62 THE GREAT DENE RACE.

From the viewpoint of bodily perfection, the Loucheux will undoubtedly
be found to be the best specimens of the human species within the fold ol
the nation under study. The fact that, judging by their geographical position,
they are probably the last comers into the American continent would seem
to prompt the inference that the many privations and roving mode ol life
resulting from the severity of the climate and their unfamiliarity with agri-
cultural pursuits have been detrimental to the physical welfare of their race.
The inland Loucheux are materially among the purest and least adulterated
representative Dénés. They are tall and well formed. Indeed Isbiter calls them
“an athletic and fine looking race, considerably above the average stature,
most of them being upwards of six feet in height and remarkably well pro-
portioned... Their countenances are handsome and pleasing, and capable of
great expression!”. Their foreheads are high, their eyes sparkling, and their
complexion quite fair for American Indians. Whymper regards the western
Loucheux as “a fine stout race2”. In connection with the same, Dall occa-
sionally speaks of “very fine looking” women®, and Richardson’s informant
on that aboriginal group instances “the wife of one of the chiefs as being
so handsome that, setting aside the Indian garb and tattooed face, she would
have been considered a fine woman in any country*”.

Their neighbours to the south, and east of the Rocky Mountains, cannot
boast such a fine physique. They are generally brachycephalic, with an in-
ferior facial angle, prominent cheek bones, noses of a rather aquiline type,
though always abnormally broad at the base. Their mouths are wide and
furnished with well set and very white teeth, an accomplishment which is
shared by the whole family. Their lips, generally too long, give them a
prognathic appearance, when they are not ungracefully parted, leaving the
mouth open, while their chins are sometimes pointed, slightly curved up and
occasionally receding, especially in cases of real prognathism.

The Dog-Ribs and the Slaves met by Alexander Mackenzie were “a
meagre, ugly, ill-made people, particularly about the legs, which are very
clumsy and covered with scabs5”. Altogether, the impression their appearance
made on the great explorer was unfavourable. They also seemed to be rather
unhealthy, owing mostly to their want of cleanliness. As a rule, their facies
is of a square oval type, though the greatest width is always across the
malar bones.

The representatives of the fair sex are amongst them much less _pre-
possessing than in the extreme northwest. Their features are coarse though
kindly, and oftentimes dejected. In female children they are in quite a rttdi-

’ Report of Brit. Ass. for the Adv. of Science, for 1847, p. 122.

* «Travel and Adventure in the Territory of Alaska’, p. 153.

5 «Travels on the Yukon”, p. 27.

* “Arctic Searching Expedition”, vol. I, p. 379.

® «Voyages from Montreal to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans”, vol. I, p. 234.