ARCTIC AMERICA AND GREENLAND 



509 



settlements on the west coast of Greenland there are likewise a considerable proportion of 

 half-breeds. 



In general appearance and physiognomy, as well as in dress and the mode of doing the 

 hair, the Eskimo are very like the Chukchis and Koryaks; so much so, indeed, that a traveller 

 visiting the Arctic regions for the first time would doubtless experience some difficulty in 

 clearly distinguishing between them. All, when pure bred, possess the long, lank, jet-black 

 hair distinctive of Mongoloid races in general; while the cast of countenance is likewise 

 distinctly Mongoloid. In stature the Eskimo are decidedly short; although the appearance of 

 shortness is somewhat enhanced by the nature of the dress. The late Dr. Robert Brown, in 

 the article published in the ninth edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, was indeed 



inclined to believe that these people are taller 

 than is generally supposed to be the case; 

 stating that the height usually ranged 

 between 5 feet 4 inches and 5 feet 10 

 inches, while in rare instances it reached 

 as much as 6 feet. This estimate appears, 

 however, somewhat too high, and may have 

 been partly based on the measurements of 

 half-breeds or due to local peculiarities. For 

 instance, in Science for July 29, 1887, Mr. 

 W. A. Ashe gives measurements taken from 

 sixty families (number of individuals not 

 stated) of Eskimo living at North Bluff, on 

 Hudson Strait; the average of these working 

 out to a mean height of 5 feet 3'9 inches 

 for the men, and of approximately 5 feet for 

 the women. On the other hand, Norden- 

 skiold speaks of the Eskimo of Port Clarence 

 as of average height. In both sexes the feet 

 and hands are unusually small; but the 

 muscular development is strong, although 

 the men frequently show an early tendency 

 to put on fat. When cleansed from the 

 grease and dirt with which it is generally 

 begrimed, the skin, which has a peculiar oily 

 feeling to the touch, not unlike that of fat 

 bacon, is pale ochry brown in colour; a 

 red tinge frequently showing through it on 

 the cheeks of the children and younger 



women. The latter are always fresh-looking; but after marriage the women disregard 

 appearances, soon becoming wrinkled, and, from their sedentary habits, bow-legged. In spite 

 of the broadly oval shape of the flat face, with its fat cheeks, and the Mongoloid obliquity 

 of the eyes (chiefly due to a peculiarity in the conformation of the upper eyelid), the 

 physiognomy of the Eskimo is by no means displeasing, even to the European eye; more 

 especially as the face is always ready to break into a laugh. After early maturity the men, 

 owing to their active out-of-door life, are, however, decidedly better-looking than the women. 



The forehead, which is not high, and also somewhat retreating, is partially concealed by the 

 hair; which, in the case of the men, is generally cut off straight across the forehead midway 

 between the eyes and the crown, although in the females allowed to grow longer and hang 

 down in irregular wisps. The remainder of the scalp-hair is permitted by both sexes to grow 

 to its full length, and in the men hangs down to the shoulders. In the women this hair may, 

 however, either be formed into a pair of long plaits hanging down each side of the head, after 



I'/tvlu by K. (it(idti(:i-\ 



AN ESKIMO WOMAN. 



\_Jitnl 



