238 PHYSICAL CONFOKMATION OF ESKIMOS. 



lias been reduced in a more than proportionate degree, having lost 

 forty people since July 1853. Some of these had fled in tbe depth 

 of winter from their own cold hearths to seek food and warmth at 

 Nu-wuk, where, finding no relief, they perished miserably on the 

 snow. These people are by no means the dwarfish race they were 

 formerly supposed to be. In stature they are not inferior to many 

 other races, and are robust, muscular, and active, inclining rather to 

 spareness than corpulence. The tallest individual was found to be 

 5 feet 10^ inches, and the shortest 5 feet 1 inch. The heaviest 

 man weighed 195 lbs., and the lightest 125 lbs. The individuals 

 weighed and measured were taken indiscriminately as they visited the 

 ship, and were all supposed to have attained their full stature. Their 

 chief muscular strength is in the back, which is best displayed in 

 their games of wrestling. The shoulders are square, or rather 

 raised, making the neck appear shorter than it really is, and the 

 chest is deep ; but in strength of arm they cannot compete with our 

 sailors. The hand is small, short, broad, and rather thick, and the 

 thumb appears short, giving an air of clumsiness in handling any- 

 thing ; and the power of grasping is not great. The lower limbs 

 are in good proportion to the body, and the feet, like the hands, are 

 short and broad, with a high instep. Considering their frequent 

 occupations as hunters they do not excel in speed, nor in jumping 

 over a height or a level space, but they display great agility in 

 leaping to kick with both feet together an object hanging as high 

 as the chin, or even above the head. In walking, their tread is firm 

 and elastic, the step short and quick ; and the toes being turned 

 outwards and the knee at each advance inclining in the same 

 direction, give a certain peculiarity to their gait difficult to 

 describe. 



The hair is sooty black, without gloss, and coarse, cut in an even 

 line across the forehead, but allowed to grow long at the back of 

 the head and about the ears, whilst the crown is cropped close or 

 shaven. The colour of the skin is a light yellowish brown, but 

 variable in shade, and in a few instances was observed to be very 

 dark. In the young, the complexion is comparatively fair, pre- 

 senting a remarkably healthy sunburnt appearance, through which 

 the rosy hue of the cheeks is visible ; before middle life, however, 

 this, from exposure, gives place to a weather-beaten appearance, so 

 that it is difficult to guess their ages. 



The face is flat, broad, rounded, and commonly plump, the cheek- 

 bones high, the forehead low, but broad across the eyebrows, and 

 narrowing upwards ; the whole head becomes somewhat pointed 

 towards the crown. The nose is short and flat, giving an appear- 



