XX 



HEAD 



335 



in 1585, three distinct forms of deformation are mentioned. 

 Notwithstanding the severe penalties imposed by this edict 

 upon parents persisting in the practice, the custom was so 

 difficult to eradicate that another injunction against it was 

 published by the Government as late as 1752. 



In the West Indies, and the greater part of North America, 

 the custom has become extinct with the people who used it ; 

 but the Chinook Indians, of the neighbourhood of the 

 Columbia Kiver, and the natives of Vancouver Island, 



FIG. 21. Deformed skull of an FIG. 22. Artificially flattened skull 



infant who had died during the pro- of ancient Peruvian. (Mus. Roy. 



cess of flattening ; from the Columbia Coll. Surgeons. ) 

 River. (Mus. Roy. Coll. Surgeons.) 



continue it to the present day ; and this is the last strong- 

 hold of this strange fashion, though under the influence of 

 European example and discouragement it is rapidly dying 

 out. Here the various methods of deforming the head, and 

 their effects, have been studied and described by numerous 

 travellers. The process commences immediately after the 

 birth of the child, and is continued for a period of from 

 eight to twelve months, by which time the head has per- 

 manently assumed the required form, although during sub- 

 sequent growth it may partly regain its proper shape. " It 

 might be supposed," observes Mr. Kane, who had large 



