On The 27th Of November They Came To A Harbour, Into
Which Candish First Entered, Giving It The Name Of
Port Desire, from
that of his ship.[46] Near this harbour they found an island or two well
stocked with
Seals, and another in which there were vast numbers of grey
gulls.[47]
[Footnote 46: As laid down in modern maps, the latitude of Port Desire
is only 47 deg. 15' S.]
[Footnote 47: Probably penguins. - E.]
This haven of Port Desire was found very favourable for careening and
graving of ships, as the tide there ebbed and flowed considerably. At
this place the savages wounded two of the Englishmen with their arrows,
which were made of canes or reeds, tipt with sharpened flints. These
savage natives of the country round Port Desire were exceedingly wild
and rude, and as it would seem of a gigantic race, as the measure of one
of their foot marks was eighteen inches long.[48] This agrees well with
the assertion of Magellan, though some pains have been taken to
represent that as fabulous. Magellan called this country Patagonia, and
its inhabitants Patagons, meaning to signify that they were five cubits,
or seven feet and a half high. Hence, as the Portuguese are not
commonly very tall, we need not wonder if they styled them giants. If we
take the usual proportion of the human foot, as between a fifth and a
sixth part of the height of the whole body, the account given by
Magellan agrees very exactly with this fact afforded us by Mr Candish;
and it will be seen in the sequel, that this is not falsified by any of
our subsequent navigators.
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