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Show i9oo] FUTURE OP THE INDIANS 263 as the more general feature. It can hardly be a mere accident, however, that the tribes of the northwest coast are short and heavily built, while the Indians of the plains are tall and lithe. The seafaring life of the former, which is spent mainly in canoes, and the active hunting and, in modern days, equestrian habits of the latter have undoubtedly contributed to the selection of the physique. The shape and dimensions of the skull, which are studied with great assiduity by anthropologists, indicate nothing striking with regard to the Indian; 1 he is ordinarily of the mesocephalic type, though exhibiting extremes of long- headedness and broad-headedness in special instances. Skull measurements are chiefly interesting as giving some information with respect to the brain within, and capacity is therefore of more significance than shape. The possible discrepancy, however, between the size of the skull and that of the brain it contains is so great that examination of the brain itself is the only safe basis for conclusions. It is, therefore, unfortunate that thus far there is not a single authentic record of a North American Indian brain ever having been scientifically examined. The indications from skull measurements would be that the Indian brain is, on the average, slightly smaller than that of the European, but any inferences with regard to consequent mental inferiority are unsafe. As a matter of fact, the evidence in 1 See above, chap. x. |