Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.1): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

102 FORMER ACCOUNTS OF PATAGONIANS. muscular forms, and length of body, in some measure bear out the above accounts; for had the present generation pro- portionate limbs, they might, without any exaggeration, justify the account of Commodore Byron. The Jesuit Missionary Falkner,* who, from an intercourse of forty years with the Indians of South America, must be considered as one of the best authorities, says, speaking of a Patagonian named Canga- pol, " This chief, who was called by the Spaniards the Cacique Bravo,-f- was tall and well-proportioned ; he must have been seven feet and some inches in height, because on tiptoe I could not reach the top of his head : I was very well acquainted with him, and went some journeys in his company: I do not recollect ever to have seen an Indian that was above an inch or two taller than Cangapol. His brother Sausimian was but about six feet high. The Patagonians or Puelches are a large- bodied people ; but I never heard of that gigantic race which others have mentioned, though I have seen persons of all the different tribes of the Southern Indians."" This is an account in 1746, only twenty years before that of Bougainville. Taking all the evidence together, it may be con- sidered, that the medium height of the males of these southern tribes is about five feet eleven inches. The women are not so tall, but are in proportion broader and stouter : they are generally plain-featured. The head is long, broad and flat, and the forehead low, with the hair growing within an inch of the eye- brows, which are bare. The eyes are often placed obliquely, and have but little expression, the nose is generally rather flat, and turned up ; but we noticed several with that feature • Falkner, according to Dean Funes, was originally engaged in the slave trade at Buenos Ayres ; but afterwards became a Jesuit, and studied in the college at Cordova, where, to an eminent knowledge of medicine, he added that of theology. He is the author of a description of Pata- gonia, published in London after the expulsion of the Jesuits. {Ensayo de la Historia Civil del Paraguay, Buenos Ayres, y Tucuman, por el Doctor Don Gregorio Funes, Hi. p. 23, note. Published at JBuenos Ayres. Svo. 1817.) t See Dean Funes's account of Buenos Ayres, and of the Indian tribes, vol. ii. 394.