342 
HEl’OKT UPON PHYSICAL CHAKACTEKS OF NILOTIC NEGROID TRIBES 
their modes of manipulating this metal are not so highly developed as among some other 
tribes, and bows and arrows are unknown. In stature we find the average to be 179 or 
180 cm. The averages of the individuals measured at different places show considerable 
similarity : the length of the head 198 or 195, and the cephalic index 71-2 and 72-8 
respectively, in two different localities. There is no doubt, therefore, that the Dinkas are 
a tall people, with long narrow heads. The combined length of the thigh and leg is 
almost exactly one half of the height, and the hands are very long and narrow. The 
nasal index varies from 100 to 107, and the alveolar index is 107 in the average. 
ScaphouejiJiiilij. In two cases among the Diukas and in one case among the Nubas the 
head length was unusually great, the figures being 290 and 289 mm. in the former and 
253 nun. in the latter. 
This unusual measurement suggested that these were possibly cases of scaphocephaly, 
or deformity of the skull, associated with early closure of the sagittal suture, and 
characterised by growth in an antero-posterior direction, while the growth in width was 
impaired. 
On examining the other measurements of tlie head, it became clear that in the second 
case among the Dinkas the other measurements were similar to the average obtained in 
other specimens of heads and no corroborative evidence of cranial deformity was afforded. 
I have therefore put this case on one side as probably an error in recording. 
In the other case, however, the transverse measurements of the head were somewhat 
diminished, and I am therefore inclined to regard it as possibly a case of scaphocephaly, a 
condition which is known to occur with unusual frequency among Egyptian crania. 
The Nuba case had been more completely measured and showed clearer evidence, 
especially in the great auriculo-ophryal and auriculo-frontal as well as in the aui’iculo- 
occipital lengths, combined with narrow width, that the case was clearly one of scapho¬ 
cephaly. It is particularly interesting to have this record — which I believe is the first 
found in the living head among the tribes of this part of ,\frica — of a condition v Inch occurs 
with unusual frequency in Upper Egypt. 
In dealing with a large number of measurements it is often instructive to determine 
not only the average condition, but also the range of variation and the frequency of 
occurrence of the average. .\mong a series of Dinka heads examined in this way, the 
maximum length was 209 nun., the minimum 190, and the average 195 —the usual length 
varying from 192- 198. 
The width similarly varied from 133 as a minimum to 150 as a maximum, the average 
being 142. 
The cephalic index ranged from (56-7 to 76, but in the great majority lay between 70 
and 74-9. The index of head height is on the average 69, and seldom lies outside the range 
of 68 72. 
The nasal characters in a large series also require similar investigation, and in such a 
series the height ranges from 38-45 mm., being over 40 mm. in nearly every case, while the 
range of nasal length was very similar, viz. 38-44. 
Among the Dinkas the nasal breadth is very consideralile. In some cases it exceeded 
the length, and, in conjunction with this, one must remark upon the great width of the 
nostrils, which measured as much as 17 and 18 mm. respectively in two cases. 
Limbs. The length of the forearm is always less than that of the upper arm. 
The photographs bring out the nasal features, and the deformity of the teeth, which is 
so often practised among the Nilotic negroes, in the extraction, or in some cases the filing, of 
the central incisor teeth. 
