OF THE MICMAC SKULL— CAMERON. 6 



Windsor was being built in 1854. The fuller label was 

 attached to the specimen by Mr. Piers in accordance with this 

 information. Dr. Honeyman in his Museum report for 1872 

 states that the skull was presented by Dr. Weeks in 

 that year. Weeks graduated in 1859, so that he must either 

 have obtained the skull in his early student days; or, if he 

 obtained it during the time he was coroner, the date when the 

 man was killed must have been later than 1859, and the 

 accident then must have occurred during repairs to the rail- 

 way. Now a point of difficulty at once manifests itself, for 

 it is a well recognized fact that there was in the early coloniza- 

 tion days a certain degree of intermingling of Micmac and 

 French Acadian blood. In the midst of these difficulties, we 

 possess no record as to whether this skull belonged to a full 

 blooded Micmac Indian or not. Fortunatel}', however, this 

 is just where Science is able to bridge across the hiatus and 

 demonstrate to us that many of the indices and other cranial 

 measurements of this specimen suggest Mongoloid affinities 

 which the skull of the North American Indian in general 

 tends to manifest in some degree or other. On the whole 

 therefore, I am inclined to believe that this skull was that of 

 a pure blooded North American Indian. It is a matter for 

 deep regret that the physical anthropology of the aboriginal 

 inhabitants of Nova Scotia is represented in the Provincial 

 Museum merely by a single skull. My main purpose therefore, 

 in writing this paper is to direct attention to an obviously 

 anomalous condition, and at the same time to appeal to those 

 interested in anthropology to endeavour to rectify this state 

 of affairs by collecting specimens. I would personally be most 

 grateful for any information regarding the location of genuine 

 old Indian burial sites for purposes of exploration. There is 

 admittedly a certain degree of antipathy towards disturbing 

 the dead and desecrating their graves in a search for relics 

 and other remains, yet, in the absence of adequate literature, 

 one must not allow the records of the manners, customs, and 



