214 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [N. s., 18, 1916 



drawn attention to the frequency of extra vertebrae in the Eskimo. 

 He treats it as a racial characteristic acquired through the continual 

 balancing necessary in handling a kayak. 



The wonderfully light construction of this little craft, made of 

 driftwood and skins, without keel or ballast, requires continual 

 tension to keep it from capsizing. Under these circumstances, it is 

 an advantage to have a flexible back and long waist, and the 

 individual possessing these characteristics has a better chance of 

 survival. When the kayak is overturned, he is able to right himself 

 by a powerful twist of the body and stroke of the paddle. This 

 trait, transmitted and become general through the survival of the 

 fittest, would in time become a racial characteristic. Another 

 factor making for a flexible waist is the backward bend of the 

 hunter in poising the harpoon when in the kayak, and the continual 

 twist of the body in using the double-bladed paddle on either side 

 alternately. 1 



The additional vertebra is a simian characteristic and occurs in 

 very primitive races. It is another evidence of the primitive 

 structure of the Eskimo skeleton, in keeping with other anomalies 

 discovered in this series as the perforation of the olecranon fossa, 

 the extreme forward curve of the femur, etc. 



The lumbar curve in the Eskimo is, however, not in keeping with 

 the primitive traits above mentioned, the index (after Cunningham) 

 being intermediate between that of the European and those of the 

 primitive peoples. The index for the Eskimo is 99.7, as opposed to 

 95.8 for the European and 107.8 for Australians, 106.6 for Bushmen, 

 and 105.4 f r negroes. The lumbovertebral index of 5864, in which 

 the thirteenth dorsal vertebra was present, is 99.6, thus differing 

 by only .1 from that given by Cunningham as the Eskimo normal. 

 This apparently inconsistent characteristic of a supernumerary 

 vertebra, in conjunction with a well-developed curve, may be ac 

 counted for by the exercise of the waist mentioned above, which 

 demands a high degree of suppleness and elasticity conducive to 



1 The author does not wish to insist upon this possible explanation. In a large 

 series of Eskimo skeletons from St. Lawrence island examined by a friend since this 

 article was written, an extra vertebra was found in only two. So that it would 

 appear to be a not uncommon anomaly among the Eskimo, rather than a racial trait. 



