THE CALAVEEAS SKULL. 



273 



ridges over the orbits are strongly marked, and the lower border of the opening of the nostrils is not 

 sharp; but, as in some of the crania of many savage . races, is rounded, and the malar bones are 

 prominent. The strongly marked borders of the orbits are the most striking features of the 

 fragment. 



" Extended comparisons of crania clearly show that the range of variation in the individual char- 

 acters of a given race is quite large. This is well illustrated in the results obtained by the emi- 

 nent American craniologist, Dr. Meigs, in regard to the ratio between the breadth and the length 

 among the American aborigines, in one and the same race, some having the long and others the 

 broad head. In a series of skulls from one of the Hawaian Islands we have found the long and 

 broad heads in nearly equal proportions, the breadth varying from 0.72 to 0.94 of the length. As 

 other features offer similar differences, any conclusions based upon a single skull are liable to prove 

 erroneous, unless we have sufficient grounds for the belief that such a skull is a representative one 

 of the race to which it belongs. If this consideration had been kept in view, much useless discussion 



We have no sufficient 



reason for assuming in the present instance that the skull is a representative one ; and, in view of 

 this circumstance, the results given in the following table must be considered as applicable only to 

 an individual, not to a race. Future discoveries can alone decide its real value. 



in regard to the celebrated Neanderthal skull might have been avoided. 





Breadth of 



Breadth of 



Fron tal 



Length 



Height of 



Z.vgomatic 





Cranium. 



Frontal.* 



Arch. 



of Frontal. 



Cranium. 



Diameter. 



22 Esquimaux 



134.5 



94 



296.5 



126.6 



135 



137.6 



5 From Alaska .... 



. 133.5 



92.8 



285.5 



121.8 



129.5 



132 



11 from different parts of California . 



150.5 



93.5 



260 



117 



120.8 



134 



3 Digger Indians 



. 136.6 



88.3 



280 



119 



120.3 



141.5 



Fossil skull ..... 



150 



101 



300 



128 



134 1 



145 



(The measurements arc in millimeters. ) 



" The above table of measurements shows : 



" 1. That the skull presents no signs of having belonged to an inferior race. In its breadth it 

 agrees with the other crania from California, except those of the Diggers, but surpasses them in 

 the other particulars in which comparisons have been made. This is especially obvious in the 

 greater prominence of the forehead and the capacity of its chamber. 



" 2. In so far as it differs in dimensions from the other crania from California, it approaches the 



Esquimaux." 



The above seems all that is necessary to be said, in this place, in regard to the famous Cala- 

 veras skull. Further discussion of the. facts may be reserved for the close of this section ; and it 

 is intended that the general resume of all the results of the gravel Investigations, in a future chap- 

 ter, shall also include some additional remarks on the question of the antiquity of the human 

 race on the Pacific coast, and the catastrophes which it has survived. We may pass now to some 

 other occurrences of a similar character, in the same county, but which have not as yet been laid 

 before the public. 



The fact that human implements had been found in some of the mining claims near San 

 Andreas, in gravel under the volcanic strata, was repeatedly mentioned to the writer by persons liv- 

 ing in that vicinity, and Mr. Voy was successful in finding some of the parties personally con- 

 cerned in these finds, and getting their written testimony in regard to them. The geological con- 

 ditions in the vicinity of San Andreas closely resemble those of the locality just described. The 



This is the breadth of the frontal at its narrowest part when the skull is viewed from above. 

 T Measured from the anterior edge of the foramen magnum to the level of the top of the frontal, and an 

 inch behind it on the inside.* 



Iheae measurements can, of course, be only considered as approximations ; the fragmentary condition of tin* 

 skull must l>e taken into consideration in this connection, 



