APPENDICES
APPENDIX I
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Physically, as may be judged from the accompanying tables, there is a wide margin for dissimilarity among these tribes. Their appearance is nearly as varied as their speech, more so in fact, in that there is much diversity of type even among individuals of the same speaking-group. I have seen a Boro as dark as a Witoto, while his fellow-tribesmen may be yellow as a Chinaman. It is, of course, possible that the darker Boro are sons of Witoto women. The custom prevalent in all the tribes of adopting the young children captured from their enemies, makes of necessity for great changes in type even in one household, so that despite the preference for group endogamy that undoubtedly exists there are few households where cross-breeding is not in evidence.
In stature the Indian is small, which I take to be a result of depression due to his forest environment; but the body is well-balanced and upright. Among the tribes I visited the Andoke as a speaking-group were, so far as I could observe, the largest in build and the tallest. The Okaina may possibly come into the same scale. The Karahone represent the mean, while the Maku are invariably small, a low class and badly-fed people. The average measurements of the tribes are best gathered from the types tabulated. I made the average height to be for men 5 feet 6 inches; and for women 4 feet 10 inches.[417] I certainly remember one case of a man among the Andoke nearly 6 feet high, but can recall no other. The women were never much over the average of the female type. I give my measurements for what they are worth, but unfortunately I did not know the correct way in which they should have been taken; they were made with a centimetre rule, but not on the correct anthropometrical principles. The Indians stood against the side of the house to be measured, and I registered their height by the simple process of placing the ruler on the head and measuring its distance from the ground.[418]
The bone of the Indian’s skull is thick, and both dolichocephalic and brachycephalic types are in evidence.[419]
The Indian does not run to fat, rather is he inclined to be thin, but strong, muscular and healthy, with rounded outline and finely-developed chest. The Witoto, however, though broad and strong, fail in the limbs, their legs especially lack development. On this point my observations tally with Robuchon’s notes. The Tukana have a magnificent physique. The Andoke, though some are tall, with large frames, as a group incline more to breadth of both face and figure. The tribes of the Tikie are of a low grade.