XIX THE NOMAD HUNTERS 179 



and short legs, but otherwise well proportioned and 

 very sturdily built with well-rounded limbs and 

 large muscular development. Their heads are sub- 

 brachycephalic and inclining to be square ; their 

 features are more regular than those of most other 

 tribes ; their most distinctive physical characters are 

 a relatively well-developed nasal bridge, nostrils 

 directed so much forward that one seems to look 

 right into their heads through them, and the slight 

 greenish tinge and line silky texture of their pale 

 yellow skins. The greenish tinge may be noticed 

 in all nomad Punans, and it is possible that the 

 ruddier darker tint of the agricultural peoples is 

 largely or wholly due to their greater exposure to 

 the sun ; for the Punan fears the broad daylight and 

 rarely or never leaves the deep shade of the jungle. 



In fineness of texture of the skin they surpass all 

 the other tribes, and they seldom or never suffer 

 from the disfiguring scaly affections of the skin so 

 common among the others. 



The Punans are more uniform as regards their 

 physical characters than the other peoples ; there 

 are no distinctions of upper and lower social strata 

 as among the other tribes, and thus the mixture of 

 blood, which in the Kayan and Kenyah communities 

 results from the adoption of war captives into the 

 lower class, does not occur with them ; and they 

 present none of the wide diversities of type such as 

 are common in the other tribes, especially between 

 the upper and lower social classes. They corre- 

 spond, in fact, to the relatively pure bred upper 

 classes of the other tribes, and present the same 

 high standard of physical development and vigour. 

 It is not improbable that the severer conditions of 

 their mode of life contribute to maintain this high 

 standard. 



The facial expression and the bodily attitudes of 

 the Punans are also characteristic. When gathered 



