The Karankawa Indians, The Coast People of Texas. Page: 58

                                
56                ETHNOGRAPHIC SKETCH OF
population. The fish and amphibians are mentioned elsewhere (in
Mr. Hammond's article). The octopus, or squid, did not come so
near the shores of the lagoons as to endanger the lives of the coast
Indians, who passed their lives more upon the water than on terra
firma.  The manta, or "blanket-fish,"l prefers deep waters and
does not trouble the fishing population to any degree.
The vegetation around the coast lagoons mostly consists of weeds
and flowers, as but a small part of these regions is wooded. Greasewood,
however, is frequent. A great variety of flowers embellished
these prairies in spring and summer. As early as February the
prairies around Trespalacios bay appear so full of white flowers,
that the green grass can no longer be seen among them; in March
everything appears red from a profusion of red geraniums, with a
glutinous sap. In May the colors become more variegated, and
blue rivals with white, pink and yellow-colored flowers, while in the
autumn purple and yellow will predominate. In places where the
grass is removed, a species of daffodil opens its petals after dusk.
All these prairie growths were often destroyed by ravaging prairiefires;
when these became dangerous by approaching the camps and
settlements, the Indians and whites fought them by slapping the fire
with brushwood. Nevertheless houses were sometimes destroyed
by their fury.
PHYSICAL CHARACTER.
The appearance of the Karankawa men and women can now only
be described from the impression it made on persons who lived in
their country, as we have no accurate anthropologic data or measurements
to determine it scientifically.
All witnesses from earlier and later epochs are unanimous in
describing their men as very tall, magnificently formed, strongly
built and approaching perfection in their bodily proportions. Many
southerners regarded them as giants, and Mrs. Oliver ventured the
opinion that they measured about five feet and ten inches.2 No
1 This large fish, Cephallptera manta, Bancroft, is described in Jordan and Gil.
bert, Bull. of U. 8. Museum, 182, p. 52, and in Zoolog. Journal, 1828-18&9; Iv, 444.
2 A committee on anthl opometry was appointed in 1875 by the British Association for
the Advancement of Science, which has published the results of measurements of va.
rious nations and tribes of all parts of the globe since 1878. On the stature of persons
we ind the following statement:
Samoans                      meter 1.853  feet   5, 1097
Polynesians in general            1.76-2         5, 9.33
English professional class        1.757          5, 9.14