28 A NATURALIST IN TASMANIA ch. 



although the orbits are deeply sunk beneath them. 

 The most characteristic point in the skull is the 

 rapid broadening from before backwards, the 

 region on each side at the back swelling out sud- 

 denly into large parietal bosses, which are entirely 

 absent in the Australian type. This marked 

 swelling out of the parietal region is met with to a 

 less extent in the Papuan head (No. 1028), while 

 it forms a transition from this latter type to the 

 globular shape of a Melanesian race such as the 

 Andamanese (No. 1040), which is very broad 

 behind but, unlike the Tasmanian, does not sud- 

 denly narrow in front, the excavation in front 

 of the parietal bosses having been apparently 

 obliterated by the shortening of the whole skull. 



The face of the Tasmanian was very short and 

 rather sloping (prognathous), but the lower jaw 

 took no part in this prognathism, as in the 

 Australian or African negro. The closest resem- 

 blance is certainly to the Papuan negroes of New 

 Guinea, but with many of the characters greatly 

 exaggerated. 



Whether the Tasmanian race ever inhabited 

 the mainland of Australia or not, it is certain 

 that neither in their physical characters nor in 

 their culture have they anything to do with the 

 Australian blacks, whose relationship lies rather 

 with the Veddahs of Ceylon and the other 

 straight-haired Proto-Dravidian races that still 

 exist sparsely in India and the Malay Islands. 



It has been plausibly suggested, though without 



