The Eskimo from Bering Strait to the lower Yukon are fairly
well-built people, averaging among the men about 5 feet 2 or 3
inches in height. The Yukon Eskimo and those living southward
from that river to the Kuskokwim are, as a rule, shorter and more
squarely built. The Kuskokwim people are darker of complexion than
those to the northward, and have rounder features. The men commonly
have a considerable growth of hair on their faces, becoming at
times a thin beard 2 or 3 inches in length, with a well-developed
mustache. No such development of beard was seen elsewhere in the
territory visited.
The people in the coast region between the mouths of the Kuskokwim
and the Yukon have peculiarly high cheek bones and sharp chins,
which unite to give their faces a curiously pointed, triangular
appearance. At the village of Kaialigamut I was impressed by the
strong development of the superciliary ridge. From a point almost
directly over the pupil of the eye and extending thence inward to
the median line of the forehead is a strong bony ridge causing the
brow to stand out sharply. From the outer edge of this the skull
appears as though beveled away to the ears, giving the temporal
area a considerable enlargement beyond that usually shown. This
curious development of the skull is rendered still more striking by
the fact that the bridge of the nose is low, as usual among these
people, so that the shelf-like projection of the brow stands out in
strong relief. It is most strongly marked among the men and appears
to be characteristic at this place. Elsewhere in this district it
was noted only rarely here and there.
All of the people in the district about Capes Vancouver and
Romanzof, and thence to the Yukon mouth, are of unusually light
complexion. Some of the women have a pale, slightly yellowish
color, with pink cheeks, differing but little in complexion from
that of a sallow woman of Caucasian blood. This light complexion is
so exceptionally striking that wherever they travel these people
are readily distinguished from other Eskimo, and before I visited
their territory I had learned to know them by their complexion
whenever they came to St. Michael.
The people of the district just mentioned are all very short and
squarely built. Inland from Cape Vancouver lies the flat marshy
country about Big Lake, which is situated between the Kuskokwim
and the Yukon. It is a well-populated district and its inhabitants
differ from those near the coast at the capes referred to, in being
taller, more slender, and having more squarely cut features. They
also differ strikingly from any other Eskimo with whom I came in
contact, except those on Kowak River, in having the bridge of the
nose well developed and at times sufficiently prominent to suggest
the aquiline nose of our southern Indian tribes.
The Eskimo of the Diomede Islands in Bering Strait, as well as
those of East Cape and Mechigme and Plover Bays on the Siberian
coast, and of St. Lawrence Island are tall, strongly built people
and are generally similar in their physical features. These are
characterized by the unusual heaviness of the lower part of the
face due to the very square and massive lower jaw, which, combined
with broad, high cheek bones and flattened nose, produces a wide,
flat face. These features are frequently accompanied with a low
retreating forehead, producing a decidedly repulsive physiognomy.
The bridge of the nose is so low and the cheek bones so heavy that
a profile view will frequently show only the tip of the person's
nose, the eyes and upper portion of the nose being completely
hidden by the prominent outline of the cheek. Their eyes are less
oblique than is common among the people living southward from
the Yukon mouth. Among the people at the northwestern end of St.
Lawrence Island there is a greater range of physiognomy than was
noted at any other of the Asiatic localities.
The Point Hope people on the American coast have heavy jaws and
well-developed superciliary ridges. At Point Barrow the men are
remarkable for the irregularity of their features, amounting to
a positive degree of ugliness, which is increased and rendered
specially prominent by the expression produced by the short,
tightly drawn upper lip, the projecting lower lip, and the small
beady eyes. The women and children of this place are in curious
contrast, having rather pleasant features of the usual type.
The Eskimo from Upper Kowak and Noatak Rivers who were met at
the summer camp on Hotham Inlet are notable for the fact that a
considerable number of them have hook noses and nearly all have a
cast of countenance very similar to that of the Yukon Tienné. They
are a larger and more robustly built people than these Indians,
however, and speak the Eskimo language. They wear labrets, practice
the tonsure, and claim to be Eskimo. * * * Among them was seen one
man having a mop of coarse curly hair, almost negroid in character.
The same feature was observed in a number of men and women on the
Siberian coast between East Cape and Plover Bay. This latter is
undoubtedly the result of the Chukchi-Eskimo mixture, and in the
case of the man seen at Hotham Inlet the same result had been
brought about by the Eskimo-Indian combination. Among the Eskimo
south of Bering Strait on the American coast not a single instance
of this kind was observed. The age of the individuals having
this curly hair renders it quite improbable that it came from an
admixture of blood with foreign voyagers, since some of them must
have been born at a time when vessels were extremely rare along
these shores. As a further argument against this curly hair having
come from white men, I may add that I saw no trace of it among a
number of people having partly Caucasian blood. As a general thing,
the Eskimo of the region described, have small hands and feet and
the features are oval in outline, rather flat and with slightly
oblique eyes.
Children and young girls have round faces and often are
very pleasant and attractive in feature, the angular race
characteristics becoming prominent after the individuals approach
manhood. The women age rapidly, and only a very small proportion of
the people live to an advanced age.
The Malemut and the people of Kaviak Peninsula, including those of
the islands in Bering Strait are tall, active, and remarkably well
built. Among them it is common to see men from 5 feet 10 inches to
6 feet tall and of proportionate build. I should judge the average
among them to be nearly or quite equal in height to the whites.
Among the coast Eskimos, as a rule, the legs are short and poorly
developed, while the body is long with disproportionately developed
dorsal and lumbar muscles, due to so much of their life being
passed in the kaiak.
The Eskimo of the Big Lake district, south of the Yukon, and from
the Kaviak Peninsula, as well as the Malemut about the head of
Kotzebue Sound, are on the contrary very finely proportioned and
athletic men who can not be equaled among the Indians of the Yukon
region. * * * There were a number of half-blood children among the
Eskimo, resulting from the intercourse with people from vessels and
others, who generally show their Caucasian blood by large, finely
shaped, and often remarkably beautiful brown eyes. The number of
these mixed bloods was not very great.