,l^>>i** 



156 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



American Indian woman, of unusual size and 

 development. Her head bears sad testimony to 

 the violence of her age and people. She died 

 from the effects of a blow from a stone-headed 

 pogamogan or spear, which has penetrated the 

 right side of the forehead with so clean a frac- 

 ture as to indicate the extreme rapidity and 

 force of its blow. It is inferred from the con- 

 dition of the edges of this wound that she may 

 have survived its infliction for two weeks or 

 more. If, as is most likely, the wound was re- 

 ceived in some sudden attack by a hostile tribe, 

 they must have been driven off or have retired, 

 leaving the wounded woman in the hands of her 

 friends to be tended for a time, and then buried, . 

 either with other members of her family or with 

 others who had perished in the same skirmish. 

 Unless the wound was inflicted in sleep, during 

 a night-attack, she must have fallen, not in 

 flight, but with her face to the foe, perhaps 

 aiding the resistance of her friends or shielding 

 her little ones from destruction. With the peo- 

 ple of Cro-magnon, as with the American In- 

 dians, the care of the wounded was probably a 

 sacred duty, not to be neglected without incur- 

 ring the greatest disgrace and the vengeance 

 of the guardian spirits of the sufferers. 



