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EEPOBT UPON PHYSICAL CHARACTERS OP NILOTIC NEGROIn TRIBES 
Summary of 
physical 
characters 
The cephalic index on the average was 76 in one set and 79 in another larger series, 
and the index of cranial height 70 and 71 respectively. This tribe, therefore, shows a 
tendency to round-headedness equal to that found among the Nyain-nyams, the cranial 
height index also being similar in these two tribes. 
In stature this resemblance is also distinct, the averages being 175-9 cm. among the 
Buruns, and 172-4 cm. among the Nyain-nyams. 
The lindjs among the Buruns are of moderate length, the upper arm and forearm 
measuring 32-2 and 30 cm. respectively, figures which are almost identical with those found 
among the Nyain-nyams, where they are 32 and 29. 
The face is not very wide, the index being 88 and 89 in the two sets of Buruns, 
comparing again with an average index of 90 among the Nyain-nyams. The gnathic index 
is 109, a figure similar again to that in the Nyam-nyams. 
The characters of the nose are of interest, the nasal index being 90 and 96 in the 
two sets of Buruns, and among the Nyam-nyams 93. 
The nose is, therefore, in these two tribes less wide and flat than among the adjacent 
Dinkas and Nuers. 
Abtssinians 
The measurements of four members of this race were taken, but in no case was a 
complete set obtained, and the information resulting is therefore small. 
They tend to mesaticephaly, with good average height of skull, and the bi-auricular 
diameter, 113-5 mm., is less than among any of the other tribes examined. 
Summary op General Physical Characters 
If one compare the figures obtained from measurements of the Nilotic tribes with those 
of the aboriginal inhabitants of other lands — e.rj. the native Australian—some criteria 
appear which distinguish the Nilotic negroes from them, and may be considered as 
characteristic. 
These characters of the tribes may be summed up as follows : — 
The length of the head in all cases is of moderate size, varying from 188 to 195 mm., 
and thus is shorter than in the native Australian. In a few cases the length exceeds 
200 mm. The width, however, is in all cases larger, varying from 142 mm. among the 
Dinkas to 150 or 151 mm. among the Buruns and Nyam-nyams, as against a width 
of 132 mm. 
The cephalic index is, therefore, never very low, but ranges from 72-8, indicating a 
moderate degree of dolichocephaly, to 79, in which distinct mesaticephaly is present. 
It must be admitted that this range of averages is not a wide one, and does not 
necessarily in itself indicate clearly varieties of race among the tribes. 
The minimum frontal diameter is much longer than in the native Australian, varying 
from 119 mm. to 127 and 130 mm., while in the Australian it sinks to as small 
a figure as 91 mm. 
The circumference of the head tends to be large, but this measurement is of little value 
for purposes of comparison. 
Taking the auriculo-glabellar, auriculo-ophryal and maximum auriculo-frontal radii, it 
is evident that there is no great elevation in the region of the glabella, and that the frontal 
bone rises upwards with a degree of forward convexity and a slope which produces a well¬ 
shaped forehead, and this feature is uniform in all the tribes. 
This fact contrasts remarkably with the Australian, in whom the first measurement is 
uniforndy larger, and the latter (auriculo-fi'ontal especially) is smaller than in any of the 
tribes described here. 
