STONE FORT AND OTHER ABORIGINAL REMAINS. 119 



over the steppe, built at different periods and by different races, the greater ones 

 are the most ancient. One of these, composed of stone, and domelike in form, is 

 three hundred and sixty-four feet in diameter and thirty-tliree feet high. Tlus 

 mausoleum must bear some resemblance to the large mound near the Stone Fort of 

 Tennessee. 



The archaeologist will, without doubt, find the richest materials in these ancient 

 mounds for the establishment of the cranial characteristics, and of the nature and 

 perfection of the arts, of the former inhabitants of Europe and Asia. The question 

 as to the origin and identity of the races of mankind should rest upon the results 

 of such explorations, as well as upon the differences existing at the present day. 

 The characteristics of the crania and works of art of these ancient mounds, and 

 more especially of those along the northern borders of Asia, are of the greatest 

 importance in the light which they may shed upon the migrations of tribes and 

 nations, and the peopling of America. 



The custom of artificially compressing the cranium appears to have been prac- 

 tised on the American continent, more especially by those nations which belonged 

 to the Toltecan stock ; and a comparison of the crania of the stone-grave race and 

 mound-builders of Tennessee, with those of the laca Peruvians and ancient Mexi- 

 cans, establishes a very close relationship. The crania of the stone-grave race of 

 Tennessee present marked contrasts with those of the ancient Peruvians, more 

 especially in difterences of form occasioned by artificial pressure. On the other 

 hand, they possess certain striking peculiarities in common with the crania of the 

 Inca Peruvians, 



The researches of Dr. Morton have established the fact that the skull of these 

 people is remarkable for its quadrangular form ; the occiput is greatly depressed, 

 or compressed, sometimes absolutely vertical ; the sides are swelled out, and the 

 forehead is sometimes elevated, but very retreating. The skulls of the Inca Peru- 

 vians, like those of the stone graves and mounds of Tennessee, are remarkable for 

 their irregularity. In the whole series in the possession of Dr. Morton, there was 

 but one that could be called symmetrical. This irregularity, in both series of 

 crania, consists in the greater projection of the occiput to one side, showing, in some 

 instances, a surprising degree of deformity. 



Cieca, Torquemada, Garcilasso de la Vega, and others of the early writers upon 

 America, have recorded the fact that the custom of distorting the skull by 

 mechanical means in infancy was common in many provinces of Peru, at the period 

 of the Spanish invasion. They have also shown that it was not introduced by the 

 Incas, but was in use before they conquered the country, and that it was resorted 

 to for the purpose of increasing the ferocity of the countenance in war, of augment- 

 ing an imaginary grace, and of adding to the health and strength of the body. 



It is also obvious that there were two principal modes of effecting this end, and 

 that they were very different. 



The view advanced by Dr. Morton and others, that the Incas, or later Peru- 

 vians, who conquered the more ancient inhabitants, altered their customs and laws, 

 and imposed a new language and a new religion, were the Toltccs, the most 

 civilized nation of ifncient Mexico, which, after governing that country for four 



