Chapter XCVII: Eastern Indian Crania: Face

--------------------+-----------------------------
| Orbital index
--------------------+--------------+--------------
| Males | Females
Group +---------+----+---------+----
|Number of| |Number of|
|specimens|O.I.|specimens|O.I.
| | | |
--------------------+---------+----+---------+----
Long Island | (5) |82.6| (5) |87.4
Connecticut | (2) |84.6| (3) |92.1
Maine | (4) |86.2| (4) |86.2
Massachusetts | (10) |86.3| (2) |88.8
New York State | (16) |86.8| (13) |88.6
Manhattan Island | (2) |87.4| (1) |87.8
New Jersey (earlier)| — | — | (13) |87.2
New Jersey | | | |
(Heye collection) | (7) |87.5| (7) |91.7
Staten Island | (3) |87.6| (3) |83
Southeastern Canada | (10) |87.8| (5) |89.5
Virginia (Valentine | | | |
collection) | (10) |87.9| (6) |89
Virginia | | | |
(miscellaneous) | (5) |88.9| (2) |85.6
Rhode Island | (6) |90 | (5) |89
--------------------+---------+----+---------+----
| Nasal index
+--------------+--------------
| Males | Females
Group +---------+----+---------+----
|Number of| |Number of|
|specimens|N.I.|specimens| N.I.
| | | |
--------------------+---------+----+---------+----
Manhattan Island | (2) |44.9| — | —
Maine | (4) |45.6| (4) | 50
Long Island | (5) |46.7| (5) | 49
Connecticut | (2) |49 | (2) | 54.7
Southeastern Canada | (8) |49.1| (5) | 53.4
Massachusetts | (10) |49.7| (20) | 49.5
Virginia | | | |
(miscellaneous) | (3) |50.6| (1) | 52
New Jersey (earlier)| — | — | (13) | 51.5
New Jersey | | | |
(Heye collection) | (7) |51.1| (9) | 52.9
New York State | (15) |51.8| (13) | 53.2
Rhode island | (6) |52.5| (5) | 52.1
Staten Island | (3) |53.1| (3) | 54.4
Virginia (Valentine | | | |
collection) | (8) |53.5| (6) | 54.3
--------------------+---------+----+---------+----

NASAL INDEX

Among the Eastern Indians, the nose, as already mentioned, is in general relatively small, and the aperture presents often fairly sharp borders, an exceptional feature among Indians of most other parts of the continent. The nasal aperture, or more properly the relation of the breadth to the height of the nose, expressed by the nasal index, differs considerably in the different tribes. The index is low in the northeastern states, on Manhattan Island and Long Island, and in southeastern Canada; medium among the Munsee and other Lenape, among the more easterly Virginia tribes and in New York State; and elevated on Staten Island and in the more westerly Virginians. It was also elevated in both sexes in Rhode Island, which is of interest in that the specimens from that state show a somewhat exceptional position in other respects. On Staten Island, the crania of which stand in regard to nasal index apart from those of Manhattan Island and Long Island, with which they are otherwise so closely related, the character may have been influenced by admixture through the accession of females.

PALATE

The relative proportions of the dental arch, as expressed by the “palatine” index, show shortest palates in the northeastern states and longest among the Lenape; but the differences are not very marked.