of the expedition. He describes a Patagonian thus: "He was huge of body, and ugly. He was clad in a zebra skin, and on his head he bore a plume made of ostrich feathers;[1] he carried a bow, and on his feet had fastened some bits of leather." He describes, briefly and graphically, the storms that scattered the ships and caused the foundering of the "Santi Spiritus." Shortly after entering the strait, "a pot of pitch took fire on the commander's ship, and the ship began to burn, and little was lacking that we did not burn in it, but by God's help, and the great care exercised, we put out the fire." "We left the strait in the month of May, five hundred and twenty-six [sic][2]—the commander's ship, two caravels, and the tender. A few days afterward we had a very great storm, by the violence of which we were separated from one another, and we never saw each other again. … In these adversities died the accountant Tejada and the pilot Rodrigo Bermejo. On the thirtieth of July died the captain-general Fray Garcia de Loaisa, and by a secret provision of his majesty, Juan Sebastian del Cano was sworn in as captain-general. … On the fourth of August … died Juan Sebastian del Cano, and the nephew of the commander Loaisa,[3] who was accountant-general." When they reached the Ladrones "we found here a Galician … who was left behind in this island with two companions from the ship of Espinosa; and, the
- ↑ The "zebra" was the guanaco or South American camel (Auchenia). The feathers were those of the South American ostrich (Rhea rhea), also called "nandu" and "avestruz " by the natives, or possibly of the smaller species R. darwinii; both are found as far south as the Strait of Magellan.
- ↑ It was the custom of many of the writers of these early documents to give in dates only the last two or three figures of the year.
- ↑ His name was Alvaro de Loaisa.
