Chapter XI: Part 11

Text size

The Eskimo of the Big Lake district, south of the Yukon, and from
the Kaviak Peninsula, as well as the Malemut about the head of
Kotzebue Sound, are on the contrary very finely proportioned and
athletic men who can not be equaled among the Indians of the Yukon
region. * * * There were a number of half-blood children among the
Eskimo, resulting from the intercourse with people from vessels and
others, who generally show their Caucasian blood by large, finely
shaped, and often remarkably beautiful brown eyes. The number of
these mixed bloods was not very great.

1905, Jackson:[92]

The Eskimos of Alaska are a much finer race physically than their
kindred of Greenland and Labrador. In the extreme north, at Point
Barrow, and along the coast of Bering Sea they are of medium size.
At Point Barrow the average height of the males is 5 feet 3 inches
and average weight 153 pounds; of the women, 4 feet 11 inches and
weight 135 pounds. On the Nushagak River the average weight of the
men is from 150 to 167 pounds. From Cape Prince of Wales to Icy
Cape along the Arctic Coast and on the great inland rivers emptying
into the Arctic Ocean they are a large race, many of them being 6
feet and over in height.[93] They are lighter in color and fairer
than the North American Indian, have black and brown eyes, black
hair, some with a tinge of brown, high cheek bones, fleshy faces,
small hands and feet, and good teeth. The men have thin beards.

1916, Hawkes:[94]

The Alaskan Eskimo are a taller and more symmetrical people than
their brethren of the central and eastern districts. They lack
that appearance of stoutness and squatness inherent in the eastern
stock, and for proportion and development of the various parts of
the body they do not compare unfavorably with Indians and whites.
It is not unusual to find in an Alaskan Eskimo village several
men who are 6 feet tall, with magnificent shoulders and arms and
bodily strength in proportion. The usual height, however, is about
168 centimeters for men, which is some 10 centimeters above the
height of the eastern Eskimo. * * * The average for women among the
western Eskimo is 158 centimeters, which approximates the height
of the men in the Hudson Bay region, 158 centimeters (Boas). The
female type in Alaska is taller and slimmer than in the east, and
the width of the face is considerably less. Eskimo women of large
stature are often seen in the northern section of Alaska. The
individual variation here is more conspicuous than in Labrador or
Hudson Bay.

1923, Jenness:[95]

In his report on the Copper Eskimos, D. Jenness gives excellent
descriptive notes on this group with references to others. These
notes, too voluminous to be transcribed, may well be consulted in
these connections.

FOOTNOTES:

[67] Cook, Capt. James, and Capt. James King. A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. London, 1784, II, vol. 2, p. 300.

[68] Kotzebue, Otto von, A voyage of discovery into the South Sea and Bering Strait, 1815-1818, vol. 1, p. 209. London, 1821.

[69] Beechey, F. W., Narrative of a voyage to the Pacific and Bering Strait. Philadelphia, 1832, pp. 474-476.

[70] Latham, Robert G., The varieties of man. London, 1850, pp. 290-292.

[71] Hooper, W. H., Ten months among the tents of the Tuski. London, 1853, pp. 223-224.

[72] Seemann, Berthold, Narrative of the voyage of H. M. S. _Herald_. London, 1853, vols. I-II. On the Anthropology of Western Eskimo Land and on the Desirability of Further Arctic Research. J. Anthrop. Soc., London, 1865, vol. III, p. 301.

[73] Richardson, Sir John, The Polar Regions. Edinburgh, 1861, p. 301.

[74] Dall, W. H., Alaska and Its Resources. Boston, 1870.

[75] Orarian, a term used by the author to distinguish the tribes of Innuit, Aleutians, and Asiatic Eskimo from the natives known under the name of Indian, in allusion to the universal coastwise distribution of the former.

[76] Bancroft, Hubert H., The Native Races of the Pacific States. Vol. I, New York, 1874. Wild Tribes, p. 45.

[77] _Color._--"Their complexion, if divested of its usual covering of dirt, can hardly be called dark."--Seemann's Voy. _Herald_, vol. II, p. 51. "In comparison with other Americans of a white complexion."--McCulloh's Aboriginal Hist. of America, p. 20. "White complexion, not copper coloured."--Dobb's Hudson's Bay, p. 50. "Almost as white as Europeans."--Kalm's Travels, vol. II, p. 263. "Not darker than that of a Portuguese."--Lyon's Journal, p. 224. "Scarcely a shade darker than a deep brunet."--Parry's Third Voyage, p. 493. "Their complexion is light."--Dall's Alaska, p. 381. "Eyewitnesses agree in their superior lightness of complexion over the Chinooks."--Pickering's Races of Man, U. S. Ex. Ex., IX, 28. At Coppermine River they are "of a dirty copper color; some of the women, however, are more fair and ruddy."--Hearne's Travels, p. 166. "Considerably fairer than the Indian tribes."--Simpson's Nar., p. 110. At Cape Bathurst "the complexion is swarthy, chiefly, I think, from exposure and the accumulation of dirt."--Armstrong's Nar., p. 192. "Show little of the copper color of the Red Indians."--Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 303. "From exposure to weather they become dark after manhood."--Richardson's Nar., I, 343.

[78] _Proportions._--"Both sexes are well proportioned, stout, muscular, and active."--Seemann's Voy. _Herald_, II, 50. "A stout, well-looking people."--Simpson's Nar., pp. 110, 114. "Below the mean of the Caucasian race."--Doctor Hayes in Historic Magazine, vol. I, p. 6. "They are thick set, have a decided tendency to obesity, and are seldom more than 5 feet in height."--Figuier's Human Race, p. 211. At Kotzebue Sound "tallest man was 5 feet 9 inches; tallest woman 5 feet 4 inches."--Beechey's Voy., I, 360. "Average height was 5 feet 4½ inches"; at the mouth of the Mackenzie they are of "middle stature, strong, and muscular."--Armstrong's Nar., 149, 192. "Low, broad set, not well made nor strong."--Hearne's Trav., p. 166. "The men were in general stout."--Franklin's Nar., I, 29. "Of a middle size, robust make, and healthy appearance."--Kotzebue's Voy., I, 209. "Men vary in height from about 5 feet to 5 feet 10 inches."--Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 304. "Women were generally short." "Their figure inclines to squat."--Hooper's Tuski, p. 224.

[79] _Hands and feet._--"Tous les individus qui appartiennent à la famille des Esquimaux se distinguent par la petitesse de leurs pieds et de leurs mains, et la grosseur énorme de leurs têtes."--De Pauw, Recherches Phil. I, 262. "The hands, and feet are delicately small and well formed."--Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 304. "Small and beautifully made."--Seemann's Voy. Herald, II, 50. At Point Barrow "Their hands, notwithstanding the great amount of manual labor to which they are subject, were beautifully small and well formed, a description equally applicable to their feet."--Armstrong's Nar., p. 101.

[80] _Head._--"The head is of good size, rather flat superiorly, but very fully developed posteriorly, evidencing a preponderance of the animal passions; the forehead was for the most part low and receding; in a few it was somewhat vertical but narrow."--Armstrong's Nar., p. 193. Their cranial characteristics "are the strongly developed coronary ridge, the obliquity of the zygoma, and its greater capacity compared with the Indian cranium. The former is essentially pyramidal, while the latter more nearly approaches a cubic shape."--Dall's Alaska, p. 376. "Greatest breadth of the face is just below the eyes, the forehead tapers upwards, ending narrowly but not acutely, and in like manner the chin is a blunt cone."--Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 302. Doctor Gall, whose observations on the same skulls presented him for phrenological observation are published by M. Louis Choris, thus comments upon the head of a female Eskimo from Kotzebue Sound: "L'organe de l'instinct de la propagation se trouve extrêmement dévelopé pour une tête de femme." He finds the musical and intellectual organs poorly developed, while vanity and love of children are well displayed. "En général," sagely concluded the doctor, "cette tête femme présentait une organization aussi heureuse que celle de la plupart des femmes d'Europe."--Voy. Pitt., pt. II, p. 16.

[81] _Face._--"Large, fat, round faces, high cheek bones, small hazel eyes, eyebrows slanting like the Chinese, and wide mouths."--Beechey's Voy., I, 345. "Broad, flat faces, high cheek bones."--Doctor Hayes in Hist. Mag., I, p. 6. Their "teeth are regular, but from the nature of their food and from their practice of preparing hides by chewing, are worn down almost to the gums at an early age."--Seemann's Voy. _Herald_, II, 51. At Hudson Strait, "broad, flat, pleasing face; small and generally sore eyes; given to bleeding at the nose."--Franklin's Nar., I, 29. "Small eyes and very high cheek bones."--Kotzebue's Voy., I, 209. "La face plate, la bouche ronde, le nez petit sans être écrase, le blanc de l'oeil jaunâtre, l'iris noir et peu brillant."--De Pauw, Recherches Phil., I, 262. They have "small, wild-looking eyes, large and very foul teeth, the hair generally black, but sometimes fair, and always in extreme disorder."--Brownell's Indian Races, p. 467. "As contrasted with the other native American races, their eyes are remarkable, being narrow and more or less oblique."--Richardson's Nar., I, 343. "Expression of face intelligent and good natured. Both sexes have mostly round, flat faces, with Mongolian cast."--Hooper's Tuski, p. 223.

[82] _Hair._--"Allowed to hang down in a club to the shoulder."--Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 305. "Their hair is straight, black, and coarse."--Seemann's Voy. _Herald_, II, 51. A fierce expression characterized them on the McKenzie River, which "was increased by the long, disheveled hair flowing about their shoulders."--Armstrong's Nar., p. 149.

[83] _Beard._--"The old men had a few gray hairs on their chins, but the young ones, though grown up, were beardless."--Beechey's Voy., I, 322. "The possession of a beard is very rare, but a slight mustache is not infrequent."--Seemann's Voy. _Herald_, II, 51. "As the men grow old they have more hair on the face than red Indians."--Richardson's Nar., I, 343. "Generally an absence of beard and whiskers."--Armstrong's Nar., p. 193. "Beard is universally wanting."--Kotzebue's Voy., I, 252. "The young men have little beard, but some of the old ones have a tolerable show of long, gray hairs on the upper lip and chin."--Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 303. "All have beards."--Bell's Geography, V, 294. Kirby affirms that in Alaska "many of them have a profusion of whiskers and beard."--Smiths. Report, 1864, p. 416.

[84] Simpson, John, Observations on the Western Eskimo and the Country They Inhabit. _In_ A Selection of Papers on Arctic Geography and Ethnology, Pres. by the Roy. Geogr. Soc., London, 1875, pp. 238-246.

[85] Dall, W. H., Tribes of the Extreme Northwest. Contribution to North American Ethnology, I, Washington, 1877.

[86] Hooper, C. L., Report of cruise of the revenue steamer _Corwin_, 1881. Washington, 1884, p. 101.

[87] Ray, P. H., Ethnographic sketch of the natives. Report of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska. Washington, 1885.

[88] Murdoch, J., Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition. Ninth Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethn., 1887-88, pp. 33-39, Washington, 1892.

[89] Murdoch, J., Dress and physique of the Point Barrow Eskimos. Popul. Sci. Month., Dec., 1890, 222-223.

[90] Kelly, J. W., Arctic Eskimos in Alaska and Siberia. Revised and edited by Sheldon Jackson. Bull. No. 3, Soc. Alaskan Nat. Hist. and Ethnol., Sitka, 1890, p. 15.

[91] Nelson, Edward W., The Eskimo about Bering Strait. Eighteenth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., Washington, 1900, pp. 26-29.

[92] Jackson, Sheldon, Our barbarous Eskimos in northern Alaska. The Metropol. Mag., Vol. XXII, New York, June, 1905, pp. 257-271.

[93] Either a bad misprint or bad error.--A. H.

[94] Hawkes, Ernest William, Skeletal measurements and observations of the Point Barrow Eskimo, with comparisons with other Eskimo groups. Am. Anthrop., n. s. XVIII, No. 2, pp. 206-207, Lancaster, 1916.

[95] Jenness, D., Physical characteristics of the Copper Eskimos. Rept. Canad. Arct. Exp. 1913-1918. Ottawa, 1923, p. 38.

OLDER ANTHROPOMETRIC DATA ON THE WESTERN ESKIMO

STATURE AND OTHER MEASUREMENTS ON THE LIVING

The earliest actual measurements of the living among the western Eskimo are those given in Captain Beechey's Narrative (1832, p. 226), where we read that of the Eskimo of Cape Thompson (north of Kotzebue Sound) "the tallest man was 5 feet 9 inches (175.3 centimeters), the tallest woman 5 feet 4 inches (162.6 centimeters) in height." As seen before, Beechey also stated that the stature of the Eskimo increases from the east to the west.

In 1881-82, Lieutenant Ray collects and in 1885 reports evidently careful measurements of 51 men and 30 women from the villages of Uglaamie, at Cape Smythe, now Barrow, and Nuwuk, on Point Barrow.[96] An abstract of the data shows as follows:

Average height: Male, 5 feet 3½ inches (161.3 centimeters); female,
4 feet 11¾ inches (151.8 centimeters).
Average weight: Male, 153⅗ pounds; female, 135⅔ pounds.
Tallest male: 5 feet 8¾ inches (174.6 centimeters).
Tallest female: 5 feet 3 inches (160 centimeters).
Shortest male: 4 feet 11 inches (149.9 centimeters).
Shortest female: 4 feet ½ inch (123.2 centimeters).
Weight: Male, 126 to 204 pounds; female, 106 to 172 pounds.

In 1892, in connection with the preparation of the anthropological exhibits for the World Exposition at Chicago, an extensive effort was made under the direction of Frederick W. Putnam and Franz Boas to secure, by the help of a group of specially instructed students, physical data on many tribes of the American aborigines, and this included a contingent of the western Eskimo. An abstract of the results was reported by Boas in 1895.[97] The locality where the Eskimo were measured is not given, but it was most likely Nome or St. Michael Island. Thirty-four men gave the high (for the Eskimo) average of 165.8 centimeters, an unstated number of women an equally elevated average of 155.1 centimeters. No details are given. There is also given the mean and distribution of the cephalic index on 114 living western Eskimo of both sexes. (On chart, p. 395, the number is 141.) The mean index was 79.2. There are again, as under Stature, no details as to locality, and none could be obtained from the author.

In 1901 Deniker, in his Races of Man (p. 580), reports the stature of 85 Eskimo of Alaska, doubtless males, as 163 centimeters. There are no details, no references, and I have not been able to trace the source of the measurement.

During the years 1897-1899 A. J. Stone made an extended journey along a portion of the upper Yukon and through parts of northwestern Alaska and the Mackenzie River basin, for the American Museum of Natural History. On this journey he made some measurements of Indian and Eskimo, and these were published in 1901 by Franz Boas.[98] The Eskimo measured were the "Nunatagmiut" (11 males, 5 females), of the Noatak River, Alaska, and the "Koukpagmiut," (12 males, 6 females), east of the mouth of the Mackenzie. The Noataks, who alone interest us more closely here, gave the relatively high (for Eskimo) stature of 167.9 centimeters in the men and 155.6 centimeters in the women. The number of subjects is small and there may possibly have been some unconscious selection; yet it is clear that in this group there are numerous fairly tall individuals.

STONE'S DATA ON THE NOATAK RIVER ESKIMO

-------------------+-------+-------++-------------------+-------+-------
| Males |Females|| | Males |Females
| (11) | (5) || | (11) | (5)
-------------------+-------+-------++-------------------+-------+-------
Stature | 167.9 | 155.6 ||Height of nose | 5.63 | 5.3
Stretch of arms | 173.0 | 159.2 ||Width of nose | 3.76 | 3.34
Height of shoulder | 139.7 | 128.4 ||Index of stretch of| |
Length of arm | 73.9 | 66.0 || arms |103.1 |102.4
Height sitting | 86.8 | 81.8 ||Index of arm | | 42.6
Width of shoulders | 38.0 | 34.2 ||Index of height | |
Length of head | 18.9 | 18.1 || sitting | 52.6 | 52.4
Width of head | 15.45| 14.26||Index of width of | |
Width of face | 15.57| 14.46|| shoulders | 22.6 | 22
Height of face | 12.84| 11.98||Cephalic index | 81.6 | 78.8
-------------------+-------+-------++-------------------+-------+-------

In addition, Doctor Jenness, in 1913, measured 13 adult male Point Hope Eskimo for stature, head length, and head breadth.[99] He obtained the following records:

+----------+-------+-------+--------++----------+-------+-------+--------+ | Stature | Head | Head |Cephalic|| Stature | Head | Head |Cephalic| | |length |breadth| index || |length |breadth| index | +----------+-------+-------+--------++----------+-------+-------+--------+ | 160.5 | 19.7 | 15.1 | 76.6 || 174.3 | 18.6 | 15.1 | 81.1 | | 168.5 | 19.6 | 14.7 | 75.0 || 158.3 | 18.7 | 15.4 | 82.3 | | 167.3 | 19.4 | 14.5 | 74.7 || 168.2 | 19.2 | 16.3 | 84.9 | | 162.9 | 21.0 | 14.6 | 69.5 || 167.3 | 18.7 | 15.9 | 85.0 | | 162.4 | 19.2 | 14.5 | 75.5 || | | | | | 167.8 | 19.5 | 14.9 | 76.4 ||_Means_[100] | | | | 170.2 | 18.8 | 14.7 | 78.2 || | | | | | 170.4 | 18.8 | 14.8 | 78.7 || 168.2 | 19.28| 15.06| _78.1_ | | 168.3 | 19.4 | 15.3 | 78.8 || | | | | +----------+-------+-------+--------++----------+-------+-------+--------+

Doctor Jenness[101] also gives useful data on the stature and cephalic index of living Eskimo from other localities which, with the addition of the sources and a slightly different arrangement, are here reproduced:

STATURE

-------------------------------------+-----------------+-----------------
| Men | Women
Place +-------+---------+-------+---------
| Cases | Stature | Cases | Stature
-------------------------------------+-------+---------+-------+---------
Smith Sound (Steensby) | 8 | 157.4 | 10 | 145.4
S. W. Greenland (Hansen) | 21 | 157.6 | 24 | 151.8
Labrador (Duckworth and Pain) | 11 | 157.7 | 10 | 149.7
Smith Sound (Hrdlička)[102] | 3 | 157.7 | |
S. E. Greenland (Hansen) | 22 | 160.4 | 23 | 152.9
Point Barrow (Ray) | 51 | 161.5 | 28 | 153.6
Hudson Bay (South Island and Aivilik)| | | |
(S. I. 35, Tocher; A. 9, Boas) | 44 | 162.0 | 12 | 151.8
Mackenzie Delta (Jenness) | 4 | 162.2 | |
N. E. Greenland (Hansen) | 31 | 164.7 | 15 | 155.1
Coronation Gulf (Jenness) | 82 | 164.8 | 42 | 156.4
Iglulik, Hudson Bay (Parry) | 20 | 166.0 | 20 | 153.7
Point Hope (Jenness) | 13 | 166.5 | |
Mackenzie Delta (Stone) | 12 | 167.5 | 6 | 151.5
Noatak River (Stone) | 11 | 167.9 | 5 | 155.5
-------------------------------------+-------+---------+-------+---------

CEPHALIC INDEX[103]

------------------------------+----------------+----------------
| Men | Women
Place +-------+--------+-------+--------
| Cases | Index | Cases | Index
------------------------------+-------+--------+-------+--------
Mackenzie Delta (Stone) | 12 | 73.9 | |
Mackenzie Delta (Jenness) | 4 | 76.1 | 6 | 75.2
Southeast Greenland (Hansen) | 22 | 75.7 | 23 | 75.0
Labrador (Duckworth and Pain) | 11 | 77.0 | 10 | 74.5
Hudson Bay (Tocher and Boas) | 35 | 77.2 | |
Coronation Gulf (Jenness) | 82 | 77.6 | 42 | 76.6
Northeast Greenland (Hansen) | 31 | 77.8 | 15 | 76.5
Smith Sound (Steensby) | 8 | 78.0 | 10 | 77.4
Southwest Greenland (Hansen) | 21 | 78.1 | 24 | 76.8
Point Hope (Jenness) | 13 [104]78.3| |
Noatak River (Stone) | 11 | 81.6 | 5 | 78.8

------------------------------+-------+--------+-------+---------

FOOTNOTES:

[96] Ray, Lieut. P. H., Report of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska. Washington, 1885, p. 50.

[97] Zur Anthropologie der Nordamerikanischen Indianer. Verh. Berl. Ges. Anthrop., Sitz. Mai 18, 1895 (with Z. Ethnol. for same year).

[98] A. J. Stone's Measurements of Natives of the Northwestern Territories. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1901, XIV, pp. 53-68.

[99] Physical Characteristics of the Copper Eskimo. Rep. Canad. Arch. Exped. 1913-1918, Ottawa, 1923, Introd., also p. B37.

[100] By present writer.

[101] Rep. Canad. Arct. Exped., 1913-1918, B50.

[102] Added from author's Anthropology of Central and Smith Sound Eskimo, 1910, 228; the stature of one woman was 146.7.

[103] Physical Characteristics of the Copper Eskimo. Rep. Canad. Arct. Exped., 1913-1918, Ottawa, 1923, p. B55.

[104] The totals of the measurements give _78.1_--A. H.

THE SKULL

The first western Eskimo skull collected for scientific purposes was apparently that of a female St. Lawrence Islander. It was taken from the rocks of the island by the Kotzebue party in 1817. It was reported upon phrenologically in 1822 by Gall.[105]

In 1839 Morton, in his "Crania Americana" (p. 248), gives measurements and the illustration of a western Eskimo skull from Icy Cape, collected by Dr. A. Collie, surgeon of H. M. S. _Blossom_. The principal measurements of this evidently female skull were: Length, 17.02 centimeters; breadth, 12.70; height, 12.70. Cephalic index, _74.6_.

In 1862[106] and 1863[107] Daniel Wilson reports briefly on six Tchuktchi skulls, which were probably those of Asiatic Eskimo. He says:

My opportunities for examining Esquimaux crania have been
sufficient to furnish me with very satisfactory data for forming
an opinion on the true Arctic skull form. In addition to the
measurements of 38 skulls, * * * I have recently compared and
carefully measured six Tchuktchi [probably Asiatic coast Eskimo]
skulls, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, exhumed
from the burial place of a village called Tergnyune, on the island
of Arikamcheche, at Glassnappe Harbor, west of Bering Strait, and
during a recent visit to Philadelphia I enjoyed the advantage of
examining, in company with Dr. J. Aitken Meigs, a series of 125
[eastern] Esquimaux crania, obtained by Doctor Hayes during his
Arctic journey of 1860. The comparison between the Tchuktchi and
the true Esquimaux skull is interesting. Without being identical,
the correspondence in form is such as their languages and other
affinities would suggest. Of the former, moreover, the number is
too few, and the derivation of all of them from one cemetery adds
to the chances of exceptional family features; but on carefully
examining the Hayes collection with a view to this comparison, I
found it was quite possible to select an equal number of Esquimaux
crania closely corresponding to the Tchuktchi type, which indeed
presents the most prominent characteristics of the former, only
less strongly marked.

In Prehistoric Man, Volume II, Plate XV, this author gives also the measurements of the Icy Cape skull recorded by Morton.

The principal mean measurements of the six Tchuktchi skulls (both sexes) were: Height, 17.60 centimeters; breadth, 13.59; height, 13.77; cranial index, _77.2_.

The next measurements on western Eskimo crania are those given in 1867 by J. Barnard Davis (_Thes. cran._). This author measured 6 skulls, 3 of which were from Port Clarence (Seward Peninsula), 2 from Kotzebue Sound, and 1 from Cape Lisburne. The measurements, regrettably, are in inches. They include the greatest glabello-occipital length, greatest breadth, height (plane of for. magn. to vertex), height of face (chin-nasion), and breadth of face (d. bizygom. max.). The cranial index of the 4 specimens identified as male averaged _75.5_ (75-76), that of the 2 females _77.5_ (77-78). On page 226 the author mentions also an artificially deformed skull of a Koniag; this was in all probability a wrong identification for no such deformations are known from the island (Kodiak).

In 1868 Jeffries Wyman[108] published measurements of 5 skulls of "Tsuktshi," the same as those of Daniel Wilson, and of 5 from the Yukon River, "three of which are Mahlemuts."

The identification of the specimens was partly erroneous. The data with corrected identification are republished by Dall (q. v.) in 1877. And the same skulls figure in all future measurements.

In 1875 Topinard[109] gives the Barnard Davis measurements in metric form without, so far as the western Eskimo are concerned, any additions.

The main measurements of Barnard Davis's western Eskimo skulls, converted to metric values, follow. The sex identification in some of the specimens is doubtful.

---------------------------------+--------+---------+----------+---------
| Skull | Breadth |Height (to| Cranial
| length | | vertex) | index
---------------------------------+--------+---------+----------+---------
Port Clarence, male | 17.8 | 13.45 | -14 | _75.7_
Do | 17.8 | 13.45 | 14.2 | _75.7_
Port Clarence, female | -18 | -14 | 13.45 | _77.5_
+--------+---------+----------+---------
Means of the three | 17.86 | 13.64 | 13.59 | _76.4_
+========+=========+==========+=========
Kotzebue Sound, male | 17.55| 13.2 | 13.45 | _75.4_
Kotzebue Sound, female | 17.3 | 13.45 | 13.7 | _77.9_
+--------+---------+----------+---------
Means of the two (probably | | | |
both females) | 17.4 | 13.35 | 13.6 | _76.6_
+========+=========+==========+=========
Cape Lisburne, male | 18.3 | 14.2 | -14 | _77.8_
---------------------------------+--------+---------+----------+---------

The next records are those by George A. Otis, published in 1876 in the Check List of the Specimens in the Section of Anatomy of the United States Army Medical Museum, Washington (pp. 13-15). Aside from those on Greenland crania the author gives here the measurements of 3 presumably Eskimo skulls collected by Dall; of 2 western Eskimo skulls, no locality; and of 3 Mahlemut skulls, probably from Norton Sound (St. Michael Island). In his later (1880) catalogue,[110] page 13, Otis adds to the above three skulls from Prince William Sound, which, however, were more probably Indian; the three Mahlemuts, on the other hand, are given with the Alaskan Indians (p. 35). These data are of but little value. The Eskimo skulls are the same Smithsonian specimens that were reported upon in 1868 by Jeffries Wyman.

In 1878, Rae[111] mentions some measurements or observations on the skulls of Western Eskimo by Flower, but no records of these could be located. Rae says:

I had the privilege of attending the series of admirable lectures
so ably given by Professor Flower at the Royal College of Surgeons
a few weeks ago on the "Comparative Anatomy of Man," from which I
derived much useful information and on one point very considerable
food for thought.

I allude to the wonderful difference in form exhibited between
the skulls of the Eskimos from the neighborhood of Bering
Strait, and of those inhabiting Greenland, the latter being
extremely dolichocephalic, whilst the former are the very
opposite--brachycephalic, the natives of the intermediate coast,
from the Coppermine River eastward, having mesocephalic heads.

In 1879 Lucien Carr, in his "Observations on the Crania from the Santa Barbara Islands, California"[112] (p. 281), gives erroneously Otis's measurements of Aleut skulls as those of "Alaskan Eskimo."

Meanwhile W. H. Dall has published (1877) his monograph on the "Tribes of the Extreme Northwest,"[113] in which he includes Wyman's and also some of Otis's data on the Eskimo (and Aleut) skulls from Alaska and Asia. The Tshuktshi are now classed as Asiatic Eskimo, the Mahlemuts as Eskimo from St. Michael Island. The total number of skulls described in the former series is 11, in the latter series 6 (of Aleuts the number of skulls measured is 27 adults and 7 children). The means of the principal measurements of the Eskimo series, both sexes together, are as follows:

JEFFRIES WYMAN'S AND OTIS'S MEASUREMENTS OF WESTERN ESKIMO CRANIA

--------------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------
Crania (both sexes) | Length | Breadth | Height | Cranial
| | | | index
--------------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------
| (11) | (11) | (7) | (11)
Asiatic Eskimo | 17.8 | 14.1 | 13.2 | _79.3_
| | | |
| (6) | (6) | (6) | (6)
Northwest American Eskimo | 17.5 | 13.2 | 13.1 | _75.1_
--------------------------+--------+---------+--------+---------

There were also taken the weight, capacity, circumference, longitudinal arch, length of the frontal, parietal, and occipital, "zygomatic diameter," and in two specimens of each series the facial angle. To-day these data have but a historical value.

In 1882, Quatrefages and Hamy,[114] in their "Crania ethnica" (p. 440) give the measurements of two male Kaniagmiouts (Kodiak Indian, A. Pinart, collector) and one female Mahlemiout. The principal measurements of these skulls are as follows:

----------------------+----------+-----------
| Males (2)| Female (1)
----------------------+----------+-----------
Skull: | |
Length | 18.6 | 17.9
Breadth | 14.2 | 13.9
Height (bas.-bg.) | 14.3 | 13.2
Cranial index | _76.34_ | _77.65_
Nose: | |
Length | 5.9 | 5.1
Breadth | 2.3 | 2.3
Nasal index | _38.98_ | _45.09_
Facial index, total | _77.69_ | _70.37_
Orbital index | _92.68_ | _90.24_
----------------------+----------+-----------

In 1883 Dr. Irving C. Rosse, in his "Medical and Anthropological Notes on Alaska,"[115] refers to his examination of a number of Eskimo skulls from the St. Lawrence Island brought to the Army Medical Museum.[116] There are no measurements outside of a reference to the capacity, but there are two excellent chromolithographs showing two female crania, besides a number of outline drawings.

The next data on the western Eskimo skull are in rather unsatisfactory condition. They are those of Boas. In his report on the "Anthropologie der nordamerikanischen Indianer,"[117] Doctor Boas mentions the cranial index of the Alaska Eskimo to average _77_; and on page 397 he reports the same index as secured on 37 "Alaska Eskimo" skulls, apparently of both sexes. The only note relating to these figures is found on page 393, where it is stated that these results proceed from measurements that had been made for the author at the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, the American Museum, New York, the Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia, and the United States Army Medical Museum, Washington; and that he utilized also the measurements of Barnard Davis and Otis. On 22 of the above western Eskimo skulls there is also given the length-height index of _76.6_. There is no information as to either sex or locality. There are no other measurements.

Deniker (1901) and later Martin (1914) repeat the data given by Boas.

In 1890 Tarenetzky[118] publishes measurements and observations on four Koniag (Kodiak) skulls and one Oglemute (Aglegmute, Alaska Peninsula). The main measurements (pp. 70-71) are:

-----------------+----------+-------+-------+-------+---------+----------
Koneage[119]Koneage|Koneage|Koneage|Means[120]
| | | | | of the | Aglegm-
| | | | |four from| jute
| | | | | Kodiak | (Alaska
| | | | | Island |Peninsula)
-----------------+----------+-------+-------+-------+---------+----------
Skull: | | | | | |
Length | 17.1 | 16.4 | 17.2 | 16.8 | 16.88 | 19.0
Breadth | 13.8 | 15.7 | 15.8 | 14.4 | 14.93 | 13.7
Height | 13.1 | 14.4 | 14.0 | 13.2 | 13.68 | 14.1
Cranial index| _80.7_ | _95.7_| _91.8_| _85.7_| _88.4_ | _72.1_
Nose: | | | | | |
Length | 4.7 | 5.3 | 5.7 | 5.9 | 5.40 | 5.8
Breadth | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 2.45 | 2.3
Nasal index | _51.0_ | _47.1_| _46.6_| _39.0_| _45.4_ | _39.6_
Orbital index| _87.5_ | _97.6_| _92.7_| _80.9_| _89.7_ | _88.1_
-----------------+----------+-------+-------+-------+---------+----------

In 1900 Sergi[121] reports on four Kodiak skulls that he examined in Paris. Two of these are probably Aleut (or Indian). The cranial indices were, respectively, _75.8_, _78.3_, _88_, and _88.2_.

In 1916 E. W. Hawkes presented a thesis on the "Skeletal Measurements and Observations on the Point Barrow Eskimo, with Comparisons from other Eskimo Groups."[122] The number of skulls measured was 27, of which 14 were identified as adult males, 5 adult females, 6 adolescents, and 2 infants. In addition there are measurements by Ralph Linton of other skeletal parts than the skull of three skeletons.

The measurements, though the first taken by this author, have evidently been taken in a painstaking manner and according to modern methods, and are therefore of some value. An abstract of those on the adults follows:

PRINCIPAL MEASUREMENTS OF POINT BARROW CRANIA, BY HAWKES

-------------------+------------+-------------
| Males (14) | Females (5)
-------------------+------------+-------------
Vault: | |
Length | 18.91 | 17.86
Breadth | 13.73 | 13.58
Basion-bregma | |
height | 13.86 | 13.30
Cranial index | _72.65_ | _76.06_
Height-length | |
index | _73.24_ | _74.45_
Height-breadth | |
index | _100.68_ | _98.01_
Face: | |
Diam. bizygom. | |
max | 14.10 | 13.40
BF:BH | |
proportion | _102.6_ | _98.7_
Chin-nasion | (6) | (3)
height | 13.15 | 11.60
Alveolar | (14) | (5)
point-nasion | 7.42 | 6.80
Facial index, | |
total | _92.13_ | _52.48_
Facial index, | |
upper | _86.20_ | _54.05_
Nose: | |
Height | 5.66 | 5.24
Breadth | 2.30 | 2.18
Index | _40.69_ | _41.62_
Orbits: | |
Height | 3.76 | 3.59
Breadth | 4.13 | 4.05
Index | _91.3_ | _88.5_
Dental arch: | |
Length | 5.31 | 6.27
Breadth | 4.96 | 6.06
Index | _93.4_ | _96.7_
-------------------+------------+-------------

In 1923 Cameron[123] published the following data on six western Eskimo skulls from Port Clarence, collected by the Canadian Arctic Expedition:

POST CLARENCE (SEWARD PENINSULA) ESKIMO CRANIA

-------------------------------------+------------------------------
Vault | Nose
-------------+-------+------+--------+------+-------+------+--------
Length |Breadth|Height| Cranial|Length|Breadth|Nasal |Orbital
| | | index | | |index | index
-------------+-------+------+--------+------+-------+------+--------
Males: | | | | | | |
18.9 | 13.9 | 14.1 | _73.5_ | 5.9 | 2.5 |_42.4_| _86.4_
18.7 | 14.3 | 13.7 | _76.5_ | 5.3 | 2.5 |_47.2_| _85.7_
18.8 | 13.25 | 14.2 | _70.2_ | 6.0 | 2.2 |_36.7_| _86.4_
17.8 | 13.0 | 13.3 | _73.4_ | | | | _88.9_
19.2 | 13.7 | | _71.4_ | | | |
Mean: 18.68 | 13.63 | 13.82| _72.97_| 5.73 | 2.40 |_41.9_| _86.9_
Female: 17.85| 13.1 | 12.8 | _73.1_ | | | |
-------------+-------+------+--------+------+-------+------+--------

The last contribution to the craniology of the western Eskimo before the present report are the data embodied in my "Catalogue of Human Crania in the United States National Museum Collections," published in 1924.[124] These data are embodied in those of the present report.

For ready survey the old records on western Eskimo crania are given in the following table. A sex distinction in the earlier reports was mostly impracticable or remained doubtful.

PREVIOUS MEASUREMENTS OF WESTERN ESKIMO SKULLS

---------------------------------------+--------------------------------
| Vault
+------+-------+------+----------
|Length|Breadth|Height| Cranial
| | | | index
---------------------------------------+------+-------+------+----------
1 Icy Cape, ♀ (Morton, 1839) | 17.02| 12.70 | 12.70| _74.6_
6 Asiatic Eskimo ("Tschuktchi"): | | | |
mean (Daniel Wilson, 1862) | 17.60| 13.59 | 13.77| _77.2_
3 Port Clarence (Barnard Davis, | | | |
1867) | 17.86| 13.64 | 13.59| _76.4_
2 Kotzebue Sound, ♀ (Barnard | | | |
Davis, 1867) | 17.40| 13.35 | 13.60| _76.6_
11 Asiatic Eskimo (Wyman and Otis, | | | |
1868-1876) | 17.80| 14.10 | 13.20| _79.3_
6 N. W. Amer. Eskimo (St. Michael | | | |
Island) (Wyman and Otis, 1868-1876) | 17.50| 13.20 | 13.10| _75.1_
2 Kodiak Island, ♂ (Quatrefages and | | | |
Hamy, 1882) | 18.60| 14.20 | 14.30| _76.35_
1 Kodiak, ♀ (Quatrefages and Hamy, | | | |
1882) | 17.90| 13.90 | 13.20| _77.65_
(37 western Eskimo)[125] (Boas, 1895) | | | | (_77_)
4 Kodiak Island, ♀[126] (Tarenetzky, | | | |
1900) | 16.88| 14.93 | 13.68| _88.4_
| | | |{2:_77.1_
4 Kodiak Island,[127] (Sergi, 1900) | | | |{2:_88.1_
14 Point Barrow, ♂ (Hawkes, 1916) | 18.91| 13.73 | 13.86| _72.65_
5 Point Barrow, ♀ (Hawkes, 1916) | 17.86| 13.58 | 13.30| _76.1_
5 Port Clarence, ♂ (Cameron, 1923) | 18.68| 13.63 | 13.82| _73_
1 Port Clarence, ♀ (Cameron, 1923) | 17.85| 13.10 | 12.80| _73.1_
---------------------------------------+------+-------+------+----------

---------------------------------------+---------------------+-------
| Nose |
+------+-------+------+Orbital
|Length|Breadth|Index |index
| | | |
---------------------------------------+------+-------+------+-------
1 Icy Cape, ♀ (Morton, 1839) | | | |
6 Asiatic Eskimo ("Tschuktchi"): | | | |
mean (Daniel Wilson, 1862) | | | |
3 Port Clarence (Barnard Davis, | | | |
1867) | | | |
2 Kotzebue Sound, ♀ (Barnard | | | |
Davis, 1867) | | | |
11 Asiatic Eskimo (Wyman and Otis, | | | |
1868-1876) | | | |
6 N. W. Amer. Eskimo (St. Michael | | | |
Island) (Wyman and Otis, 1868-1876) | | | |
2 Kodiak Island, ♂ (Quatrefages and | | | |
Hamy, 1882) | 5.9 | 2.3 |_39_ |
1 Kodiak, ♀ (Quatrefages and Hamy, | | | |
1882) | 5.1 | 2.3 |_45.1_|
(37 western Eskimo)[125] (Boas, 1895) | | | |
4 Kodiak Island, ♀[126] (Tarenetzky, | | | |
1900) | 5.4 | 2.45 |_45.4_|_89.7_
|} | | |
4 Kodiak Island,[127] (Sergi, 1900) |} | | |
14 Point Barrow, ♂ (Hawkes, 1916) | 5.66| 2.30 |_40.7_|_91.3_
5 Point Barrow, ♀ (Hawkes, 1916) | 5.24| 2.18 |_41.6_|_88.5_
5 Port Clarence, ♂ (Cameron, 1923) | 5.73| 2.40 |_41.9_|_86.9_
1 Port Clarence, ♀ (Cameron, 1923) | | | |
---------------------------------------+------+-------+------+-------

FOOTNOTES:

[105] Voyage pittoresque autour du Monde, by Louis Choris, Paris, 1822, pp. 15, 16.

[106] Wilson, Daniel, Prehistoric man. Two vols. Lond., 1862; II, pl. 15; 3d ed., 1876, II, 192, 15.

[107] Wilson, Daniel, Physical ethnology. Smithsonian Report for 1862, Washington, 1863, pp. 261-262. The measurements of the Tchuktchi are given in the Prehistoric Man, vol. II, Table 16.

[108] Observations on Crania. Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., XI, 440-462. Boston, 1868.

[109] Topinard, P., Mesures craniometriques des Esquimaux. Rev. d'Anthrop., 1873, II, 499-522.

[110] List of the specimens in the Anatomical Section of the Army Medical Museum. Washington, 1880.

[111] Rae, John, Eskimo skulls. J. Anthrop. Inst. Gr. Brit, London, 1878, VII, 142.

[112] Rep. U. S. Geogr. Surv. W. of 100 Merid., vol. VII.

[113] U. S. Geog. and Geol. Surv. Rocky Mt. Reg. Contributions to North American Ethnology, I. Washington, 1877, p. 63 et seq.

[114] Quatrefages, A. de, and Hamy, E. T., Crania ethnica. Paris, 1882, 438, 440.

[115] Cruise of the _Corwin_ in 1881. Washington, 1883, p. 38.

[116] Now in the Division of Physical Anthropology of the U. S. National Museum.

[117] 1895, Verh. Berliner, Ges. Anthrop. p. 367 et seq.

[118] Tarenetzky, Al., Beitrüge zur Craniologie der Ainos auf Sachalin. Mem. Acad. imp. Sc. St. Pétersb., 1890, XXXVII, No. 13, 1-55.

[119] Most if not all the Kodiak skulls are doubtless females, the Oglemute a male. Quite probably also the Kodiak skulls are those of Aleuts and not of Eskimo.

[120] By present author.

[121] Sergi, G., Crani Esquimesi. Atti della società Romana di antropologia, Roma, 1900, VII, 2, 93-102.

[122] Am. Anthrop., 1916, XVIII, 203-244.

[123] Cameron, John, Osteology of the western and central Eskimo. Rep. Canad. Arctic Exp., 1913-1918. Ottawa, 1923. With a report on the teeth by S. G. Ritchie and J. S. Bagnall. Table and means by the present writer.

[124] No. 1: The Eskimo, Alaska and Related Indians, Northeastern Asiatics. Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1924, LXIII; sep., 51 pp.

[125] No details; series comprises specimens measured by Wyman, Otis, and Barnard Davis.

[126] Probably Aleuts, not Eskimo.

[127] Not the same with those of Tarenetzky; two probably Aleut.

PRESENT DATA ON THE WESTERN ESKIMO

THE LIVING

Barring the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands in the south and the Chukchee territory in the west, the Bering Sea is wholly the sea of the Eskimo, the Indians occupying the inland but reaching nowhere to the coast. There is doubtless much of significance in this remarkable distribution. It is now quite certain that the Eskimo has not been pressed out by the Indian; there are as a rule no traces of him farther inland than where he has been within historic times. On the other hand no Indian remnants or remains are known from any part of the coasts or islands within the Eskimo region; though the study of the older sites in these regions has barely as yet begun, besides which (see Narrative) it is a serious question whether really old sites could now be located in these regions at all even if they had once existed. At all events the Eskimo appears from all indications to be the latest comer, and judging from his remains his occupancy here is not geologically ancient; it is one to be counted, apparently, in many hundreds of years rather than in thousands. The Aleuts in the south are, as I have pointed out in the Catalogue (No. 1, 1924, p. 39), not Eskimo but Indians, related to the general Alaska Indian type; and the Pribilof Islands appear never to have been occupied until fairly recently, when a good number of Aleuts, mostly mixed bloods, have been transported and established there in the interest of the seal fisheries.

MEASUREMENTS OF LIVING WESTERN ESKIMO

Thanks to Moore, Collins, and Stewart, all of the National Museum, instructed by me and working with the same instruments, we now have several small to fair series of measurements on the living western Eskimo of both sexes. They are tabulated below. They are the first made on these groups and will be of much interest both in general and in connection with the measurements made on the skulls and bones of most of the same people. The main points shown are as follows:

_Stature._--The stature of the males ranges from markedly to moderately submedium. There is a considerable similarity. Only the Yukon group and that of Togiak reach near or slightly above medium, the general human medium for males approaching 165 centimeters. The female stature on the St. Lawrence Island averages 12 centimeters less than that of the males, which is about the difference found in most other peoples. At Hooper Bay, and especially at the Nunivak Island, the difference is less, indicating either that the males are slightly stunted or that the growth of the females is somewhat favored.

_Height sitting._--The height-sitting-stature index ranges from slightly to quite notably higher than it is in other races, indicating a tendency toward a relatively long trunk and somewhat short limbs. A study of the long bones shows that this is due especially, if not wholly, to the relative shortness of the tibia; and the subdevelopment of this bone may, it seems, be ascribed to a great deal of squatting both at home during the long winters and in the canoes. The male Eskimo show more difference from other males in this respect than the Eskimo females show from other females.[128]

_Arm span._--Relatively to the stature the length of the arms in the Eskimo males is shorter than it is in other racial groups, though there appears to be some inequality in this respect. This shortness would be especially marked if we compared the arm span with the height sitting. It is due essentially to a shortness of the distal half of the upper limbs. The males once more show this disproportion more as compared to other males than the females compared with others of their sex. (See comp. data in Old Americans.) This may be connected in some way with the male Eskimo work and habits; or it may be an expression of a correlative subdevelopment with that of the lower limbs. It is a good point for further study.

_The head._--The head, especially when taken in relation to the stature, is of good size, particularly on the Nunivak Island and on the Yukon. This agrees with what is known of the Eskimo head, skull, and brain elsewhere.

The size of the Eskimo head--which is not caused by a thick skull--will best be appreciated by contrasting it with that of civilized whites. In whites in general the mean head diameter or cephalic module ranges in males from approximately 15.70 to 16.40; in the male western Eskimo groups the range is 15.87 to 16.08, and 16.11 in the group at Marshall on the Yukon. The percentage relation of the module to stature in 12 groups of male whites, including the old Americans, averages _9.31_ to _10.11_; in the male Eskimo groups it is from _9.57_ to _9.94_. In females, the cephalic module is 15.57 in the old Americans, 15.36 to 15.68 in the Eskimo; the relation of the module to stature in the former being _9.59_, in the latter _10.15_ to _10.25_.

In the western Eskimo woman the head dimensions are particularly favorable. In the old American whites the mean head diameter in the female is to that of the male on the average as _95_ to 100; in the two main groups of the western Eskimo it is as _96.1_ and _96.7_ to 100. Nothing is known as to the cause of this apparently favorable status of the Eskimo woman; it is another interesting point for further inquiry.

In shape, the head of the western Eskimo is highly mesocephalic to moderately brachycephalic and of only fair height, and it seldom approaches the scaphoid or dome-shaped. It is not the narrow, high, keeled skull of the northeastern and often the northern Eskimo. The physiognomy, the characteristics of the body, and the mentality and behavior, are in general typical Eskimo; but the form of the vault is substantially different. It is a form which approaches on one side that of the northwesternmost Indian, and on the other that of the northeastern and Mongoloid Asiatics. More must be said about this when we come to consider the skull.

_The forehead._--Anthropometric studies have shown repeatedly[129] that the height of the forehead is not a safe gauge of intelligence, as commonly believed, but is controlled by the variable height of the hair line. Thus the common full-blood American Negro laborer and servant show a slightly higher forehead than the educated old American whites.

Something of a similar nature is found in the Eskimo. As seen in the following table, in the males the western Eskimo forehead is absolutely, and especially relatively to stature, higher than it is in the whites. In the females the absolute height in the two races is identical, but relatively to stature the Eskimo again shows a clear though somewhat lesser advantage. The condition is apparently not due to the size of the head, for this is not greater than in the whites, in the males; while in the females, where the Eskimo shows a slightly larger head than the white in relation to stature, the forehead fails to correspond.

DIMENSIONS OF FOREHEAD

---------------------------------------+---------------+----------------
|Western Eskimo | Old Americans
+-------+-------+-------+--------
| Male | Female| Male | Female
---------------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------
| _cm._ | _cm._ | _cm._ | _cm._
Height, nasion to hair line | 6.86 | 6.45 | 6.59 | 6.45
Percentage relation to stature | _4.23_| _4.23_| _3.78_| _3.80_
Breadth: Diameter frontal minimum | 10.58 | 10.54 | 10.59 | 10.12
Percentage relation of diameter frontal| | | |
minimum to breadth of face | _71.1_| _73.7_|_76.4_ |_77.8_
Forehead index (H × 100)/(B) | _64.8_| _61.2_|_63.7_ |_62.1_
---------------------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------

With the lower breadth of the forehead, conditions are also interesting. The absolute figures for the two races show a reversal. The height of the forehead is larger in the Eskimo than in the white males, equal in the females; the lower frontal breadth is equal in the males but larger in the Eskimo than in the white female. Proportionately to stature, which is so much lower in the Eskimo, both sexes of the latter show an advantage in the dimension over the white.

The percental relation of the breadth of the forehead to that of the face reflects the excess of the latter in the Eskimo, particularly the male. There is evidently not a full direct correlation between the two dimensions. Yet relatively to its height the face is broader in the females than in the males (see below), which is doubtless not without influence on the lower breadth of the forehead in the former.

To summarize, the western Eskimo forehead exceeds in area that of the American whites, in both sexes, and that particularly in relation to stature. As to the individual measurements, the male Eskimo forehead as contrasted with that of the white is especially high, the female especially broad.

To which should be added that in the Eskimo the spheno-temporal region is often remarkably full, almost bulging, so that, contrary to what may be observed in the Negro, the frontal maximum diameter is also probably larger than in the whites, all of which doubtless has significance, even though this is not yet fully understood.

_The face._--The principal measurements and relations are given below. They show a face large and especially broad. Moreover, relatively to its height the face is especially broad in the Eskimo female, in connection doubtless with the well-known excess of the work (in softening leather, etc.) of her jaws, with consequent development of the muscles of mastication, which in turn broaden the zygoma.

DIMENSIONS OF THE FACE

----------------------------------+-----------------+--------------------
| Western Eskimo | Old American whites
----------------------------------+-----------------+--------------------
| _Male_ _Female_| _Male_ _Female_
Height, menton-nasion | 12.67 11.64 | 12.15 11.09
Females to males (M = 100) | _91.9_ | _91.3_
Diameter bizygomatic maximum | 14.88 14.30 | 13.87 12.99
Females to males (M = 100) | _96.1_ | _93.6_
Facial index, anatomic |_85.2_ _81.4_ | _87.6_ _85.4_
Facial module (or mean diameter), | |
anatomic | 13.77 12.97 | 13.01 12.04
Female to male (M = 100) | _94.2_ | _92.5_
Percentage relation of female and | |
male to stature | _8.49_ _8.50_| _7.46_ _7.44_
----------------------------------+-----------------+--------------------

The great size of the Eskimo face is especially apparent in the relations of the mean diameter of the face to stature; it is in this respect no less than 12 per cent in excess of that of the whites in the males and 12.5 per cent in the females.[130]

_Lower facial breadth._--Due to the great development of the masseter muscles and the consequent frequent lesser or greater eversion of the angles of the lower jaw, the bigonial diameter in the Eskimo is very large, particularly when taken in relation to stature, and in such relation it looms especially large in the females. Compared with the old American whites, the bigonial breadth in its relation to stature is higher in the Eskimo males by 15.5 per cent, in the Eskimo females by 17.7 per cent. And measurements of Eskimo lower jaws in general show that this breadth in the western contingents is not exceptional.

LOWER FACIAL BREADTH

--------------------------------+-------------------+-------------------
|Western Eskimo (St.| Old Americans
| Lawrence Island) |
--------------------------------+-------------------+-------------------
| _Males_ _Females_| _Males_ _Females_
Diameter bigonial | 11.78 11.18 | 10.63 9.84
Female vs. male | _94.9_ | _92.6_
Percentage relation to stature | _7.21_ _7.39_ | _6.09_ _6.08_
Percentage relation to breadth |_80_ _79.5_ |_76.7_ _75.8_
relation to breadth of face | |
--------------------------------+-------------------+-------------------

_The nose._--The nose of the western Eskimo promises to be of much importance in the study of Eskimo origins in general. Nowhere in this region is it like the nose of the northern or northeastern groups. It is decidedly broader. Its breadth is intermediary between that of the Alaska and other Indians and that of the northern and northeastern Eskimo, connecting with both, and these characteristics are so generalized throughout western Alaska and the Bering Sea islands that they can not possibly be attributed to Indian or other admixture. Nor can this relatively broad nose of the western Eskimo be well attributed to environmental effects, i. e., to a broadening of a formerly narrow nose through climatic conditions. There do not appear to be any such conditions. The only rational explanation seems to be that this is the more original condition of the Eskimo nose, and that the northern and northeastern narrowness is a later derivation. More may be said on this point when we come to consider the skeletal remains.

THE WALES PEOPLE

(Photo by Lomen Bros.)]

THE LONG AND BROAD-FACED TYPES, WALES

(Photo by Lomen Bros.)]

_a_, Broad-faced and low-vaulted Eskimo, St. Lawrence Island. (Photo by R. D. Moore, 1912. U.S.N.M.)

_b_, Broad-faced type, St. Lawrence Island. (Photo by R. D. Moore, 1912. U.S.N.M.)]

_a_, A young man from Seward Peninsula.

_b_, A boy from St. Lawrence Island.

THE LONG-FACED TYPE]

A "HYPERESKIMO," KING ISLAND. EXCESSIVELY DEVELOPED FACE]

ESKIMO "MADONNA" AND CHILD, NORTHERN BERING SEA REGION

(Photo by Lomen Bros.)]

The Eskimo nose is also high, which goes with the height of the whole face; that in turn evidently is attributable to more work and demand--in brief, more mastication. The nose, face, lower jaw, and other parts of the Eskimo anatomy offer rare opportunities for studies in the heredity of acquired characters.

NOSE MEASUREMENTS

--------+----------------------------+----------------------
| American whites |
+----------------+-----------+ Western Eskimo
| Old Americans | Old |
| and immigrants | Americans |
+----------------+-----------+-------------+--------
| Males | Females | Males | Females
--------+----------------+-----------+-------------+--------
| (13 groups) | | (6 groups) |
Height | 4.95-5.4 | 4.94 | 5.47-6.03 | 5.03
Breadth | 3.45-3.6 | 3.25 | 3.82-3.93 | 3.61
Index | _62.5-73_ | _66_ | _63.7-71.9_ | _71.9_
--------+----------------+-----------+-------------+--------

_The mouth._--The western Eskimo mouth is large. It is considerably larger (wider) than in the old American whites, though these are of much higher stature. In relation to stature the width of the western Eskimo mouth exceeds that in the white old Americans by 13 per cent in the males and by nearly 14 per cent in the females, but there is a close relation with that of a large group of Indians. The details follow:

MOUTH WIDTH

_The ears._--The ears of the western Eskimo are large. They are especially long. They exceed in both size and relative length those of whites, but are in both respects much more like those of the American Indian. The excess in length, both in the Eskimo and the Indian, is especially marked when this measurement is taken in relation to stature.

Relatively to its length, the ear of the female Eskimo in all our groups is somewhat narrow, giving a lower index. This is not observed in the available whites and Indians.

None of the series below are affected seriously by the age factor; though with an organ so much influenced by age as the ear the ideal way would be to compare only groups of the same age.

EARS

Previous Next

Comments

Anthropological Survey in AlaskaChapter XI: Part 11

0%35 min left in chapter