The Mafulu eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 349 pages of information about The Mafulu.

The Mafulu eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 349 pages of information about The Mafulu.

The following tables, however, illustrate the fact that the measurements of these twenty men do not appear to indicate, as regards them, any marked connection between stature, cranial index, and nasal index.

Order in stature (beginning with the shortest): 

20—­1—­19—­6—­7&m
dash;­17—­5—­15—­18—­2—­3—­11—­16—­4—­12—­13—­14—­9—­8—­10.

Order in progress upwards of cranial indices: 

8—­13—­3—­6-20—­5
—­ll—­7—­1—­16—­18—­2—­14—­9—­15—­4—­12—­17—­19—­10.

Order in progress upwards of nasal indices: 

17—­9—­6—­8—­15&m
dash;­19—­3—­13—­7—­16—­20—­11—­10—­14—­18—­12—­1—­5—­2—­4.

I brought home three Mafulu skulls, which Dr. Keith kindly had measured at the Royal College of Surgeons, with the following results [28]:—­

Skull
|       Length in cm.
|       |       Breadth in cm.
|       |       |       Height in cm.
|       |       |       |       Cranial Index.
|       |       |       |       |       Proportion of
|       |       |       |       |       height to length.
A       17.6    14.0    12.2    79.5    69.3
B       18.2    14.1    13.2    77.5    72.5
C       17.3    12.7    12.5    73.4    72.3

It will be observed that the lowest of these three cranial indices is a trifle higher than the lowest of those of the head measurements, that the highest of them is much lower than the highest of those of the head measurements, and that their average (76.8) is a little below the average of those of the head measurements.

Dr. Keith had further measurements made of these skulls from the point of view of prognathism and characters of noses and orbits, with the following results: 

Skull.
|       Basi-nasal length.
|       |       Basi-alveolar length.
|       |       |       Height of nose.
|       |       |       |       Width of nose.
|       |       |       |       |       Height of orbit.
|       |       |       |       |       |       Width of orbit.
mm.      mm.    mm.     mm.     mm.     mm. 
A       98      102     48      26      40      35
B       99       96     49      25      42      35
C       97      102     47      26      38      35

Dr. Keith, referring to these skulls, says that they disclose relatively small brains, the cranial capacity of A being 1,230 c.c., that of B being 1,330 c.c., and that of C being 1,130 c.c.  He compares these figures with the average cranial capacity of the male European, which he puts at 1,500 c.c.

The eyes of the Mafulu people are dark brown and very bright.  I never saw among them those oblique eyes, almost recalling the Mongolian, which, according to Dr. Seligmann, are found, though rarely only, on the coast, [29] and of which I saw many instances among the Kuni people.

Their lips are usually not so thick as are those of the Mekeo and Roro people, and are generally finer and more delicate in shape.

In view of their Papuan language I kept a sharp look out for the curious backward sloping foreheads and projecting brow ridges and Jewish-looking noses which are so often found among the Western Papuans; but, although I saw a few examples of these, they were rare, and I did not observe any noticeable tendency in these directions in the faces of the people generally. [30]

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The Mafulu from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.