Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek kryptos – κρυπτός, 'hidden').
In the 1590s, Anthony Knivet claimed he had seen dead bodies 12 feet (3.7 m) long in Patagonia. Also in the 1590s, William Adams , an Englishman aboard a Dutch ship rounding Tierra del Fuego , reported a violent encounter between his ship's crew and unnaturally tall natives.