28 CRUISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 
PHYSICAL APPEARANCES. 
Their physical appearance and structure having been already described by others, it is unnee- 
essary to mention them here, except incidentally and by way of noting a few peculiarities that seem 
to have been heretofore overlooked or slightly touched upon by other writers. Although as a rule 
they are of short build, averaging about five feet seven inches, yet occasional exceptions were met 
with among the natives of Kotzebue Sound, many of whom were tall and of commanding appear- 
anee. At Cape Kruzenstern a man was seen who measured six feet six inches in height. This 
divergence from the conventional Eskimo type, as usually described in the books, may have been 
caused by intermarriage with an inland tribe of larger men from the interior of Alaska, who come 
to the coast every summer for purposes of trade. 
The complexion, rarely a true white, but rather that of a Chinaman, with a healthy blush suffus- 
ing each cheek, is often of a Drownish-yellow and sometimes quite black, as I have seen in several 
instances at Tapkan, Siberia. Nor was the broad and flat face and the small nose without excep- 
tion. In the vicinity of East Cape, the easternmost extremity of Asia, a few Eskimo were seen 
having distinctive Hebrew noses and a physiognomy of such a Jewish type as to excite the attention 
and comment of the sailors composing our crew; others were noticed having a Milesian cast of 
features and looked like Irishmen, while others resembled several old mulatto men I know in 
Washington. However, the Mongoloid type in these people was so pronounced that our Japanese 
boys on meeting Eskimo for the first time took them for Chinamen; on the other hand the Japs 
were objects of great and constant curiosity to the Eskimo, who doubtless took them for compa- 
triots, a fact not to be wondered at, since there is such a similarity in the shape of the eyes, the 
complexion, and hair. In regard to the latter it may be remarked that scarcely anything on board 
the Corwin excited greater wonder and merriment among the Eskimo than the presence of several 
persons whom Professor Huxley would classify in his Xanthocroie group because of their fiery red 
hair. 
The structure and arrangement of the hair having lately been proposed as a race characteristic 
upon which to base an ethnical classification, I took pains to collect various specimens of Innuit 
hair, which in conjunction with Dr. Kidder, U. 8. N., I examined microscopically and compared 
with the hair of fair and blue-eyed persons, the hair of negroes, and as a matter of curiosity with 
the reindeer hair and the hair-like appendage found on the fringy extremity of the baleen plates 
in the mouth of a “bowhead” whale. Some photomicrographs of these objects are shown in the 
accompanying illustrations. 
To the man willing and anxious to make more extended research into the matter of race charac- 
teristics, I venture to say that a northern experience will afford him ample opportunity for supple- 
menting Mr. Murray’s paper on the Ethnological Classification of Vermin; and he may further 
observe that the Eskimo, whatever may be his religious belief or predilection, apparently observes 
the prohibitions of the Talmud in regard both to filth and getting rid of noxious entomological 
specimens that infest his body and habitation. 
Whatever modification the bodily structure of the Eskimo may have undergone under the influ- 
ence of physical and moral causes, when viewed in the light of transcendental anatomy, we find that 
the mode, plan, or model upon which his animal frame or organs are founded is substantially that 
of other varieties of men. 
Some writers go so far, in speaking of the Eskimo’s correspondence, mental and physical, to his 
surroundings as to mention the seal as his correlative, which, in my opinion, is about as sensible 
as speaking of the reciprocal relations of a Cincinnati man and a hog. Unlike the seal, which 
is pre-eminently an amphibian and a swimmer, the Eskimo has no physical capability of the latter 
kind, being unable to swim and having the greatest aversion to water except for purposes of navi- 
gation. He wins our admiration from the expert management at sea of his little shuttle-shaped 
canoe, which is a kind of marine bieycle, but I doubt very much the somersaults he is reported to 
be able to turn in them. In fact, after offering rewards of that all-powerful incentive, tobacco, on 
numerous occasions, I have been unsuccessful in getting any one of them to attempt the feat, and 
when told that we had heard of their doing it they smiled rather incredulously. The Eskimo is 
clearly not a success in a cubistie or saltatorial line, as I have had ample opportunities to observe. 
They seem to be unable to do the simplest gymnastics, and were filled with the greatest delight 
