PRESERVATION AND DECORATIVE FEATURES OF 

 PAPUAN CRANIA, By WM. H. HOLMES. 



ORIGIN OF CRANIA. 



Our information in regard to the crania described by Dr. Dorsey 

 in the preceding pages merely enables us to locate them in a general 

 way in the island of New Guinea. The sea captain who brought them 

 to this country affirmed (so it is stated) that they were obtained from 

 a native chief, and it is probable that they came from the vicinity of 

 some of the ports of the island. That they came from this island is 

 confirmed by the craniological characters of the specimens, and more 

 especially by their unique embellishments, the latter differing from 

 those of Borneo and other islands from which examples have been 

 secured. 



As a matter of course in an island of the great size of New 

 Guinea, there are numerous more or less distinct groups of people, 

 and corresponding groups of art phenomena, and when these become 

 better known there will probably be little difficulty in relegating these 

 skulls to their proper people and province. It seems not unlikely 

 that they are from the northern shores of the Papuan Gulf, in the 

 British protectorate, since the decorative designs seem to affiliate 

 pretty closely with those of this district, as illustrated by Haddon;* 

 and Chalmers describes engraved skulls as commonly preserved in 

 the temples of that locality. 



SKULLS OF FRIENDS AND FOES PRESERVED. 



It seems pretty well established that skulls of friends as well as 

 of foes were preserved and prized by these peoples, and I get the 

 impression from the care taken of the specimens under consideration, 

 and the tasteful elaboration of the decorative features, that they were 

 the skulls of members of the tribes or families owning them, rather 



* Haddon, A. C, Decorative Art of British New Guinea, p. S9. 



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