The Opelousas courier., 1890-10-11
THE FIRST PATAGONIANS,:
ORIGIN OF THE IDEA THAT PATA.
COMA rs 4 REGION OF GIANTS.

~ "
Carries Them On to Spain.
Magellan's first American port was the
Bay of Rio Janeiro, to- which he gave
the name of Santa Lucia. It had been
explored by Lopez four years before. and
even before that time. There was one
Portuguese trader settled on an island ii
the bay, the pioneer settler of the great
city which stands there to-day. The
whole crew were delighted with the lux
nries OF the climate and the cordiality Of
the simple natives. ssYou can buy six
hens for o king Of diamonds" SAYS Paga-
felta, the amusing historian Of the yoy-
age ssThey are not Christians, but thew
are not idolaters, for they adore nothing;
instinct is their only law" This is his
summary account of their religious habit
and condition, an account proved to be
quite inadequate by more careful inouir-
res. After thirteen days spent in this
bay the squadron resumed its voyage of
discovery.
They looked in at the great estuary Of
the river La Plata; but Soils, who had
lost his life there, had already discovered
that this was not a passage to the Pacific.
Still ~coasting southwark, they sighted
and perhaps landed on the Island of
Penguins and the Island of Sea Lions,
and here were struck by a terrible storm.
Not far from these islands, on the shore
of the continent, they discovered the
Bay of San Julian, and here Magellan
determined to winter.
Magellan made the ships secure at the
shore, built a forge and ~storehouse. and
some huts for barracks, and established
q little observatory, where Andres San
Martin determined the latitude. Longi.
tude in those times, they could not well
determine.
While they were thus occupied, a
little party of natives appeared, and after
some friendly signaling one or more Of
them came on board. Magellan directed
sailor to land, and to initiate every
gesture of the first who appeared, as a
token of frindship. The man acted his
part SO well that the gentle savage was
propitiated, and readily came to an inter
REV. On this or another occasion, six
Indians consented to go on board the
flagship. Their Spanish hosts gave them
q kettle full of biscuits-enough for
twenty men, in the Castilian measure of
appetite. But the hungry Ineians de-
voured it all. Two, at least, of these
visitors were of unusual size. The Span
iards only anne up to their girdles. But,
as the childreh's books say, these were
friendly giants One Of them saw the
sailors throwing rats overheard, and
begged that he might have them for his
OWE. Afterward he regularly received
the rats caught on board the ships as q
daily perquisite. Before their a
was over, Magellan's sailors were glad
enough to follow his example, and to
place these fellow-voyagers on their bill
Of fare at the rate of a ducat apiece.
This party of six-and a party of nine
seen at another time-which ma have
included part or all of the first six, are
all of the natives whom Magellan and
bis men ever saw. OF these, it seems
certain, that two at least were very large.
All the Indians wore large shoes, which
they stuffed with straw for warmth.
From this custom the Spaniards gave
them the name of Patagons, meaning in
Spanish those who have large feet.
When Magellan was about to sail, he de-
termined to carry the two giants home
as curiosities. It was impossible to over
power either of them in fair contest, and
he resorted to t~reachery, which can only
be excused on the theory Of the spaniards
at that time that these savages were to
be ranked among brutes, over whom
Christian men had certain special rights.
The two friendly giants, being about to
leave the ships, Magellan loaded them
with presents. He gave them knives,
mirrors and glass trinkets, SC that their
hands were full, then he offered to each
q chain. They were passionately fond of
iron, but could not take the chains from
very embarrassment of riches. With
their full consent, therefore, Magellan
babe the smith fasten the chains to their
legs by the manacles which were attached
to them. When it was too late the poor
giants found, as SO many wiser men have
found, that they had accepted too many
presents, and that in their very wealth
they were made slaves. When they dis
covered this they were wild with rage,
and vainly called on their god 6etebos
to come to their succor.
Not satisfied with this success. Magel-
Ian tried to make more captives. He di.
reeted nine of his strongest men to com
pei the Indians to take them to the sta
tion where their women were. One Of
them escaped, but the other was sub
dued after q hard conflict. He consented
to lead them to the wives of the two
prisoners. When the women heard OF
The fate of their lords they uttered such
screams that they were heardat the ships
lar away. The Spaniards had such su-
Seniority in numbers that they expected
The next morning to carry the Indian
women and their children on board ship.
But meanwhile two Indian men came,
who spent the night with them, and at
daybreak the whole party escaped to-
gether. 10 their fight they killed one Of
the Spaniards with q poisoned arrow.
Magellan sent D large party on shore and
buried him.
And 50 they parted-the spaniards and
the P-atagoaians. The two giants were
separated was placed on the Trim
dad, and the other on the SAINT Antonio.
II was from these experiences that
Europe took the notion, which is, pcr-
haps, not yet fully dispelled, that Pata-
gonia was d region of giants.-Harpers
Magazine.