236 CRANIA AMERICANA. 



to individuals of the barbarous tribes. Some have thought them Mingoes, who 

 were affiliated to the Iroquois : but the form of the head does not support this 

 surmise. Of the great number of skulls found in this place, but few were perfect, 

 of which last I have received eight. For these I am indebted to Dr. Hildreth of 

 Marietta, Ohio; Dr, Andrews and Judge Tappan of Steubenville, in that state; 

 and to Dr. M'Dowell of Pittsburg. The annexed drawing is taken from a 

 remarkably fine head of this series sent me by Dr. Andrews. All these skulls, 

 however, are surprisingly alike— the vertex elevated, the occiput flat, the parietal 

 diameter very great, and the lower jaw massive. They are also of singularly 

 large capacity, and in this respect approach nearer to the Sauks and Foxes, and the 

 Muskogees, than to any other tribes that have come under my notice. For 

 example, the mean internal capacity gives upwards of eighty-five cubic inches, 

 and the facial angle rises seventy-eight degrees. The anterior chamber gives 38.3 

 cubic inches, the posterior 49.2: but notwithstanding the proportion of the former, 

 there can be little doubt that these skulls belong to the savage tribes, and not to 

 the Toltecan stock. 



THE CHARIBS. 



That part of the American race called Charibs^ was at one period a numerous 

 and widely distributed people. Their native seats were the northern regions of 

 South America, almost from the river of Amazons northward to the sea, including 

 the great valley of the Orinoco, and much of the present provinces of Guyana and 

 Venezuela. From thence they extended their migrations to all the Antilles, from 

 Trinidad to Santa Cruz.* They made a valorous opposition to the Europeans 

 who first attempted to colonise their country ; and Peter Martyr, the companion 

 of Columbus, declares, that so fierce and menacing was the appearance of the 

 Charibs whom they took in their skirmishes, that no one could look on them 

 without a sensation of horror. In the year 1578, the Charibs of the Orinoco 

 made a desperate and successful incursion into the Spanish province of Valentia, 



* The Charib Islands were Trinidad, Grenada, St. Vincent, Dominica, Giiadaloupe, Martinique, 

 Santa Cruz, St. Thomas, Nevis, Montserrat, Antigua, St. Kitts, and the Virgin Isles. 



