Hubert Bancroft - The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes

Limbs small, crooked, or ill-made; large feet; badly shaped, and projecting ankles from sitting so much on their hams and knees. Cook's Voy. to Pac. , vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Their limbs, though stout and athletic, are crooked and ill-shaped.' Meares' Voy. , p. 250. 'Ils ont les membres inférieures légèrement arqués, les chevilles très-saillantes, et la pointe des pieds tournée en dedans, difformité qui provient de la manière dont ils sont assis dans leurs canots.' Mofras , Explor. , tom. ii., pp. 343-4. 'Stunted, and move with a lazy waddling gait.' Macfie's Vanc. Isl. , p. 428. 'Skeleton shanks … not much physical strength … bow-legged – defects common to the seaboard tribes.' Poole's Q. Char. Isl. , pp. 73-4. All the females of the Northwest Coast are very short-limbed. 'Raro es el que no tiene muy salientes los tobillos y las puntas de los pies inclinadas hácia dentro … y una especie de entumecimiento que se advierte, particularmente en las mugeres.' Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , pp. 124, 30, 62-3. They have great strength in the fingers. Sproat's Scenes , p. 33. Women, short-limbed, and toe in. Id. , p. 22; Mayne's B. C. , pp. 282-3. 'The limbs of both sexes are ill-formed, and the toes turned inwards.' 'The legs of the women, especially those of the slaves, are often swollen as if oedematous, so that the leg appears of an uniform thickness from the ankle to the calf,' from wearing a garter. Scouler , in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. , vol. xi., p. 221.

The different Aht tribes vary in physiognomy somewhat – 'faces of the Chinese and Spanish types may be seen.' 'The face of the Ahts is rather broad and flat; the mouth and lips of both men and women are large, though to this there are exceptions, and the cheekbones are broad but not high. The skull is fairly shaped, the eyes small and long, deep set, in colour a lustreless inexpressive black, or very dark hazel, none being blue, grey, or brown… One occasionally sees an Indian with eyes distinctly Chinese. The nose … in some instances is remarkably well-shaped.' 'The teeth are regular, but stumpy, and are deficient in enamel at the points,' perhaps from eating sanded salmon. Sproat's Scenes , pp. 19, 27. 'Their faces are large and full, their cheeks high and prominent, with small black eyes; their noses are broad and flat; their lips thick, and they have generally very fine teeth, and of the most brilliant whiteness.' Meares' Voy. , pp. 249-50; Barrett-Lennard's Trav. , p. 44. 'La fisonomia de estos (Nitinats) era differente de la de los habitantes de Nutka: tenian el cráneo de figura natural, los ojos chicos muy próximos, cargados los párpados.' Many have a languid look, but few a stupid appearance. Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , pp. 28, 30, 62-3, 124. 'Dull and inexpressive eye.' 'Unprepossessing and stupid countenances.' Poole's Q. Char. Isl. , pp. 74, 80. The Wickinninish have 'a much less open and pleasing expression of countenance' than the Klaizzarts. The Newchemass 'were the most savage looking and ugly men that I ever saw.' 'The shape of the face is oval; the features are tolerably regular, the lips being thin and the teeth very white and even: their eyes are black but rather small, and the nose pretty well formed, being neither flat nor very prominent.' The women 'are in general very well-looking, and some quite handsome.' Jewitt's Nar. , pp. 76, 77, 61. 'Features that would have attracted notice for their delicacy and beauty, in those parts of the world where the qualities of the human form are best understood.' Meares' Voy. , p. 250. Face round and full, sometimes broad, with prominent cheek-bones … falling in between the temples, the nose flattening at the base, wide nostrils and a rounded point … forehead low; eyes small, black and languishing; mouth round, with large, round, thickish lips; teeth tolerably equal and well-set, but not very white. Remarkable sameness, a dull phlegmatic want of expression; no pretensions to beauty among the women. Cook's Voy. to Pac. , vol. ii., pp. 301-2. See portraits of Nootkas in Belcher's Voy. , vol. i., p. 108; Cook's Atlas , pl. 38-9; Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , Atlas ; Whymper's Alaska , p. 75. 'Long nose, high cheek bones, large ugly mouth, very long eyes, and foreheads villainously low.' 'The women of Vancouver Island have seldom or ever good features; they are almost invariably pug-nosed; they have however, frequently a pleasing expression, and there is no lack of intelligence in their dark hazel eyes.' Grant , in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. , vol. xxvii., pp. 297-8. 'Though without any pretensions to beauty, could not be considered as disagreeable.' Vancouver's Voy. , vol. i., p. 395. 'Have the common facial characteristics of low foreheads, high cheek-bones, aquiline noses, and large mouths.' 'Among some of the tribes pretty women may be seen.' Mayne's B. C. , p. 277.

'Her skin was clean, and being nearly white,' etc. Vancouver's Voy. , vol. i., p. 395. 'Reddish brown, like that of a dirty copper kettle.' Some, when washed, have 'almost a florid complexion.' Grant , in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. , vol. xxvii., pp. 297, 299. 'Brown, somewhat inclining to a copper cast.' The women are much whiter, 'many of them not being darker than those in some of the Southern parts of Europe.' The Newchemass are much darker than the other tribes. Jewitt's Nar. , pp. 61, 77. 'Their complexion, though light, has more of a copper hue' than that of the Haidahs. Scouler , in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. , vol. xi., p. 221. 'Skin white, with the clear complexion of Europe.' Meares' Voy. , p. 250. The color hard to tell on account of the paint, but in a few cases 'the whiteness of the skin appeared almost to equal that of Europeans; though rather of that pale effete cast … of our southern nations… Their children … also equalled ours in whiteness.' Cook's Voy. to Pac. , vol. ii., p. 303. 'Their complexion is a dull brown,' darker than the Haidahs. 'Cook and Meares probably mentioned exceptional cases.' Sproat's Scenes , pp. 23-4. 'Tan blancos como el mejor Español.' Perez , Rel. del Viage, MS. , p. 20. 'Por lo que se puede inferir del (color) de los niños, parece menos obscuro que el de los Mexicanos,' but judging by the chiefs' daughters they are wholly white. Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , p. 125. 'A dark, swarthy copper-coloured figure.' Lord's Nat. , vol. i., p. 143. They 'have lighter complexions than other aborigines of America.' Greenhow's Hist. Ogn. , p. 116. 'Sallow complexion, verging towards copper colour.' Barrett-Lennard's Trav. , pp. 44-6. Copper-coloured. Spark's Life of Ledyard , p. 71.

'The hair of the natives is never shaven from the head. It is black or dark brown, without gloss, coarse and lank, but not scanty, worn long… Slaves wear their hair short. Now and then, but rarely, a light-haired native is seen. There is one woman in the Opechisat tribe at Alberni who had curly, or rather wavy, brown hair. Few grey-haired men can be noticed in any tribe. The men's beards and whiskers are deficient, probably from the old alleged custom, now seldom practiced, of extirpating the hairs with small shells. Several of the Nootkah Sound natives (Moouchahts) have large moustaches and whiskers.' Sproat's Scenes , pp. 25-7. 'El cabello es largo lacio y grueso, variando su color entre rubio, obscuro, castaño y negro. La barba sale á los mozos con la misma regularidad que á los de otros paises, y llega á ser en los ancianos tan poblada y larga como la de los Turcos; pero los jóvenes parecen imberbes porque se la arrancan con los dedos, ó mas comunmente con pinzas formadas de pequeñas conchas.' Sutil y Mexicana , Viage , pp. 124-5, 57. 'Hair of the head is in great abundance, very coarse, and strong; and without a single exception, black, straight and lank.' No beards at all, or a small thin one on the chin, not from a natural defect, but from plucking. Old men often have beards. Eyebrows scanty and narrow. Cook's Voy. to Pac. , vol. ii., pp. 301-3. 'Neither beard, whisker, nor moustache ever adorns the face of the redskin.' Lord's Nat. , vol. i., p. 143; Jewitt's Nar. , pp. 61, 75, 77. Hair 'invariably either black or dark brown.' Grant , in Lond. Geog. Soc., Jour. , vol. xxvii., p. 297; Meares' Voy. , p. 250; Mayne's B. C. , pp. 277-8; Macfie's Vanc. Isl. , p. 442; Spark's Life of Ledyard , p. 71.