Present Data on the Western Eskimo
THE LIVING
Barring the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands in the south and the Chukchee territory in the west, the Bering Sea is wholly the sea of the Eskimo, the Indians occupying the inland but reaching nowhere to the coast. There is doubtless much of significance in this remarkable distribution. It is now quite certain that the Eskimo has not been pressed out by the Indian; there are as a rule no traces of him farther inland than where he has been within historic times. On the other hand no Indian remnants or remains are known from any part of the coasts or islands within the Eskimo region; though the study of the older sites in these regions has barely as yet begun, besides which (see Narrative) it is a serious question whether really old sites could now be located in these regions at all even if they had once existed. At all events the Eskimo appears from all indications to be the latest comer, and judging from his remains his occupancy here is not geologically ancient; it is one to be counted, apparently, in many hundreds of years rather than in thousands. The Aleuts in the south are, as I have pointed out in the Catalogue (No. 1, 1924, p. 39), not Eskimo but Indians, related to the general Alaska Indian type; and the Pribilof Islands appear never to have been occupied until fairly recently, when a good number of Aleuts, mostly mixed bloods, have been transported and established there in the interest of the seal fisheries.
MEASUREMENTS OF LIVING WESTERN ESKIMO
Thanks to Moore, Collins, and Stewart, all of the National Museum, instructed by me and working with the same instruments, we now have several small to fair series of measurements on the living western Eskimo of both sexes. They are tabulated below. They are the first made on these groups and will be of much interest both in general and in connection with the measurements made on the skulls and bones of most of the same people. The main points shown are as follows:
Stature.—The stature of the males ranges from markedly to moderately submedium. There is a considerable similarity. Only the Yukon group and that of Togiak reach near or slightly above medium, the general human medium for males approaching 165 centimeters. The female stature on the St. Lawrence Island averages 12 centimeters less than that of the males, which is about the difference found in most other peoples. At Hooper Bay, and especially at the Nunivak Island, the difference is less, indicating either that the males are slightly stunted or that the growth of the females is somewhat favored.
Height sitting.—The height-sitting-stature index ranges from slightly to quite notably higher than it is in other races, indicating a tendency toward a relatively long trunk and somewhat short limbs. A study of the long bones shows that this is due especially, if not wholly, to the relative shortness of the tibia; and the subdevelopment of this bone may, it seems, be ascribed to a great deal of squatting both at home during the long winters and in the canoes. The male Eskimo show more difference from other males in this respect than the Eskimo females show from other females.[128]
Arm span.—Relatively to the stature the length of the arms in the Eskimo males is shorter than it is in other racial groups, though there appears to be some inequality in this respect. This shortness would be especially marked if we compared the arm span with the height sitting. It is due essentially to a shortness of the distal half of the upper limbs. The males once more show this disproportion more as compared to other males than the females compared with others of their sex. (See comp. data in Old Americans.) This may be connected in some way with the male Eskimo work and habits; or it may be an expression of a correlative subdevelopment with that of the lower limbs. It is a good point for further study.
The head.—The head, especially when taken in relation to the stature, is of good size, particularly on the Nunivak Island and on the Yukon. This agrees with what is known of the Eskimo head, skull, and brain elsewhere.
The size of the Eskimo head—which is not caused by a thick skull—will best be appreciated by contrasting it with that of civilized whites. In whites in general the mean head diameter or cephalic module ranges in males from approximately 15.70 to 16.40; in the male western Eskimo groups the range is 15.87 to 16.08, and 16.11 in the group at Marshall on the Yukon. The percentage relation of the module to stature in 12 groups of male whites, including the old Americans, averages 9.31 to 10.11; in the male Eskimo groups it is from 9.57 to 9.94. In females, the cephalic module is 15.57 in the old Americans, 15.36 to 15.68 in the Eskimo; the relation of the module to stature in the former being 9.59, in the latter 10.15 to 10.25.
In the western Eskimo woman the head dimensions are particularly favorable. In the old American whites the mean head diameter in the female is to that of the male on the average as 95 to 100; in the two main groups of the western Eskimo it is as 96.1 and 96.7 to 100. Nothing is known as to the cause of this apparently favorable status of the Eskimo woman; it is another interesting point for further inquiry.
In shape, the head of the western Eskimo is highly mesocephalic to moderately brachycephalic and of only fair height, and it seldom approaches the scaphoid or dome-shaped. It is not the narrow, high, keeled skull of the northeastern and often the northern Eskimo. The physiognomy, the characteristics of the body, and the mentality and behavior, are in general typical Eskimo; but the form of the vault is substantially different. It is a form which approaches on one side that of the northwesternmost Indian, and on the other that of the northeastern and Mongoloid Asiatics. More must be said about this when we come to consider the skull.
The forehead.—Anthropometric studies have shown repeatedly[129] that the height of the forehead is not a safe gauge of intelligence, as commonly believed, but is controlled by the variable height of the hair line. Thus the common full-blood American Negro laborer and servant show a slightly higher forehead than the educated old American whites.
Something of a similar nature is found in the Eskimo. As seen in the following table, in the males the western Eskimo forehead is absolutely, and especially relatively to stature, higher than it is in the whites. In the females the absolute height in the two races is identical, but relatively to stature the Eskimo again shows a clear though somewhat lesser advantage. The condition is apparently not due to the size of the head, for this is not greater than in the whites, in the males; while in the females, where the Eskimo shows a slightly larger head than the white in relation to stature, the forehead fails to correspond.
| Western Eskimo | Old Americans | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | |
| cm. | cm. | cm. | cm. | |
| Height, nasion to hair line | 6.86 | 6.45 | 6.59 | 6.45 |
| Percentage relation to stature | 4.23 | 4.23 | 3.78 | 3.80 |
| Breadth: Diameter frontal minimum | 10.58 | 10.54 | 10.59 | 10.12 |
| Percentage relation of diameter frontal minimum to breadth of face | 71.1 | 73.7 | 76.4 | 77.8 |
| Forehead index (H×100) (B) | 64.8 | 61.2 | 63.7 | 62.1 |
With the lower breadth of the forehead, conditions are also interesting. The absolute figures for the two races show a reversal. The height of the forehead is larger in the Eskimo than in the white males, equal in the females; the lower frontal breadth is equal in the males but larger in the Eskimo than in the white female. Proportionately to stature, which is so much lower in the Eskimo, both sexes of the latter show an advantage in the dimension over the white.
The percental relation of the breadth of the forehead to that of the face reflects the excess of the latter in the Eskimo, particularly the male. There is evidently not a full direct correlation between the two dimensions. Yet relatively to its height the face is broader in the females than in the males (see below), which is doubtless not without influence on the lower breadth of the forehead in the former.
To summarize, the western Eskimo forehead exceeds in area that of the American whites, in both sexes, and that particularly in relation to stature. As to the individual measurements, the male Eskimo forehead as contrasted with that of the white is especially high, the female especially broad.
To which should be added that in the Eskimo the spheno-temporal region is often remarkably full, almost bulging, so that, contrary to what may be observed in the Negro, the frontal maximum diameter is also probably larger than in the whites, all of which doubtless has significance, even though this is not yet fully understood.
The face.—The principal measurements and relations are given below. They show a face large and especially broad. Moreover, relatively to its height the face is especially broad in the Eskimo female, in connection doubtless with the well-known excess of the work (in softening leather, etc.) of her jaws, with consequent development of the muscles of mastication, which in turn broaden the zygoma.
| Western Eskimo | Old Americans | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | |
| Height, menton-nasion | 12.67 | 11.64 | 12.15 | 11.09 |
| Females to males (M=100) | 91.9 | 91.3 | ||
| Diameter bizygomatic maximum | 14.88 | 14.30 | 13.87 | 12.99 |
| Females to males (M=100) | 96.1 | 93.6 | ||
| Facial index, anatomic | 85.2 | 81.4 | 87.6 | 85.4 |
| Facial module (or mean diameter), anatomic | 13.77 | 12.97 | 13.01 | 12.04 |
| Female to male (M=100) | 94.2 | 92.5 | ||
| Percentage relation of female and male to stature | 8.49 | 8.50 | 7.46 | 7.44 |
The great size of the Eskimo face is especially apparent in the relations of the mean diameter of the face to stature; it is in this respect no less than 12 per cent in excess of that of the whites in the males and 12.5 per cent in the females.[130]
Lower facial breadth.—Due to the great development of the masseter muscles and the consequent frequent lesser or greater eversion of the angles of the lower jaw, the bigonial diameter in the Eskimo is very large, particularly when taken in relation to stature, and in such relation it looms especially large in the females. Compared with the old American whites, the bigonial breadth in its relation to stature is higher in the Eskimo males by 15.5 per cent, in the Eskimo females by 17.7 per cent. And measurements of Eskimo lower jaws in general show that this breadth in the western contingents is not exceptional.
| Western Eskimo (St. Lawrence Island) | Old Americans | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | Females | Males | Females | |
| Diameter bigonial | 11.78 | 11.18 | 10.63 | 9.84 |
| Female vs. male | 94.9 | 92.6 | ||
| Percentage relation to stature | 7.21 | 7.39 | 6.09 | 6.08 |
| Percentage relation to breadth of face | 80 | 79.5 | 76.7 | 75.8 |
The nose.—The nose of the western Eskimo promises to be of much importance in the study of Eskimo origins in general. Nowhere in this region is it like the nose of the northern or northeastern groups. It is decidedly broader. Its breadth is intermediary between that of the Alaska and other Indians and that of the northern and northeastern Eskimo, connecting with both, and these characteristics are so generalized throughout western Alaska and the Bering Sea islands that they can not possibly be attributed to Indian or other admixture. Nor can this relatively broad nose of the western Eskimo be well attributed to environmental effects, i. e., to a broadening of a formerly narrow nose through climatic conditions. There do not appear to be any such conditions. The only rational explanation seems to be that this is the more original condition of the Eskimo nose, and that the northern and northeastern narrowness is a later derivation. More may be said on this point when we come to consider the skeletal remains.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 39
The Wales People
(Photo by Lomen Bros.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 40
The Long and Broad-faced Types, Wales
(Photo by Lomen Bros.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 41
a, Broad-faced and low-vaulted Eskimo, St. Lawrence Island. (Photo by R. D. Moore, 1912. U.S.N.M.)
b, Broad-faced type, St. Lawrence Island. (Photo by R. D. Moore, 1912. U.S.N.M.)
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 42
a, A young man from Seward Peninsula.
b, A boy from St. Lawrence Island.
The Long-faced Type
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 43
A "Hypereskimo," King Island. Excessively Developed Face
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT PLATE 44
Eskimo "Madonna" and Child, Northern Bering Sea Region
(Photo by Lomen Bros.)
The Eskimo nose is also high, which goes with the height of the whole face; that in turn evidently is attributable to more work and demand—in brief, more mastication. The nose, face, lower jaw, and other parts of the Eskimo anatomy offer rare opportunities for studies in the heredity of acquired characters.
| American whites | Western Eskimo | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old Americans and immigrants | Old Americans | |||
| Males | Females | Males | Females | |
| (13 groups) | (6 groups) | |||
| Height | 4.95-5.4 | 4.94 | 5.47-6.03 | 5.03 |
| Breadth | 3.45-3.6 | 3.25 | 3.82-3.93 | 3.61 |
| Index | 62.5-73 | 66 | 63.7-71.9 | 71.9 |
The mouth.—The western Eskimo mouth is large. It is considerably larger (wider) than in the old American whites, though these are of much higher stature. In relation to stature the width of the western Eskimo mouth exceeds that in the white old Americans by 13 per cent in the males and by nearly 14 per cent in the females, but there is a close relation with that of a large group of Indians. The details follow:
| Western Eskimo (Nunivak and St. Lawrence Islands) | 16 tribes of Indians of the Southwest and northern Mexico. | Old American whites. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | |
| Width | 5.73 | 5.44 | 5.85 | 5.49 | 5.37 | 4.95 |
| Females versus males | 94.9 | 93.8 | 92.3 | |||
| Percentage relation to stature | 3.53 | 3.57 | 3.50 | 3.55 | 3.07 | 3.08 |
The ears.—The ears of the western Eskimo are large. They are especially long. They exceed in both size and relative length those of whites, but are in both respects much more like those of the American Indian. The excess in length, both in the Eskimo and the Indian, is especially marked when this measurement is taken in relation to stature.
Relatively to its length, the ear of the female Eskimo in all our groups is somewhat narrow, giving a lower index. This is not observed in the available whites and Indians.
None of the series below are affected seriously by the age factor; though with an organ so much influenced by age as the ear the ideal way would be to compare only groups of the same age.
| Western Eskimo | Miscellaneous North American Indian | Old American whites (Labor Ser.) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | |
| Height of left ear | 7.05 | 6.61 | 7.25 | 6.95 | 6.69 | 6.10 |
| Breadth of left ear | 3.82 | 3.49 | 3.90 | 3.70 | 3.79 | 3.47 |
| Ear index | 54.2 | 52.8 | 53.2 | 53.6 | 56.7 | 56.9 |
| Percentage relation of ear length to stature | 4.34 | 4.33 | 4.25 | 4.35 | 3.84 | 3.68 |
| Western Eskimo groups | Whites in general | |
|---|---|---|
| Height of left ear | 6.71- 7.40 6.49-6.73 | 6.20- 6.69 |
| Breadth of left ear | 3.72- 4.04 3.45-3.57 | 3.58- 3.79 |
| Ear index | 53.3 -58.9 52.3 -53.1 | 56 -58.6 |
The chest.—The best measurements of the chest, experience has shown, are the antero-posterior and lateral diameters at the nipple height in the males and at the corresponding level of the upper border of the fourth costal cartilages in the females. They give not merely the individual dimensions but also their relation, which is of much ontogenic as well as other interest, and their mean gives the chest module which in relation to the stature is anthropologically as well as individually (medically) important.
The table following gives the chest measurements in the western Eskimo, in a large group of Indians (my older data), and in the old American whites as well as others.
The Eskimo chest is large. In the males, in addition, it is very deep. Compared to that of the white old Americans it is markedly deeper in the males and broader in the females, notwithstanding the fact that the Americans are much taller. It is even larger, besides being relatively deeper in the males and somewhat broader in the females, than it is in many tribes of the Indian. Only tall and bulky Indians such as the Sioux show a chest that is absolutely somewhat larger, but in relation to stature, with which the dimensions of the chest stand in close correlation,[131] the Eskimo prevails even in this instance. This excess in chest development in the Eskimo must be ascribed in the main to his occupations and exertions, particularly again, it would seem, in connection with the canoe.
| Western Eskimo, Nunivak Island | 16 tribes of southwestern and New Mexico Indians | Old Americans | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | |
| Stature | 161.8 | 153.1 | 167.3 | -155. | 174.3 | 161.8 |
| Breadth | 29.97 | 28.63 | 29.89 | 28.21 | 29.76 | 26.62 |
| Depth | 24.63 | -22. | 22.77 | 21.91 | 21.70 | 20.03 |
| Index | 82.2 | 76.8 | 76.15 | 77.66 | 72.9 | 75.3 |
| Module | 27.30 | 25.32 | 26.33 | 25.06 | 25.73 | 23.32 |
| Module vs. stature | 16.87 | 16.53 | 15.74 | 16.17 | 14.75 | 14.41 |
| 4 other groups of western Eskimo, males | 72 Sioux Indians, males | 12 other groups of white males | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stature | -160.6-166. | -174. | 163.4-171.6 |
| Breadth | -29.6-30. | 31.92 | -25.9-28. |
| Depth | -23.-24.75 | -26. | 20.9-22.6 |
| Index | 76.7-83.3 | 81.4 | 72.9-81.5 |
| Module | 26.97 | 28.96 | 23.4-25.7 |
| Module vs. stature | 16.56 | 16.64 | 14.22-14.84 |
The hand.—The hand of the Eskimo is small, both absolutely and relatively to stature. But it is rather broad relative to its length, giving a high index. The index is higher than that of any of the groups available for comparison, white or Indian, excepting a few groups of immigrant whites, laborers.
| Western Eskimo, (group means) | 16 tribes of southwestern and Mexican Indians | Old Americans | 12 groups of immigrant whites | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | |
| Left hand: | |||||||
| Length | 17.35-18.42 | 16.60-16.85 | 18.53 | 17.20 | 19.28 | 17.34 | |
| Breadth | 8.60-8.90 | 7.78-8.20 | 8.51 | 7.71 | 9.18 | 7.87 | |
| Percentage relation of hand length to stature | 10.96 | 10.94 | 11.07 | 11.13 | 11.05 | 10.70 | -11.-11.3 |
| Western Eskimo | Southwestern and Mexican Indians | Sioux | Old American whites | 12 other groups of whites | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | |
| Hand index | 49.5 | 47.5 | 45.9 | 44.8 | 47.6 | 47.6 | 45.4 | 47.6-50.3 | ||
| 72 Sioux males: 11.40. | ||||||||||
The foot.—The foot of the western Eskimo, like his hand, is both absolutely and relatively to stature rather short, but it is broad, giving a high breadth-length index. Its actual breadth perceptibly exceeds that of the much taller old American whites, though not reaching that of any of the immigrant laborers.
Contrary to what was seen in the case of the hand, the relative proportions of the Eskimo foot, as expressed by the index, are almost identical with those of the southwestern and Mexican Indians. The Sioux foot is relatively longer, and so is that of whites except southern Italians, who, though their foot as a whole is larger, give the same index as the Eskimo.
| Western Eskimo | 16 tribes of southwestern and Mexican Indians | Old Americans | 12 groups of immigrant whites | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | |
| Left foot: | |||||||
| Length | 24.23 | 22.13 | 25.42 | 23.30 | 26.12 | 23.33 | |
| Breadth | 9.72 | 8.70 | 10.15 | 9.07 | 9.49 | 8.36 | |
| Percentage relation foot length-stature | 14.94 | 14.51 | 15.19 | 15.08 | 14.97 | 14.42 | 15.36-15.73 |
| Western Eskimo | Southwestern and Mexican Indians | Sioux | Old American whites | 12 other groups of whites | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | Males | Females | |
| Foot index | 40.1 | 39.3 | 39.9 | 38.9 | 37.1 | 36.3 | 35.8 | 37.9-40.1 | ||
| 72 Sioux males: 15.40. | ||||||||||
Girth of the calf.—The western Eskimo, like the American Indians, are characterized by a rather slender calf. The size of the calf correlates in a large measure with stature. Reducing our measurements to calf girth-stature ratios, these are seen to be much alike in the three racial groups used for comparison, namely the Eskimo, the Indian, and the old American white. But this is deceptive. The correlation of size of calf with stature is not uniform (see "Old Americans," p. 348) for all stature groups; as the scale in stature descends the calf is relatively stouter. If we take white Americans of approximately the same stature with the Eskimo here considered, there appears a higher ratio, showing that stature for stature the girth of the calf of the Eskimo is smaller, notwithstanding his generally more ample supply of adipose tissue. Once more his relation is closer with the Indian. The Eskimo and the Indian women are especially much alike, while the white women make a marked exception—their calfs (as well as thighs) have more fat than is found in those of their Eskimo and Indian sisters.
| Western Eskimo | Southwestern and Mexican Indians (16 tribes) | Old white Americans | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | |
| Maximum girth of left calf | 33.6 | 31.4 | 34.1 | 32 | 36.1 | 35.5 |
| Percentage relation to stature | 20.7 | 20.6 | 20.52 | 20.54 | 20.3 | 21.95 |
| Percentage relation to stature in those approaching the Eskimo stature | 21.6 | 22.3 | ||||
| Females v. males (M=100) | 93.5 | 93.9 | 98.3 | |||