202 HUMAN FOSSILS. in 



which is frequently, though not by any means 

 invariably, solid throughout, the frontal sinuses re- 

 maining undeveloped. The nasal depression, 

 again, is extremely sudden, so that the brows over- 

 hang and give the countenance a particularly 

 lowering, threatening expression. The occipital 

 region of the skull, also, not unfrequently becomes 

 less prominent; so that it not only fails to project 

 beyond a line drawn perpendicular to the hinder 

 extremity of the glabello-occipital line, but even, 

 in some cases, begins to shelve away from it, for- 

 wards, almost immediately. In consequence of 

 this circumstance, the parts of the occipital bone 

 which lie above and below the tuberosity make a 

 much more acute angle with one another than is 

 usual, whereby the hinder part of the base of the 

 skull appears obliquely truncated. Many Aus- 

 tralian skulls have a considerable height, quite 

 equal to that of the average of any other race, but 

 tli ere are others in which the cranial roof becomes 

 remarkably depressed, the skull, at the same time, 

 elongating so much that, probably, its capacity is 

 not diminished. The majority of skulls possessing 

 these characters, which I have seen, are from the 

 neighbourhood of Port Adelaide in South Aus- 

 tralia, and have been used by the natives as water 

 vessels; to which end the face has been knocked 

 away, and a string passed through the vacuity and 

 the occipital foramen, so that the skull was sus- 

 pended by the greater part of its basis. 



