44 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 94 



chestnut or clove color, passing, however, sometimes into different shades, some 

 individuals being of a more swarthy complexion, while others are tan or copper 

 coloied. But in new-born children the color is much paler, so that they hardly 

 can be distinguished from white children when presented for baptism ; yet it 

 appears soon after birth, and assumes its dark tinge in a short time. The hair is 

 black as pitch and straight, and seldom turns gray, except sometimes in cases of 

 extreme old age. They are all beardless, and their eye-brows are but scantily 

 provided with hair. The heads of children at their birth, instead of being 

 covered with scales, exhibit hair, sometimes half a finger long. The teeth, 

 though never cleaned are of the whiteness of ivory. The angles of the eyes 

 towards the nose are not pointed, but arched like a bow [epicanthus]. They 

 are well-formed and well-proportioned people, very supple, and can lift up from 

 the ground stones, bones, and similar things with the big and second toes. All 

 walk, with a few exceptions, even to the most advanced age, perfectly straight. 

 Their children stand and walk, before they are a year old, briskly on their 

 feet. Some are tall and of a commanding appearance, others small of stature, as 

 elsewhere, but no corpulent individuals are seen among them, which may be 

 accounted for by their manner of living, for, being compelled to run much around, 

 they have no chance of growing stout. 



1789. Clavigero: 



In features, in hair, in beard, and in color, they [the Lower CaliforniansJ 

 are similar to the natives of Mexico.*' 



NATIVE TRADITIONS 



All the native traditions of their origin, among the Indians of Lower 

 California, pointed to the north. No known tradition of any of the 

 neighboring tribes, to the north or to the east, has anything in it 

 that would refer to any non-Indian population in, or influx to, those 

 parts of the world. 



MODERN EXPLORATION 



None of the Mexicans who within the last or the present centuries 

 have studied their native tribes suggest even by a single word anything 

 but Indian in aboriginal Lower California or on the west coasts of 

 Mexico. 



During the period from the latter part of the last century to the 

 present time, the tribes in the vicinity of Lower California have been 

 visited and studied by many American, as well as some European, 

 anthropologists, including Ten Kate, Hrdlicka, McGee, Kroeber, and 

 all those who have given their attention to the tribes north of the 

 peninsula, particularly Boas and C. Hart Merriam. There is not 



" " Nelle fatezze, nei capelli, nella barba, et nel colore sono similli ai popoli 

 ne Missico." (1789, vol. i, p. 113.) 



