



ANTHROPOLOGY OF ASIA 25 





 also from the description of the cradle in use in Asia 



Minor where he says : " The infant being attached solidly, 

 is laid upon its back and the nape of its nock does not 

 take long to be flattened." 1 The deformed Curds we have 

 referred to elsew r here. 



However this may be, it is certain that among the 

 Galchas and the Tajiks there prevails a different cranial 

 form, that is platy-cephaly, and therefore we can infer 

 the existence of a local sub-variety, pamirietms. There 

 are always, as characters of theat'meno-pamitiensisv&riely, 

 strong brachycephalism and a stature higher than the 

 average. On the other hand the variety georgianus 

 shows slight braohicephalism and aloout medium stature, 

 perhaps also a more pronounced leptorrhiny. 



The Brachymorphus White can be followed East as 

 far as the basin of the Tarira : in. fact among the people 

 of Cashghar there prevails a brachvcephalic element 

 which is not Mongolian, as we find from the notes that 

 have been so diligently registered by the Englishman, 

 Stein, in two journeys of exploration (1900-1901 and 

 1906-1908), in which he measured about 600 individuals. 

 Joyce, 2 who has published a considerable portion of the 



1 Ibid., pp. 41-42. This custom seems to have originated in Central Asia as will 

 appear from a comparison of the practice of the Kirghiz!, according to a description 

 by UJFALVY (Lei Aryens au nord et au sud de I'Hindou-kouch, Paris, 1896, p. 397) 

 " ihe Kirghiz women place their babies at the breast on a small board and attach 

 them to it in such a way that the back of their head gets flattened by pressure." 

 It is important to note that the Chinese traveller Hiouen-Thsang who visited 

 Central Asia in 648, found the same custom prevalent towards the frontier of India 

 and mentions it in two places : rf. UJFALVY (Ch. de), Memoirs sur les Huns blance. 

 "L' Anthrop," 1898, n. 3-4, pp. 271,276. A characteristic retreating forehead 

 seems to me observable in the Hittites said to be prisoners of Rameses III, 

 and I consider them to have deformed crania, thus constituting the most ancient 

 documents of cranial deformation: see the fig. in MULLER (Max W.), Asien und 

 Europe, pp. 323, 331. 



2 JoiCB (T. A.), Notes on the Physical Anthropology of Chinese Turkestan and the 

 Pamirs, "Journ. R. Anthrop. Inst. XL1I, 1912, pp. 467-468 ; see also by the same 



