256 PHYSICAL ETHNOLOGY. 



of the meatus mulltorius externum ; whereas in the elongated Peruvian skull, 

 unaltered by artificial means, this is almost exactly reversed, showing by the 

 proportions of the cerebral cavity that fully two-thirds of the brain lay behind 

 the meatus auditorius. These may be considered as representing the two ex- 

 tremes ; but both of the two great stocks, between Avhom the northern region 

 around the great lakes has been chiefly divided since the first intrusion of 

 Europeans, belong to the dolichocephalic division. These are the Algonquins 

 and the Iroq^aois, including in the latter the Hurons, who, with the Petuns, 

 Neuters, and Eries, all belonged to the same stock, though involved in deadly 

 enmity with each other. In the supposed typical Scioto Mound skull the lon- 

 gitudinal, parietal, and vertical diameters vary very slightly ; and as the IMexi- 

 can and Peruvian crania chiefly attracted Dr. Morton's attention, and are illus- 

 trated minutely, as a scries, in his great work, it only required the further 

 theory, which referred all the elongated skulls to an artificially modified class, 

 to confirm in his mind that idea of a ])eculiarly formed cranium pertaining 

 uniformly and exclusively to the New World. To the theoretical type of a 

 head very nearly corresponding in length and breadth, though not in height, 

 the most numerous class of Peruvian and Mexican brachyccphalic crania un- 

 questionably approximate. Of one of the former, from the Temple of the Sun, 

 (Plate xi,) Dr. Morton remarks : " A strikingly characteristic Peruvian head. 

 As is common in this series of skulls, the parietal and longitudinal diameter is 

 nearly the same," viz. : longitudinal, 6.1 ; parietal, 6.0 ; and, tested by this 

 standard, he was even more justified in recognizing marked points of corre- 

 spondence between the Mound skulls and what he calls " the Toltccan branch 

 of the American race," than might seem reasonable from the miscellaneous 

 character of the crania referred to by him as "Mound skulls." But the moment 

 we test by actual measurement, a very wide difference is apparent betv/een the 

 brachyccphalic crania of the class referred to, and the prevailing form of the 

 head in many of the northern tribes, ^as among the Algonquins, Hurons, and 

 Iroquois. The Algonquin stock are represented by Ottawas, Mississagas, 

 Chippewas, and other tribes, Avithiu the area of Upper Canada and along the 

 shores of Lake Superior. Of living Indians belonging to Iroquois and Algon- 

 quin tribes I have examined, and compared by the eye, many at widely-scat- 

 tered places : on the Than>es and Grand rivers, llice lake, Lake Simcoe and 

 the Georgian bay ; at JIackinaw in Lake Huron, and at Sault Ste. Marie ; at 

 Ontonagon, La Point, the Apostle islands, and the St. Louis river, on Lake 

 Superior; and on the Saguenay, St. Charles, St. Maurice, and Ottawa rivers, in 

 Lower Canada ; as well as on such chance opportunities as occur in the neigh- 

 borhood of American and Canadian towns and villages. Physiognomically they 

 present the large and prominent mouth, high cheek-bones, and broad face, so 

 universally characteristic of the American Indian ; but they by no means pos- 

 sess in a remarkable degree the Avide and massive lower jaw, which has been 

 noted as of miiversal occurrence among the Red Indians ; and the aquiline nose 

 is also absent in most of them. 



The crania found in ancient cemeteries and ossuaries around Lakes Ontario, 

 Erie, and Huron, chiefly belong to the two families referred to ; and of the nation 

 whose name is perpetuated in that of the last-named lake, the region occupied 

 by it when first brought under the notice of the French Jesuit fathers is well 

 defined ; so that there is little risk of error in the determination of the race to 

 which the remains found in its ancient graves belong. A partial difference in 

 their relative proportions appeai-s also to aid in the classification of the two 

 ethnic divisions. The Algonquin cranium, though less markedly dolichocephalic 

 than the Huron or Iroquois skulls, belongs to the same class ; and to one or 

 other of those neJirly all the Canadian crania may with little hesitation be as- 

 signed. 



Of Indian skulls chiefly dug up within the district once pertaining to the 



