Measurements made on fifteen men and five women gave the following results:
Height—Men: Maximum 161.3 cm., minimum 145.1 cm., average 153.9 cm.
Women: Maximum 152.3 cm., minimum 144.1 cm., average 146.8 cm.
Cephalic index—Men: Maximum 89.1, minimum 76.3, average 84.6.
Women: Maximum 84.8, minimum 75.2, average 81.3.
Length-height index—Men: maximum 78.7, minimum 64.5, average 74.2.
Women: Maximum 81.8, minimum 75.0, average 77.4.
From these figures it appears that there is considerable variation between individuals, but a closer study of the charts shows that the majority of those measured come closer to the averages than do the members of any other group here mentioned (Plates LXIV-LXIX).
Both sexes wear the hair long and comb it to a knot at the back of the head. The women generally bang the hair over the forehead, while the men allow a lock to fall in front of each ear. The hair is brown-black and generally slightly wavy, although four individuals with straight hair were seen.
The forehead is high, and in about half the persons observed somewhat retreating; however, full, vaulted foreheads are by no means uncommon. The distance from the vertex to the tragus is uniformly great.
The cheek bones are quite prominent, while the whole face tapers from above so as to be somewhat angular. In twenty per cent of the men the root of the nose seemed to be continuous with the supra-orbital ridge, which, in such cases, was strongly marked. In general the root of the nose is broad, low, and depressed, and there is a tendency for the ridge to be somewhat concave. The lips are thick and bowed, but there is little or no prognathism.
The skin of the body is not tattooed or mutilated in any other way, but the eyebrows are often shaved to a thin line, and the teeth are filed and blackened. Filing was formerly done with small stones but imported files are now used for this purpose. The coloring is effected by chewing the roots of the anmoñ vine and applying to the teeth the "sweat" caught on a steel blade, held above burning bark of the magawan tree. This practice seems to have no significance other than that of beautifying the person and saving the youth from the ridicule of his fellows. To keep the teeth black, tobacco treated with lemon juice which has stood on rusty iron is chewed frequently.
Despite constant statements to the effect that the members of this tribe are light-colored and the assertion of one writer[99] that at least one division is white, observations made with the V. Luschan color table on more than fifty individuals showed that while certain persons are somewhat lighter than their fellows, as was also the case in other tribes, there is not an appreciable difference in color between this tribe and the others of the Gulf region.
[99] LANDOR, The Gems of the East. It should be noted that the district from which the white tribe was reported is now fairly well known and there seems to be no reason to believe that the people residing there differ materially in color from the other natives of the island.
CLOTHING.
The ordinary man of the tribe wears a loosely fitting shirt and wide trousers made of white or blue cotton cloth. (Plate LXIX-LXX). These garments are frequently decorated with embroidered designs and are finished at the shoulders and knees with a cotton fringe. The trousers are supported at the waist by means of a belt, and below reach nearly to the ankles.[100] An incised silver disk is attached to the front of the jacket, while ornaments of beads, seeds, and alligators' teeth encircle the neck.