156 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 34 



DIGESTION 



A moderate degree of hunger is often and easily endured among 

 the Indian adults. A loss of a meal or two is very frequent, particu- 

 larly among the noncivilized, and is thought nothing of. On the 

 other hand, as mentioned before (see Food, pp. 21-22), the Indian's 

 capacity for food is quite large, and during feasts he may eat to a degree 

 that among the whites would be considered excessive. The choice 

 and preparation of food are in the majority of cases quite inferior. 

 All this, which, with the general liking for fat, would severely tax 

 ordinary powers of digestion, is supported with comparatively little 

 difficulty by the full-grown Indian. Disturbances of the stomach or 

 the intestinal tract are common enough, but they are generally of 

 a light character, yielding readily to simple means of relief. Even 

 in the children the digestive powers are strong, but excesses and 

 improper diet have more effect than with the adults. (See Diseases, 

 pp. 175 et seq.) 



OBESITY 



Especially well-nourished individuals, females and also males, occur 

 in every tribe and at all ages, but real obesity is found almost exclu- 

 sively among the Indians on reservations, who have recently changed 

 their mode of life, becoming more sedentary in habits, with less of out- 

 door exercise, and among adults of less than 60 years of age. There 

 are differences in the proportion of fat individuals even among the 

 tribes on reservations, and there are also differences in the relative 

 frequency of the abnormal condition in the two sexes. Monstrous 

 or truly pathological obesity has not been encountered. The weight 

 of the stoutest individuals seen would not exceed 300 pounds (140 kg.). 



The tribes in which most stout persons were seen are the Pima, 

 Southern Ute, Papago (San Xavier), and Maricopa. The condition 

 is quite rare among the Pueblos, who have been of sedentary habits 

 since ancient times. The Navaho and the Yuma men are notably 

 lank. 



Among the Pima it is largely, but not exclusively, the women who 

 grow very stout, and similarly among the Maricopa. Among the 

 Papago moderate obesity was noticed in some men as well as women. 

 Among the Southern Ute the condition predominates to a marked 

 degree in the men. (See pis. xxii, xxiii.) 



The r61e played by food in the production of obesity among the 

 Indians is apparently indirect. The Pima, Maricopa, and the San 

 Xavier Papago had usually a sufficiency, if not plenty, of footl, but 

 the Southern Ute since known have been most irregularly nourished, 

 even now frequently suffering from want. But the men in this tribe 

 used to be hunters. This mode of life they had to abandon on the 

 reservation, and it is probably the change from their past active 



