the ribband was thus extended, I took out a pair of scissars, and cut it between each two of the Indians that held it, so that I left about a yard in the possession of every one, which I afterwards tied about their heads, where they suffered it to remain without so much as touching it while I was with them.  Their peaceable and orderly behaviour on this occasion certainly did them honour, especially as my presents could not extend to the whole company:  Neither impatience to share the new finery, nor curiosity to gain a nearer view of me and what I was doing, brought any one of them from the station that I had allotted him.

[Footnote 18:  Now for the goblins, the giants of Patagonia!  Some account of the controversy about them is reserved for another place.  In the mean time the reader may amuse himself with the following notices in addition to the substance of the text; they are extracted from the account of this voyage, already referred to in the preceding notes.  “On our first approaching the coast, evident signs of fear appeared among those in the boat, on seeing men of such enormous size, while some, perhaps to encourage the rest, observed that these gigantic people were as much surprised at the sight of our muskets, as we were at seeing them, though it is highly probable they did not know their use, and had never heard the report of a gun.  But this was sufficient to remind us, that our fire-arms gave us an advantage much superior to that derived from height of stature and personal strength.”—­“The commodore and chief officers entered upon a short consultation on the propriety of landing.  The first officer, fired with the thoughts of making a full discovery in regard to these Indians, who have been so much the subject of conversation among the English, made a motion to approach nearer and jump on shore; but the commodore objected to it, and would not suffer any man to go before himself.”—­“Immediately on our landing, they came about us to the number of two hundred or more, looking at us with evident marks of surprise, and smiling, as it should seem, at the great disproportion of our stature.”—­“They were so delighted with the different trinkets, which they had an opportunity of viewing, as they hung round their necks, and fell down before their bosoms, that the commodore could scarcely restrain them from caressing him, particularly the women, whose large and masculine features corresponded with the enormous size of their bodies. Their middle stature seemed to be about 8 feet; their extreme 9 and upwards; though he did not measure them by any standard, and had reason to believe them rather more than less.”—­“The commodore himself measures full six feet, and though he stood on tip-toe, he could but just reach the crown of one of the Indians’ heads, who was not, by far, the tallest among them.”—­“They seemed particularly pleased with Lieutenant Cumming, on account of his stature he being 6 feet 2 inches high, and some of them patted him on the shoulder, but their hands fell with such force, that it affected his whole frame.”  The two last paragraphs, with more to the same effect, are given in a note, and are said to have been communicated by gentlemen who were present on this occasion.  It is right to add that their names are not mentioned.  So much at present for these monsters.—­E.]