skin of some Animal neatly sewed, his Arms a stout and thick Bow; a quiver of long Arrows feathered at one end and armed at the other with Flint. The height of these People was about seven Feet
(French)
but they were not so tall as the Person who approached them first, who is represented to have been of so Gigantic a size, that
Magellan's
Men did not with their Heads reach as high as the waist of this
Patagonian.
They had with them Beasts of Burden on which they placed their Wives; by
Magellan's
description of them, they appear to have been the Animals now known by the Name of
Llama.
These Interviews ended with the captivating two of the People who were carry'd away in two different Ships, but as soon as they arrived in the hot Climate each of them died
I dwell the longer on this account, as it appears extremely deserving of credit; as the courage of
Magellan
made him incapable of giving an exaggerated account through the influence of fear: nor could there be any mistake about the height; as he had not only a long intercourse with them, but the actual possession of two, for a very considerable space of time.
Vide
Ram
sias
Coll. Voyages.
Venice
1550, also the Letter of
Maximilian Transylvanus
Sec. to
Charles
V. and in the 1st. Vol. p. 376 A. and B.
It was
Magellan
who first gave them the name of
Patagons,
because thy wore a sort of slipper made of the skin of Animals, Tellement says
M. de Brosse
This Account (as well as the others where I do not quote my Authority) are taken from that
ditious Writer
M. de Brosse.
quils, paroissoit avoir des pattes de Bêtes.'
In 1525.
Garcia de Louisa
saw within the streights of
Magellan
savages of a very great stature, but he does not particularize their height.
After
Louisa
the same Streights were passed in 1535 by
Simon de Alcazova,
and attempted in 1540 by
Alphonso de Camargo
but without being visited by our tall People.
The same happened to our Countryman Sir
Francis Drake,
but because it was not the fortune of that able and popular seaman to meet with these gigantic People, his Contemporaries considered the report as the invention of the
Spaniards.
In 1579.—
Pedro Sarmiento
asserts, that those he saw were three Ells high; this is a Writer I would never venture to quote singly, for he destroys his own credibility by saying, the Savage he made prisoner was an errant
Cyclops;
I only cite him to prove that he had fell in with a tall race tho' he mixes Fable with Truth.
In 1586.—Our Countryman Sir
Thomas Cavendish
in his Voyage had only opportunity of measuring one of their footsteps, which was eighteen inches long: he also found their Graves, and mentions their customs of burying near the shore.
Purchas.
1.58.—
In 1591.
Anthony Knevet
who sailed with Sir
Thomas Cavendish
in his second Voyage relates, that he saw at
Port-Desire
Men, fifteen or sixteen spans high, and that he measured the bodies of two that had been recently buried, which were fourteen spans long.
Purchas
1.1232 — Col. Voy. by the
Dutch East India
Company &c.
Dondon
1703 p. 319.—
1599.—
Sebald de Veert
who sailed with Admiral
de Cordes
was attacked in the streight
Magellan
by savages whom he thought to be ten or eleven feet high: he adds, that they were of reddish color and had long hair.
Ibid. 1.91.
In the same Year
Oliver du Nort
a
Dutch
Admiral, had a rencontre with this gigantic race, whom he represents to be of a high stature and of a terrible aspect.
1614.—
George Spilbergen,
another
Dutchman
in his passage thro' the same streight saw a Man of a gigantic stature climbing a hill as if to take a view of the Ship.
Purchas
1.80.—
1615. —
Le Maire
and
Schouten
discovered some of the burying places of the
Patagonians
beneath heaps of great stones, and found in them Skeletons ten or eleven feet long.
Ibid. 1.91.
Mr.
Falkener
supposes, that formerly there existed a race of
Patagonians
superior to these in size; for skeletons are often found of far greater dimensions particularly about the River
Texeira.
Perhaps he may have heard of the old tradition of the natives mentioned by
Cieza,
Seventeen Years Travels of
Peter de Cieza
138.—
and repeated from him by
Garcilasso de la Vega,
Translated by
Ricaut
p. 263.—
of certain Giants having come by sea and landed near the cape of St.
Helena,
many ages before the arrival of the
Europeans.
1618.—
Gracias de Nodal
a
Spanish
Commander in the course of his Voyage, was inform'd by
John Moore
one of his crew, who landed between
Cape
St.
Esprit
and
Cape
St.
Arenas
on the S. side of the Streights; that he trafficked with a race of Men taller by the head than the
Europeans.
This and the next are the only instances I ever met with of the tall race, being found on this side of the Streights.
1642.—
Henry Brewer
a
Dutch
Admiral observed in the Streights
le Maire,
the footsteps of Men which measured eighteen inches, this is the last evidence in the 17th. Century of the existence of these tall People: but let it be observ'd, that out of the fifteen first Voyagers who passed through the
Magellanic
Streights, not fewer than nine are undeniable Witnesses of the fact we would establish.
In the present Century I can produce but two evidences of the existence of the tall
Patagonians.
The one in 1704 when the crew of a ship belonging to St.
Maloes
commanded by
Captain Harrington
saw seven of these Giants in
Gregory
Bay. Mention is also made of six more being seen by
Captain Carman
a Native of the same Town; but whether in the same Voyage my authority is silent.
Frezier's
Voy. 84.
BUT as it was not the fortune of the four other Voyagers
Sir
John Narborough
in 1670.
Bartholomew Sharp
in 1680.
De Ge
es
in 1696, and
Beauchesne Gouin
in 1699.
who sailed through the streights in the 17th. Century to fall in with any of this tall race, it became a fashion to treat as fabulous the account of the preceding nine, and to hold this lofty race as the mere creation of a warm Imagination.
In such a temper was the public on the return of Mr.
Byron
from his Circumnavigation in the Year 1766. I have not the honor of having had personal conference with that Gentleman, therefore will not repeat the accounts I have been inform'd he has given to several of his friends, I rather chuse to recapitulate that given by Mr.
Clarke
O
ficer commanded the
Discovery
in
Captain Cooks
last Voyage, and died off
Kamtschatka August
22. 1779.
in the Philosophical Transactions for 1767 p. 75. Mr.
Clarke
was Officer in Mr.
Byrons
ship, landed with him in the streights of
Magellan,
and had for two hours an opportunity of standing within a few yards of this race, and seeing them examined and measured by Mr.
Byron.
He represents them in general as stout and well proportion'd, and assures us, that none of the Men were lower than eight feet, and that some even exceeded nine; and that the Women were from seven feet and an half to eight feet, he law Mr.
Byron
measure one of the Men, and notwithstanding the Commodore was near six feet high, he could when on tip toe, but just reach with his hand the top of the
Patagonian's
head; and Mr,
Clarke
is certain, that there were several taller than him on whom the experiment was made, for there was about five hundred Men Women and Children. They seem'd very happy at the landing of our people, and expressed their joy by a rude sort of singing. They were of a copper color, and had long lank hair, and faces hideously painted; both sexes were cover'd with skins, and some appeared on horseback and others on foot.
M. de Premontel
makes this an object of ridicule, as if the size of the horses were unequal to the burden of the riders. Our Navigators tell us, that the horses were fifteen or sixteen feet high. It is well known, that a Mill-horse has been known to carry nine hundred and ten pounds, a weight probably beyond that of any
Patagonian
they saw.
A few had on their legs a sort of boot with a sharp pointed stick at the heel instead of a spur. Their bridles were made of thong, the bit wood; the saddle as artless as possible, and without stirrups. The introduction of horses into these parts by the
Europeans,
introduced likewise the only species of manufacture they appear to be acquainted with. All their skill seems to extend no further than these rude essays at a harness; and to equip themselves for
Cavaliers.
In other respects they would be in the same state as our first parents just turned out of paradise, cloathed in coats of skins; or at best in the same condition in which
Caesar
found the ancient
Britons;
for their dress was similar, their hair long, and their bodies like those of our Ancestors made terrific by wild painting. These people by some means or other had acquired a few beads and bracelets; otherwise not a single article of
European
fabric appeared among them. These they must have gotten by the intercourse with the other
Indian
tribes: for had they had any intercourse with the
Spaniards,
they never would have neglected procuring knives, the stirrups, and other conveniences which the people seen by Mr.
Wallis
had.
I should have been glad to have closed in this place these relations of this stupendous race of Mankind; because the two following accounts given by gentlemen of character and abilities seem to contradict great part of what had been before advanced, or at left serve to give scoffers room to say, that the preceding Navigators had seen these people thro' the medium of magnifying glasses instead of the sober eye of observation: but before I make my remarks on what has been before related, I shall proceed with the other Navigators, and then attempt to reconcile the different accounts. In 1767 Captain
Wallis
of the
Dolphin
and Captain
Philip Carteret
of the
Swallow
Sloop saw and measured with a pole several of the
Patagonians
who happen'd to be in the streights of
Magellan
during his passage,
P
. Tr
s.
1
70 p. 21.
Hawkes
.
Voy. 1. 3
4
he represents them as a fine and friendly people, cloathed in skins, and on their legs a sort of boots, and many of them tied their hair, which was long and black with a sort of woven stuff of the breadth of a garter made of some kind of wool. That their arms were slings formed of two round balls, fasten'd one to each end of a cord, which they fling with great force and dexterity, He adds they hold one ball in their hand and swing the other at the full length of the cord round their head by which it acquires a prodigious velocity: they will fling it to a great distance, and with such exactness, as to strike a very small object; these people were also mounted on Horses, their faddles bridles &c. were of their own making; some had iron and others metal bits to their bridles, and one had a
Spanish
broad sword; but whether the last articles were taken by war or procured by commerce is uncertain, but the last is most probable. It seems evident that they had intercourse with
Europeans,
and had even adopted some of their fashions, for many had cut their dress into form of
Spanish Punches,
or a square piece of cloth with a hole cut for the head, the rest hanging loose as low as the knees. They also wore drawers, so these people had attained a few steps farther towards civilization than their gigantic neighbors, others again will appear to have made a far greater advance, for these still devour'd their meat raw and drank nothing but water.
M. Bougainville
in the same year saw another party of the natives of
Patagonia:
he measured several of them, and declares that none were lower than five feet five inches,
French,
or taller than five feet ten, i. e. five feet ten or six feet three
English
measure, he concludes his account with saying, that he afterwards met with a taller people in the S. sea, but I do not recollect that he mentions the place.
I am sorry to be obliged to remark in these voyages a very illibral propensity to cavil at, and invalidate the account given by Mr.
Byron:
but at the same time exult in having an opportunity given me by that Gentleman of vindicating his and the national honor.
M. Bougainville
in order to prove he fell in with the identical people that Mr.
Byron
conversed with, asserts, that he saw numbers of them possessed of knives of an
English
manufactory, certainly given them by Mr.
Byron,
but he should have considered that there are more ways than one of coming at a thing, that the commerce between
Sheffield
and
South America
through the port of
Cadiz
is most uncommonly large; and that his
Indians
might have got their knives from the
Spaniards
at the same time that they got their gilt nails and
Spanish
harness: but for farther satisfaction on this subject, I have liberty to say from Mr.
Byron's
authority, that he never gave a single knife to the people he saw, that he had not one at that time about him, that excepting the presents given with his own hands, and the tobacco brought by Lieutenant
Cummins,
not the least trifle was bestowed. I am furnished with one other proof, that these lesser
Indians
whom Mr.
Wallis
saw were not the same with those described by Mr.
Byron
as has been insinuated: for the first had with him some officers who had been with him on the preceding Voyage, and who bear witness not only to the difference of size, but declare that these people had not a single article among them given by Mr.
Byron
See Mr.
Byrons
letter at the end.
. It is extremely probable that these were the
Indians
that Mr.
Bougainville
fell in with, for they were furnished with bits, a
Spanish
scymeter and brass stirrups as before mentioned.
My last evidence of these gigantic
Americans
is that which I received from Mr.
Falkener;
he acquainted me that about the year 1742 he was sent on a misson to the vast plains of
Pampas,
which if I recollect right lies to the S. W. of
Buenos Ayres
and extends near a thousand miles towards the
Andes.
In these plains he first met with some tribes of these people and was taken under the protection of one of the
Caciques.
The remarks he made on their size were as follows; that the tallest which he measured in the same manner that Mr.
Byron
did, was seven feet eight inches high, that the common height or middle size was six feet, that there were numbers that were even shorter, and that the tallest Women did not exceed six feet. That they were scattered from the foot of the
Andes,
over that vast tract which extends to the
Atlantic Ocean
and are found as far as the
red river
at Bay
Anagada
lat. 40. 1; below that the land is too barren to be habitable and none are found except accidental migrants till you arrive at the river
Gallego
near the streights of
Magellan.
They are supposed to be a race derived from the
Chilian Indians,
the
Puelches
who inhabited the eastern side of the
Andes,
the same brave nation who defeated and destroyed the avaritious
Spaniard Baldivia
but after that were dispossess'd of their seat.
They dwell in large tents covered with the hides of Mares and divided within into Apartments for the different ranks of the Family, by a sort of blanketting. They are a most migratory people and often shift their quarters; when the Women strike the tents assist in putting them on their horses and like the females of all savage countries undergo all the laborious work.
They have two motives for shifting their quarters, one for the sake of getting salt which they find incrusted in the shallow pools near the sea side.
The other inducement is the superstition they have of burying their dead within a certain distance of the ocean, and I may certainly add a third, that of the necessity they must lie under of seeking fresh quarters on account of the chace which is their principal subsistance.
Those who deny the existence of these great People never consider the migratory nature of the Inhabitants of this prodigious tract, and never reflect that the tribes who may have been seen this month on the coast, may the next be some hundreds of miles inland and their place occupied by a tribe or nation totally different. These Gentlemen seem to lay down as a certain position, that
Patagonia
is peopled by only a single nation, and from that false principle they draw their arguments, sneer insult and even grossly abuse all that differ in opinion. Among the most illiberal of these writers is
M. de Premontel,
who with the rapid ingenuity of his country mounts on his head strong courser PREJUDICE, sets off full speed, rides over all the honest fellows that would inform him of his road, and spurns even truth herself tho' she offers to be his guide: but truth is unadorned and hated by this fantastic writer, would spoil him of all the flowers of fiction, and tropes of abuse against a rival country, would teach him facts that would ruin his argument and reduce his eloquent memoire to a single narrative of uncontested veracity.
Their food is (almost entirely) animal: the flesh of Horses, Oxen, Guanacoes and Ostriches, all of which they eat roasted or boiled. Their drink is water except in the season when certain species of Fruit are ripe, for of those they make a sort of fermenting Liquor called
Chucha
common to many parts of South America. One kind is made of a podded fruit called
Algarrova
which smells like a bug, and when bruised in Water becomes an inebriating Liquor. The same fruit is also eaten as bread. The other
Chucha
is made of the
Molic
a small fruit, hot and sweet in the Mouth, both these cause a deep drunkenness, especially the last which excites a phrenetic inebriation and a wildness of Eyes, which lasts, two or three Days.
The Cloathing of these People is either a mantle of Skins or of a Woolen
The
Puelches
have no Sheep but what they purchase from the
V
luches
who Inhabit the
Andes,
cultivate Sheep and raise Corn, the Wool is equally fine with that of
old Spain.
Cloth manufactur'd by themselves; some is so strong and compact as even to hold Water, the color is various; for some are striped and dyed with the richest red made of Cochineel and certain Roots. They wear a short apron before, which is tucked between the Legs and preserves a modest appearance. They never wear feather'd ornaments, except in their Dances. Their Hair is long and tied up with a fillet. They have naturally Beards,
M. Premontel
roundly asserts that they have no beards.
but they generally pluck up the Hairs; not but some leave Mustaches, as was observ'd by Mr.
Carteret
and
M. Bougainville.
When they go to War they wear a fourfold Coat of the Skin of the
Tapier,
a Cap of Bull's hide doubled, and a broad Target of the same. Their offensive Weapons are Bows and Arrows, the last headed with bone, launces headed with Iron and broad swords, both which they procure from the
Spaniards;
but their native Weapons are Slings, of these they have two kinds, one for War which consists of a thong, headed with Stone, at only one end; and during their Campaigns they carry numbers of these wraped about their bodies.
The Slings which they use in the chace of Horses, Cattle or Ostriches have a Stone fixed to each end; and sometimes another thong with a third Stone is fasten'd to the middle of the other: these with amazing dexterity, they fling round the objects of the chace be they Beasts or Ostriches which entangle them so that they cannot stir. The Indians leave them I may say thus tied neck and heels, and go on in pursuit of fresh Game; and having finish'd their sport return to pick up the Animals they left secur'd in the slings.
Their Wars are chiefly with the other
Indians,
for
Patagonia
is inhabited by variety of People, not a single nation. They have a great deal of intercourse with the
Spaniards
and often come down to
Buenos Ayres
to trade for Iron, Bugles &c.
This commerce with the
Europeans
has corrupted them greatly, taught them the vice of dram-drinking and been a dreadful obstacle to their moral improvement. Mr.
Falkener
inform'd me, that he once prevaled on about five hundred to form a reduction, but that they grew unruly and ungovernable as soon as the
Spanish
Traders got among them.
Their War and their chace are carried on Horseback, for they are most expert riders and have multitudes of Horses with which the Country is perfectly over-run for they go in herds of thousands. The price of a Horse at present is two Dollars or 9
s.
and 2
d.
provided it has been broken About the Year 1554
Garcilassa de la Vega
337 Engl. transl.—
near the time of the Conquest of
Peru,
the common price of one was from four to six thousand to ten thousand
Pesos
Pesos
in the original; perhaps
Pesos duros
which makes the above Sum.—
or from 1350
l.
to 2250
l. English.
The venereal distemper is common among them. They do not speak of it as an exotic disorder, so probably it is aboriginal.
In respect to religion they allow two principles a good and a bad.
M. de Premontal
is clear they have no sort of Religion.—
The good they call the
Creator of all things;
but consider him as one that after that, never sollicits himself about them. He is styled by some
Soucha
or chief in the Land of
strong drink,
by others
Gauyara-cunnee
or
Lord of the dead.
The
evil principle
is called
Hucccovoe
or the
wanderer without.
Sometimes these (for there are several) are supposed to preside over particular Persons, protect their own People or injure others. These are likewise call'd
Valichu
or dwellers
in the air.
They have Priests and Priestesses, whose office is to mediate with these Beings in case of sickness or any distress; by the intervention of the Priest they are consulted about future events; at those seasons the Priest shuts himself up and falls into a phrenetic extacy
The pretenders to second sight in the
He
rides
and the
Awenyddion
or the
Inspired
among the
Welch
are seized with the same extasie
and appears epileptic. If he gives a wrong answer he lays the fault on the evil principle who he says had deceived him by not coming in person, but only sent one of his slaves. At these times the great People assemble about the cabin, from whence the Oracle is to be delivered, waiting its report with great anxiety.
If a
Cazique
dies or any public calamity happens; for example in particular when the small pox had made great ravages among the Tribes, the Priests are sure to suffer, for the misfortune is presumed to have happened thro' their neglect in not deprecating the evil, in these cases they have no other method of saving themselves, but by laying the blame on others of their Brethren.
Priests are chosen from among the young People the most effeminate they can find, but those that are epileptic have always the preference, and these dress in a female habit.
The
Puelches
have a notion of a future state, and imagine that after death they are to be transported to a Country, where the fruits of inebriation are eternal, there to live in immortal drunkenness, and the perpetual chace of the Ostrich.
When a Person of eminence dies, the most respectable Women in the place goes into the Tent, clears the Body of all the intestines, and scrapes off as much of the flesh from the bones as possible, and then burns very carefully both that and the entrails; when that is done, the bones are buried till the rest of the flesh is quite decay'd: they are taken up within a year; and if any of the bones drop out of their places they are refixed and tied together, and the whole form'd into a perfect skeleton. Thus complete, it is packed up in a hide, put on the back of a favorite Horse of the deceased, and then translated to the Tomb of his Ancestor, perhaps 300 miles distant and always within a small space from the Sea.
The skeleton is then taken out and deck'd in its best Robes, and adorn'd with plumes and beads, is placed siting in a deep square pit parallel with those buried before, with Sword Launce and other Weapons placed by them, and the skins of their Horses stuff'd and supported by stakes also accompany them. The top of the pit is that cover'd with Turf placed on transverse Beams.
A Matron is appointed to attend these Sepulchers, whose office it is to keep the Skeletons clean and to new Cloath them Annually.
This account agrees with those given by
Lafitau
in most particulars, vide
Maeurs des Sauvages
11.438.
I forgot to add that on deposeting a Skeleton in its Tomb the
Puelches
make a libation of
Chucha,
and like what I have heard of an honest
Spaniard
drank
viva el morte
long live the dead.
They allow Polygamy, and marry promiscuously among other
Americans,
they are allowed as many as three Wives apiece, but if any take more htan that number he is esteemed a libertine and held in very little esteem.
Widows black their Faces for a Year after their Husbands decease.
In respect to Government the
Caziques
are hereditary, it is their business to protect the property of tehir People, and they have power of life and death the office is far from being elegible; many reject it, because they are oblig'd to pay all their People for their services who may at pleasure change their
Caziques,
so that several refuse to accept new vassals, who may offer themselves; for it is not allow'd any
Indian
to live out of the protection of some
Cazique:
in such a case he would certainly be looked on as an outlaw.
Eloquence is in high esteem with them. If a
Cazique
wants that talent he keeps an orator just as leaders in opposition have been known to do among us.
This closes the history Mr.
Falkener
favored me with, but I must not quit that Gentleman without informing you that he return'd to
Europe
with a suit of
Patagonian
Cloth, a Cup of Horn and a little Pot made of
Chilian
copper, the whole fruits the
Spaniards
left him after the labors of a thirty eight years mission.
From the preceding account it appears that the country which goes under the name of
Patagonia
extending from the River
la Plata
Lat. 35. to the streights of
Magellan
Lat. 53
M. de Premontal
will compare
Patagonia
to the space between the
Riviere des Sardines
and the streights of
Magellan.
and westward as far as the
Andes,
is inhabited by Men who may be divided into three different Classes, and to them may be added a fourth a combination or mixture of others.
The first is a race of Men of common size, who have been seen by numbers and whose existence is indisputable. These often are seen on the northern side of the streights of
Magellan
and oftner on the
Terra del Fuego
side even as low as opposite to
Cape Horn.
These are frequently an exiled race, unhappy fugitives drove by their enemies, to take shelter from their fury, in those distant parts; for such is the information Mr.
Falkener
received from some
Indians
he met with in the southern parts of
Patagonia,
and this will account for the settled melancholy of the People observed by the Navigators in
Terra del Fuego.
The second Class consists of those who (in general) exceed the common height of
Europeans
by a few inches or perhaps the head; such were those who were seen by
John Moore
who sail'd with
Gracias de Nodal
in 1618; by Mr.
Carteret
in 1767, and by
M. Bougainville
in the same year.
The third Class is compos'd of those whose height is so extraordinary as to occasion so great a disbelief, of the accounts of Voyagers; and yet they are indisputable an existent People, they have been seen by
Magellan
and six other in the 16th. Century and by two if not three in the present.
The fourth Class is a mixed race, who careless about preserving their generous and exalted breed pure and undegenerate, have degraded themselves by intermixing with the puny tribes of the country, and from that intercourse have produced a mongrel breed of every size, except that of the original standard, some few, as if by accident, seem to aspire to the height of their ancestors, but are checked in their growth, and stop at the stature of seven feet eight inches, scarce the middle size of the genuine breed. But another reason maybe assigned for the degeneracy and inequality of size in this Class: they live within the neighborhood of
Europeans,
they have intercourse with them, and from them they have acquired the vice of dram drinking and all its horrible consequences; this alone is sufficient to make a nation of giants dwindle into pygmies.
A third reason may still be assigned
viz.
The introduction of manufacturies among them. Those people who depended on the spoils of the chase for their habiliments were certain of preserving their full vigor, their strength of constitution and fullness of habit, while those who are confin'd to the loom grow enervate and lose much of the force of their bodily faculties. They also live in tents lin'd with woollen manufacture, which doubtlessly are much more delicate, luxurious and warm than the dwellings of the third undegenerate Class. We are unacquainted with the form of their tents, but we know that they still cloath themselves with the skins of beasts, and that among those, Mr.
Clarke
saw there was not the lest appearance of manufactury excepting what related to their horse furniture. These seem to have been the genuine remains of the free race, the conquerors of
Pedro de Baldivia,
the
Puelches
whose original station was among the
Andes
of
Chiloe
in about
Latitude
43 and almost due east of the isle of
Chiloe.
These were the descendents of the
Indians
who retreated to the south far out of the common track of
Europeans
and who retain their primaval grandeur of size; the others who fled northeast forgetful of their orignal magnificent stature, lost in general that noble distinction by unsuitable alliances and the use of spirits, while the first probably only marry among themselves and certainly have all strong liquor in abhorrence; some of this tall race seem still to inhabit the stations of their Ancestors or some not very remote from them; for
M. Frezier
was assur'd by
Don Pedro Molina
Govenor of
Chiloe
that he once was visited by some of these People, who were four
varas
or about nine or ten feet high; they came in company with some
Chiloe Indians
Frezier's
Voyage p. 86.
with whom they were friends and who probably found them in some of their excursions.
M. de Premontal
insults
M. Frezier
with much acrimony on account of this relation; and charges him with changing the seat of those People from the eastern coast to the western or the tract between
Chiloe
and the
Magellanic
streights, but the truth is, that
Frezier
says no such thing, but mentions them as a nation living up the country inland not near the shores;
M. Premontal
also sneers at the evidence of the crews of the
Maloe
ships; but they by no means place these tall People on the western coast of
S. America,
but at
Gregory Bay
a place very little distant from the eastern entrance of the
Streights
and near which these giants have been more frequently seen than any where else.
My remarks on
M. de Premontal
are but a tribute to the many civilities I have received from doctor
Matie
who has been most unprovokedly unjustly and illiberally abused by this vague and pragmatical writer.
Thus I conclude all that I collect relating to these singular People. Let me beg you to receive the account with your usual Candor and think me with the most regard
Dear Sir
Your faithful and affect. humble Servant THOMAS PENNANT.
Downing
November
28th. 1771.
Copy of a Paper transmitted from Admiral
Byron
to me; through the hands of the Right Reverend
John Egerton
late Bishop of
Durham,
after he had perused the Manuscript of the foregoing account.
The People I saw upon the coast of
Patagonia
were not the same that was seen the second Voyage. One or two of the Officers that sail'd with me and afterwards with Captain
Wallace
declar'd to me that they had not a single thing I had distributed amongst those I saw.
M. Bougainville
remarks that his officers landed amongst the
Indians
I had seen, as they had many
English
knives amongst them which were, as he pretends, undoubtedly given by me: now it happen'd that I never gave a single knife to any of those
Indians,
nor did I even carry one a shore with me.
I had often heard from the
Spaniards
that there were two or three different nations of very tall People, the largest of which inhabit those immense plains at the back of the
Andes.
The others some where near the river
Galiegos.
I take it to be the former that I saw, and for this reason, returning from
Port Famine
where I had been to wood and water I saw those Peoples fires a long way to the westward of where I had left them and a great way inland, so as the winter was approaching they were certainly returning to a better climate. I remarked that they had not one single thing amongst them that shewed they ever had any commerce with
Europeans.
They were certainly of a most amazing size: so much were their horses disproportion'd that all the People that were with me in the boats when very near the shore swore that they were all mounted upon deer; and to this instant I believe there is not a man that landed with me, tho' they were at some distance from them, but would swear they took them to be nine feet high. I do suppose many of them were between seven and eight and strong in proportion.
Mr.
Byron
is much obliged to Mr.
Pennant
for the perusal of his Manuscript and thinks his remarks very judicious.
FINIS.