330 Records of the S.A. Museum 



Where tlic chi-ld sur\ i\ es. (ipinions arc (li\iclt'd as tu whether or nut the 

 distortion of skull and brain has a direct influence uu the intelligence of the 

 individual. 



Wilson (-0) says of the Koskimos of Vancouver Js. : "The process seein> 

 neither to afifect the intellect nor the courage of the people, who are remark- 

 alile for cunning- as well as fierce daring, and are the terror of the surrounding- 

 tribes" ; and later, "The e\-idence that cranial deformation leaves the intellect 

 unimpaired rests on luore absolute proof. The flathead tribes are in the 

 constant habit of making slaves of the neighbouring roundheaded Indians, 

 whom they treat with great barbarity and though living among them they 

 are not allo-wed to flatten or modify the form of their infants' heads, that 

 being a distinguishing mark of freedom and the badge of aristocratic descent. 

 They look accordingly, on the whites with contempt, as a people who bear in 

 the shape of their heads, the hereditary mark of slaves. They are, moreover, 

 acute, and intelligent, generally drixe a hard bargain in the sale of their furs, 

 possess singular powers cjf mimicry and have been noted for very retentive 

 memories — being capable of re])eating- passages of some length with consider- 

 able accuracy when recited in their hearing. 



"It would seem, indeed, that alike in the lime of Hippocrates and in our 

 own (l.-iy an idea has prevailed among those that used this strange barbaric 

 ])racticc. that they thereby not only conferred an added grace to the form but 

 contributed "o the mental superiority of those who acciuired this peculiar 

 symbol of aristocrac}'." 



In this view Wilson is su])])orted by common opinion : Morton and tatlin 

 agreeing except in so far as the practice results in ])rematnre synost<isis of 

 sutures. 



Torquen-iada l^') says; "As to the custom of appearing fierce in war. it 

 was in some provinces ordered that the mothers or their attendants, should 

 make the faces of their children long and rough, and the foreheads broad, as 

 Hijjpocrates and Galen relate of the Macrocephali, who had them moulded bv 

 art into the conical and elexated form." 



It will l)e recollected that the ferocious hordes of .\ttila jiractised this 

 defiirmation. as flid also the Avars who succeeded them, and unre;isoning 

 ferocity is indeed characterictic of many tribes that ]iractise cranial 

 distortion. It was from this attribute of its inhal)itai-its that Warrior Is. 

 obtained its name. An excerpt from Captain Moresby's "Discoveries in New 

 Guinea" (1876) states that "though not more than 2 miles in circumference. 

 Warrior Is. is the home of one of the n-iost powerful tribes in Torres Straits. 



