Handbook of Indians of Canada - ElectricCanadian.com

24
DEPARTMENT OF MARINE AND FISHERIES
cent, is perforated; but vestiges of asupra-con-
dyloid process are much rarer than in whites.
The humero-radial index of maximum frequency
in adult males is 77 to 80 (in whites 71
to 75); humero-femoral index, 71 to 75 (in
whites 70 to 74) . The femur is quite flat below
the tuberosities; the tibia, often flat (platyc-
nemic.)
Of thi brain and other soft organs but Uttle
is known. Two adult male Apache brains,
collected by Dr. W. Matthews and now preserved
in the U. S. National Museum, weighed
after removal 1,191 and 1,304 grams, respec-
tively. Both show good gyration.
The Eskimo differs anatomically from the
Indian in many important features. His hair
and eyes are similar in shade, though the eyes
are more obUquely set; but his skin colour on
the whole is lighter, being yellowish or Hght
broAvn, with a pronounced redness of the face.
The Eskimo skull is high, normally scaphoid,
and usually spacious. The face is large and
flat, and the nasal bones are narrower than in
any other people. The bones of the body are
usually strong. There is less flattening of the
shaft of the humerus, of the upper part of the
shaft of the femur, and of the tibia. The supe-
rior border of the scapula shows often an angu-
lar instead of a curved outhne.
In anthropometric differentiation the native
tribes N. of Mexico are primarily separable into
Indians and Eskimo. Some of the adjacent
Indian tribes show Eskimo admixture.
The Indians among themselves vary considerably
in stature, in form of the head and
face, and of the orbits, the nose, and the nasal
aperture. Low stature, from 160 to 165 cm.
in males, is found among some of the CaUfor-
nian tribes (as the Yuki of Round Valley agen-
cy), many of the Pueblos, and some of the
tribes of the N. W. coast, as the Sahsh of Har-
rison lake and Thompson r., and others.
Among the Tigua, Tewa, Apache, Navaho,
Comanche, northern Ute, Paiute, and Shoshoni,
among the majority of CaUfornia, Wash-
ington, and Oregon tribes, and among the
eastern Cherokee, Chickasaw, Kiowa, and
Iowa the height in male adults ranges between
165 and 170 cm., while among the Yuma,
Mohave, Maricopa, Pima, Nez Perces, Sioux,
Crows, Winnebago, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Iroquois,
Osage, Chippewa, and eastern Algon-
quians the prevalent stature of adult men is
from 170 to 175 cm. The range of variation
in the majority of tribes and in both sexes is
within 30 cm. The stature does not regularly
2 GEORGE v., A. 1912
follow the geographic or climatic features, nor
does it agree wholly with the distribution of the
other principal physical characteristics. The
women are on the average about 125" cm.
shorter than the men; the difference is greater
among the tall than among the short
tribes.
The distribution of the Indians according to
cephalic index is of much interest. Excluding
tribes that are known to be much mixed, there
are found in the territory N. of Mexico all the
three principal classes of cranial form, namely,
dohcho-, brachy-, and meso-cephahc. Among
the extremely dolichocephalic were the Delawares
and the southern Utah cliff-dwellers.
Moderate dohchocephaly, with occasional
extreme forms, was and is very prevalent, being
found in the Algonquian and the majority of
the Siouan and Plains tribes and among the
Siksika, Shoshoni, some Pueblos (e. g., Taos),
and the Pima. Pure brachycephaly existed in
Florida, and prevailed in the mound region and
among the ancient Pueblos. It is best represented
to-day among the Apache, Walapai,
Havasupai, Nez Perces, Harrison Lake Sahsh,
Osage, and Wichita, and in a less degree, among
the Hopi, Zuni, most of the Rio Grande
Pueblos, Navaho, Mohave, Yuma, California
Mission Indians, Comanche, Winnebago, many
of the north-western tribes, and Seminole.
Mesocephaly existed principally among the
California Indians, the Cherokee, and some of
the Sioux and Iroquois. There are numerous
tribes in North America about whose cephalic
form there is still much uncertainty pn account
of the prevaiUng head deformation. As to the
height of the head, which must naturally be
considered in connection with the cephalic
index, fair uniformity is found. In (he Apache
the head is rather low, among most other tribes
it is moderate.
The form of the face is generally allied, as
among other peoples, to the form of the head,
being relatively narrow in narrow heads and
broad in the brachycephaUc. Orbits show
variations, but the prevalent form is mesoseme.
The nose and the nasal aperture are generally
mesorhinic; the principal exception to this is
found on the W. coast, especially in Cahfornia,
where a relatively narrow nose (leptorhinic)
was common. The projection of the upper
alveolar region is almost uniformly mesognathic
The Eskimo range in height from short to
medium, with long and high head, relatively
broad flat face, high orbits, and narrow nose,
showing alveolar prognathism like the Indians.