of their food, and all
their clothing. A mantle of skins, sewed with the sinews of the ostrich,
fitted closely about the neck and extending below the knee, is their
only article of dress, except in the coldest weather, when a kind of
shoe, made of the hind hoof and a portion of the skin above it, serves
to protect their inferior extremities.

In person they are large; on first sight, they appear absolutely
gigantic. They are taller than any other race I have seen, although it
is impossible to give any accurate description. The only standard of
measurement I had was my own height, which is about five feet ten
inches. I could stand very easily under the arms of many of them, and
all the men were at least a head taller than myself. Their average
height, I should think, is nearly six and a half feet, and there were
specimens that could have been little less than seven feet high. They
have broad shoulders, full and well-developed chests, frames muscular
and finely proportioned, the whole figure and air making an impression
like that which the first view of the sons of Anak is recorded to have
made on the children of Israel. They exhibit enormous strength, whenever
they are sufficiently aroused to shake off their constitutional laziness
and exert it.

They have large heads, high cheek-bones, like the North American
Indians, whom they also resemble in their complexion, though it is a
shade or two darker. Their foreheads are broad, but low, the hair
covering them nearly to the eyes; eyes full, generally black, or of a
dark brown, and brilliant, though expressive of but little intelligence.
Thick, coarse, and stiff hair protects the head, its abundance making
any artificial covering superfluous. It is worn long, generally divided
at the neck, so as to hang in two folds over the shoulders and back, but
is sometimes bound above the temples by a fillet, over which it flows in
ample luxuriance. Like more civilized people, the Patagonians take great
pride in the proper disposition and effective display of their hair.
Their teeth are really beautiful, sound and white,--about the only
enviable feature of their persons. Feet and hands are large, but not
disproportionate to their total bulk. They have deep, heavy voices and
speak in guttural tones,--the worst guttural I ever heard,--with a
muttering, indistinct articulation, much as if their mouths were filled
with hot pudding.

Their countenances are generally stupid, but, on closer