DISTORTIONS OF THE HUMAN CRANIUM. 401 



tion. It was found in the country of the ancient Hurons ; and 

 though the idea was, that it lay among other relics of a battle-field, — 

 to which its unusual shape would give countenance, as the indication 

 of some foreign intruder, — yet it is possible that it had been depos- 

 ited in one of the Ossuaries into which it was the custom of the 

 Huron Indians to gather their scaffolded dead, after they had been 

 exposed for a certain time to decay. 



The skull in question is large and massive, and differs essentially 

 from the Huron type of Cranium in its short longitudinal diameter, 

 vertical occiput, and flattening of the whole parieto -occipital region 

 to so marked a degree, that when laid on the occiput it rests as 

 firmly as on the base. 



I have already shown, in a former paper,* that the Hurons were 

 characterized by the more elongated, or dolichocephalic form of head. 

 In this respect indeed their crania are prominently distinguished, 

 exhibiting a greater divergence from Dr. Morton's assumed type, than 

 any other of the American Aborigines, if we except the Esquimaux. 

 The Barrie skull, on the contrary, approximates in a considerable 

 degree to the celebrated mound-skull of the Scioto Valley, which Dr. 

 Morton specially selected as " perhaps the most admirably formed 

 head of the American race hitherto discovered. It possesses," he 

 added, " the national characteristics in perfection, as seen in the ele- 

 vated vertex, flattened occiput, great interparietal diameter, ponderous 

 bony structure, salient nose, large jaws, and broad face. It is the 

 perfect type of Indian conformation, to which the skulls of all the 

 tribes from Cape Horn to Canada more or less approximate." 



I formerly showed, from the results of a series of careful measure- 

 ments of Canadian crania, that the latter remark is not born out by 

 a minute determination of the Algonquin, Iroquois, or Huron cranial 

 type ; and more extensive observations have since strongly confirmed 

 me in that conclusion. The mean derived from the measurement 

 of thirty-seven skulls procured from Indian graves within the Huron 

 district, including those of twenty-nine males and eight females, is 

 here placed in comparison with the measurements of theScioto-Mound 

 and Barrie skulls ; and, as will be perceived, presents a striking 

 contrast : — 



* Supposed prevalence of one Cranial type throughout the American Aborigines. Cana- 

 dian Journal, Vol. II-, p. 406. 



