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Medicine Amongst the Maoris, in Ancient and Modern Times

Height

Height.

Accounts from Native sources give the height of some of their ancestors as seven, eight and nine feet but these giants have never been discovered in burial waves. Dr. Thomson* who saw a great deal of the Maoris estimated their height as 5ft. 6¼in. but his work contains so many inaccuracies that I do not consider his estimate correct. It is too low. Youths of 15 at the Native Schools return an average height of 5ft. 5in. and as the height if the boys from 10 years upwards exceeds that of European children, I am inclined to think that the adult Maoris on an average were as tall if not taller than the adult Europeans. In this they would only be complying with the racial standard, anthropologists returning the height of the Eastern or brown Polynesians as a little below that of the Patagonians. Thus in Richet's "Dictionnaire de Physiologie".

Patagonians. 1.85 metres.
Polynesians. 1.76 metres.
Scotch. 1.71 metres.
English. 1.69 metres.

I hope later on to set up anthropometrical standards for the Maori. At present I give Measurements taken from Maori school children in the Taupo district together with some taken at St. Stephens School, Auckland. About 200 were measured and I give page 92the figures for what they are worth. They are compared with measurements taken by Dr. Purdy of European boys at Auckland schools and with Tasmanian figures.

Age. Tasmania. N. Z. (European) Maori.
5-6yrs. 3ft.-4in. 3ft. 6in.
6-7 yrs. 3ft.-7.03. 3ft.-8.5
7-8 yrs. 3ft.-8.05. 3 .10.
8-9 yrs. 3ft.-11.19. 4ft.-1.25.
9-10 yrs. 4ft.-1. 4ft.-3.
10-11 yrs. 4ft.-3.25. 4ft.-6. 4ft.-5.25.
11-12 yrs. 4ft.-4.65. 4ft.-8. 4ft.-7.
12-13 yrs. 4ft.-6.35. 4ft.-9. 4 .10.
13-14 yrs. 4ft.-8.3. 4ft.-10.5. 5ft.-0.
14-15 yrs. 4ft.-9.3. 5ft.-0. 5ft.-2.75.
15-16 yrs. 5ft.-0.18. 5ft.-4. 5ft.-5.

It will be seen that N.Z. boys, European and Maori, are taller than Tasmanian boys. In N.Z. itself the European boys are taller in the earlier years but at 12 the Maoris surpass them.

Maoris are supposed to have longer bodies and shorter legs than Europeans. Exact measurements are needed. Whilst I think that proportionally this is true, the appearance is exagerated by the greater development of the Maoris In the buttocks, thighs and calves.

* New Zealand by Dr Thomson.