Jasper County Democrat, Volume 1, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1899 — Giants of Patagonia. [ARTICLE]

Giants of Patagonia.

The tribes to the east of the Cordilleras, In Southern Patagonia, belong to Arnucanian stock and are a superior race. The Tobeuiehs—as they call themselves—of Southern and Eastern Patagonia are the people whose unusual stature gave rise to the fables of the early day’s to the effect that the natives of this region were galnts averaging nine or ten feet in height. It is a fact, says the Boston Transcript, that they are the tallest human beings in the world, the men averaging but slightly less than six feet, while individuals of four to six inches above that mark are not uncommon. They are in reality by no means savages, but somewhat civilized barbarians. They are almost unacquainted with the use of firearms, notwithstanding some contact with the whites, but they have plenty of horses and dogs. Unsurpassed hunters, they capture tbe guaaaco and the rhea, or South American ostrich, and from the skins of these and other animals they make clothes and coverings for their tents. They make beautiful “capes” or “mantles” of furs and feathers, which are highly prized by Europeans and find a ready market, most of the proceeds being spent for bad whisky, which to brought Into the country in quantities. If you get lost you can recover yourself at a clothing store.