The large size of the Eskimo face will best be appreciated from a few figures.
| Southwestern and midwestern Eskimo | Eskimo in general | Siouan tribes | Algonquian tribes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean of 14 groups (male) | 10 groups (female) | 27 groups (male) | 22 groups (female) | 12 groups (male) | 15 groups (female) | |
| Total height (ment.-nas.) | 12.60 | (11.63) | 12.52 | (11.59) | 12.26 | 12.11 |
| Upper height (alv. pt.-nas.) | 7.87 | (7.29) | 7.79 | (7.21) | 7.52 | 7.35 |
| Diameter bizyg. max. | 14.25 | (13.27) | 14.26 | (13.22) | 14.16 | 13.89 |
| Module of upper face (U. H.+B) 2 | 11.06 | (10.28) | 11.03 | (10.22) | 10.84 | 10.62 |
So far as known there are no larger faces among the Indians than those of the Sioux, yet they remain very perceptibly, in all three measurements, behind the Eskimo. No face as large as that of the Eskimo is known, in fact, from anywhere else in the world. In whites the mean diameter of the largest faces (see data in Martin's Lehrbuch Anthrop., 789-791) does not exceed 10.36 centimeters. The above showing assumes especial weight when it is recalled that both the Siouan and the Algonquian tribes are among the tallest there are on the American Continent. The cause of the large size of the Eskimo face can only be the excessive use of the jaws; no other reason even suggests itself. But the character may already be more or less hereditary. It furnishes another attractive subject for further investigation.
With its large dimensions the face of the Eskimo skull presents generally also large orbits, large molars, submedium prominence and breadth of the nasal bridge, shallow suborbital (canine) fossae, large dental arch above medium teeth, and a large and stout lower jaw with broad not seldom more or less everted angles, giving the whole a characteristic appearance. With partial exception of the orbits and the nose, which are subject also to other factors, all these features of the Eskimo face are explainable as strengthenings resulting from the increased function of mastication.
The main dimensions of the cranial face in the three large groupings of the Eskimo are given in the next table.
| Males | Females | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mentonnasion | Alveolar point-nasion | Diameter bizygomatic maximum | Cranial facial index | Mentonnasion | Alveolar point-nasion | Diameter bizygomatic maximum | Cranial facial index | |||
| Total | Upper | Total | Upper | |||||||
| Groups | (9) | (14) | (14) | (8) | (14) | (8) | (10) | (10) | (8) | (10) |
| Southwestern and midwestern | 12.60 | 7.87 | 14.25 | 88.2 | 55.3 | 11.63 | 7.29 | 13.27 | 87.7 | 54.9 |
| Groups | (5) | (7) | (7) | (5) | (7) | (2) | (7) | (7) | (2) | (7) |
| Northwestern | 12.58 | 7.73 | 14.23 | 88.3 | 54.4 | 11.55 | 7.19 | 13.18 | 88.2 | 54.6 |
| Groups | (5) | (6) | (6) | (5) | (5) | (3) | (5) | (5) | (3) | (5) |
| North Arctic and northeastern | 12.22 | 7.69 | 14.32 | 85.9 | 53.7 | 11.61 | 7.13 | 13.15 | 85.7 | 54.2 |
These data show a number of interesting conditions. The height of the upper face (alveolar point-nasion) is greatest in the southwestern and midwestern groups, is slightly lower in the northwesterners, and still further slightly lower in the north Arctic and the northeast. On the other hand the facial breadth is slightly higher in the north and east, and that although the vault has become mostly decidedly narrower.
These facts are shown best by the upper facial index, which in the males descends quite perceptibly in the west from the south to the north and in the Arctic from the west to the east. In the females there is a parallel gradual diminution in the upper facial height from the south to the north and then east, but the facial breadth diminishes very slightly also instead of increasing, as a result of which the upper facial index shows only minor differences; yet these differences are in the same direction as those in the males.