72 



BULLETIN OF THE ESSEX INSTITUTE. 



Arranging this table in another manner so as to bring 

 out more clearly the average or general lumbar vertebrae 

 index of the various American races examined, we have : 



TABLE XVIII. 



Takino^ the averag^e index of these eisrht general indi- 

 es c? o o 



ces we have an index of 100.9 for American aborigines. 

 I confess to some astonishment at the result. The lack of 

 variation from 100 is striking und more or less puzzling. 

 One thing should be borne in mind, viz., that although 

 the tribes represented above are widely separated, yet 

 they all are good examples of the better sort of Indians 

 found on this continent at its discovery ; all of them 

 were semi-barbarians dwelling in more or less permanent 

 homes and depending chiefly upon agriculture for their 

 food supply, although the North-west Coast people were, 

 to a great extent, hunters and fishers. Perhaps it is not 

 wholly without significance that in those two races which 



