ARCHEOLOGY. 393 



likely to belong*. Where several specimens are collected they should 

 be_ numbered to correspond with a catalogue in which tlie above 

 points are mentioned, as also Avhether they were found in a grave or 

 other place of deposit, with its description, the character of the 

 ornaments and utensils placed with it, and whether it was in its orig- 

 inal place or had been assembled with others. Finally, it should be 

 ascertained if the tomb be one of existing or recent inhabitants of 

 the country, or of one more ancient and preceding, such, for exam- 

 ple, as the mound builders of the Ohio, and, in this latter case, if the 

 remains are those of the original inhabitant, or have been since 

 deposited. In this the character of the articles buried with the body- 

 will often furnish a clue. The same precaution should be adopted 

 where tribes have been removed to reservations not on their original 

 ground. In short, Avhere any doubt exists in the mind of the col- 

 lector, all those circumstances should be examined into which, in 

 the absence of direct testimony, will facilitate a conclusion as to 

 origin. 



Among some nations, it may be mentioned in this connexion, it is 

 the custom to marry out of the tribe as a matter of policy. Skulls 

 of Avomen found in the cemeteries of one of these would therefore 

 very probably belong to an adjoining tribe, and it may happen of an 

 entirely different stock. In such cases, too, there can be no certainty 

 that the men themselves are of the pure blood of one race, and it is 

 important to ascertain if this custom exists among those tribes where 

 flattening or altering the head is common to both sexes; particular 

 suspicion should attach to any having the skull unaltered. This pro- 

 cess is usually a mark of rank, or at least of, freedom, and the skull, 

 if found in a burial place or well-marked receptacle, may almost be 

 assumed to be that of a stranger; if neglected it is probably that of 

 a slave. But as slaves were often buried with their owners, even 

 this is not a positive conclusion. Among some of the Pacific tribes, 

 however, compression of the head is confined to females, or is, at any 

 rate, only carried to extent by them. Slaves are sometimes of the 

 same tribe with their owners, but they are more frequently purchased 

 from others, and it should be noted that on the Pacific the course of 

 the trade has been from south to north. 



In order to ascertain whether differences of form exist among dif- 

 ferent stocks, the accumulation of as many specimens as possible of 

 each tribe is desirable, and duplicates moreover afford the means of 

 further collections by exchange. 



Those skulls which have been altered in shape possess a cer- 

 tain interest in themselves, though they are in other respects disad- 

 vantageous for comparison. The process, in different forms, has once 

 obtained more widely than at present, several tribes in the southern 

 States, as the Natchez, &c., having been addicted to it. Two methods 

 are still employed in North America: that of flattening the head by 

 pressure on the forehead, as practiced among the Chinooks and other 

 tribes in Oregon and Washington Territory, and that of elongating 

 it, peculiar to a few on the northern end of Vancouver island. 



