Physical Characteristics of the Copper Eskimos 



b49 



that the latter must be considered as tolerably accurate. The second point is 

 that in the case of the men the means for the first two age-classes, i.e. for men 

 up to 30 years of age, are with hardly an exception slightly below the total means. 

 The means in the first age-class are invariably below for both sexes with the single 

 exception of the men's stature, which may simply be due to a few abnormally 

 tall individuals. This seems to indicate that women attain their full develop- 

 ment shortly before 25 years, and men shortly before 30, a conclusion that 

 Hansen also reached, though rather hesitatingly, from his examination of the 

 statures of the East Greenland Eskimos.^ If this is the case one would naturally 

 uppose that more reliable means could be obtained by restricting observations to 

 individuals above those years; but this would hardly be true, since the Eskimo 

 population in any single area is so limited that the number of subjects available 

 would be greatly reduced and the possibihty of error proportionately increased. 



Stature 



The variations in stature among the Copper and Point Hope Eskimos, 

 calculated to the nearest 10 millimetres ( • 5 is counted as 1) may be represented 

 by the following table. ^ 



'Meddelelser om Gr^nland, Vol. XXXIX, p. 157. That the development of the body, however much 

 retarded by climatic and food conditions, should not be complete at the age of 25 years is so remarkable 

 that it is very doubtful whether the table can be trusted on this point. 



^The natives were not measured bare-footed owing to climatic conditions, but a deduction of 7 mm. 

 (obtained by actually measuring the thickness of an average set of foot-gear) was made, from the figures 

 registered by the instrument. In the data from other tribes I can find no mention of the foot-gear. 



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