38 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 59 
significance, but to determine their exact bearing is difficult. They 
may be anthropological in nature, due to admixture of two or more 
elements outside of the negro, or they may be physiological, con- 
nected especially with the prevalent defective nutrition in the Oasis. 
Perhaps they are the complex result of both these* factors. Problems 
like this can usually be solved only by long extended and comparative 
investigations. 
There are some means of contrasting the stature measurements of 
the Kharga people with those of the Valley Egyptians. In 1904 E. 
Chantre published a work on anthropological research in Egypt 1 
and the following male statures are recorded : 127 Copts 166.0 cm. ; 
91 Fellaheen 168.4 cm. ; 134 Bedouins 167.8 cm. ; and 223 Bedjah 
(Ababdeh, Barabra, Bichariet) 167.6 cm. All these means are very 
perceptibly higher than those of the Kharga natives. Other meas- 
urements on an extensive series of Egyptians and Soudanese con- 
scripts have been published by Myers, 2 but as these were men 
selected for the military on the basis of good stature and strength, 
their height records are of no value in this connection. 
HEIGHT SITTING 
The actual measurements are given in the following list. They are 
of less importance than the comparisons to be given later. They 
give a relatively solid curve of distribution (fig. 3). The extent of 
variation is slightly higher, when compared to a unit of measurement, 
than that of the total height of the body. 8 No data on the Valley 
Egyptians are in this respect available for comparison. 
1 Recherches anthropologiques dans 1'Af rique orientale : Egypte. 4, Lyon, 
1904. 
* Myers, Chas. : Contributions to Egyptian Anthropology : Tatuing. Jour- 
nal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 33, January- June, 1903, pp. 82-89. The 
Comparative Anthropometry of the most Ancient and Modern Inhabitants. 
Ibid. Vol. 35, January- June, 1905, pp. 80-91. III. The Anthropometry of the 
Modern Mahommedans; IV. The Comparison of the Mahommedans with 
the Copts and the " Mixed " Group. Ibid. Vol. 36, July-December, 1906, pp. 
237-271. Contributions to Egyptian Anthropology. Ibid. Vol. 28, January- 
June, 1908, pp. 99-147- 
8 Variability per centimeter : stature : 0.073 > height sitting 0.091. 
