Among these few natives now inhabiting the Koksoak valley we find the men to be above the stature usually ascribed to the Eskimo. All but one of the adult males are above 5 feet 8 inches. The smallest man is little more than 5½ feet tall. All are well proportioned and present an exceptionally good physique. The females are also well proportioned, and, in fact, appear to compare well with females of civilized countries as far as their stature is concerned. The lower extremities of both sexes really are shorter than the general appearance would indicate, and thus the body is somewhat longer. The great individual variation in the proportional length of the legs is doubtless the result of the way infants are carried in the hood on the backs of the mothers. In this constrained position the limbs were obliged to conform to the shape of the body on which the child, in a manner, grew. While the limbs are not decidedly curved, yet they are not so nearly under the body as those of the whites. In walking, the inner edges of the feet often touch each other, and, in a manner, tend to cause the boots to slip outward on the feet.
The head, hands, and feet appear fairly proportioned; although, as a rule, they have small hands and feet. The females have proportionally smaller feet than hands. The head may seem larger than it really is, on account of the flattened features of the face.
The average nose is large and flat, and the prominence of this organ is often diminished by the wide cheeks and overhanging forehead. In most cases the chin projects less than the nose. The average face is round and flat, but there are exceptions, as I have seen one or two persons whose faces were a regular oval, and with the exception of the flat front, seen from a side view, were as well formed as one will meet among other people.
The skin has the same differences of color as among white people. The greater number of people are moderately dark, but this depends very greatly on the season of the year. I have not seen any white people so much changed as these are by the exposure to the summer sunshine. In the winter they are confined to their huts and bleach to a lighter color. A couple of weeks' exposure renders them scarcely recognizable as the same persons. The young children are usually lighter than the adults, although some are quite dark. The hair is coarse, long and abundant, and always straight.