228 



CRANIA AMERICANA. 



Retinoids. It is a small head, with a very retreating forehead, but little if at all 

 altered by art. 





MEASUREMENTS. 





Longitudinal diameter, . . . • • 6.5 inches. 



Parietal diameter, . 



• 









5.6 inches. 



Frontal diameter, . 



. 









4.5 inches* 



Vertical diameter, . 



■ 









5. inches. 



Inter-mastoid arch, . 



. 









1 4.7 inches. 



Inter-mastoid line, . 



t 









3.8 inches* 



Occipito-frontal arch. 



> < 









13.2 inches. 



Horizontal periphery. 



« 









19.2 inches. 



Internal capacity, . 



. 









76.5 cubic inches. 



Capacity of the anterior chamber. 







34. cubic inches. 



Capacity of the posterior chamber, . 







42.5 cubic inches. 



Capacity of the coronal region, . 







13.75 cubic inches. 



Facial angle, . 



• 



• 







74 degrees. 



The preceding illustrations embrace eight genuine mound skulls, and no one, 

 I think, can examine them without being struck with their resemblance to the 

 other crania figured in this work. They have the low forehead, high cheek bones, 

 small facial angle, massive lower jaw, prominent vertex, flat occiput, and rounded 

 head of the American race; and when we recur to the geographical distribution 

 of the mounds as already noticed, they will be found scattered over those parts of 

 both Americas which were inhabited by the demi-civilised nations embraced in 

 the Toltecan family. Wherever these tumuli are found, whether in Peru, 

 Mexico, Florida, or the Valley of the Mississippi, they are observed to be similarly 

 constructed, and to contain analogous remains. Skeletons in the sitting posture 

 are every where characteristic of them : the ashes and burnt bones indicate the 

 practice of consuming the body with fire, which was still practised at the invasion 

 of Mexico by the Spaniards; and when UUoa visited Peru so recently as the 

 middle of the past century, he saw and described the manner in which mounds 

 were constructed as sepulchral monuments. "The Indians," says he, "having 

 laid the body, without burial, on the ground, environed it with a rude arch of 

 stones or bricks, and earth was thrown upon it as a tumulus, which they call 

 guaca. In general they are eight or ten toises high, and about twenty long, and 

 the breadth rather less; but some are larger. The plains near Cyambe are 



