The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-14 00:00:00

these Indians were induced to come on board, when
one of them took the earliest opportunity of getting
dead drunk, by way of testifying his grief for his
daughter's death, who had died a few days before
" The boat," says Captain Fitzroy, " returned on
board immediately, bringing off four natives, three men
and a woman named Maria. This rather remarkable
female must have been, judging by her appearance,
about forty years old. She is said to have been born
at Paraguay, but I think the place of her birth
was nearer Buenos Ayres. She spoke broken,
but intelligible Spanish, and stated • herself to be
sister of Bysante, the Cacique of a tribe near the Santa
Cruz river, who is an important personage on account of
his size, which Maria described to be immense, and his
riches. In speaking of him, she said he was very rich ;
he had many mantles, and also many hides. One of
Mhria's companions, a brother of Bvsante, was the
tallest and largest man of this tribe ; and though he only
measured six feet in height, his body was large enough
for a much taller man. He was in great affliction ; his
daughter had died only two days before our arrival ; but
notwithstanding his sad story, which soon found him
friends, it was not long before he became quite intoxi-
cated, and began to sing and roar on the subject of 'his
misfortunes as with a sound more like the bellowing of a
bull than the voice of a human being. Upon applying
to Maria, who was not quite so drunk as her brother, to
prevent him making such hideous noises, she said, " Oh,
never mind, he's drunk, poor fellow ; his daughter is
dead."

These Patagonian Indians have, it is well known,
been represented as a race of giants by most of our
voyagers, not excepting even Commodore Byron,
who spoke of them " as realizing the tales of mon-
sters in a human shape," and as being " not less
than seven feet in height." Captain Fitzroy thus
alludes to these exaggerated accounts :
"Of the Patagonians that we saw, none measured
more than six feet two inches ; but it is possible that the
preceding generation may have been a larger race of
people, for none that we saw could have been alive at
the time of Wallis's or Byron's voyage. The oldest,
certainly were the tallest ; but, without discrediting the
accounts of Byron or any other of the modern voyagers,
I think it probable that by a different mode of life, or a
mixture by marriage with the Southern or Fuegian
tribes, which we know has taken place, they have de-
generated into a smaller race, and have lost all right
to the title of giants ; yet their bulky, 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. Taking all
the evidence together, it may be considered 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 ex •
pression ; the nose is generally rather flat and turned
up ; but we noticed several with that feature straight, and
sometimes aquiline ; the mouth is wide, with prominent
lips, and the chin is rather large ; the jaws are broad,
and give the face a square appearance ; the neck is
short and thick ; the shoulders are broad, the chest is
broad, and very full, but the arm, particularly the fore-
arm, is small, as are also the foot and leg ; the body
long, large, and fat, but not corpulent. As to their
character, the Patagonians are friendly, without the
disposition to quarrel, after tlic: novelty of first acquaint-
ance has worn off, which is so common among savages in
general. They have no idea beyond that of satisfyir,g
the wants of the moment."

The theory broached in the above passage,
namely, that the Patagonians may have degenerated
by marriage with the neighbouring Fuegian tribes,
since Wallis and Byron wrote about them, is a
very shallow one. Whole races of men do not
degenerate, or dwindle down from seven feet to five
feet odd, in the course of little more than half a cen-
tury. Besides, the Patagonians had always the
opportunity of intermarrying with the Fuegians, so
that this argument will not hold good for an instant.
It is far more likely that former voyagers should
have erred in their statements, than that an entirc
tribe of savages should have dwindled from the
dimension of giants to that of ordinary sized men,
within the short compass of two generations. It
frequently takes a much longer period than this to
wear out even a slight fam►ly likeness. After stay-
ing a short time with the Patagonians, the expe-
dition quitted the Straits of Magellan, and set sail
for Rio de Janeiro, in order to procure stores, and
prepare for another voyage to the Straits. Here,
for the present, we leave them.

COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON INTELLIGENCE.

ARRIVALS.
SEPT. 6th, 5 30 P. as. Matilda cutter, 44 tons, Henry
Oglander, Esq., from Plymouth.
6 30 P. M.-Aurora cutter, 40 tons, William Beach, Esq.,
from Weymouth. Light breeze W. S. W.
7th, 30 P. M.-Dolphin schooner, 217 tons, G. H.
Ackers, Esq., from Fowey and Plymouth.
4 45 P. M.-Crusader schooner, 126 tons, Robert- ktaik-
lam, EN , from Mediterranean and Lisbon. Strong
breeze W. S. W.

12th, 1 P.m.—Menai brigantine, 175 tons, Lord F.
Egerton, M. P., from Portsmouth. Light bre,,ze W.
5 30 P. m. B ril liant schooner, 393 tons, G. H. Ackers,
Esq , from Southampton.
13th, 11 A.M —Emmetje schooner, 103 tons, the Hon.
H. F. Walker, from Cork.