Note 1600 — Chapter IX

[Cf. note on the alleged height of the Patagonians in Thevet’s La France antarctique, Gaffarel’s ed., p. 287. Schouten testifies to finding bones in a grave ten feet and more of stature; and Pernetty’s Voyage aux Isles Malonines (Paris, 1770) gives the testimony of an engraving to their large stature (Field, Indian Bibliography, no. 1,200). There is a cut of two enormous Patagonians standing beside a European in Don Casimiro de Ortega’s Resumen histórico del primer viage hecho al rededor del mundo, emprendido por Hernando de Magallanes (Madrid, 1769). Statements of their unusual height have been insisted upon even in our day by travellers. One of the most trustworthy of recent explorers (1869-1870) of Patagonia, Lieutenant G. C. Musters, says that the men average six feet, some reaching six feet four inches; while the average of the women is five feet four.—Ed.]