and vanish like a fhadow, before juftice and virtue. The attention of the public having been greatly excited by the difcovery faid to have been made by the Dolphin and others f his majefty's fhips, of a nation in South America, of a moft extraordinary and gigantic fize; and the government not having yet thought proper to admit an authentic pub. lication of thefe difcrveries; we imagine it may be difagreeable to our readers, to lay before them what former travellers have related of theje remarkable people, THESE people are not firft mentioned in the account of a voyage for new difcoveries, undertaken by Magellan in the year 1519. The words in Har. ris's abridgement of this account are thefe: "When they had croffed the line, and the fouth pole appeared above the horizon, they held on their fouth courfe and came upon the Main of Brafil, about that part of it which lies in twenty-two degrees. They obferved it to be all one continued tract of land, higher from the cape St. Auguftine, which is in this part of the country. Having made two degrees and an half more fouth latitude, they fell in with a country inhabited by a wild fort of people: They were of a prodigious ftature, fierce and barbarous, made a horrible roaring noife, more like bulls than human creatures; and yet with all that mighty bulk were fo nimble and light of foot that none of the Spaniards or Portuguese could could overtake them.” By this account giants appear to have been found in lat. 244 fouth; but upon referring to the map, the account appears to be erroneous, for cape St. Auguftine, which is faid to be in latitude 22, appears to be in latitude 10; fo that it is doubtful whether the giants were found in latitude 121, or 24. If they were difcovered after failing two degrees and an half fouth from St. Auguftine, they were found in 12, if after failing two degrees. and an half fouth, from that part of the Main of Brafil, which lies in 22, they were found in 24 and an half. Such is the accuracy of Harris. The account, however, goes on. "The next advance was to 49 degrees and an half fouth latitude; here they were fhut up by hard weather, and forced to take up their winter quarters for no lefs than five months. They for a long time believed the country to be uninhabited, but at length a favage of the neighbouring parts came up to give them a vifit; he was a brifk jolly fellow, merrily difpofed, finging and dancing all the way he came; being got to the haven, he ftood there, and threw duft upon his head, upon which fome people went ahore to him, who alfo throwing duft upon their head, he came with them to the fhip without fear or fufpicion.` The head of one of Magellan's middle-fized men reached but to his waift, and he was proportionably big; his body was formidably. painted all over, efpecially his face. A ftag's horn was drawn upon each cheek, and great red circles round his eyes; his colours were otherwife moftly yellow, only his hair was white. For his apparel, apparel, he had the fkin of a beast clumfily fewed together, but a beaft as ftrange as that was that wore it; every way unaccountable, neither mule, horfe, nor camel, but fomething of every one, the ears of the firft, the tail of the fecond, and the shape and body of the laft; it was one entire fuit, all of one piece from head to foot; as his breaft and back were covered with it above, fo his legs and feet were wrapped up in it below. The arms that he brought with him were a ftout bow and arrow : the ftrings of the bow was a gut or finew of the beast whose skin covered him, and the arrows were tipped with sharp ftones. Magellan, the admiral, made him eat and drink, and he enjoyed himself very comfortably till he happened to peep into a lookingglafs that was given him among other trifles: This put him into a fright from which he could not cafily recover, fo that ftarting back with violence, he threw two of the men who flood by him to the ground, This giant, however, fared fo well, notwithstanding his fright by the looking-glafs, that the Spaniards had quickly the company of more ; one in particular made himfelf mighty familiar, and fhewed fo much pleafantry and good humour, that the Europeans were greatly pleafed with his company. Magellan was defirous of making fome of thefe gigantic people prifoners, and with this view his crew filled their hands with toys and little things that pleafed them; and in the mean time put iron fhackles upon their legs; at first they thought them fine play-things as well as the rest, and were pleafed with their gingling found; but, when they found themfelves hampered and betrayed, they implored the aid of fome fuperior and invifible being, by the name of Setebos; upon this occafion their ftrength appeared to be proportionable to their bulk, for one of them defeated the utmost efforts of nine men, and though they had him down, and tied his hands tightly, yet he freed himfelf from his bonds, and got loose, in fpite of all their endeavours to detain him. Their appetite is alfo in proportion to their ftrength; the admiral gave them the name of Patagons, and took notice of the following words; bread, capar ; water, oli, black, amel; red, cheiche; red cloth, cherecai. They tie up their hair, though it is fhort, with a cotton lace. They have no fixed habitations, but certain moveable cottages, which they carry from place to place as their fancy leads them; thefe cottages are covered with the fame fkin that covers their bodies. A certain fweet root, which they call by the name they give to bread, capar, is a confiderable part of their food; what flesh they eat is devoured raw. They practife phyfic but in two articles, vomiting and phlebotomy, and both in a very extraordinary manner. To vomit they thruft an arrow a foot and a half down the throat; and to bleed, they give the part affected, whether leg, arm, or face, a good chop with fome fharp inftrument." Such is the account of the Patagons, as given by Harris, who fays he has taken the utmost pains to give it in the cleareft manner poffible, by comparing all the different relations of the Portuguese and Spanish writers; and it is to be hoped, that no man can read the account of the violence and perfidy practifed against thefe blamelefs, friendly, unfufpecting people, without indignation. Harris, however, fuffers it to pafs without animadverfion; and probably defcribed this attempt of Magellan to betray the confidence of a reafonable being, and to force him into exile and mifery, with as much phlegm as he would the fnaring a tyger, or hooking a fish. Magellan himfelf was afterwards killed in an hoftile attempt to extort tribute from a king of Mathan, or Matahan, one of the Ladrone Ilands, to which he had juft as much right as the king of Mathan had to tribute from Spain. The Patagons are next mentioned in an account of the voyage of Sir Francis Drake; but in Harris's epitome their ftature is not particularly afcertained. The paragraph relating to them being only as follows: "In failing fouth from the river of Plate, in latitude 36 S. they came to a good bay, in which were feveral pretty iflands; the admiral being on fhore in one of thefe islands, the people came danc ing and leaping about him, and were very free to trade; they were a comely ftrong-bodied people, very fwift of foot, and of a brifk lively conftitution; their faces were painted, and their apparel only a covering of the fkins of beafts, with the fur on, about their waifts, and fomething wreathed about their heads; they had bows an ell long, but no more than two ar rows a piece: They feemed not altogether ignorant of martial difcipline, as appeared by their method of ordering and ranging their men. They were the nation which Magellan called Patagons." The latitude of this island is not particularly mentioned; it muft have been about 46 or 47. There is fome difference in the accounts of their cloathing; Magellan fays they were cloathed from head to foot; Drake, that they were covered only round the waift, and upon the head; but this may eafily be accounted for, because Magellan wintered with them, and Drake faw them in fummer. Thefe giants are next mentioned in an account of a voyage round the world, by Sir Thomas Cavendifh: Of which Harris's epitome is as follows: "Sailing from Cape Frio, in the Brafils, they fell in upon the coaft of America, in 47 d. 20 m. north, (it fhould be fouth) latitude. They proceeded to port Defire, in latitude 50. Here the favages wounded two of the company with their arrows, which are made of cane, headed with flints. A wild and rude fort of creatures they were; and, as it seemed, of a gigantic race, the measure of one of their feet being 18 inches in length, which, reckoning by the ufual proportion, will give about 7 feet and an half for their ftature." Harris fays, that this agrees very exactly with the account given of them by Magellan, hut in his epitome of Magellan's account, he fays that the head of one of his middle-fized men reach. ed but to the Patagonian's waift; which, fuppofing Magellan's man to be but 5 feet 6 inches high, will make make the Patagonian 9 at leaft. He fays, indeed, that Magellan gave them the name of Patagons, because their ftature was five cubits, or feven feet fix, but, if fo, his own account is inconfiftent with itfelf, neither has he told us in what language Patagon expreffes this ftature. Oliver Noort, the first Dutchman that attempted a voyage round the world, performed his expedition between the years 1598 and 1601, and the account he gives of the inhabitants of thefe parts, as abridged by Harris, is to the following effect: "He went up the river at Port Defire, and going on fhore found beafts like ftags and buffaloes, alfo fome favages, who, he fays, were tall portly men, painted, and armed with fhort bows and arrows, that were headed with ftone. Thefe beafts, like buffaloes, probably furnished the fkins that Magellan defcribed to have the ears of an afs, the tail of a horfe, and the fhape of a camel, for the buffalo has a bunch upon his back. Having afterwards entered the Streights, they faw fome men upon two islands, near a cape which is here called cape Naffau. The re is no cape marked either in the chart or map prefixed to Harris's collection by that name, nor has he told us to which of the capes that are marked this name was given by the Dutch. Thefe favages having now, by fad experience, been taught to regard every European as an enemy, hook their weapons against the Dutch, in hopes to prevent their landing. The Dutch, however, did land upon one of the islands, and the poor Indians retreating, they purfued them to the cave which contained their wives and children, and killed every one of them. When thefe ruffians rushed in, the wo men covered their infants with their own bodies, that they might receive the firft ftab; the Dutch did not, indeed, murder the fe forlorn and defencelefs wretches in cold blood, but having butchered the fathers and hufbands, they took away fix of the children, four boys and two girls, and carried them on fhipboard. It is impoffible for any man whofe feelings of humanity have not been. obtunded by felfishness or fuperftition, to read the accounts of the difcoveries and fettlements of the people of Europe, in other parts of the world, without regretting their fuccefs, and wishing that they had all perished in the attempt. In thefe expeditions they have filled the earth with violence, and, as far as their influence could extend, diffufed wickednefs and mifery, by every violation of the laws of nature, that the most wanton cruelty and fordid avarice could prompt, while they diftinguifhed themfelves from those whom they deftroyed, and enflaved, by the name of chriftians, and gloried in the refinements of honour, which, looking down upon mere moral obligation, pretends to merit beyond the limits of duty. One of the boys thus brought on board Van Noort's fleet, learnt the Dutch language, and gave intelligence to the following ef fect that the inhabitants of the continent near the inland from which he had been taken, were divided into different tribes; that three of thefe tribes, which he diftin diftinguished by the names of Kemenetes, Kenekin, aud Karaicks, were of the common fize, but broader breafted and painted all over; and that there was another tribe, which he called Tiriminen, who were of a gigantic ftature, being 10 or 12 feet high, and continualy at war with the other tribes. This boy gave an account of the cloathing and appearance of the inhabitants of this country, very different from thofe already tranfcribed; for he faid the men wore their hair long, that the women were shaved, and that both went naked except a cloak of Penguin's fkins, which reached to their waist." Sebald de Weert, another Dutch. man, failed to the Streights of Magellan in the year 1598, and in his account are the following particulars. He detached two floops to an ifland near the mouth of the Streights, to catch fea-dogs. When thefe floops came near the fhore, they perceived feven canoes, with favages on board, that were ten or eleven feet high, of a reddifh colour, and with long hair. They are farther defcribed as being naked, except one who had a feadog's fkin about his fhoulders; and it is remarkable that de Weert was on this coaft in May, which is there a winter month. In the account given of the voyage of George Spilbergen, we are told that on the coaft of Terra del Fuego, which is to the fouth of Magellan's Streights, his people faw a man of a gigantic ftature, climbing the hills to take a view of the fleet, but, though they went on shore, they faw no other human inhabitant; they faw, how. ever, feveral graves containing bodies of the ordinary fize, or rather below it; and the favages they faw from time to time in canoes, appeared to be under fix feet high. In the hiftory of the voyage of Capt. Cowley, an Englishman,, which was undertaken in 1683, we have an account of giants indeed, but in a country very diftant from Patagonia. In lat. 13 deg. 30 min. north, and about 143 eaft longitude, lies the ifland of Guam, it is one of the Ladrone Ilands, and was then in the poffeffion of the Spaniards, who had a governor and garrifon there. The Indian inhabitants of this ifland, Cowley fays, were all well made, active, vigorous, and fome of them feven feet and an half high. Capt. Cowley took, as he fays, four of thefe infidels prifoners, which to be fure, being himfelf a good chriftian, he had a right to do; and it appeared by the fequel of the account, that he treated them as other good chriftians had treated infidels, which ftrength or cunning had put into their power. "We brought them on board, fays he, tying their hands behind them, but they had not been long there before three of them leaped overboard into the fea, fwimming away from the fhip with their hands bound behind. them; we sent a boat after them, and found that a strong man at the first blow could not penetrate their fkins with a cutlafs. One of them had received, in my judgment, forty fhots in his body before he died, and the laft of the three that was killed had fwam a good En |