Physical Characteristics of the Copper Eskimos 



FOLD 



b43 



No tests were made of the vision. In general it seemed good, though prob- 

 ably no better than that of white people living a similar life in the open air. 

 The natives are quick at detecting objects at a distance, such as caribou on a 

 hill-slope or a seal far out on the ice. From this one is very apt to imagine that 

 their sight must be remarkably keen, but the fact really is that from infancy 

 upward they are trained to scan the horizon for game and to detect every little 

 irregularity or unusual appearance. The men take care to wear snow-goggles 

 continually in the spring of the year, but some of the women never trouble 

 about them. One elderly woman who had rather keener vision than usual 

 told me that she never used snow-goggles and had never suffered from snow- 

 blindness. 



Nose 



The bridge of the nose, besides being very depressed, is usually rather 

 narrow. For this reason many of the Eskimos found it difficult to adjust our 

 binoculars to their use, the space between their eyes being narrower than the 

 distance between the lenses. Section l.yields the following table of percentages. 



HEIGHT OF BRIDGE 



From the bridge the nose usually runs straight to the tip, but occasionally 

 the line forms a concave curve or a small hump mars its regularity. The tip 

 itself is usually moderately high and inclined to be rather broad. Both snub 

 and hooked noses are to be seen, though neither form is very common. The flat 

 appearance of the face so often mentioned by writers as characteristic of the 



