NOVEMBEE 15, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



669 



clearly the uniformity of the Kwakiutl group 

 of tribes, and incidentally notes that it is clearly 

 shown that "a strong deformation of the kind 

 practiced by the Kwakiutl increases the length 

 of head and diminishes the breadth of head ; 

 but moderate degrees of deformation do not 

 influence materially the lower portion of the 

 skull in which the greatest width of the head 

 is found." The dimensions of the face seem 

 uninfluenced also. 



2. This distribution of stature Dr. Boas con- 

 considers as being incapable of being explained 

 by difference of food supply or mode of life, 

 but is due to ' a slow permeation of the tall 

 tribes of the North and of the short tribes of 

 Eraser River.' 



3. From the study of the British Columbian 

 tribes, as well as from his general survey of the 

 Indians of the whole of North America, the 

 author finds that the " proportionate difference 

 between the stature of men and women is the 

 less the smaller the jDeople," and that " the 

 women of the short tribes of the Pacific coast 

 seem to be taller than those of the short tribes 

 of other regions. ' ' 



4. Four types must be distinguished on the 

 coast of British Columbia : (1) Nass Eiver In- 

 dian type ; (2) Kwakiutl type ; (3) type of 

 Harrison Lake and Salish of the interior ; (4) 

 type of the Okanagan, Flathead and Shuswap. 

 The Nass Eiver Indians have a face ' ' the 

 breadth of which (156.5) may be called enor- 

 mous, as it exceeds the average breadth of face 

 of the North American Indian by 6 mm." The 

 face of the Kwakiutl is marked by its enormous 

 height ; while the nose is characteristic. The 

 Harrison Lake Indians have "a head exceed- 

 ingly short and broad, surpassing in this re- 

 spect all other forms known to exist in North 

 America. ' ' The head of the Shuswap is ' 'shorter 

 than that of the tribes of northern British Co- 

 lumbia, or of the Indians of the Plains." Dr. 

 Boas justly remarks the difficulty in comparing 

 descriptive features, "on account of the large 

 personal equation of the observers, and even of 

 the same observer at different times." 



5. Among the tribes, of Fraser River ' ' chil- 

 dren seem to be much more brachycephalic 

 than adults." The author remarks, however : 

 "Investigations carried on by means of exten- 



sive material do not show any such differences, 

 and it is likely that more extended investiga- 

 tions would cause the apparent difference to dis- 

 appear ; but it is also possible that in this region 

 we may find the length of head to increase more 

 rapidly than the breadth of head. Among the 

 Eastern Indians, and in different parts of 

 Europe, we find a slight decrease of the ceph- 

 alic index with increasing age, but in no case 

 does the difference exceed one per cent. We also 

 find that the heads of women are somewhat 

 shorter than those of men. ' ' 



6. " The cephalic index decreases rapidly as 

 we go up Fraser River, but is higher among 

 the Shuswap than among the Nkamtcinemuq. 

 The facial index increases quite regularly from 

 Harrison Lake to the Shuswap, but we must re- 

 member that the face of the Ntlakyapamuq'o'e 

 is much smaller than that of the Shuswap and 

 that of the lower divisions of the Ntlakya'pamuq. 

 The nasal index is so variable that we cannot 

 draw any conclusions from its average values." 



7. The Ntlakya'pamuqo'e, while speaking 

 one language, offer "an excellent example of 

 the fact that linguistic and anatomical classifi- 

 cations do not follow the same lines" — ^being a 

 people of mixed blood. 



A very interesting section of the re- 

 port is that which deals with the average 

 number of children per mother among cer- 

 tain of the British Columbian tribes — the 

 Kwakiutl especially. Of the latter Dr. Boas 

 says : " The maximum sterility is found among 

 women who are now from forty to fifty years 

 old, that is who became mature about twenty- 

 five or thirty years ago. This agrees very 

 closely with the time when the Kwakiutl sent 

 their women most extensively to Victoria for pur- 

 poses of prostitution. During the last decade a 

 number of influential men among the tribe have 

 set their influence against this practice, and we 

 see at the same time a rapid increase in the 

 number of children. The young women who 

 have now an average number of 2.7 children, 

 may hope to regain the number of children 

 which their grandmothers had. But the only 

 hope of preserving the life of the tribe lies in 

 the most rigid suppression of these visits of 

 women to Victoria, which are still continued to 

 a considerable extent, and in an effort to stamp 



