374 ETHNOLOGY. 



some artistic skill to a predetermined form. Give your special attention 

 to one article in package No. 5, wrapped in a separate piece of newspa- 

 per — probably the blade of a tomahawk. You will observe that it is 

 ground down to a preconceived shape with a precision and finish which 

 would do credit to a modern lapidary. I have also given a separate 

 euveloi)e to a curious implement made of a thin lamina of flint, in pack- 

 age No. 4. T am informed by persons acquainted with present Indian 

 usages, that au exactly similar implement is now employed to scrape 

 clean the inner surface of raw hiiles, prior to curing them for use. 



Now, a few words about the three crania. Those in the packages 1 

 aud 2 present the ordinary type of the Indian skull ; narrow, with a 

 low facial angle, and with the prognathous character very strongly 

 marked in the facial bones — these characteristics being most pronounced 

 in No. 2, But No. 3 rather puzzles me. The American Indian type is 

 here much less pronounced, the facial angle higher, and the prognathous 

 tyi>e scarcely marked at all. In all respects it seems to approximate the 

 Caucasian type. You will also observe that the process of artificial 

 flattening, so common among Indian tribes, has been applied to Nos. 1 

 and 2 with complete success, the flattening of the occiput being so great 

 as to render the plane extending from the occipital condyles to the ver- 

 tex absolutely vertical. 



Now, on No. 3 this process has been very incompletely effected, having 

 succeeded not at all on one side, and only imperfectly on the other. 



If I knew more than I do of the tribe whose remains we are studying, 

 I think I should venture upon the conjecture that No. 3 is the cranium 

 of a half-breed, which would imply a still more intimate association 

 with the white race than that short and sharp interview suggested by 

 the impacted bullet. 



Such as they are, however, the foregoing remarks are submitted to 

 your riper judgment; they have been considerably longer than I antici- 

 pated when I commenced them, but I think that some interesting 

 problems are suggested by the relics, and could not resist the tempta- 

 tion of attempting a solution. 



I should remark that, although a large number of entire skeletons 

 was exhumed, I did not see much to be gained by sending you anything 

 beyond the crania. The only thing really noticeable about them was 

 their great thickness, especially that of the maxillaries and the bones 

 of the extremities ; some of the femurs, though evidently not those of 

 tall men, would, in bulk and weight, largely surpass those of any white 

 man I have seen. 



I forgot to state that the crania Nos. I and 2 are presented by Dr. W. 

 T. McEeynolds, of this place, who had obtained possession of them be- 

 fore uiy exploration. 



