PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



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inches iu diameter, belouged to a walnut tree whicli j;rew within the wails 

 of the Fort, at a distance of Htteen feet to tlie uortli-west of the bodies 

 From the appearance of the stump, the tree liad been cut down for at least li 

 quarter of a century. The diameter across the cut was forty-six inches' and 

 I counted four hundred and eighty concentric circles of growth, exclusive of 

 two inches of decayed wood on the circumference. Assuming each circle to 

 represent a year, the beginnings of that tree must be carried back to the 

 dawn of the fifteenth century, or nearly a hiuulred years before Columbus 

 discovered America, and the probability is that during the first period of 

 occupation no trees stood within the walls of the Fort. 



The skulls exhumed by Mr. Boyle were found in the highest plane of the 

 enclosure, where evidently they had been re-interred. All of them are remark- 

 ably fresh and well preserved, as compared with those taken up by Dr. Bryce 

 and myself; but one is minus a portion of the left temporal bone, so that 

 an exact measure of its breadth cannot be secured. Measurements of the 

 two lots for calculating the cephalic indices have been made for me by Mr. 

 Boyle, and they are interesting in so far as they appear to prove that the older 

 and newer skulls represent two distinct races of people who at different 

 times occupied the same locality. The skulls collecte(l by Mr. Boyle are given 

 according to their catalogue numbers and with brief descriptive notes. 



No. 12,480. — 6f by 5f inch. Nicely formed skull of a woman. Reddish 

 brown in color, as if caused by suffusion of blood. No Wormian bones. 

 Age. 35 to 40 years. Cranial index, TOij. 



No. 12,494. — 7k by oj inch. Pronounced supra-orbital development. A 

 strongly formed skull, with sutures prominent. Age, about 50 years. 

 Cranial index, 68 J. 



No. 12,499. — 7} by 5i inch. Occipital bone largely developed, with very 

 prominent ])rocess. Large Wormian bone at the fontannels of the 

 parietal and frontal bones and along the occipital suture. Age, 60 to 

 65 years. Cranial index, 76. 



No. 12,500. — 7f by 5| inches. Extraordinary development of supra-orbital 

 ridges. Sutures ossified. Age, probably 80 years. Cranial index 71. 



No. 12,501. — 7^ by 5f\ inch. Skull of very fine texture. Slightly unsym- 

 metrical in occipital bone. A few Wormian bones around the occipital. 

 Age, 40 to 45 years. Cranial index, 74^. 



The two old and uncatalogued skulls give the following measurements : — 



Male. — 7 by 5| inch. Cranial index, 78f. 

 Female. — 6f by 5^ inch. Cranial index, 77.^. 



The cephalic index is used to represent the percentage of breadth to 

 length in the living head, and is assumed by Ripley and others to be two 

 to three per cent, more than the cranial index or i)roportion according to skull 

 measurement. When the percentage rises above SO, according to Ripley, the 

 head is brachy cephalic ; when it falls below 75, it is dolichocephalic ; and 

 when the index is between 75 and 80 it is mesocephalic, — or .^hort. long and 

 medium formed heads respectively. Ai)plying this rule to the skulls of the 

 Clear Creek Fort, it is found that the two old skulls are on the border line 

 of the brachycephalic class. Only one of the later skulls belongs to that class, 

 two are markedly dolichocephalic, and two are mesocephalic. 



There are not a sufficient number of skulls for computing an average 

 index. As far as, numbers go, however, they indicate that two widely different 

 races are represented, and .so completely are they cut off from us that even 

 the more modern of them has hardly left an event, a record, a fact, or a traditit)n 

 out of which to weave a page of iiuman history. 



