THE GREEIfLANDERS. 175 



prominent abdomen. The men's skin is deficient in hair-fol- 

 licles, and the women's is almost as barren as a bald head. 

 The color of the skin varies from that of a fairly dark Cauca- 

 sian to that of a Malay. The average Greenlander is perhaps 

 darker than the true Eskimo. The skin has an amber or a 

 light-brown tinge, with a deep-seated cardinal flush, easily 

 sent to the surface of all parts of the body. Both sexes have 

 very coarse and straight coal-black hair. To this rule there 

 are very few exceptions, and they indeed are very odd — men 

 with blond hair, blue eyes, and a dark skin, and to add to the 

 unnatural aspect, they usually have light beards. They are 

 unsightly and repulsive, but the few women of the same 

 blond type are often remarkably beautiful. The prevailing 

 face is broad, round, and beardless. 



The chest of the child is fairly well developed, but that 

 of the adult early loses its elasticity. The muscles of the 

 trunk are very highly developed, particularly the erector 

 muscles. Both men and women have great ridges of mus- 

 cular tissue on each side of the spine. The body is enveloped 

 in heavy integument, and considerable fatty tissue in pros- 

 perous seasons, but in this respect they have an inferior 

 blanket of fat when compared with the most northern Es- 

 kimo. 



Physiologically, the Greenlanders are the victims of cir- 

 cumstances : when food is abundant, nutrition is excellent 

 and digestion is good ; but when game is scarce, they seem to 

 consume their own tissue, and become thin in proportion to 

 the amount of fasting. They possess a remarkable ability to 

 subdue hunger, and I have seen men and women subsist on 

 next to nothing for a month and remain happy and contented. 

 Their reproductive functions are good, but the infant mortal- 

 ity is great. 



The prevailing maladies are principally the results of 

 Danish sins, the frightful inroads of present diseases being 



