After a pleasant stay of thirteen days in this bay, Magellan took the squadron to the embouchure of the River La Plata, which had been discovered four years before by Juan Diaz de Solis, who lost his life there. The Spaniards believed the tribe of the Quérandis, before whose terrible bolas he had fallen, to be cannibals; and they were probably right in this supposition. Continuing the voyage southward, Magellan’s fleet observed the two islands now marked as the “Penguins” and “Lions.” The historian of the voyage notes the penguins and “sea-wolves” which were then observed there. Passing these islands, they opened a harbor, since known as Port Desire, where they spent the Southern winter. It is near the latitude of 50° south. Magellan supposed it to be in 49° 18´. Hardly had they arrived in this harbor, in itself sufficiently inhospitable, when the mutiny broke out which had been brewing, probably, since Magellan’s first insult to John of Carthagena. The announcement made by Magellan that they were to winter here gave the signal for the revolt. On Palm Sunday, which fell on the 1st of April that year, he invited the captains and pilots to meet on his vessel to attend Mass and to dine with him. Two of the captains, Mesquita and De Coca, accepted the invitation and came with their staffs. Mendoza and Quesada did not come. Juan de Carthagena, it will be remembered, was under arrest, and he, of course, was not invited. The same night Quesada, with De Carthagena and thirty men, crossed from the “Concepçion” to the “San Antonio,” and made an effort to take Mesquita prisoner. At first they succeeded; but the ship’s master, Eliorraga, defended him and his so bravely that, with succor from Magellan, he retained the command. The purpose of the conspirators seems to have been simply to return to Spain without wintering in so bleak a home. The three rebels sent to Magellan to say that they would recognize him as their commander, but they were sure that the King did not propose such an undertaking as this to which he was committing them. Of course, under the guise of respect, this was to exact submission from him. Magellan bade them come on board the flagship. They refused. Magellan kept the boat which they then sent him, and despatched six men, under Espinosa, to the “Victoria” to summon Mendoza. Mendoza answered with a sneer. Espinosa at once stabbed him in the neck, and a sailor struck him down with a cutlass. Magellan then sent another boat, with fifteen men, who took possession of the “Victoria.” In every case the crews seem to have taken his side against their own captains. The next day, the 3d of April, he obtained full possession of the “Santiago” and “Concepçion.”
On the 4th of that month he quartered the body of Mendoza and published his sentence as a traitor. On the 7th he beheaded Quesada, whose own servant, Molino, volunteered as executioner. When Drake arrived here, fifty-eight years after, he supposed he found the bones of Mendoza or Quesada under a gibbet which was still standing. Juan de Carthagena and the priest Pedro Sanchez de la Reina were convicted as partners in the mutiny, and sentenced to remain when the ships sailed. This sentence was afterwards executed. Magellan doubtless felt that these examples were sufficient, and he pardoned forty of the crew; but, as the reader will see, the spirit which prompted the mutiny was not yet extinguished.
They had lived here two months without seeing any of the natives, when one day, according to the narrative of Pigafetta, a giant appeared to them when they least expected to see any one. “He was singing and dancing on the sand, and throwing dust upon his head, almost naked. The captain sent one of our sailors on shore, with orders to make the same gestures as tokens of peace. This the man did; he was understood, and the giant permitted himself to be led to a little island where the captain had landed. I was there also, with many others. The giant expressed much astonishment at seeing us. He pointed to heaven, and undoubtedly meant to say that he thought we descended from heaven.
“This man,” continues Pigafetta, “was so tall that our heads hardly came up to his belt. He was well formed; his face was broad and colored with red, excepting that his eyes were surrounded with yellow, and he had two heart-shaped spots upon his cheeks. He had but little hair, and this was whitened with a sort of powder. His dress, or rather cloak, was made of furs well sewed,—taken from an animal well known in this region, as we afterwards found. He also wore shoes of the same skin.”
It seems desirable to copy this description in detail, because here begins in literature the vexed question as to the existence of giants in Patagonia. Whether there ever were any there is now doubted, though the name “Patagonian” is the synonyme of giant in every European language. While the narrative of Pigafetta is thus distinct in saying that one giant only appeared at first, another authority, with equal definiteness, says that six men appeared; and it afterwards appears that two of these, at least, were larger than the Spaniards.
The comparison of the details of this last narrative in Herrera with that of Pigafetta illustrates curiously the perplexity of all historical inquiry; for we are here distinctly told that there were six who appeared on the shore and seemed willing to come on board. A boat was sent for them, and they embarked on the flagship without fear. Once on deck, the Spaniards offered them a kettle full of biscuit,—which was enough, as they supposed, for twenty men; but, with the appetite of hungry Indians, the six devoured it all immediately. They wore mantles of furs, and carried bows and arrows. The bows were about half a fathom long; the arrows were barbed with sharp stones. All were shod with large shoes, like the giant.
On another day two Indians brought on board a tapir, and it proved that their dresses were made from the fur of this animal. Magellan gave them in exchange two red dresses, with which they were well satisfied. It is not till the next day that Herrera places the visit of the giant. That author says that the Indian expressed a wish to become a Christian, and that the Spaniards gave him the name of John. Seeing the crew throwing some mice overboard, he asked that they might be given to him to eat. For six days he took all the mice the ship could furnish, and was never afterward seen.
More than twenty days later, four Indians of the first party returned to the ships, and Magellan gave orders that two of them should be seized to carry home. The men were so large that the Spaniards could not make them prisoners without treachery. Loading the poor giants with more gifts than they could well carry, they finally asked each to accept an iron chain, fitted with manacles. The two Indians were eager enough to accept the fatal present, and were easily persuaded to have the chains fastened to their legs, that they might the more easily carry them away. They found, alas! as so many other men have found, that what they took for ornament was a cruel snare; but, thus crippled, they were overpowered. Their screams of rage were heard by their companions on shore. It was after this treachery that the natives first attacked the Spaniards. Seeing fires at night, Magellan landed a party for exploration. Seven Spaniards found the tracks of Indians and followed them ineffectually. As they returned, however, nine Indians followed, attacked them, and killed one Castilian. But for their shields, all the Spaniards would have been killed. The Spaniards closed upon them with their knives, and put them to flight, visited their camp, and feasted from the store of meat they found there. The next day Magellan sent a larger party on shore and buried the dead Castilian.