29 
Of the two linguistic groups at Island lake, those who speak the 
mixed dialect have been supposed to be descendants of the Cree Indians 
who, a hundred and fifty years, or six generations, ago, intermarried with 
the Eskimo women at the mouth of Severn river as was stated on page 4. 
If the people at Island lake who speak the mixed dialect are descendants 
of those who committed the desperately romantic act tradition attributes 
to them, we might expect the figures in the accompanying table to give 
some indication of the fact. If the figures relating to the proportions of 
the males and females of this group (recorded in the second line of each 
section of table V) be compared with the figures in the top line of each 
section of the same table, which refers to those who speak Saulteaux, it 
will be seen that they have the semblance of belonging to two slightly 
different types. The figures in the top line of each section, for the most 
part, rise and fall in unison, as do those of the second line of each section. 
Only in breadth of face is there complete discord amongst them. The 
men and women who speak Saulteaux are taller, have a smaller sitting 
height index, a larger cephalic index, smaller cephalo-facial and facial 
indices, and shorter faces than the men and women who speak the mixed 
dialect. In the diameters of the head the women are of identical or of 
almost identical proportions; in the men, these diameters differ somewhat. 
Regarded individually, most of the differences appear to be slight; col- 
lectively they are suggestive of some meagre difference in build. No 
measurement of those who speak the mixed dialect of Island lake in any 
way savours of Eskimoid admixture, neither do the frequency distribution 
tables appear to lend any support to the story but — this is not to refute it. 
Even when divided into linguistic groups, these Indians still display 
a remarkable degree of homogeneity which is more marked among the 
women than among the men. Those at Oxford House stand somewhat 
apart, due doubtlessly, to intermarriage with the European. 
The sitting height index, both of the Island Lake men and of the 
Island Lake women, it will be remembered, was of a bi-modal type. This 
seemed to be a presage that this region would be found to be inhabited 
by two distinct types. 
It can hardly be said that this forecast has come true, for no other 
frequency distribution lends it support. 
78186— 3i 
