Fig. 7. A child's head, band- 

 aged to produce the type of 

 cranial deformation shown in 

 Figure 8. These bandages, 

 usually applied immediately 

 after birth, are worn from six 

 weeks to two months. Photo- 

 graph from New Britain. 



essential research which had been neglected for several years because 

 of his occupation with the installation of new exhibits. 



Research in physical anthropology by Dr. Wilfrid D. Hambly, 

 Curator of African Ethnology, has been concentrated on cranio- 

 metrical work. References have been made in previous Annual 

 Reports to a scheme which will finally result in a series of publica- 

 tions dealing with a large collection of skulls from many parts of 

 Melanesia. An early part of the work presents the measurements 

 on deformed skulls of Malekula, and this section is introduced by 

 drawings of living subjects. Research aims at studying these 

 groups, not as isolated units, but in relationship to other crania 

 from Malekula, and a great part of the work is concerned with 

 comparisons made statistically and by means of superimposed 



Fig. 8. A deformed cra- 

 nium from the island of 

 Malekula, in the New 

 Hebrides, where such 

 deformation is regarded 

 as a sign of beauty and 

 social distinction. It does 

 not affect normal mental 

 development. 



36 



