HAWKES] SKELETAL MEASUREMENTS, POINT BARROW ESKIMO 2O/ 



and whites. It is not unusual to find in an Alaskan Eskimo village 

 several men who are six feet tall, with magnificent shoulders and 

 arms and bodily strength in proportion. The usual height 

 however is about 168 centimeters for men, which is some 10 cm. 

 above the height of the eastern Eskimo. The Central Eskimo 

 (Southampton islanders), according to Hrdlicka, average about 

 162 cm. in height. The average for women among the western 

 Eskimo is 158 cm., which approximates the height of the men in 

 the Hudson bay region (158 cm., Boas). The female type in Alaska 

 is taller and slimmer than in the east, and the width of the face is 

 considerably less. Eskimo women of large stature are often seen 

 in the northern section of Alaska. The individual variation here 

 is more conspicuous than in Labrador or Hudson bay. 



Whether these changes in physical type in the west are due to 

 changed conditions or to intermixture with Indian or Asiatic tribes 

 is an open question. The conditions of life of the Eskimo in the 

 west are appreciably different. They occupy permanent villages 

 of comfortable stone and wood iglus, as opposed to the shifting 

 winter snowhouse and summer tent of the eastern group. For 

 hunting game on the water, the Western Eskimo has for the most 

 part abandoned the kayak for the larger and roomier umiak while 

 most of the hunting on the sea ice and land is done on foot instead 

 of with the dog sledge. Long distance foot races form one of their 

 winter sports, and the boast of the old hunters is that they were 

 able in their prime to run down a reindeer after an all day chase 

 through deep snow. Consequently, we find the lower limbs much 

 better developed here than we do further east. This may account 

 in part for the increase in stature in the west. 



The rest of the body, as well as the long limbs, has developed 

 into larger proportions in the west. Better food and clothing, as 

 well as better housing, may have assisted here. To one who has 

 seen both regions, as the author has been privileged to do, there can 

 be no question as to the superior environment of the Western 

 Eskimo. One coming from Alaska to Labrador and Hudson bay 

 is struck with the poverty of life in the eastern district, the 

 hazardous food supply, and the scantiness of the material culture. 



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