Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

134 SOUTHERN ABORIGINES. some such exclamation as ' que patagones!' (what great feet !) patagon 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 featui'es large, yet their hands and feet are compa- ratively 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 I'ounder 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 the bulkiness 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. When Falkner stood on tiptoe he could not reach the top of CangapoPs head. It is rather curious, that Byron could only just touch the top of the tallest man''s head • The colour of these aborigines is extremely like that of the Devon- shire breed of cattle. From the window of a room in which I am sitting-, I see some oxen of that bi-eed passing through the outskirts of a wood, and the partial glinnpses caught of them remind me strongly of the South American red men.