In the above list, chen corresponds in the Italian MS. to ehen, the equivalent of “no;” theu is “ship” in the above, and “snow” in the Italian; courire (the equivalent of covrire or coprire, “to cover”) in the Italian, becomes courir (“to run”) in MS. 5,650. All are to be regarded as errors of the French. Certain words are left in Italian in MS. 5,650, which are as follows: la copa; alcalcagno; (Italian MS. al calcagno); homo squerzo (Italian MS. sguerco); a la pignate (Italian MS. pigniata); alstruzzo vcelo (Italian MS. al seruzo ucelo); and alcocinare (Italian MS. al coçinare). Stanley offers this as proof that MS. 5,650 was written by Pigafetta, and not translated from his Italian, but it furnishes no evidence that Pigafetta even saw the French version of his relation. It must be remembered that Stanley did not himself see the Italian MS. but only the Amoretti mutilation of it (from which, and from MS. 5,650, he reproduces the vocabulary, without English translation); and hence bases his observations on that and the conjectures of its editor. Stanley points out the fact that Amoretti has omitted several words of this list, but they are all in the Italian MS. A sad blunder has been made by Stanley in his transcription of La pouldre dherbe qui mangent whose Patagonian equivalent is capac. He transcribes as follows: la pouldre d’herbe with Patagonian equivalent qui (which it is to be noted is only the wrong form of the French relative), and mangent with Patagonian equivalent capac, explaining mangent in a footnote as “Food, the root used as bread.” Stanley also makes the following mistranscriptions: orescho for oresche (“nostrils”); canneghin for caimeghin (“palm of the hand”); ochy for ochii (“bosom”); scancos for scaneos (“testicles”); hou for hoii (“buttocks”); ohoy for ohon (“pulse”); cartschem for cartscheni (“sole of the foot”); chol for thol (“heart”); om for oni (“wind”); aschame for aschanie (“earthen pot”); oamaghei for oamaghce (“to fight”); amet for amel (“black”); and ixecoles for jrocoles (“to cook”). Amoretti has also made many errors (see Stanley’s First Voyage, pp. 62, 63). Mosto, who is on the whole a faithful transcriber, has sacancos as the Patagonian equivalent of a li testiculi; om jani for a li sui, the correct forms of the latter being jani and a li sui oui; and tcrechai for the equivalent of “red cloth.” Eden (p. 252) gives only the following words: “breade, Capar: water, Oli: redde clothe, Cherecai: red colour, Cheiche: blacke colour, Amel.”
Mosto (p. 63, note 8) gives the following words from the vocabulary of the Tehuel-ches compiled by the second lieutenant of the ship “Roncagli,” which correspond almost exactly with those given by Pigafetta.
| English | Roncagli | Pigafetta |
| Nose | or | or |
| eye | óthel | other |
| hand | tzén | chene |
| ear | sha | sane |
| ostrich | óyue | hoi hoi |
Brinton (American Race, p. 328) cites Ramon Lista (Mis exploraciones y descubrìmientos en Patagonia, Buenos Ayres, 1880) in proof that the language of the Patagonians has undergone but slight change since the time of Pigafetta. See also lists of words in Brinton (ut supra), p. 364, from the Patagonian and Fuegian languages. The vocabularies given by Horatio Hale (Wilkes’s U. S. Exploring Expedition, 1838–1842, Philadelphia, 1846, viii, pp. 651–656) bear no resemblance to Pigafetta’s vocabulary. Hale says that guttural sounds are frequent among the Indians of the Patagonian district.
[162] MS. 5,650 reads: “capae.”
[163] Cf. with the methods of fire-making used by the North American Indians in Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (Cleveland reissue); see also Captivity of Hans Stade (Hakluyt Society edition), p. 126.
At this point (folio 14a) in the original Italian MS. occurs the first chart, representing the straits of Magellan (see p. 86). The cardinal points in all of Pigafetta’s charts are the reverse of the ordinary, the north being below and the south above. MS. 5,650 precedes this chart (which there occupies folio 21a) by the words: “Below is depicted the strait of Patagonie.” Immediately following this chart in the Italian MS. (folio 15a) is the chart of the Ysole Infortunate (“Unfortunate Isles;” see p. 92). These islands are shown in MS. 5,650 on folio 23a, with the following notice: “Here are shown the two islands called ‘Unfortunate Islands.’” The charts in the Italian MS. are brown or dull black on a blue ground.
[164] The “Roteiro” (Stanley, p. 9) says that Magalhães left the strait November 26 (having entered it October 21); the anonymous Portuguese (Stanley, p. 31) and Peter Martyr (Mosto, p. 65, note 1), November 27.
[165] MS. 5,650 reads: “And we ate only biscuits that had fallen to powder, which was quite full of worms, and stank from the filth of the urine of rats that covered it, and of which the good had been eaten.” Eden (p. 252) reads: “And hauynge in this tyme conſumed all theyr byſket and other vyttales, they fell into ſuche neceſſitie that they were inforced to eate the pouder that remayned therof beinge nowe full of woormes and ſtynkynge lyke pyſſe by reaſon of the ſalte water,” Herrera (Navarrete, iv, p. 51) says that the rice was cooked with salt water.
[166] A curious coincidence in view of Magalhães’s answer to Esteban Gomez at a council called in the strait to discuss the continuance of the voyage that “although he had to eat the cowhide wrappings of the yardarms, he would still persevere and discover what he had promised the emperor” (Navarrete, iv, p. 43; cited from Herrera). At that council André de San Martin, pilot in the “San Antonio,” advised that they continue explorations until the middle of January, 1521, and then return to Spain; and urged that no farther southward descent be made, and that navigation along so dangerous coasts be only by day, in order that the crew might have some rest (Navarrete, iv, pp. 45–49).