balances the evidence on the other fide, efpecially as they
’ were bell acquainted with the Streight of Magellan, and the
neighbouring country. Such navigators as have vifited this
country, and are filent with refpcct to the ftature of the inhabitants,
particularly Sir Francis Drake, tnuft be confidered
as witnefies againft the faCt in queftion; for their filence
is a proof that they faw nothing extraordinary. It muft however
be obferved, in the firft place, that the greater part of
thofe who hold the affirmative in this queftion, fpeak o f
people that inhabited the defert coaft o f Patagonia to the
eaft and weft; and that, on the contrary, thofe who hold
-the negative, fpeak o f thofe who inhabit the Streight upon
the fides of the utmoft point of America to the north and
fouth. The nations o f thefe two diftridts are certainly not
the fame ; and i f the firft have fometimes been feen in the
Streight, it cannot be thought ftrange, eonfidering how ffiort
the diftance is from Port Saint Julian, which appears to
be their ordinary habitation. Magellan, and his people
faw them there very often, and trafficked with them
fometimes on board his Ihips,. and fometimes on fhore .
nor was this all, he feized two of them, and kept them pri-
foners in his veflel, one of whom was baptized fome time
before his death, and taught feveral words of his language
to Pigafette, who formed them into a little dictionary: thefe
are fad s than which nothing can be more pofitive, or lefs
fubje'Ct to illufion.
« i affirm, fays Knivet, that when I was at Port Defire I
meafured feveral dead bodies that 1 found buried there,
which were from fourteen to fixteen fpans high, and faw
tracks in the fand which muft have been left by people of
nearly the fame ftature. I have alfb frequently feen at Brazil,
ope o f the Patagonians who had beep taken at Port Saint
4 Julian,
Julian, and though, he was but a youth, he meafured no
lefs than thirteen fpans : and our Engliffi prifoners at Brazil
have allured me that they had feen many men o f the fame
ftature upon the coafts o f the {height." Sgbald de Wert
fays, that when he was in the Streight, he faw giants of the
fame bulk, who tore up trees by the roots, that were a fpan
in diameter, with great fac ility ; he alfo faw women that
were gigantic, and others o f the common ftature. Oliver
de Noort reports, that he faw favages o f a gigantic ftature at
Port Defire, but does not call them giants: that he took fix
o f them prifoners, and carried them on board his {hip, one
o f whom afterwards told him that the country was inhabited
by many different nations, four o f which were of the ordinary
ftature ; but that farther within the land, in a territory
called Coin, there was a gigantic people, diftinguifhed by the
name o f Tiremenen, who were continually making war
upon the other nations. Spilberg relates, that he faw a
man of an extraordinary ftature upon the coaft o f Terra del
Fuego, but that the fepulchres which he found, had received
men of the common height. Aris-Clafz, who was
on board La Maire’s fleet in the character of Commiffary, a
man well worthy of credit, declares, that having vifited the .
fepulchres which he difcovered upon the coaft o f Patagonia,
he found the bones o f men who were between ten and eleven
feet high, which convinced him that the reports of former
navigators were true; and here it muft be confefled that the
examination was made in cold blood, when it cannot be pretended
that the objeCt was magnified by fear. Some others,
particularly Nodal and Sir Richard Hawkins, content them-
felves with faying that thefe favages were a head taller than
the inhabitants o f Europe, and of fuch a ftature that the
people onboard their veffels called them giants. Such is the
evidence of paft times ; we fhall now conlxder that of the age
s VOL. I. c in