ACCOUNT OF HUMAN REMAINS FROM PATAGONIA. 420 



Fucgo," one of the lowest branches yet discovered of the human family. 

 This is neither impossible nor improbable, as feuds between the tribes are con- 

 stantly occurring, and the individual may have been dragged into the interior 

 as a prisoner of war. The large size of the temporal muscles points to carnivo- 

 rous habits. 



The skulls, Nos. I and II, are those of two Araucanian Indians, Avho were 

 killed in the late collision of these tribes with the Chili troops. The number 

 and nature of the sabre cuts and fractures testify to the barbarism of the 

 contest, as well as to the clumsiness of the combatants. An anecdote is con- 

 nected with them which is rather characteristic. On being exhibited in the 

 custom-house in Valparaiso, the authorities, who had no idea of any scieutilic 

 object being attachable to the skull, inquired of me what '■'■martyrs''' they had 

 belonged to. Although both skulls in question belonged to pure Araucanians, 

 still, 1 do not consider them as specimens of an wmiixed race. The upper 

 and anterior portion of the brain is but poorly developed, the parietal diameter 

 exceedingly small, and the cerebellar portion preponderating. Yet, the differ- 

 ence between them and the mummy — the one marked No. Ill — and even the 

 Pampa Indian, is such as to warrant the presumption that the race had been 

 crossed with a superior one, although in a slight degree. The supraorbital 

 processes are, as found in men of violent passions, endoAvcd with a large 

 amount of animal life, and the position of the foramen magnum approaches 

 more to that of the European skull than the purer Indian. The centuries of 

 intercourse with the Spaniards and their descendants, and the consequent 

 introduction of squatters, deserters, and prisoners, besides the not uufrequcnt 

 abduction of white women, sufficiently explains this intermingling of race. 

 l)Ut it will not suffice to explain all that is told to us about these wandering 

 tribes by the Spanish historians and poets, who attribute to them elevated ideas 

 about the immortality of the soul, systems of religion and politics, and noble 

 qualities such as distinguish the most elevated representatives of the human 

 race. On view of these stubborn skulls, however, and even admitting that the 

 crossing with the superior race has not improved them, we must take these 

 assertions ' 'cum grano salis," and that a very considerable one. The two 

 writers on whom the sins of the subsequent compilers may be charged are the 

 poet Ercilla and the Jesuit Molina. The one, a maker of long verses, in 

 which he describes his own deeds somewhat in the vein of "Ancient Pistol," 

 endeavors to exalt his own prowess by praising his enemy; the other, a simple- 

 minded priest, narrates, with an enviable credulity, historical facts in a poetical 

 manner, and without the critical acumen which ought to distinguish the histo- 

 rian. The fables Avhich the credulity of the one and the exaggeration of the 

 other of these two celebrities, let loose upon the Avorld, have been repeated by 

 their compiling successors down even to " Monsieur Gay," who, although paid 

 by the Chili government for writing, amongst other things, a critical history 

 of the country and its inhabitants, repeats the received traditions without 

 much inquiry into their soundness. As the history' of these races has been 

 thus rendered obscure by the barbarism, ignorance, and superstition of the 

 first invaders, and as their architectural and industrial relics arc toQ few to 

 guide us securely in our investigations, the mummies and osseous remains 

 which are found in great abundance and in varied situations, form a valuable 

 cue to the observer, and may enable him to solve much of what without them 

 would remain unexplained. Hence, I venture to submit the subject to the 

 attention of the lovers of ethnological inquiry. 



Valparaiso, June 4, 1862. 



