but this arises from exposure, as that of the rest of the body is white, differing in no respect from that of the working classes in this country, save that it is not kept so clean, it being a rare thing, I am informed, for the Lapps to wash themselves.

The colour of the hair in the males differs from that of the females, being dark brown in the former and light brown in the latter. In all cases it is quite straight, and regularly distributed over the scalp.

The examination of the various measurements was made under very disadvantageous circumstances; indeed many measurements I wished to make could not be obtained at all. The following are the results of those I was able to make. In stature there is a good deal of variation among the men, one being comparatively tall, while the other two are short. The average stature of the three is 1,562 mm. = 5 feet 1 inches. The tallest man measured 1,655 mm. (5 feet 5.2 inches) in height, while the shortest was only 1,480 mm. (4 feet 10-3 inches). The women, however, are more of a uniform height, being respectively 1,500 (4 feet 11 inches) and 1,520 mm. (5 feet). These measurements were made with boots on the feet, for which, as far as I could calculate, 2.5 cm. (1 inch) in the case of the men, and 15 cm. (6 inch) in the women, must be deducted to obtain the actual stature. According to Horch' the average height of male Lapps is 1,500 mm. (4 feet 11 inches), which fairly agrees with the average of those before us, when the thickness of the sole of the boot is allowed for. The shortness of stature seems to be due to the shortness of the lower limbs, which are short in proportion to the size of the trunk, as compared to what obtains in Europeans generally. The average difference between the height of the males and females is about 40 mm., or about onethird what it is between English men and women.2

The span of the arms in all instances exceeds the height of the body. The span of the arms in the tall man considerably exceeds that of the others, and is also much larger in proportion to his height.

The length of the forearm and hand, from the end of the olecranon to the tip of the middle finger, is much the same both in the males and females, except the tall male, who has a considerably longer forearm than the others, it being in his case 470 mm., having a mean length in the others of 420 mm.

The form of the head is very brachycephalic, or short from before backwards, in proportion to its breadth, the cephalic index, or the proportion of breadth to length, averaging 90-2 in the males. and 870 in the females. Comparing these averages in

1 Report Brit. Asoc. (1883), p. 271.

2 Ibid. (1883), p. 260.

the living with those in the skulls, we find that the cephalic index of seven male skulls in the College of Surgeons Museum is 83-4, and of forty skulls 801. The results obtainable from these two sets of measurements agree, in that they indicate the Lapps to be a very brachycephalic race. The points of maximum breadth are situated far back comparatively to the length of the skull, while the forehead is narrow, giving the cranium a markedly wedge-shaped appearance, a condition which is readily observed in the living people before us. The size of the skull is large, as is indicated by its capacity, which in the crania before us average 1,570 cc., measured with mustard seed according to Professor Flower's method, which is about 30 cc. less than what their actual capacity probably is.

The chin is narrow and pointed, especially in the males, while the malar bones stand out prominently. In the skulls the prominence of the malars is also observable, but the pointedness of the chin is less marked. The flatness of the face so characteristic of the pure Mongolians is little observable in the people before us. The transverse axis of the palpebral opening is almost horizontal, as in Europeans generally, so that in this respect they do not possess the well-marked Mongolic feature of oblique eyes. There is no vertical band masking the internal commissure of the eyes as in the Mongols; the eyebrows extend over the eyes as in Europeans. The orbital index of the skulls. average-males 83-8, females 82.8. The facial index, or the length of the face in proportion to its breadth, averages 77.3 in the males and 76-8 in the females, while in the skulls it is 84.2 in the former, 86.3 in the latter.

On an examination of the skulls we find that though the zygomatic fossæ are normally deep, the zygomatic arches lose their usual appearance of prominence owing to the breadth of the brain case above. Indeed, the Lapp skulls I have examined are without exception cryptozygos. The fronto-zygomatic index of the five males averages 934, and of the four females 92.9, which is remarkable, as in a long list of this index in various races given by Topinard, only in the Eskimo does the index in the males. exceed that of the females. The gonio-zygomatic index of the males averages 783, and of the females 806, which shows the breadth of the lower portion of the face of the woman to be greater than that of the man. This character, when taken in conjunction with the facial index, which is lower in the woman than in the males, shows that the face of the former is rounder than that of the latter. This is well illustrated in the living specimens before us.

The nasal index is 73.5 in the males, and 68.2 in the females, while in the skulls it is 471 in the former, and 494 in the

latter. It may be observed that in this measurement especially the same accuracy of observation cannot be obtained in the living as in the skull, where the points of measurement are easily and accurately defined. Indeed, the measurements on the living and on the skull can seldom be directly compared with one another. The most that can be done is to compare general results of each set of measurements, to ascertain whether they corroborate each other in indicating certain characters, there being no definite relation between them.

The chief characters of the Lapps may be briefly stated to be-Brachycephalic, Brachyprosopic, Mesognathous, Leptorhine, Meso-konchus, Cryptozygos, and Megacephalic.

The following paper was read:

THE ESKIMO DIALECTS as serving to determine the Relationship between the Eskimo Tribes. By Dr. H. RINK, Knight of the Order of Danneborg, etc.

IN April, 1871, I received a letter from the Secretary of the Ethnological Society, then lately united with the Anthropological Society, in which I was invited to communicate to the newlyformed Institute a paper on the Eskimo, in accordance with a promise which I had given. I do not know how I failed to keep this promise, unless that in 1875 I published an English edition of my "Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo," when a communication of the kind suggested was in some measure rendered useless. But since that time I have advanced in my Eskimo studies from the traditions to the language, and have endeavoured to discover whether the dialects of the different Eskimo tribes could not lead to some conclusions regarding their mutual relationship, their origin, and ancient migrations. I am far from having finished this investigation, but as I have just now had an opportunity of revising the material which I have collected, I take the liberty to lay before the Institute some of my preliminary results.

It has often been stated that the Eskimo of the extreme East and West are able to understand each other in their mothertongues. If this assertion is not to be taken in the strictest sense, I almost believe it. But considering that these tribes are separated by a distance of more than 3,000 miles in a straight line, there must at all events be differences, the examination of which cannot be neglected on trying to solve the problems in question.

The peculiarity of the Eskimo language as polysynthetic, consists, as well known, in the construction of nouns and verbs by which other classes of words are made almost unnecessary, and one word is able to express a whole sentence, or even a compound sentence, including subordinate clauses. This process is founded on radical words to which additional or imperfect words, or affixes, are attached; and on the inflexion, which for transitive verbs indicates subject as well as object, likewise by means of additions. The number of affixes that can be attached to a radical word in order to form one derivative is not fixed, but it rarely amounts to ten. Although their application and arrangement also is restricted by several rules,

"Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo." Edited by Dr. Robert Brown. (Edinburgh, 1875.)

the combinations which can be formed by them for the same radical nevertheless amount to amazing numbers. On trying to calculate the derivatives which in this way they can produce, we are gradually threatened by the prospect of arriving at hundreds of thousands. But on the other hand, we must remember at the same time that one transitive verb amongst these derivatives may be rich enough in ideas to require twenty words of one of our European languages in order to be translated.

The uniformity of the language implies that the tribes, now so widely spread, once inhabited a narrower original home. The spreading by migrations from this home must have been effected very slowly and gradually on account of the scarcity of provisions which they would carry along with them, the necessity of procuring every day their subsistence by hunting, and, finally, their ignorance respecting the regions into which they penetrated, and which were first discovered by them. However, it seems probable that a thousand years ago they had already reached about the present limits of the territory now occupied by them. Assuming that the dialectic differences between the present tribes are chiefly proportionate to the time during which they have been separated, I have tried to indicate this, or in other words, the mutual relationship of the tribes, by means of the following genealogical table :—

We are compelled to believe that the Aleutians were already separated from the principal tribe at some period anterior to the arrival of the latter at the coast. The remains which are found in the lower strata of the rubbish heaps on the inhabited places of the Aleutian Islands differ from the corresponding remains which are known to occur in other Eskimo settlements. Perhaps the original Aleutians had visited and reconnoitred the islands annually from the American continent at a certain