PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DENES. 65

and noses almost approaching the pug. Between these two extremes there is
every intermediate variety of color and contour. Some faces remind one very
strongly of the Tartars, or the Japanese”’!,

Yet, compared with their northern kin, I think we may say that adult
Navahoes have, in a majority of cases, broader and much more prominent
maxillary bones, more pointed noses and a more determined and intelligent
expression than the northern Dénés. Their children, even when very young,
have features less embryotic, noses better developed and foreheads somewhat
higher, with glabelle lower than is common with children of corresponding
age in the north.

According to Dr. A. Hrdlicka2, the men range in height from 162-4 to
183°0 cm. and the women from 148-4 to 166°3 cm. In most cases the head
is flattened posteriorly, though not as a result of intentional deforming practices.
This is due to the pressure of a small pad used on the baby-board as a
head-rest. The same cause produces the same effect on the Apaches. In spite
of this it is plain that the Navahoes are as a whole naturally brachycephalic.

The face of the Navahoes betrays a moderate prognathism. To quote
from the same authority’s anthropometric description of that tribe “the nose
measures in men 5°38 cm., in women 5:0 cm. in length, and 4:0 cm. and
3°6 cm. respectively in width, and shows fair height. The malars are generally
somewhat prominent. The average height of the face to nasion in men is
12:0, in women 11:3 cm.; to the hair line, in men 18:9, in women 17:76 cm;
the diameter of the bizygomatic maxillary in men is 14°7, in women 13°8 cm.’”’8,

Dr. Hrdlicka remarks also that, in the same tribe, the colour of the hair
is frequently brownish or rusty, but that this may be due to exposure to the
rays of the sun, or to frequent shampooing of the head with suds made from
yucca root, adding that “in the young the hair is invariably jet-black”. Now
it seems a little strange that just the reverse is true of the northern Dénés.
Among them the children have not unfrequently brownish hair, but this in all
cases turns to a deep black with age. As to the beard, though it is very
generally of an intensely dark colour, I know of quite a few cases among the
Babines, for instance, when it is of an almost blond hue in individuals whose
full-bloodedness cannot be doubted.

Sexual Characteristics.

Adolescent Navahoes are generally somewhat more advanced towards
maturity than whites of a corresponding age. The outward signs of puberty
scem slower to appear in the north, and the development of the breasts and

* The Catholic Pioneer, Nov., 1905, pp. 12—13.

* “Physical and Physiological Observations on the Navaho”. American Anthropologist,
vol. Il, p. 341.

* Tbid., tbid.