t'i’ )»,(
iV' V
Y
some such exclamation as ‘ que patagones!’ (what great feet!)
patagón meaning a very large foot.—(See note 3.)
Tierra del Fuego was also named by Magalhaens, because
many fires were seen, in the night, upon that land.
The aboriginal natives of Eastern Patagonia are a tall and
extremely stout race of men. Their bodies are bulky, their
heads and features large, yet their hands and feet are comparatively
small. Their limbs are neither so muscular nor so
large boned as their height and apparent bulk would induce
one to suppose : they are also rounder and smoother than those
of white men. Their colour is a rich reddish-brown, between
that of rusty iron and clean copper, rather darker than copper,
yet not so dark as good old mahogany.* But every shade of
colour between that just mentioned and the lighter hue of a
copper kettle, may be seen among individuals of various ages.
Excepting among old or sickly people, I did not notice a
tinge of yellow: some of the women are lighter coloured—
about the tint of pale copper—but none are fair, according to
our ideas.
Nothing is worn upon the head except their rough, lank, and
coarse black hair, which is tied above the temples with a fillet
of platted or twisted sinews. A large mantle, made of skins
sewed together, loosely gathered about them, hanging from the
shoulders to their ankles, adds so much to thebulkiness of their
appearance, that one ought not to wonder at their having been
called ‘ gigantic.’ I am not aware that a Patagonian has
appeared, during late years, exceeding in height six feet and
some inches; but I see no reason to disbelieve Falkner’s account
of the Cacique Cangapol, whose height, he says, was seven feet
and some inches. AVhen Falkner stood on tiptoe he could not
reach the top of Cangapol’s head. It is rather curious, that
Byron could only just touch the top of the tallest man’s head
* The colour of these ahorigines is extremely like that of the Devonshire
breed of cattle. From the window of a room in which I am sitting,
I see some oxen of that breed passing through the outskirts of a wood, and
the partial glimpses caught of them remind me strongly of the South
American red men.
whom he saw. Ever restless and wandering, as were the
Tehuel-het, of which tribes that cacique was chief, might
not Byron have measured Cangapol ? * AVho disbelieves that
the Roman Emperor, Maximinus, by birth a Thracian, was
more than eight feet in height? yet who, in consequence,
expects all Thracians to be giants? At present, among two
or three hundred natives of Patagonia, scarcely half-a-dozen
men are seen whose height is under five feet nine or ten; and
the women are tall in proportion.
I have nowhere met an assemblage of men and women
whose average height and apparent bulk approached to that of
the Patagonians. Tall and athletic as are many of the natives
of Otaheite, and other islands in the Pacific Ocean, there are
also many among them who are slight, and of low stature.
The Patagonians seem high-shouldered—owing perhaps to
the habit of folding their arms in their mantles across the
chest, and thus increasing their apparent height and bulk,
as the mantles hang loosely, and almost touch the ground.
Until actually measured, I could not believe that they were not
much taller than was found to be the fact.
But little hair shews itself on their faces or bodies. From
the former it is studiously removed by two shells, or some
kind of pincers. Although they do not augment the coarseness
of their features by piercing either nose or lips, they disfigure
themselves not a little by red,f black,]: or white§ parat,
wtth which they make grotesque ornaments, such as circles
around their eyes, or great daubs across their faces. Upon
particular occasions, all the upper part of their body, from the
waist upwards, is strangely decorated (or disfigured) by paint,
awkwardly laid on with very little design. On their feet and
legs are boots made out of the skins of horses’ legs. AVooden
spurs, if they cannot get iron ; sets of balls (bolas), and a long
tapering lance of bamboo, pointed with iron, complete their
equipment. These lances are seldom seen near the Strait of
Magalhaens, but the natives are not always without them.
The women are dressed and booted like the men, with the
• B y ro n ’s voyage, 1765— F a lk n e r , 1740-80.
,t O c h re . i C h a rco a l an d oil. § F e ls p a th ic e a r th a n d oil.