The Solomon Islands and Their Natives Part 10

Length of leg 14 }

_The form of the skull as indicated by the relation to each other of its length and breadth._--A hundred measurements, which I made of the heads of natives in this group,[95] in order to obtain their proportional breadth, taking the length as 100, gave indices varying between 692 and 862. The whole series, however, displays a tendency to grouping around different medians, and thus points to the important inference that we cannot accept one type of the skull as a distinctive character of the Solomon Islander. As shown in the subjoined table, which gives the indices corrected to actual skull-measurements by subtracting two units as proposed by M. Broca, there would appear to be a marked preponderance of mesocephaly; but from my measurements being limited both in number and locality, the safest conclusion to draw will be the most general one, viz., that all types of skulls, brachycephalic, mesocephalic, and dolichocephalic, are to be found prevailing amongst the islands of the Solomon Group, the particular type being often constant in the same locality.[96] If my measurements had been five times as numerous, and had been spread equally over the group, I might somewhat narrow my conclusions; and in truth brachycephaly might have formed a more important factor in the series, if I had measured the heads of the same number of natives from the north coast of Malaita which I measured in the districts of St. Christoval and of Bougainville Straits. In the subjoined table I have accepted all indices below 75 as dolichocephalic, those between 75 and 80 as mesocephalic, and those above 80 as brachycephalic.

[95] The localities were--St. Christoval and the adjoining islands of Ugi and Santa Anna, Florida Islands, north coast of Malaita (Urasi and Uta Pa.s.s), Simbo or Eddystone Island, the islands of Bougainville Straits, including the west end of Choiseul.

[96] This conclusion is in accordance with the extensive observations of Miklouho-Maclay in New Guinea and in the Melanesian Islands. He found brachycephaly common in the New Hebrides, indices of 81, and even of 85, not being rare. The indices of several hundred measurements of New Guinea natives varied between 62 and 86.

This eminent traveller therefore arrived at the conclusion that no cla.s.sification of these natives can rest on the form of the skull.

("Nature," xxvii., pp. 137, 185. Proc. Lin. Soc, N.S.W., vol. VI., p. 171.)

_Cephalic indices which have been reduced to actual skull-measurements by the subtraction of two units._

Dolichocephalic indices 29 Mesocephalic 52 Brachycephalic 19 -- 100

I now come to consider more in detail the series of measurements given below. In this series, which ranges from 692 to 862, there is a want of uniformity arising from the fact that the numbers tend to gather together around three centres, one between the indices 75 and 76, another between the indices 80 and 81, and the third between the indices 82 and 83. We have thus in this series of a hundred indices, obtained by measurement of the head of the living subject, evidence of different prevailing types of skull amongst the natives of the Solomon Group; and it will be subsequently shown that each locality has usually one prevailing type.

Cephalic Indices Number of (Living Subject.) Measurements.

692 to 70 2 70 71 1 72 73 3 73 74 3 74 75 6 75 76 8 76 77 6 77 78 6 78 79 11 79 80 12 80 81 16 81 82 7 82 83 10 83 84 7 85 86 1 86 862 1 --- Total, 100

(1) _St. Christoval and the adjoining islands of Ugi, Santa Anna, and Santa Catalina._ As shown in the subjoined table, this series of 35 indices has a wide range between 692 and 862. The value of the median index of the series is 759; and the average of the numbers is 766. Out of the 35 indices, 11 are included between 74 and 76.

On the whole, however, I should take 76 as representing the average cephalic index in this part of the group, although even here, as shown in the series, there is some disturbing element.

Cephalic Indices. Number of Measurements.

692 to 70 2 70 71 1 72 73 2 73 74 2 74 75 6 75 76 5 76 77 3 77 78 2 78 79 4 79 80 3 80 81 1 82 83 2 83 84 1 86 862 1 -- Total, 35

(2.) _The Islands of Bougainville Straits_, which include Treasury Island, the Shortland Island, Faro Islands, and the western extremity of Choiseul.

The range of the subjoined forty indices is 759 to 852. The contrast between this and the preceding St. Christoval series, as shown in the grouping in the indices, well ill.u.s.trates the prevalence of distinct types in these two regions of the group. The indices of greatest frequency are included between 80 and 81: the average of the figures is 806, and the value of the median index is 807, which may be accepted as the typical index.

Cephalic Indices. Number of Measurements.

759 to 76 2 76 77 1 77 78 2 78 79 6 79 80 3 80 81 9 81 82 5 82 83 5 83 84 6 85 852 1 -- Total, 40

(3.) _The North Coast of Malaita._--Through the kindness of the Hon.

Curzon-Howe, government-agent of the labour schooner "Lavina," I was enabled to measure ten natives who had been recruited from the districts of Urasi and the Uta Pa.s.s on the north coast of Malaita.

Cephalic Indices. Number of Measurements.

793 to 80 2 80 81 4 81 82 1 82 83 3 -- Total, 10

This series, though small, is compact, its range being 793 to 83.

The average of the numbers is 812, which I will take as typical of these localities.

(4.) _The Island of Simbo or Eddystone._--From the head-measurements of nine natives I obtained the following cephalic indices--729, 738, 758, 766, 770, 780, 787, 793, 804--the average of which just falls short of 77, which however may be taken as an approximation of the prevailing index.

(5.) _The Florida Islands._--Measurements of six natives of Mboli Harbour gave the following cephalic indices,... . 772, 793, 793, 800, 807, 814,... . the average of the numbers being 796.

I will now proceed to sum up briefly the results of the foregoing hundred measurements of the head of the living subject. It will first be necessary to reduce them to the form of measurements of the actual skull by subtracting two units from the index, as proposed by M. Broca. The effect of this correction is shown in the following table:

Number of Living Measurements. Subject. Skull.

St. Christoval and adjoining islands, 35 760 740 The islands of Bougainville Straits, 40 807 787 The north coast of Malaita, 10 812 792 The island of Simbo or Eddystone, 9 770 750 The Florida Islands, 6 796 776

Accepting all indices below 75 as dolichocephalic, those between 75 and 80 as mesocephalic, and those above 80 as brachycephalic, we find therefore that mesocephaly, as represented by an average index of 787, prevails amongst the natives of the islands of Bougainville Straits; whilst dolichocephaly, as represented by an average index of 74, prevails amongst the natives of St. Christoval and its adjoining islands at the opposite end of the group. On the north coast of Malaita exists a type of native with an almost brachycephalic index. The foregoing remarks refer only to the average in each locality. When we apply the same correction to the table of the hundred measurements as given on page 112, we find, as stated on a previous page, that 29 are dolichocephalic, 52 are mesocephalic, and 19 brachycephalic. It would, therefore, appear from these observations that, whilst brachycephaly is not uncommon, dolichocephaly is more frequent, and mesocephaly prevails.

Although this result may give an indication of the truth, at present it would be safer, for reasons given on page 111, to accept the general conclusion that these three types of skulls prevail in the Solomon Group.

As confirmatory of the foregoing corrected measurements of the head of the living subject, I will add the indices of nine skulls procured amongst the eastern islands of the group.[97]

[97] I take this opportunity of expressing my indebtedness to my messmates Lieut. Leeper and Lieut. Heming, and to my friend Dr.

Beaumont, staff-surgeon of H.M.S. "Diamond," for the majority of the skulls in this small collection. The officers of the survey, whilst away in their boats, had more opportunities than I had of obtaining those specimens. As I was usually accompanied by natives, I was often unable to take advantage of occasions.

741 } Rua Sura Islets, off north coast of Guadaleaner.

741 } 741 Ugi Island.

745 Port Adam, Malaita.

755 } 759 } Ugi Island.

800 } 800 } 849 Kwahkwahru, Malaita.

_Measurements of Women._--I was only able to obtain measurements of six women, all of them from the small islands of Ugi and Santa Anna, off the St. Christoval coast.

Span of Arms. Intermembral Distance Height. (Stature--100.) Index. between middle finger and patella.

4 ft. 8 in. 1008 65 3 in.

4 9 1021 68 3 4 9 1043 68 4 4 10 1047 71 -- 5 0 1069 -- Average, 3?

5 3 1083 Average, 68 ------------ ----- Average, 4 ft. 10 in. Average, 1045

Arm and Height Leg and Height Cephalic Index. Index. Index.

325 485 71 33 485 75 33 50 768 335 515 768 345 ---- 796 355 Average, 496 821 ---- Average, 337

Considering the paucity of the observations, the average indices of the limb-measurements agree closely with those obtained for the men. The average height of the women would appear from these few measurements to be that which they ought to possess as compared with the height of the men. This conclusion is based on the rule given by Topinard in his "Anthropology" that for a race of this stature 7 per cent. of the man's height must be subtracted to obtain the proportional height of the woman.

_The Features._

The facial angle taken was that between a line dropt from the forehead to the alveolar border of the upper jaw, and another line drawn from the external auditory meatus through the central axis of the orbit, the angle being taken with a goniometer. Amongst eighty natives from different parts of the group, the angle varied between 87 and 98.

Seventy-five of the natives had facial angles between 90 and 95; and the average of the whole number of angles was 93. On applying the method for obtaining the facial angle of Cloquet to two large photographs of the faces in profile of two typical natives, I find the angles to be 63 and 67 respectively.

The common characters of the features may be thus described: face rather angular, with often a beetle-browed aspect from the deeply sunk orbits and projecting brows; forehead of moderate height and breadth, and somewhat flattened; middle of face rather prominent on account of the chin receding; moderate subnasal prognathism as indicated by Cloquet's facial angles of 63 and 67; lips rather thick and often projecting; nose usually coa.r.s.e, short, straight, and much depressed at the root, with broad nostrils and extended alae; in about one man out of five the nose is arched in a regular curve, giving a Jewish cast to the face.

_The Hair, Colour of Skin, Powers of Vision, &c._

Amongst the natives of the Solomon Group, there are four common styles of wearing the hair, which I may term the woolly, the mop-like, the partially bushy, and the completely bushy: these prevail with both s.e.xes, the fashion varying in different islands. From frequent observations of the different modes of wearing the hair, I am of the opinion that their variety is to be attributed more to individual caprice than to any difference in the character of the hair. According to his taste, a man may prefer to wear his hair close and uncombed, when the short matted curls with small spiral give it a woolly appearance,[98] somewhat resembling that of the hair of the African negro. Should he allow his hair to grow, making but little use of his comb, the hair will hang in narrow ringlets three to eight inches in length, a mode which is more common amongst the natives of the eastern islands of the group, and which is best described as the "mop-headed"

style. More often, from a moderate amount of combing, the locks are loosely entangled, and the hair-ma.s.s a.s.sumes a somewhat bushy appearance, the arrangement into locks being still discernible, and the surface of the hair presenting a tufted aspect.[99] The majority of natives, however, produce by constant combing a large bushy periwig in which all the hairs are entangled independently into a loose frizzled ma.s.s, the separate locks being no longer discernible. Of these four styles of wearing the hair, I am inclined to view the "mop-headed" style as the result of the natural mode of growth, it being the one which the hair would a.s.sume if allowed to grow uncombed and uncut. The native of these islands unfortunately makes such a constant use of his comb that one rarely sees his hair as nature intended it to grow. When, however, a man with bushy hair has been diving for some time, the hairs, disentangling themselves to a great extent, gather together into long narrow ringlets, nature's "coiffure" of the Solomon Islander. I was pleased to find that Mr. Earl[100] and Dr. Barnard Davis,[101] in writing on the subject of the hair of the Papuans, also consider that the hairs would naturally arrange themselves in long narrow ringlets if left uncombed, and that the bushy frizzled periwig is produced by teasing out the locks by means of the comb. This bushy frizzled ma.s.s of hair is sometimes referred to, as if it were one of the natural characters of the Papuans: but since it is also characteristic of other dark races of Africa and South America, and may be produced in Europeans, it has but little distinguishing value.[102] Mr. Prichard in his "Physical History of Mankind" (vol. v. p. 215), expresses himself to be in doubt whether the bushy frizzled hair affords any racial distinction, but he seems to have lost the point of the remarks of Mr.

Earl (to whom he refers) concerning the natural mode of growth of the hair in long narrow ringlets. The term "mop-headed" is often applied to the Papuan with a bushy frizzled periwig: but since a mop is neither bushy nor frizzly, the term is more appropriately employed as I have used it, and as I see Dr. Barnard Davis uses it, in connection with that style in which the hair hangs in long drawn-out ringlets. The tendency of the hair to roll itself into a spiral of small diameter is attributed to the thin flattened form of the hair in section. According to Dr.

Pruner-Bey, the hair in the Papuan is implanted perpendicularly and not obliquely, as in the great majority of the races of man.[103]