The Eskimos of Alaska are a much finer race physically than their kindred of Greenland and Labrador. In the extreme north, at Point Barrow, and along the coast of Bering Sea they are of medium size. At Point Barrow the average height of the males is 5 feet 3 inches and average weight 153 pounds; of the women, 4 feet 11 inches and weight 135 pounds. On the Nushagak River the average weight of the men is from 150 to 167 pounds. From Cape Prince of Wales to Icy Cape along the Arctic Coast and on the great inland rivers emptying into the Arctic Ocean they are a large race, many of them being 6 feet and over in height.[93] They are lighter in color and fairer than the North American Indian, have black and brown eyes, black hair, some with a tinge of brown, high cheek bones, fleshy faces, small hands and feet, and good teeth. The men have thin beards.
1916, Hawkes:[94]
The Alaskan Eskimo are a taller and more symmetrical people than their brethren of the central and eastern districts. They lack that appearance of stoutness and squatness inherent in the eastern stock, and for proportion and development of the various parts of the body they do not compare unfavorably with Indians and whites. It is not unusual to find in an Alaskan Eskimo village several men who are 6 feet tall, with magnificent shoulders and arms and bodily strength in proportion. The usual height, however, is about 168 centimeters for men, which is some 10 centimeters above the height of the eastern Eskimo. * * * The average for women among the western Eskimo is 158 centimeters, which approximates the height of the men in the Hudson Bay region, 158 centimeters (Boas). The female type in Alaska is taller and slimmer than in the east, and the width of the face is considerably less. Eskimo women of large stature are often seen in the northern section of Alaska. The individual variation here is more conspicuous than in Labrador or Hudson Bay.
1923, Jenness:[95]
In his report on the Copper Eskimos, D. Jenness gives excellent descriptive notes on this group with references to others. These notes, too voluminous to be transcribed, may well be consulted in these connections.
FOOTNOTES:
[67] Cook, Capt. James, and Capt. James King. A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. London, 1784, II, vol. 2, p. 300.
[68] Kotzebue, Otto von, A voyage of discovery into the South Sea and Bering Strait, 1815-1818, vol. 1, p. 209. London, 1821.
[69] Beechey, F. W., Narrative of a voyage to the Pacific and Bering Strait. Philadelphia, 1832, pp. 474-476.
[70] Latham, Robert G., The varieties of man. London, 1850, pp. 290-292.
[71] Hooper, W. H., Ten months among the tents of the Tuski. London, 1853, pp. 223-224.
[72] Seemann, Berthold, Narrative of the voyage of H. M. S. Herald. London, 1853, vols. I-II. On the Anthropology of Western Eskimo Land and on the Desirability of Further Arctic Research. J. Anthrop. Soc., London, 1865, vol. III, p. 301.
[73] Richardson, Sir John, The Polar Regions. Edinburgh, 1861, p. 301.
[74] Dall, W. H., Alaska and Its Resources. Boston, 1870.
[75] Orarian, a term used by the author to distinguish the tribes of Innuit, Aleutians, and Asiatic Eskimo from the natives known under the name of Indian, in allusion to the universal coastwise distribution of the former.
[76] Bancroft, Hubert H., The Native Races of the Pacific States. Vol. I, New York, 1874. Wild Tribes, p. 45.
[77] Color.—"Their complexion, if divested of its usual covering of dirt, can hardly be called dark."—Seemann's Voy. Herald, vol. II, p. 51. "In comparison with other Americans of a white complexion."—McCulloh's Aboriginal Hist. of America, p. 20. "White complexion, not copper coloured."—Dobb's Hudson's Bay, p. 50. "Almost as white as Europeans."—Kalm's Travels, vol. II, p. 263. "Not darker than that of a Portuguese."—Lyon's Journal, p. 224. "Scarcely a shade darker than a deep brunet."—Parry's Third Voyage, p. 493. "Their complexion is light."—Dall's Alaska, p. 381. "Eyewitnesses agree in their superior lightness of complexion over the Chinooks."—Pickering's Races of Man, U. S. Ex. Ex., IX, 28. At Coppermine River they are "of a dirty copper color; some of the women, however, are more fair and ruddy."—Hearne's Travels, p. 166. "Considerably fairer than the Indian tribes."—Simpson's Nar., p. 110. At Cape Bathurst "the complexion is swarthy, chiefly, I think, from exposure and the accumulation of dirt."—Armstrong's Nar., p. 192. "Show little of the copper color of the Red Indians."—Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 303. "From exposure to weather they become dark after manhood."—Richardson's Nar., I, 343.
[78] Proportions.—"Both sexes are well proportioned, stout, muscular, and active."—Seemann's Voy. Herald, II, 50. "A stout, well-looking people."—Simpson's Nar., pp. 110, 114. "Below the mean of the Caucasian race."—Doctor Hayes in Historic Magazine, vol. I, p. 6. "They are thick set, have a decided tendency to obesity, and are seldom more than 5 feet in height."—Figuier's Human Race, p. 211. At Kotzebue Sound "tallest man was 5 feet 9 inches; tallest woman 5 feet 4 inches."—Beechey's Voy., I, 360. "Average height was 5 feet 4½ inches"; at the mouth of the Mackenzie they are of "middle stature, strong, and muscular."—Armstrong's Nar., 149, 192. "Low, broad set, not well made nor strong."—Hearne's Trav., p. 166. "The men were in general stout."—Franklin's Nar., I, 29. "Of a middle size, robust make, and healthy appearance."—Kotzebue's Voy., I, 209. "Men vary in height from about 5 feet to 5 feet 10 inches."—Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 304. "Women were generally short." "Their figure inclines to squat."—Hooper's Tuski, p. 224.
[79] Hands and feet.—"Tous les individus qui appartiennent à la famille des Esquimaux se distinguent par la petitesse de leurs pieds et de leurs mains, et la grosseur énorme de leurs têtes."—De Pauw, Recherches Phil. I, 262. "The hands, and feet are delicately small and well formed."—Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 304. "Small and beautifully made."—Seemann's Voy. Herald, II, 50. At Point Barrow "Their hands, notwithstanding the great amount of manual labor to which they are subject, were beautifully small and well formed, a description equally applicable to their feet."—Armstrong's Nar., p. 101.
[80] Head.—"The head is of good size, rather flat superiorly, but very fully developed posteriorly, evidencing a preponderance of the animal passions; the forehead was for the most part low and receding; in a few it was somewhat vertical but narrow."—Armstrong's Nar., p. 193. Their cranial characteristics "are the strongly developed coronary ridge, the obliquity of the zygoma, and its greater capacity compared with the Indian cranium. The former is essentially pyramidal, while the latter more nearly approaches a cubic shape."—Dall's Alaska, p. 376. "Greatest breadth of the face is just below the eyes, the forehead tapers upwards, ending narrowly but not acutely, and in like manner the chin is a blunt cone."—Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 302. Doctor Gall, whose observations on the same skulls presented him for phrenological observation are published by M. Louis Choris, thus comments upon the head of a female Eskimo from Kotzebue Sound: "L'organe de l'instinct de la propagation se trouve extrêmement dévelopé pour une tête de femme." He finds the musical and intellectual organs poorly developed, while vanity and love of children are well displayed. "En général," sagely concluded the doctor, "cette tête femme présentait une organization aussi heureuse que celle de la plupart des femmes d'Europe."—Voy. Pitt., pt. II, p. 16.
[81] Face.—"Large, fat, round faces, high cheek bones, small hazel eyes, eyebrows slanting like the Chinese, and wide mouths."—Beechey's Voy., I, 345. "Broad, flat faces, high cheek bones."—Doctor Hayes in Hist. Mag., I, p. 6. Their "teeth are regular, but from the nature of their food and from their practice of preparing hides by chewing, are worn down almost to the gums at an early age."—Seemann's Voy. Herald, II, 51. At Hudson Strait, "broad, flat, pleasing face; small and generally sore eyes; given to bleeding at the nose."—Franklin's Nar., I, 29. "Small eyes and very high cheek bones."—Kotzebue's Voy., I, 209. "La face plate, la bouche ronde, le nez petit sans être écrase, le blanc de l'oeil jaunâtre, l'iris noir et peu brillant."—De Pauw, Recherches Phil., I, 262. They have "small, wild-looking eyes, large and very foul teeth, the hair generally black, but sometimes fair, and always in extreme disorder."—Brownell's Indian Races, p. 467. "As contrasted with the other native American races, their eyes are remarkable, being narrow and more or less oblique."—Richardson's Nar., I, 343. "Expression of face intelligent and good natured. Both sexes have mostly round, flat faces, with Mongolian cast."—Hooper's Tuski, p. 223.
[82] Hair.—"Allowed to hang down in a club to the shoulder."—Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 305. "Their hair is straight, black, and coarse."—Seemann's Voy. Herald, II, 51. A fierce expression characterized them on the McKenzie River, which "was increased by the long, disheveled hair flowing about their shoulders."—Armstrong's Nar., p. 149.
[83] Beard.—"The old men had a few gray hairs on their chins, but the young ones, though grown up, were beardless."—Beechey's Voy., I, 322. "The possession of a beard is very rare, but a slight mustache is not infrequent."—Seemann's Voy. Herald, II, 51. "As the men grow old they have more hair on the face than red Indians."—Richardson's Nar., I, 343. "Generally an absence of beard and whiskers."—Armstrong's Nar., p. 193. "Beard is universally wanting."—Kotzebue's Voy., I, 252. "The young men have little beard, but some of the old ones have a tolerable show of long, gray hairs on the upper lip and chin."—Richardson's Pol. Reg., p. 303. "All have beards."—Bell's Geography, V, 294. Kirby affirms that in Alaska "many of them have a profusion of whiskers and beard."—Smiths. Report, 1864, p. 416.
[84] Simpson, John, Observations on the Western Eskimo and the Country They Inhabit. In A Selection of Papers on Arctic Geography and Ethnology, Pres. by the Roy. Geogr. Soc., London, 1875, pp. 238-246.
[85] Dall, W. H., Tribes of the Extreme Northwest. Contribution to North American Ethnology, I, Washington, 1877.
[86] Hooper, C. L., Report of cruise of the revenue steamer Corwin, 1881. Washington, 1884, p. 101.
[87] Ray, P. H., Ethnographic sketch of the natives. Report of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska. Washington, 1885.
[88] Murdoch, J., Ethnological results of the Point Barrow expedition. Ninth Ann. Rept. Bur. Ethn., 1887-88, pp. 33-39, Washington, 1892.
[89] Murdoch, J., Dress and physique of the Point Barrow Eskimos. Popul. Sci. Month., Dec., 1890, 222-223.
[90] Kelly, J. W., Arctic Eskimos in Alaska and Siberia. Revised and edited by Sheldon Jackson. Bull. No. 3, Soc. Alaskan Nat. Hist. and Ethnol., Sitka, 1890, p. 15.
[91] Nelson, Edward W., The Eskimo about Bering Strait. Eighteenth Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., Washington, 1900, pp. 26-29.
[92] Jackson, Sheldon, Our barbarous Eskimos in northern Alaska. The Metropol. Mag., Vol. XXII, New York, June, 1905, pp. 257-271.
[93] Either a bad misprint or bad error.—A. H.
[94] Hawkes, Ernest William, Skeletal measurements and observations of the Point Barrow Eskimo, with comparisons with other Eskimo groups. Am. Anthrop., n. s. XVIII, No. 2, pp. 206-207, Lancaster, 1916.
[95] Jenness, D., Physical characteristics of the Copper Eskimos. Rept. Canad. Arct. Exp. 1913-1918. Ottawa, 1923, p. 38.
Older Anthropometric Data on the Western Eskimo
STATURE AND OTHER MEASUREMENTS ON THE LIVING
The earliest actual measurements of the living among the western Eskimo are those given in Captain Beechey's Narrative (1832, p. 226), where we read that of the Eskimo of Cape Thompson (north of Kotzebue Sound) "the tallest man was 5 feet 9 inches (175.3 centimeters), the tallest woman 5 feet 4 inches (162.6 centimeters) in height." As seen before, Beechey also stated that the stature of the Eskimo increases from the east to the west.
In 1881-82, Lieutenant Ray collects and in 1885 reports evidently careful measurements of 51 men and 30 women from the villages of Uglaamie, at Cape Smythe, now Barrow, and Nuwuk, on Point Barrow.[96] An abstract of the data shows as follows:
- Average height: Male, 5 feet 3½ inches (161.3 centimeters); female, 4 feet 11¾ inches (151.8 centimeters).
- Average weight: Male, 153⅗ pounds; female, 135⅔ pounds.
- Tallest male: 5 feet 8¾ inches (174.6 centimeters).
- Tallest female: 5 feet 3 inches (160 centimeters).
- Shortest male: 4 feet 11 inches (149.9 centimeters).
- Shortest female: 4 feet ½ inch (123.2 centimeters).
- Weight: Male, 126 to 204 pounds; female, 106 to 172 pounds.
In 1892, in connection with the preparation of the anthropological exhibits for the World Exposition at Chicago, an extensive effort was made under the direction of Frederick W. Putnam and Franz Boas to secure, by the help of a group of specially instructed students, physical data on many tribes of the American aborigines, and this included a contingent of the western Eskimo. An abstract of the results was reported by Boas in 1895.[97] The locality where the Eskimo were measured is not given, but it was most likely Nome or St. Michael Island. Thirty-four men gave the high (for the Eskimo) average of 165.8 centimeters, an unstated number of women an equally elevated average of 155.1 centimeters. No details are given. There is also given the mean and distribution of the cephalic index on 114 living western Eskimo of both sexes. (On chart, p. 395, the number is 141.) The mean index was 79.2. There are again, as under Stature, no details as to locality, and none could be obtained from the author.
In 1901 Deniker, in his Races of Man (p. 580), reports the stature of 85 Eskimo of Alaska, doubtless males, as 163 centimeters. There are no details, no references, and I have not been able to trace the source of the measurement.
During the years 1897-1899 A. J. Stone made an extended journey along a portion of the upper Yukon and through parts of northwestern Alaska and the Mackenzie River basin, for the American Museum of Natural History. On this journey he made some measurements of Indian and Eskimo, and these were published in 1901 by Franz Boas.[98] The Eskimo measured were the "Nunatagmiut" (11 males, 5 females), of the Noatak River, Alaska, and the "Koukpagmiut," (12 males, 6 females), east of the mouth of the Mackenzie. The Noataks, who alone interest us more closely here, gave the relatively high (for Eskimo) stature of 167.9 centimeters in the men and 155.6 centimeters in the women. The number of subjects is small and there may possibly have been some unconscious selection; yet it is clear that in this group there are numerous fairly tall individuals.
| Males (11) | Females (5) | |
|---|---|---|
| Stature | 167.9 | 155.6 |
| Stretch of arms | 173.0 | 159.2 |
| Height of shoulder | 139.7 | 128.4 |
| Length of arm | 73.9 | 66.0 |
| Height sitting | 86.8 | 81.8 |
| Width of shoulders | 38.0 | 34.2 |
| Length of head | 18.9 | 18.1 |
| Width of head | 15.45 | 14.26 |
| Width of face | 15.57 | 14.46 |
| Height of face | 12.84 | 11.98 |
| Height of nose | 5.63 | 5.3 |
| Width of nose | 3.76 | 3.34 |
| Index of stretch of arms | 103.1 | 102.4 |
| Index of arm | 42.6 | |
| Index of height sitting | 52.6 | 52.4 |
| Index of width of shoulders | 22.6 | 22 |
| Cephalic index | 81.6 | 78.8 |
In addition, Doctor Jenness, in 1913, measured 13 adult male Point Hope Eskimo for stature, head length, and head breadth.[99] He obtained the following records:
| Stature | Head length | Head breadth | Cephalic index |
|---|---|---|---|
| 160.5 | 19.7 | 15.1 | 76.6 |
| 168.5 | 19.6 | 14.7 | 75.0 |
| 167.3 | 19.4 | 14.5 | 74.7 |
| 162.9 | 21.0 | 14.6 | 69.5 |
| 162.4 | 19.2 | 14.5 | 75.5 |
| 167.8 | 19.5 | 14.9 | 76.4 |
| 170.2 | 18.8 | 14.7 | 78.2 |
| 170.4 | 18.8 | 14.8 | 78.7 |
| 168.3 | 19.4 | 15.3 | 78.8 |
| 174.3 | 18.6 | 15.1 | 81.1 |
| 158.3 | 18.7 | 15.4 | 82.3 |
| 168.2 | 19.2 | 16.3 | 84.9 |
| 167.3 | 18.7 | 15.9 | 85.0 |
| Means[100] | |||
| 168.2 | 19.28 | 15.06 | 78.1 |
Doctor Jenness[101] also gives useful data on the stature and cephalic index of living Eskimo from other localities which, with the addition of the sources and a slightly different arrangement, are here reproduced:
| Place | Men | Women | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases | Stature | Cases | Stature | |
| Smith Sound (Steensby) | 8 | 157.4 | 10 | 145.4 |
| S. W. Greenland (Hansen) | 21 | 157.6 | 24 | 151.8 |
| Labrador (Duckworth and Pain) | 11 | 157.7 | 10 | 149.7 |
| Smith Sound (Hrdlička)[102] | 3 | 157.7 | ||
| S. E. Greenland (Hansen) | 22 | 160.4 | 23 | 152.9 |
| Point Barrow (Ray) | 51 | 161.5 | 28 | 153.6 |
| Hudson Bay (South Island and Aivilik) | ||||
| (S. I. 35, Tocher; A. 9, Boas) | 44 | 162.0 | 12 | 151.8 |
| Mackenzie Delta (Jenness) | 4 | 162.2 | ||
| N. E. Greenland (Hansen) | 31 | 164.7 | 15 | 155.1 |
| Coronation Gulf (Jenness) | 82 | 164.8 | 42 | 156.4 |
| Iglulik, Hudson Bay (Parry) | 20 | 166.0 | 20 | 153.7 |
| Point Hope (Jenness) | 13 | 166.5 | ||
| Mackenzie Delta (Stone) | 12 | 167.5 | 6 | 151.5 |
| Noatak River (Stone) | 11 | 167.9 | 5 | 155.5 |
| Place | Men | Women | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cases | Stature | Cases | Stature | |
| Mackenzie Delta (Stone) | 12 | 73.9 | ||
| Mackenzie Delta (Jenness) | 4 | 76.1 | 6 | 75.2 |
| Southeast Greenland (Hansen) | 22 | 75.7 | 23 | 75.0 |
| Labrador (Duckworth and Pain) | 11 | 77.0 | 10 | 74.5 |
| Hudson Bay (Tocher and Boas) | 35 | 77.2 | ||
| Coronation Gulf (Jenness) | 82 | 77.6 | 42 | 76.6 |
| Northeast Greenland (Hansen) | 31 | 77.8 | 15 | 76.5 |
| Smith Sound (Steensby) | 8 | 78.0 | 10 | 77.4 |
| Southwest Greenland (Hansen) | 21 | 78.1 | 24 | 76.8 |
| Point Hope (Jenness) | 13 | [104]78.3 | ||
| Noatak River (Stone) | 11 | 81.6 | 5 | 78.8 |
FOOTNOTES:
[96] Ray, Lieut. P. H., Report of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow, Alaska. Washington, 1885, p. 50.
[97] Zur Anthropologie der Nordamerikanischen Indianer. Verh. Berl. Ges. Anthrop., Sitz. Mai 18, 1895 (with Z. Ethnol. for same year).
[98] A. J. Stone's Measurements of Natives of the Northwestern Territories. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 1901, XIV, pp. 53-68.
[99] Physical Characteristics of the Copper Eskimo. Rep. Canad. Arch. Exped. 1913-1918, Ottawa, 1923, Introd., also p. B37.
[100] By present writer.
[101] Rep. Canad. Arct. Exped., 1913-1918, B50.
[102] Added from author's Anthropology of Central and Smith Sound Eskimo, 1910, 228; the stature of one woman was 146.7.
[103] Physical Characteristics of the Copper Eskimo. Rep. Canad. Arct. Exped., 1913-1918, Ottawa, 1923, p. B55.
[104] The totals of the measurements give 78.1—A. H.
THE SKULL
The first western Eskimo skull collected for scientific purposes was apparently that of a female St. Lawrence Islander. It was taken from the rocks of the island by the Kotzebue party in 1817. It was reported upon phrenologically in 1822 by Gall.[105]
In 1839 Morton, in his "Crania Americana" (p. 248), gives measurements and the illustration of a western Eskimo skull from Icy Cape, collected by Dr. A. Collie, surgeon of H. M. S. Blossom. The principal measurements of this evidently female skull were: Length, 17.02 centimeters; breadth, 12.70; height, 12.70. Cephalic index, 74.6.
In 1862[106] and 1863[107] Daniel Wilson reports briefly on six Tchuktchi skulls, which were probably those of Asiatic Eskimo. He says:
My opportunities for examining Esquimaux crania have been sufficient to furnish me with very satisfactory data for forming an opinion on the true Arctic skull form. In addition to the measurements of 38 skulls, * * * I have recently compared and carefully measured six Tchuktchi [probably Asiatic coast Eskimo] skulls, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, exhumed from the burial place of a village called Tergnyune, on the island of Arikamcheche, at Glassnappe Harbor, west of Bering Strait, and during a recent visit to Philadelphia I enjoyed the advantage of examining, in company with Dr. J. Aitken Meigs, a series of 125 [eastern] Esquimaux crania, obtained by Doctor Hayes during his Arctic journey of 1860. The comparison between the Tchuktchi and the true Esquimaux skull is interesting. Without being identical, the correspondence in form is such as their languages and other affinities would suggest. Of the former, moreover, the number is too few, and the derivation of all of them from one cemetery adds to the chances of exceptional family features; but on carefully examining the Hayes collection with a view to this comparison, I found it was quite possible to select an equal number of Esquimaux crania closely corresponding to the Tchuktchi type, which indeed presents the most prominent characteristics of the former, only less strongly marked.
In Prehistoric Man, Volume II, Plate XV, this author gives also the measurements of the Icy Cape skull recorded by Morton.
The principal mean measurements of the six Tchuktchi skulls (both sexes) were: Height, 17.60 centimeters; breadth, 13.59; height, 13.77; cranial index, 77.2.
The next measurements on western Eskimo crania are those given in 1867 by J. Barnard Davis (Thes. cran.). This author measured 6 skulls, 3 of which were from Port Clarence (Seward Peninsula), 2 from Kotzebue Sound, and 1 from Cape Lisburne. The measurements, regrettably, are in inches. They include the greatest glabello-occipital length, greatest breadth, height (plane of for. magn. to vertex), height of face (chin-nasion), and breadth of face (d. bizygom. max.). The cranial index of the 4 specimens identified as male averaged 75.5 (75-76), that of the 2 females 77.5 (77-78). On page 226 the author mentions also an artificially deformed skull of a Koniag; this was in all probability a wrong identification for no such deformations are known from the island (Kodiak).
In 1868 Jeffries Wyman[108] published measurements of 5 skulls of "Tsuktshi," the same as those of Daniel Wilson, and of 5 from the Yukon River, "three of which are Mahlemuts."
The identification of the specimens was partly erroneous. The data with corrected identification are republished by Dall (q. v.) in 1877. And the same skulls figure in all future measurements.
In 1875 Topinard[109] gives the Barnard Davis measurements in metric form without, so far as the western Eskimo are concerned, any additions.
The main measurements of Barnard Davis's western Eskimo skulls, converted to metric values, follow. The sex identification in some of the specimens is doubtful.
| Skull length | Breadth | Height (to vertex) | Cranial index | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Port Clarence, male | 17.8 | 13.45 | -14 | 75.7 |
| Do | 17.8 | 13.45 | 14.2 | 75.7 |
| Port Clarence, female | -18 | -14 | 13.45 | 77.5 |
| Means of the three | 17.86 | 13.64 | 13.59 | 76.4 |
| Kotzebue Sound, male | 17.55 | 13.2 | 13.45 | 75.4 |
| Kotzebue Sound, female | 17.3 | 13.45 | 13.7 | 77.9 |
| Means of the two (probably both females) | 17.4 | 13.35 | 13.6 | 76.6 |
| Cape Lisburne, male | 18.3 | 14.2 | -14 | 77.8 |
The next records are those by George A. Otis, published in 1876 in the Check List of the Specimens in the Section of Anatomy of the United States Army Medical Museum, Washington (pp. 13-15). Aside from those on Greenland crania the author gives here the measurements of 3 presumably Eskimo skulls collected by Dall; of 2 western Eskimo skulls, no locality; and of 3 Mahlemut skulls, probably from Norton Sound (St. Michael Island). In his later (1880) catalogue,[110] page 13, Otis adds to the above three skulls from Prince William Sound, which, however, were more probably Indian; the three Mahlemuts, on the other hand, are given with the Alaskan Indians (p. 35). These data are of but little value. The Eskimo skulls are the same Smithsonian specimens that were reported upon in 1868 by Jeffries Wyman.
In 1878, Rae[111] mentions some measurements or observations on the skulls of Western Eskimo by Flower, but no records of these could be located. Rae says:
I had the privilege of attending the series of admirable lectures so ably given by Professor Flower at the Royal College of Surgeons a few weeks ago on the "Comparative Anatomy of Man," from which I derived much useful information and on one point very considerable food for thought.
I allude to the wonderful difference in form exhibited between the skulls of the Eskimos from the neighborhood of Bering Strait, and of those inhabiting Greenland, the latter being extremely dolichocephalic, whilst the former are the very opposite—brachycephalic, the natives of the intermediate coast, from the Coppermine River eastward, having mesocephalic heads.
In 1879 Lucien Carr, in his "Observations on the Crania from the Santa Barbara Islands, California"[112] (p. 281), gives erroneously Otis's measurements of Aleut skulls as those of "Alaskan Eskimo."
Meanwhile W. H. Dall has published (1877) his monograph on the "Tribes of the Extreme Northwest,"[113] in which he includes Wyman's and also some of Otis's data on the Eskimo (and Aleut) skulls from Alaska and Asia. The Tshuktshi are now classed as Asiatic Eskimo, the Mahlemuts as Eskimo from St. Michael Island. The total number of skulls described in the former series is 11, in the latter series 6 (of Aleuts the number of skulls measured is 27 adults and 7 children). The means of the principal measurements of the Eskimo series, both sexes together, are as follows:
| Crania (both sexes) | Length | Breadth | Height | Cranial index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (11) | (11) | (7) | (11) | |
| Asiatic Eskimo | 17.8 | 14.1 | 13.2 | 79.3 |
| (6) | (6) | (6) | (6) | |
| Northwest American Eskimo | 17.5 | 13.2 | 13.1 | 75.1 |
There were also taken the weight, capacity, circumference, longitudinal arch, length of the frontal, parietal, and occipital, "zygomatic diameter," and in two specimens of each series the facial angle. To-day these data have but a historical value.
In 1882, Quatrefages and Hamy,[114] in their "Crania ethnica" (p. 440) give the measurements of two male Kaniagmiouts (Kodiak Indian, A. Pinart, collector) and one female Mahlemiout. The principal measurements of these skulls are as follows:
| Males (2) | Female (1) | |
|---|---|---|
| Skull: | ||
| Length | 18.6 | 17.9 |
| Breadth | 14.2 | 13.9 |
| Height (bas.-bg.) | 14.3 | 13.2 |
| Cranial index | 76.34 | 77.65 |
| Nose: | ||
| Length | 5.9 | 5.1 |
| Breadth | 2.3 | 2.3 |
| Nasal index | 38.98 | 45.09 |
| Facial index, total | 77.69 | 70.37 |
| Orbital index | 92.68 | 90.24 |
In 1883 Dr. Irving C. Rosse, in his "Medical and Anthropological Notes on Alaska,"[115] refers to his examination of a number of Eskimo skulls from the St. Lawrence Island brought to the Army Medical Museum.[116] There are no measurements outside of a reference to the capacity, but there are two excellent chromolithographs showing two female crania, besides a number of outline drawings.
The next data on the western Eskimo skull are in rather unsatisfactory condition. They are those of Boas. In his report on the "Anthropologie der nordamerikanischen Indianer,"[117] Doctor Boas mentions the cranial index of the Alaska Eskimo to average 77; and on page 397 he reports the same index as secured on 37 "Alaska Eskimo" skulls, apparently of both sexes. The only note relating to these figures is found on page 393, where it is stated that these results proceed from measurements that had been made for the author at the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, the American Museum, New York, the Academy of Sciences, Philadelphia, and the United States Army Medical Museum, Washington; and that he utilized also the measurements of Barnard Davis and Otis. On 22 of the above western Eskimo skulls there is also given the length-height index of 76.6. There is no information as to either sex or locality. There are no other measurements.
Deniker (1901) and later Martin (1914) repeat the data given by Boas.
In 1890 Tarenetzky[118] publishes measurements and observations on four Koniag (Kodiak) skulls and one Oglemute (Aglegmute, Alaska Peninsula). The main measurements (pp. 70-71) are: