PROGNATHOUS STOCK. 311 



pressed, the space occupied by the temporal muscle being quite flat ; 

 but the centre of each parietal bone is boldly and abruptly convex ; the 

 top of the head, or coronal arch, is ridge-like, with a slope downward 

 on each side ; the cheek-bones are large and deep ; the upper margin of 

 the orbits is smooth ; and the frontal sinuses are but slightly indicated ; 

 the orbits are large, and rather circular ; the nasal bones are short and 

 depressed, and the nasal orifice is of remarkable width and extent, as 

 is that of the posterior nares also ; the alveolar ridge of the superior 

 maxillary bone projects moderately ; the lower jaw is very thick and 

 deep ; the posterior angle is rounded, and the base of the ramus arched, 

 so that the posterior angle and the chin do not touch a plane ; the basilar 

 process of the occipital bone is less inclined upward than in five or 

 six European skulls examined at the same time : the coronal suture only 

 impinges on the sphenoid bone by a quarter of an inch. From the 

 middle of the occipital condyle to the alveolar ridge between the two 

 middle incisors, the measurement is four inches and three-eighths ; the 

 posterior development of the cranium, beyond the middle of the condyle, 

 three inches and three-eighths. 



Except in the smoothness of the superior margin of the orbits, this 

 skull presents the same general characters as the preceding : the coronal 

 ridge, the slope on each side, the convexity of the parietal bones, the 

 narrowness of the forehead and compression of its lateral portion, are the 

 same in both. 



In the form of the skull, the Alfourous-Endamenes, according to 

 Lesson, approach nearer the Mozambique Negro than do the Malayo- 

 Papuans. The differences, he states, consist in a flattening of the lateral 

 portion of the cranial arch, giving a shelving contour, on both sides, 

 at the summit of the arch ; in the occipito-frontal diameter being a 

 little more elongated, and in the shape of the face being rather less 

 oblique than that of the Mozambique, in such a manner that the facial 

 angle is more open in the heads of the Alfourous : hence it results that 

 the nasal bridge is more vertical. The nostrils, also, are not quite so 

 large ; and the cheek-bones are less projecting among the Alfourous 

 than the Mozambiques, but more so than in the Papuan and the Eu- 

 ropean, owing to the depth of the infra-orbital fossae : the jaws of the 

 Alfourous, although less prominent than those of the Mozambique, pro- 

 ject in a greater degree than those of the Papuan and the European. 

 The heads of the Alfourous are intermediate, in their general form, be- 

 tween the skulls of the New Zealanders and those of the Mozambique 

 Negroes : like the latter, the two jaws are so much elongated, that they 

 may be compared to the face of an Orang. The lower jaw of the 

 Alfourou exhibits the same development as does that of the Mozam- 

 bique, but it is narrower than that of the Papuan : compared to the 



