﻿KENAIYER. 403 



race, occasionally tall, with women of equal height, 

 and when young handsome; particulars in which 

 t]iey agree with the Kutchin, whose women have 

 finer persons than the 'Tinne females. Both these 

 authors, however, remark that there are many de- 

 formed individuals among the coast tribes, con- 

 trary to what occurs among the inland Indians. 

 Both sexes of the Kenaiyer and of the allied tribes 

 powder their hair with the down of birds, and 

 smear their faces with black, blue, and red pig- 

 ments. The blue pigment was noticed by Cook, 

 and Mr. Bell informed me that some of the Peel 



beards in general thin or wanting ; but the hairs about the lips 

 of those who have them, were stiff or bristly, and frequently of 

 a brown colour. And several of the elderly men had even large 

 and thick but straight beards." " Their countenance indicates 

 a considerable share of vivacity, good nature, and frankness. 

 Some of the women have agreeable faces." — Cook, Third Voy., 

 vol. ii. p. 366. 



Wrangell says, " The Kenaiyer are in general of middle size, 

 slightly built, and betray a true American descent in their 

 features and colour of the skin. Many among them are of 

 gigantic stature, and I have never seen so many deformed per- 

 sons among any people in the colonies." 



These quotations will give the impressions the coast tribes 

 made on two accurate observers at distant periods. With 

 respect to the shortness and thickness of the neck, I may men- 

 tion that the skeletons of the races which flatten their foreheads 

 artificially have very short necks, the bodies of the vertebras 

 being unusually thin. This is doubtless the result of the process 

 resorted to in infancy ; and the same effect may be produced 

 by masses of dirt and hair adding weight to the head. 



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