122 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA} 
that the aborigines of the Northwestern Slope, from the Mackenzie to the 
Yukon and from that rlver to the Columbia, if not beyond, had scarcely 
emerged from primitive savagery and barbarism when Europeans first 
came in contact with them a little over a century ago. 
My best thanks are due to my friend Mr. Carlyle Ellis,of Vancouver, 
B.C., for his kind assistance in preparing the drawings for the plates 
accompanying this paper. 

REMARKS ON A SKULL FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA. 
The fragment of a skull found by Mr. Hill-Tout consists of the roof of the 
cranium, the right temporal bone, a portion of the face and of the lower jaw. Owing 
to the pressure sustained in the moist ground the skull is very much deformed, se 
much so that the adjoining fragments can no longer be fitted together. The parietal 
bones show long transversal cracks on the surface, near the vertex, which prove that 
the curvature of the bones of this region has been very much increased. ‘To a still 
higher degree has this deformation taken place below the obelion. The posterior 
portion of the frontal bone shows a long crack in antero-posterior direction. The 
bone is so much flattened that this crack gapes at its lower end. The lower portion 
of the frontal bone is broken off and is not so much flattened by the pressure of the 
ground ; therefore, the upper and the lower parts of the bone, when fitted together 
in the middle, do not touch at the sides. The right temporal bone is also broken off. 
Itis less deformed by the pressure of the ground, and is therefore much rounder 
than the roof of the cranium. The preserved portion of the face includes the malar 
bone, and, therefore, joins both the frontal and the temporal bones, but cannot be 
made to fit accurately on account of the post-mortem deformation of the skull. 
The cracks of the bones prove that the pressure of the ground was directed 
against the forehead and the occiput and that it brought about a considerable flat- 
tening of the skull. But the lower portion of the forehead shows clearly that during 
the life of the individual the skull had been deformed in the same manner as is 
practised by the present Indians of southeastern Vancouver Island, Puget Sound 
and Fraser River. Skulls of the same type have been found in the stone burials of 
southeastern Vancouver Island. The excessive flattening which makes the skull 
similar to Chinook skulls is due to post-mortem deformation. What little remains 
of the face indicates that its shape resembled the face of the present Indians of this 
rezion. The orbit is high and rounded ; the nasal bones are wide and low. 
The skull seems to have belonged to an elderly woman. Its processes are 
graceful, and it seems rather small. The jawis not so large as we are accustomed 
to find among males of this region. On the inner side all traces of sutures have 
disappeared, while the upper portion of the coronal suture remains discernable on the 
outside. The sagittal suture is completely synostosed ; the lambdoid suture is very 
complicated and remains open: the squamous suture is also open. The teeth are 
not so much worn as might be expected from the advanced state of synostosis of the 
skull. Their crowns are somewhat worn down, as is always the case with people 
who eat much food that is cleaned and cooked imperfectly. They are healthy, and 
no loss of teeth has occurred during life. 
The inside of the frontal bone shows a number of nodular exostoses: one on the 
left side, two large ones and one small one on the right side. Others are found on 
the inner side of the temporal bone, and still larger ones, but not so well defined, on 
the parietal bone. The whole region of the obelion is much thickened. According 
to Dr. M. Prudden, these formations are not of syphilistie origin. 
FRANZ BOAs. 
