584 



EBPORT — 18f>2. 



The eyes of the Kootenays are dark-brown, the hair straight and 

 black. There are, however, quite a number of cases of brown hair ; but 

 as these seem to occur with children and those adults who habitually gO' 

 bareheaded, the difference in colour may be attributed to exposure to the 

 air and sunlight. In a few cases also the hair is quite wavy, in some, 

 even curly ; and one of the Fort Steele Indians is nicknamed ' Curly ^ 

 (Kdntlu'mtldm) from this fact. But one or two cases of the 'Mongolian 

 eye ' were observed, the Indian Giaqkatl Salo being one. 



The colour of the skin is, in general, brown, varying from rather dark 

 to a dirty white. Many of these Indians, as far as colour of skin is con- 

 cerned, would be quite indistinguishable from the dark-skinned natives of 

 Southern Europe. The contrast between them and the Chinese — the 

 writer had the opportunity of seeing them very often together — is marked, 

 and they would neyer be mistaken one for the other by experts. 



Hair on the face and body is not common on account of the practice 

 of removing the hairs which the Indians more or less practise. Still, 

 beards and moustaches are possessed by some of the Indians. Kootenay 

 Pete, an old Indian of Columbia Lakes, had a white beard, small in size, 

 but at least 60 millimetres long ; Chief Eustan, of the Lower Kootenay, 

 had a number of white hairs on his chin; and another Indian of the same 

 tribe, aged about sixty, had a slight beard and moustache, both whitish,, 

 and dark and heavy eyebrows ; an Upper Kootenay, aged thirty-one, had 

 also a slight beard. An Indian, named Blasois, aged seventeen, had a few 

 hairs on his nose. 



The noses seem rather flat. The shape of the nose itself varies ; the 

 largeness of the nostrils is very striking in many cases, as is also the 

 depressed root of the nose with prominent glabella. The nose of one 

 Indian was so perceptibly large that it formed a constant point for the 

 merriment of his fellows, and one of the names of the Indian Patrick 

 (Gd'tlEmd'kastld'EJcdJc) refers to his ' big nostrils.' The point of the nose is 

 in most cases short. Straight noses with pointed ends are not unknown. 



In a few cases the ears of Indians are distorted and lengthened by 

 heavy earrings. The ears of the great majority are, however, medium- 

 sized, most often with round and attached lobe. 



The mouths of many of the Kootenays seem disproportionately large, 

 and the lips are often very thick, as in the case of the Indian A'mElu, 

 whose ears, it might be remarked, were rather small. 



The teeth of these Indians are remarkably well preserved, the writer 



