THE FIRST GIANT.--THE ISLANDS OF GEESE AND GOSLINGS.--THE DANCING
GIANTS.
The narrative of Pigafetta, the Knight of Rhodes, has much curious lore
in regard to giants. At a place on the coast, formerly called Cape St.
Mary, the first of these giants appeared.
He was a leader of a tribe "who ate human flesh." The lively Knight of
Rhodes informs us that this man, who towered above his fellows, "had a
voice like a bull."
He came to one of the captains' ships and asked--of course in sign
language; for a man may have a "voice like a bull" and yet fail to be
understood in cannibal tongues--if he might come on board the ship and
bring his fellows with him.
He left a quantity of goods on the shore. While he was negotiating at
the ships, his people on the shore, who seem to have been unusually wise
and prudent, began to remove the stores of goods from exposure to danger
to a kind of castle at some distance.
The officers of the ships grew inpatient when they saw the tempting
goods being thus removed. So they landed a hundred men to recover the
goods, which they seemed to have deemed theirs after the "right of
discovery."
The men began to run after the provident natives, when they became
greatly surprised. The natives seemed to _fly_ over the ground, and
leave them behind at a humiliating distance.
"They did more in one step than we could do at a bound," says Pigafetta,
Knight of Rhodes.
The giant people here showed that there was need to approach them with
caution. Some time before, these "Canibali" had captured a Spanish sea
captain and sixty men, who had landed and pastured inland to make
discoveries. They ate them all--a fearful feast!
Our voyagers probably had no desire to go too far inland in view of such
a warning; so they returned and proceeded on their course toward the
antarctic pole.
They discovered two small islands, which had more agreeable inhabitants
than the land of Cape St. Mary. "These islands," says our good Knight
Pigafetta, "were full of geese and goslings and sea wolves." He adds:
"We loaded five ships with them for an hour."
The Knight has also left us the following curious picture of the birds,
which must have been very much surprised at being so rudely disturbed:
"The geese are black, and have feathers all over the body of the same
size and shape; and they do not fly but live on fish, and they were so
fat that we did not pluck them, but skinned them. They have beaks like
that of a crow.
"The sea wolves of these islands are of many colors and of the size and
thickness of a calf, and have a head like a calf, and ears small and
round. They have teeth but no legs, but feet joining close to the body,
which resemble a human hand. They have small nails to their feet, and
skin between the fingers like geese.
"If these animals could run they would be very bad and cruel, but they
do not stir from the waters, and swim and live upon fish."
This seems to be a very admirable description of a sea wolf, O Knight of
Rhodes!
A great storm came down upon the ships here. But, marvelous to relate,
the fiery body of good St. Anselmo or Anseline "appeared to us, and
immediately the storm ceased."
The fleet sailed away again and came to Port St. Julian, the true land
of the giants, of which place our Knight has some very interesting
stories to tell.
[Illustration: The world according to the Ptolemy of 1548.]
The fleet entered the Port of St. Julian. It was winter, and for a long
time no human beings appeared.
Suddenly one day a most extraordinary sight met the eyes of some of the
adventurers. Our Knight's description of this being is very vivid. He
says:
"One day, without any one's expecting it, we saw a giant who was on the
shore of the sea, quite naked, and was dancing and leaping and singing,
and, while singing, he put sand and dust on his head." The Captain of
one of the ships, who first saw this extraordinary creature, said to one
of the sailors:
"Go and meet him. He dances and sings as a sign of friendship. You must
do the same. Beckon him to me."
The Captain himself was on a little island.
The scene that followed must have been comical indeed.
The giant danced and sung and sprinkled his head with sand. The sailor
did the same, danced and sang, and the two approached each other.
So the giant was made to think that he was among friends. The sailor led
him on to the island, where he met the Captain.
But the lively giant now began to be afraid in the presence of a new
people. He seemed to wish to ask them who they were and whence they
came. Then an answer to this question came to him. He looked up to the
sky and pointed upward with one finger, saying by signs:
"Did you come down from Heaven?"
"He was so tall," says our descriptive Knight, "that the tallest of us
only came up to his waist." He was probably hardly taller than many of
his race. Falkner, in his account of Patagonia (1774), says that he saw
men there seven feet and a half high.
Of this dancing giant our historian gives a further description in
lively and interesting colors:
"He had a large face painted red all around, and around his eyes were
rings of yellow, and he had two hearts painted on his cheeks. He had but
little hair on the top of his head, which was painted white.
"When he was brought before the Captain, he had thrown over him the
skin of a certain beast, which skin was very carefully sewed."
[Illustration: The dancing giant.]
The skin was that of a guanaco, a kind of llama.
Our historian thus describes the guanaco:
"This beast has its head and ears of the size of a mule, and the neck
and body of the fashion of a camel, the legs of a deer, and the tail of
a horse, and it neighs like a horse. There are great numbers of these
animals in the same place."
Patagonia is the land of these strange animals, which are still found
there, and are hunted by Indians who lie upon the ground with drawn
bows. The animal has great curiosity, and he draws near this living
snare and is killed. When tame he is an interesting companion, but if
angered he suddenly emits a great quantity of offensive liquid from his
nose, like a half bucket of water, which he throws upon the offender. He
is the South American camel.
This giant when he made himself ready to meet the adventurers had shoes
of leather or skins, and carried a bow made of the "gut of a beast" and
a bundle of cane arrows feathered, at the end of which were small white
stones.
"The Captain caused food and drink to be given to him.
"Then the crew began to show him some of the presents they had brought,
among them a looking-glass."
When the giant saw himself in the glass he was filled with wonder. It
was as though his own ghost had appeared to him. There were men behind
him curious to see how he would be affected. He leaped back with such
force as to tumble them over. They were but pigmies to him.
The Captain now gave the giant two bells, a mirror, a comb, and beads,
and sent him back to the shore.
One of the giants of the country saw him coming back, ran to the
habitation of the giants, and summoned the giant people to the shore to
meet him. They came, almost naked, leaping and singing, and pointing
upward to Heaven. What a sight it must have been!
The women were laden with goods. The sailors beckoned them to the ships
to trade.
Queerly enough, the women brought with them a baby or little guanaco,
which they led by a string. Our historian learned that when these giants
wished to capture the old guanacos or camels they fastened one of the
little guanacos to a bush, and the old ones came to the bush to play
with it, and so became an easy prey.
"Six days afterward, our people going to cut wood," writes the Knight,
"saw another giant, who raised his hands toward Heaven.
"When the Captain General came to know of it, he sent to fetch him with
his ship's boat, and brought him to one of the little islands in the
port. This giant was of a better disposition than the other, and was a
gracious and amiable person, he loved to dance and leap. When he leaped,
he caused the earth to sink to a palm's depth at the place where his
feet touched."
The good giant remained for a time with the adventurers. They gave him
the name of John. They learned him to pronounce the name of Jesus.
"Say Pater Noster," said they.
"Pater Noster," said the giant.
"Say Ave Maria," said the men.
"Ave Maria," said the susceptible giant.
They made him presents when he went away, among them some of the many
tinkling bells.
"We must capture some of these people," said the Captain, "and take them
to Spain for wonders."
So the explorers began to study how to secure some interesting specimens
of these tall people, to excite the wonder of the people of Spain.