36 PHYSICAL CIIARACTER OF RACES. 



cheek. Nor are these diTersities due altogether to climate or 

 exposure. There seem to be well authenticated instances in 

 which food also influences complexion. Thus it is said that 

 among the Chepewyan tribes of British America, the Cariboo or 

 Reindeer eaters are much darker than the cognate tribes who 

 live on fish, and this, too, although they inhabit a far northern 

 latitude. The texture of the skin is a noticeable feature. That of 

 the younger Indians, where it can be perceived through the dirt, 

 is usually exceedingly soft and delicate, but becomes wrinkled 

 with middle age. An important difference in the color of the 

 hair also occasionally shows itself. For instance, the Indians of 

 the ISTooksahk tribe, in the neighborhood of Mount Baker, Wash- 

 ington Territory, have often light-brown and even flaxen hair in 

 youth, which, however, grows dark with age, and yet their blood 

 is unmixed. "When neglected and exposed to the sun the hair 

 becomes of a rusty hue, and like that of whites loses its gloss. 

 Among some of the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico albinos are 

 not uncommon. Hazel eyes are frequent among the Indians of 

 the lower Klamath. 



Particular information should be given as to their food, whether 

 consisting of game, fish, maize, roots, &c., and even as to the 

 kinds of either, whether of buftalo, elk, deer, or cariboo, of salmon 

 or other varieties of river fish, or of the various animal produc- 

 tions of the sea, such as the whale, walrus, seals, &c., as among 

 the Esquimaux and some of the Northwest Coast Indians. 



Their mode of life wnll, of course, influence the development 

 of the form. Among the tribes who live almost altogether on 

 horseback, or in canoes, we may expect to see the legs compara- ]^ 



tively small, w^hile in the latter the arms will be proportionately 

 large. Among the mountain tribes, on the other hand, the legs 

 will be more muscular and the chest expanded. As a general 

 rule their limbs are rounded, and the separate muscles are not .t> 



developed as in the white and black races. As to this, observa- J^' 



tions are requested. 



The age of Indians it is very difficult, in most cases impossible, 

 to ascertain, as they keep no record even in memory. An esti- 

 mate founded on careful observation will, however, alfoi'd a 

 reasonable approximation. Sometimes a reference to a known 

 event as having occurred when they were of the size of some 

 young boy will aftbrd a guide. As the men usually marry young. 



