The people of this tribe, who had never seen a Spaniard before, Viedma describes as of large stature, generally above six feet high, and very stout and fleshy; their faces broad, but of good expression, and their complexion rather sunburnt than naturally dark. Their skin cloaks, worn very long, and reaching when on foot to their heels, gave them an appearance of greater height than the reality. Their habits and customs, according to his account, seem to differ little from those of the Pampa tribes, of which I shall elsewhere have to speak. The men employed themselves in hunting guanacoes and other animals for their skins, and for meat to eat, whilst the women performed all the domestic offices and drudgery of the household, such as it was; but the good disposition uniformly shown by them gave Viedma a most favourable opinion of them, forming, as it did, a striking contrast with the character of the tribes further north. Shortly after this excursion (in April, 1783) Don Antonio, considering his little colony as fairly planted, proceeded to Buenos Ayres for the recovery of his health. There the mortification awaited him of learning that all his labour had been thrown away, and that the Government of Spain had resolved to break up the Patagonian settlements. The fact was, that the great trouble and expense already incurred, from the necessity of supplying all their first wants from Buenos Ayres; the grumbling and complaints of the settlers themselves, of the hardships they had to go through, and of the inclemency of a climate to which they were unaccustomed (which, joined to the bad quality of their salt provisions, had certainly produced scurvy amongst them to a frightful extent), had all tended to create so unfavourable an impression upon the Viceroy, that he had been led to express a strong opinion to his Government as to their worse than uselessness. The consequence was, that after three or four years, in which upwards of a million of hard dollars was spent upon them, orders were sent out to abandon them all, except the settlement upon the Rio Negro, after setting up at San Joseph's, Port Desire, and San Julian's, signals of possession, as the English had done at Port Egmont, for evidence in case of need, of his Catholic Majesty's rights[22].