The Arabs have a mean cephalic index

The Arabs have a mean cephalic index of from 74 to 76, and the Afghans about

the same. The natives of India have a still lower index. Twenty-three castes of the
North West Provinces, as given by Mr. Risley, average 72.8 and seven of the

Punjab 73.1.

1 Mr. Risley gives the index for the Baloches as 80, but this is

misleading, as his figures include several Baloches from Lahore and the
neighbourhood, where they have long been assimilated by their Indian
surroundings, and have lost all their national characteristics. Taking only the
Baloches of the Trans-Indus districts as fairly representative of the race, I find the
mean index to be 81.5. This is most remarkable, as no cephalic index approaching
80 is to be found throughout Northern India for two thousand miles, till we reach
the Thibetans of the Darjiling Hills or the aboriginal tribes beyond Chittagong.
The Tajiks of different parts of the Iranian plateau have an index varying from 81
to 84, the Darwazis 81.4 and the Ghalchas 85. The figures given by M. de Ujfalvy
for Bakhtiaris, Kurds, and Gilanis are 88, 86, and 84, although these are based on
too small a number of cases to be altogether trustworthy. The index of the
Bombay Parsis, who have kept distinct amid their Indian neighbours, is 82.3 The
curve for 60 Tajiks given by M. de Ujfalvy is given here for convenience of

comparison with that of 45 Baloches from the districts of Dera Ghazi Khan and

Dera Ismail Khan. The correspondence is certainly striking, the highest index in
each case being the remark able figure 95 or 96.