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.