178 



Søren Hansen. 



the great majority of the men of the East coast have black and the 

 rest dark-brown hair, whereas only three women have black and 

 all the rest dark-brown or brown hair. 



Colour of the hair 



Men 



Number 



black 



dark- 

 brown 



brown 



Women 



Number 



black 



dark- 

 brown 



brown 



North East coast . 

 South — 



South West coast. 



30 



17 



13 



ti 



15 



1 



14 



21 



14 



7 



II 



23 



2 



16 



21 



16 



4 



1 



24 



16 



8 



If this were a case of a real race-mark, which indeed would 

 not be at all strange, it would be curious that the women on the 

 southern West coast should possess the very same characteristic as 

 the men here and along the whole East coast, as, judging by other 

 evidences, there does not seem to be any essential difference in 

 these two tribes of the same race. Thus we must look about for 

 another explanation. We find the solution of the riddle in a little 

 notice by Captain Holm^) that the women daily wash their hair in 

 the urine-tubs, a treatment which might indubitably lead to such 

 a change of colour, and so the whole matter is after all merely a 

 mystery of the toilet. 



The growth of hair is in general abundant. The hair of the 

 head is smooth and close; it is never cut. The men have as a rule 

 a well-grown beard, but they frequently pull out the hairs of the 

 beard either entirely or partially. They have also hair in the arm- 

 pits, sometimes likewise on the chest and legs, and both sexes have 

 hairy pubes. Baldness is unknown, and only a few old men have 

 grey hair. The hair of the women is shorter and considerably finer 

 than that of the men, as also appears from a microscopical exam- 

 ination of a collection of hair samples which the Expedition 

 brought with them. 



The cross section of the single hairs is, as in most other tribes, 

 elliptical, scarcely double so long as broad. Although I do not be- 

 lieve that any particular scientific significance can be attached to 

 this characteristic, I nevertheless give, by way of further elucidation, 

 a series of the measurements ascertained, especially in order to 

 show how considerable the dill'erence in the sexes is. 



■j Geografisk TidssUiilt. Copenlia^on vol. N'lll. l.S,S(). p. !)0. 



