﻿344 ESKIMOS. 



that the stature of the men and women is nearly 

 the same ; and that the face of the male is pre- 

 eminently beardless. These peculiarities are but 

 faintly developed among the Central Eskimos, and 

 the females are uniformly conspicuously shorter 

 than the males. Most of the men are rather under 

 the medium English size, the defect in height being, 

 perhaps, attributable to a disproportioned shortness 

 of the lower extremities, though this opinion was 

 not tested by measurements. They are broad- 

 shouldered, and have muscular arms ; so that, 

 when sitting in their kaiyaks, they seem to be 

 bigger men than they do when standing erect. 

 Some individuals, however, would be considered 

 to be both tall and stout even among Europeans, 

 and they certainly are not the stunted race which 

 popular opinion supposes them to be. The com- 

 parative shortness of the females is common 

 to them and the neighbouring 'Tinne (Hare 

 Indians and Dog-ribs), whose women are of small 

 stature. 



In both sexes of Eskimos the hands and feet 

 are small and well-formed, being less than those 

 of Europeans of similar height. The boots which 

 we purchased on the coast were seldom large 

 enough in the feet for our people, none of whom 

 were tall men. 



The Central Eskimos, when young, have coun- 



