16 
HORN EXPEDITION—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
The mean chest measurements of the Alice Springs group was 34yt_in. The mean 
height of eleven adult females at the Tempe Downs was 5ft. 0|in. For further 
details as to measurements see Appendix II. 
It is perhaps worth noticing when dealing with the subject of stature that I 
had under my care in the Adelaide Hospital a native of the Tennant’s Creek tribe 
(Warramunga) whose height was 6ft. 4|in., but his build was slender and his chest 
development poor. He died of tuberculosis, at an early age, as so frequently 
happens to these natives. 
Mr. David Lindsay, in the pamphlet which has been mentioned, refers to a 
fine race met with to the east of the telegraph line, near Anthony’s Lagoon in 
latitude 18° S., many of them being over 6ft. in height, and one reaching 6ft. 8|in., 
and weighing 174 stone. Mr. Palmerf also makes mention of a man on the Saxby 
River in Queensland who is said to have measured 7 feet. 
As already stated their muscular systems were fairly and, in some ca.ses, 
extremely well-developed and, though their lower limbs and, especially the calves, 
were not robust, there was a general absence of that spindle-shanked appearance 
of the legs that has usually been associated with the Australian type. No 
obvious difference in muscular development was observable between the natives 
of the plains and of the hilly districts. The feet are well formed, and the 
arch of the instep well developed. It has been stated, I believe, that primitive 
man habitually walks with the axes of the feet parallel; these natives, however, 
conspicuously turn out the toes. The hands are remarkably small and finely 
shaped, and in conformity thereto is the small size of the hafts of their shields, for 
which the hand of the average white man is much too large. The fingers ai’e 
delicate and of great mobility, as shown by the ease, quickness and freedom with 
which they execute the various movements used in their gesture or sign language, 
which will be afterwards treated of. In this aspect one was reminded of the 
supple movements of an expert pianist. Our own efforts to adjust our fingers to 
the various positions assumed in these signs were slow and awkward in comparison, 
some positions, indeed, could not be assumed at all without assistance fi’om the 
other hand. 
The superior relative length of the limbs appears on refez’ence to Appendix 
III., where it will be seen that the combined lengths of the segments of the arm 
(Humerus and Radius) and of the leg (Femur and Tibia) in the skeleton of a 
native from Alice Springs, believed to be about 5ff. lOin. in height, were actually 
t Notes on some Australian Tribes, E. Palmer, Journal Anthrop. Inst., vol. xiii. 
