| MALES | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Height | Breadth | Index | ||||
| Right | Left | Right | Left | Right | Left | |
| (145) | (145) | (145) | ||||
| St. Lawrence Island | 3.67 | 3.68 | 4.05 | 4.01 | 90.7 | 91.8 |
| (41) | (41) | (41) | ||||
| Nunivak Island | 3.59 | 3.59 | 4.05 | 4.— | 88.7 | 89.7 |
| (120) | (120) | (120) | ||||
| Point Hope | 3.63 | 3.63 | 4.05 | 4.01 | 89.6 | 90.5 |
| (46) | (46) | (46) | ||||
| Greenland | 3.64 | 3.65 | 4.02 | 3.96 | 90.6 | 92.1 |
| FEMALES | ||||||
| (128) | (128) | (128) | ||||
| St. Lawrence Island | 3.62 | 3.60 | 3.92 | 3.89 | 91.7 | 92.6 |
| (58) | (58) | (58) | ||||
| Nunivak Island | 3.50 | 3.52 | 3.88 | 3.84 | 90.2 | 91.6 |
| (70) | (70) | (70) | ||||
| Point Hope | 3.54 | 3.54 | 3.91 | 3.88 | 90.5 | 91.4 |
| (45) | (45) | (45) | ||||
| Greenland | 3.55 | 3.56 | 3.86 | 3.83 | 91.9 | 92.9 |
The general orbital index of the Eskimo is close to 90 in the males, 90.5 in the females. Such orbits are classed as also relatively high or megaseme, a character in which they resemble many of the American Indians. Thus the male crania of the Siouan tribes give the practically identical general index of 90.5.
The slightly higher index in the females is the rule to which there are but few exceptions, and those in individual groups where the numbers of specimens may not be sufficient. The same tendency is observable in the Indians, and appears in fact to be panhuman. It is due to slightly lesser relative height as compared to the breadth of the orbit in the males, which condition is due in all probability to the greater development in the males of the frontal sinuses and supraorbital arches.
Individual variation in the orbital index of the Eskimo is extensive, reaching from slightly below 80 to well over 100. It extends more or less over the whole Eskimo area, without conveying definite indication anywhere of either a mixture or of a special evolutionary tendency. Yet it occasions group differences that eventually might prove evolutionary, though they may merely represent the next or higher order of variability, namely, that of groups within a family.
| Area | Males | Females | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean height | Mean breadth | Mean index | Mean height | Mean breadth | Mean index | |
| (13) | (13) | (13) | (13) | (13) | (13) | |
| South and Midwestern | 3.63 | 4.01 | 90.6 | 3.56 | 3.87 | 92.1 |
| (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) | |
| Northwestern | 3.62 | 4.02 | 90.1 | 3.51 | 3.92 | 89.7 |
| (5) | (5) | (5) | (5) | (5) | (5) | |
| Northern Arctic and northeastern | 3.65 | 4.07 | 89.5 | 3.54 | 3.91 | 90.6 |
The group differences in the orbital index of the Eskimo skull are shown in the next table. They elude a satisfactory explanation, unless recourse is had to the above suggested theory of normal group variability within a family. They have about the same range in the three large areas, which would seem to support this theory.
Group relations are indicated in the cases of Pastolik-Yukon Delta-St. Michael Island; Point Barrow-Barrow; and Old Igloos-Greenland.