Physical Characteristics of the Copper Eskimos b39 



The general appearance of these Eskimos varies a great deal according to 

 the season of the year. In summer, when they wear their oldest clothes and 

 wander day after day over dusty plains or muddy swamps, their faces become 

 encrusted with a constant layer of dirt. Washing is unknown, and while a 

 party occasionally bathes in a stream or lake on a very hot day, these occasions 

 are few and far between. The skin, too, becomes very much tanned at this 

 season, so that altogether the appearance of the natives is not prepossessing. 

 But in winter, when they wear new fur clothing, and contact with the snow re- 

 moves the dirt from their faces at the same time as the tan disappears, their 

 appearance is so changed that one could almost imagine them a different people. 



Skin 



The colour of the skin, where it is untanned by exposure, is a trifle darker 

 than that of a North European. Mr. Wilkins, the photographer of the expedi- 

 tion, stated that in the neighbourhood of Minto inlet he saw a girl whose skin 

 was quite as white as that of any European he had ever seen; but this was 

 certainly exceptional. I frequently compared the colour of their upper arms 

 with my own, and invariably found that mine was a little lighter. In spring 

 and summer the Eskimos tan to a darker brown than we do, but in the long 

 hours of winter twilight and darkness the skin resumes its normal colour. No 

 sexual difference was noticed, although Holm states that Ammassalik women 

 are lighter than the men. A very few individuals are marked with freckles. 



There seems to be quite a distinctive odour exuded from their skin different 

 from that of white people. An old woman once asked me whether I had noticed 

 an objectionable odour about them when I first arrived in their country. I 

 stated that all oiu* party had noticed it, and she answered "That is not strange, 

 for we noticed the same thing about you." Caribou-skin clothing has always 

 a very strong odour, but the personal odour of the Eskimos seemed quite distinct 

 from that. 



Hair 



The hair of the head is generally abundant and remains black until very 

 late in life. One man still in his prime was almost bald, and his little son of 

 about 10 years was partly bald; but neither baldness nor grey hair are common. 

 In many cases the hair seems to begin farther back on the forehead than usual, 

 making the forehead appear higher than it really is. Holm states that the 

 Ammassalik Eskimos of East Greenland have glossy hair,^ while Simpson says 

 that at Point Barrow in Alaska it is without gloss ;^ among the Copper Eskimos 

 it is glossy in some individuals and not in others. Its colour is almost invariably 

 a deep black, and it fluctuates in shape between what Martin calls "flachwellig" 

 and " weitwellig," in this paper called simply "straight" and "wavy."^ Straight 

 hair predominates, but there is a slight sexual difference, wavy hair being more 

 common in men than in women; this may be due to the women wearing their 

 hair in braids, which would tend to make it straighter.* The percentage of 

 variation in colour and form are shown in the following table, which is based on 

 the lists in Section I. 



iHolm, The Angmagsalik Eskimo, Meddelelser om Gr<^nland, Copenhagen, 1914, Vol. XXXIX, p. 27. 



^Simpson, The Western Eskimo, Arctic Papers for the Expedition of 1875, London, 1875, p. 238. 



'Martin, R., Lehrbuch der Anthropologie, Jena, 1914, p. 188f. In a few cases the hair in the Copper 

 Eskimos is "schlict" rather than "flachwellig," but I have not distinguished between these two forms. 



■■Samples of hair from 5 Copper Eskimos, 3 men and 2 women, were mounted in transverse section on 

 microscopic slides through the kindness of Dr. F. Boas. From each sample at least 20 individual sections 

 were measured to give a true average. Themeasurementsforthe three men were: maximum diameters, 

 ■108, -105 and -115 mm., minimum diameters, -066, -080 and -077 mm., indices, 61, 76 and 67. For the 

 two women they were: max. diam., -lOSand ■092 mm., min.diam., ■070and -071 mm., indices, 66 and 76. 

 The hair from East Greenland examined by Hansen (Medd. om Gr0n., Vol. XXXIX, p. 179) was much 

 coarser and more elliptical in outline. The difference may possibly be due to the fact that my own samples 

 were clipped from the ends-of the hair, whereas Hansen's may have come from nearer the roots. 



