In stature these people are of a medium height, robust and muscular,
“inclining rather to spareness than corpulence,”[N13] though the
fullness of the face and the thick fur clothing often gives the
impression of the latter. There is, however, considerable individual
variation among them in this respect. The women are as a rule shorter
than the men, occasionally almost dwarfish, though some women are
taller than many of the men. The tallest man observed measured 5 feet
9½ inches, and the shortest 4 feet 11 inches. The tallest woman was 5
feet 3 inches in height, and the shortest 4 feet ½ inch. The heaviest
man weighed 204 pounds and the lightest 126 pounds. One woman weighed
192 pounds and the shortest woman was also the lightest, weighing only
100 pounds.[N14] The hands and feet are small and well shaped, though
the former soon become distorted and roughened by work. We did not
observe the peculiar breadth of hands noticed by Dr. Simpson, nor is
the shortness of the thumb which he mentions sufficient to attract
attention.[N15] Their feet are so small that only one of our party,
who is much below the ordinary size, was able to wear the boots made
by the natives for themselves. Small and delicate hands and feet
appear to be a universal characteristic of the Eskimo race and have
been mentioned by most observers from Greenland to Alaska.[N16]
[Footnote N13: Simpson, op. cit., p. 238.]
[Footnote N14: See Report of Point Barrow Expedition, p. 50, for a
table of measurements of a number of individuals selected at
random from the natives of both villages and their visitors.]
[Footnote N15: Op. cit., p. 238.]
[Footnote N16: Davis (1586) speaks of the “small, slender hands
and feet” of the Greenlanders. Hakluyt’s Voyages, etc. (1589),
p. 782.
“Their hands and feet are little and soft.” Crantz, vol. 1, p. 133
(Greenland).
Hands and feet “extremely diminutive,” Parry 1st Voy., p. 282
(Baffin Land).
“Their hands and feet are small and well formed.” Kumlien
Contrib., p. 15 (Cumberland Gulf).
“Feet extraordinarily small.” Ellis, Voyage, etc., p. 132 (Hudson
Strait).
Franklin (1st Exp., vol. 2, p. 180) mentions the small hands and
feet of the two old Eskimo that he met at the Bloody Fall of the
Coppermine River.
“. . . boots purchased on the coast were seldom large enough for
our people.” Richardson Searching Exp., i, p. 344 (Cape Bathurst).
“Their hands and feet are small.” Petroff, Report, etc., p. 134
(Kuskoquim River).
Chappell (Hudson Bay, pp. 59, 60) has a remarkable theory to
account for the smallness of the extremities among the people of
Hudson Strait. He believes that “the same intense cold which
restricts vegetation to the form of creeping shrubs has also its
effect upon the growth of mankind, preventing the extremities from
attaining their due proportion”!]
[Illustration: FIG. 1. Unalina, a man of Nuwŭk.]
The features of these people have been described by Dr. Simpson,[N17]
and are distinctively Eskimo in type, as will be seen by comparing the
accompanying portraits (Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4, from photographs by
Lieut. Ray) with the many pictures brought from the eastern Arctic
regions by various explorers, some of which might easily pass for
portraits of persons of our acquaintance at Point Barrow.[N18]
[Footnote N17: Op. cit., p. 238.]
[Footnote N18: One young man at Point Barrow looks remarkably like
the well known “Eskimo Joe,” as I remember him in Boston in the
winter of 1862-’63.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Mûmûñina, a woman of Nuwŭk.]
The face is broad, flat, and round, with high cheek bones and rather
low forehead, broad across the brow and narrowing above, while the
head is somewhat pointed toward the crown. The peculiar shape of the
head is somewhat masked by the way of wearing the hair, and is best
seen in the skull. The nose is short, with little or no bridge (few
Eskimo were able to wear our spring eye-glasses), and broad,
especially across the alæ nasæ, with a peculiar rounded, somewhat
bulbous tip, and large nostrils. The eyes are horizontal,[N19] with
rather full lids, and are but slightly sunken below the level of the
face.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Akabiana, a youth of Utkiavwiñ.]
The mouth is large and the lips full, especially the under one. The
teeth are naturally large, and in youth are white and generally
regular, but by middle age they are generally worn down to
flat-crowned stumps, as is usual among the Eskimo. The color of the
skin is a light yellowish brown, with often considerable ruddy color
on the cheeks and lips. There appears to be much natural variation in
the complexion, some women being nearly as fair as Europeans, while
other individuals seem to have naturally a coppery color.[N20] In most
cases the complexion appears darker than it really is from the effects
of exposure to the weather. All sunburn very easily, especially in the
spring when there is a strong reflection from the snow.
[Footnote N19: The expression of obliquity in the eyes, mentioned
by Dr. Simpson (op. cit., p. 239), seems to me to have arisen from
the shape of the cheek bones. I may be mistaken, however, as no
careful comparisons were made on the spot.]
[Footnote N20: Frobisher says of the people of Baffin Land: “Their
colour is not much unlike the sunburnt countrie man.” Hakluyt’s
Voyages, etc. (1589), p. 627.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Puka, a young man of Utkiavwiñ.]
The old are much wrinkled, and they frequently suffer from watery
eyes, with large sacks under them, which begin to form at a
comparatively early age. There is considerable variation in features,
as well as complexion, among them, even in cases where there seems to
be no suspicion of mixed blood. There were several men among them with
decided aquiline noses and something of a Hebrew cast of countenance.
The eyes are of various shades of dark brown--two pairs of light hazel
eyes were observed--and are often handsome. The hair is black,
perfectly straight, and very thick. With the men it is generally
coarser than with the women, who sometimes have very long and silky
hair, though it generally does not reach much below the shoulders. The
eyebrows are thin and the beard scanty, growing mostly upon the upper
lip and chin, and seldom appearing under the age of 20. In this they
resemble most Eskimo. Back,[N21] however, speaks of the “luxuriant
beards and flowing mustaches” of the Eskimo of the Great Fish River.
Some of the older men have rather heavy black mustaches, but there is
much variation in this respect. The upper part of the body (as much is
commonly exposed in the house) is remarkably free from hair. The
general expression is good humored and attractive.
[Footnote N21: Journey, etc., p. 289.]
The males, even when very young, are remarkable for their graceful and
dignified carriage. The body is held erect, with the shoulders square
and chest well thrown out, the knees straight, and the feet firmly
planted on the ground. In walking they move with long swinging elastic
strides, the toes well turned out and the arms swinging.
I can not agree with Dr. Simpson that the turning out of the toes
gives “a certain peculiarity to their gait difficult to
describe.”[N22] I should say that they walked like well built athletic
white men. The women, on the other hand, although possessing good
physiques, are singularly ungraceful in their movements. They walk at
a sort of shuffling half-trot, with the toes turned in, the body
leaning forward, and the arms hanging awkwardly.[N23]
[Footnote N22: Op. cit., p. 238.]
[Footnote N23: Cf. Simpson, op. cit., p. 240.]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Woman stretching skins.]
A noticeable thing about the women is the remarkable flexibility of
the body and limbs, and the great length of time they can stand in a
stooping posture. (See Fig. 5 for a posture often assumed in working.)
Both men and women have a very fair share of muscular strength. Some
of the women, especially, showed a power of carrying heavy loads
superior to most white men. We were able to make no other comparisons
of their strength with ours. Their power of endurance is very great,
and both sexes are capable of making long distances on foot. Two men
sometimes spend 24 hours tramping through the rough ice in search of
seals, and we knew of instances where small parties made journeys of
50 or 75 miles on foot without stopping to sleep.
The women are not prolific. Although all the adults are or have been
married, many of them are childless, and few have more than two
children. One woman was known to have at least four, but
investigations of this sort were rendered extremely difficult by the
universal custom of adoption. Dr. Simpson heard of a “rare case” where
one woman had borne seven children.[N24] We heard of no twins at
either village, though we obtained the Eskimo word for twins. It was
impossible to learn with certainty the age at which the women first
bear children, from the impossibility of learning the age of any
individuals in the absence of any fixed method of reckoning time. Dr.
Simpson states that they do not commonly bear children before the age
of 20,[N25] and we certainly saw no mothers who appeared younger than
this. We knew of but five cases of pregnancy in the two villages
during the 2 years of our stay. Of these, one suffered miscarriage,
and of the other four, only two of the infants lived more than a short
time. It is exceedingly difficult, for the reasons stated above, to
form any estimate of the age to which these people live, though it is
natural to suppose that the arduous and often precarious existence
which they lead must prevent any great longevity. Men and women who
appeared to be 60 or over were rare. Yûksĭ´ña, the so-called “chief”
of Nuwŭk, who was old enough to be a man of considerable influence at
the time the _Plover_ wintered at Point Barrow (1852-’54), was in 1881
a feeble, bowed, tottering old man, very deaf and almost blind, but
with his mental faculties apparently unimpaired. Gray hair appears
uncommon. Even the oldest are, as a rule, but slightly gray.
[Footnote N24: Op. cit., p. 254.]
[Footnote N25: Op. cit. p. 254.]