Dr King on tAe Phymal Characters of the Esquimaux. 303 



and without blemishes, and their gait is erect and free.* Tbe 

 neck and shoulders of the women are generally in good, 

 though large, proportion, and the arm and wrist are s.ome- 

 times handsome. Though not inclined to corpulences, thq^y 

 are generally plump, flesh loose, and without firmness ; and 

 even in the young and strong men, the muscles are but ill- 

 defined ; and though, when dressed, they appear a stout well- 

 set people, their figures, when uncovered, are rather weak 

 than otherwise. t We are naturally led to believe, therefore, 

 that their bodily strength is not great, which was the conclu- 

 sion Captain Lyon arrived at, after matching some of his men 

 with Esquimaux, of equal sizes, to lift weights, when it in- 

 variably happened that burthens which were raised with 

 facility by the British, could scarcely be lifted by the natives. 

 Sir Edward Parry is of opinion that the two races are equal, 

 and Crantz, that the Esquimaux of Greenland far surpass us. 

 Crantz states, " that a man that hath eat nothing for three 

 days, at least nothing but sea-grass, can manage his caiak in 

 the most furious waves ; and the women will carry whole ^ 

 rein-deer the space of four leagues, or a piece of timber 

 or stone near double the weight of what an European could 

 lift.'' As the Esquimaux of Greenland practise athletic 

 games, there can be no doubt that they are a strong people ; 

 but Crantz has most assuredly overrated them. I am inclined 

 to believe, from my own observations, that the Esquimaux 

 equal in strength the generality of Europeans, The subject, 

 however, has not been sufficiently investigated to justify a 

 conclusion. 



Stature is another point that requires attention ; the va- 

 rious travellers having written in general terms. These are, 

 nevertheless, sufficient data to afford an average. The talles^ 

 man of Kotzebue's Sound, seen by Beechy, was 5 feet 9 inches 

 and the average of all the tribes he had seen, from Kotze- 

 bue's Sound to Point Barrow, including St Lawrence Island, 

 5 feet 7^ inches ; of the inhabitants of Boothia Gulf, the 

 range of the men was frgm 5 feet 3| in. to 5 ft. IQ in., 



* Cook, Kotzebue, Franklin, Hudson, Frobisher, Curtis, 

 t Hearne, Lyon. 



