848 



5439. The left tibia. 



It is thicker in proportion to its length than in the Australian, No. 5261, and is more com- 

 pressed and less flattened posteriorly than in the European. 



5440. The left fibula. 



5441. The cranial portion of a skull, with part of the dried integuments, which was 

 found in a saltpetre cave in the Tennessee State, North America. 



It is moderately long and broad at the parietal protuberances, with a low forehead receding 

 from the glabella, which is moderately prominent, but with the nasal bones continued from 

 it without an intervening depression. The malar bone, which is preserved on the left side, 

 is larger and more prominent than in the South American Indian (No. 5405). From the 

 edentulous character of the part of the upper jaw preserved, this appears to have been the 

 skull of an aged individual, and from its size and the development of the mastoids and of the 

 supramastoids and occipital ridges, to have belonged to a male. The coronal suture is par- 

 tially obliterated. 



Purchased. 



Dr. Pritchard, in his general observations on the shape of the head among the South American 

 Aborigines, states that " no constant observation can be laid down : the form of the cranium varies in 

 every tribe. The Peruvians have most generally heads of an oblong form, somewhat compressed late- 

 rally, the forehead a little prominent, short, and falling somewhat backward. In the people of the 

 Pampas the head is generally rounded, nearly ellipsoid, contracted in length and but little compressed 

 laterally, with a forehead moderately prominent and not falling back. In the Chiquitos the same cha- 

 racter is exaggerated and the head is nearly circular, while in the Moxos it is more oblong : this last 

 form is very nearly that of the Guarani, or Paraguay Indians *." Dr. Pritchard also cites the obser- 

 vation by Dr. Morton, "that the heads of the Caribs, as well of the Antilles as of Terra Firma, are 

 naturally rounded f." 



Of the Aborigines of America the actual Collection of the College includes skulls of the ancient 

 (Nos. 54145420) and modern (Nos. 54225425) races of Peruvians, of Patagonians (Nos. 5426, 

 5427) and Fuegians (No. 5428), of the Caribs of the Antilles (Nos. 5403, 5404), of the Chenook tribe, 

 Columbia River (No. 5413), of the 'Flat-heads' of the same river (Nos. 54075412), and of the 

 Arawaak (No. 540G) and Macusi (No. 5405) Indians, natives of Guiana, which latter belong to the 

 Caribee division of the great Brasilio-guarani group of M. d'Orbigny's Classification of the South 

 Americans. 



The tribe which still retains the name of ' Carib ' in Guiana has long abandoned the practice of arti- 

 ficially flattening the head, which characterized the Caribs inhabiting the neighbouring Caribbean 

 Islands. The skulls of the individuals of the continental tribes are ovate, viewed from above : the 

 occiput is not flattened as in the Peruvian and Californian Indians, but is moderately prominent, 



* History of Man, 8vo, 1843, p. 428. t Ibid, p. 364. 



