298 Examination of Indian Graves in Chester Co., Pa. (May, 
hibits a marked prognathism, though the superior maxillary was 
lost in its exhumation. The lower jaw is exceedingly massive, 
the teeth abnormal and number but eleven, the eruption of the 
last molar on either side having never occurred. The skull evi- 
dently belonged to a young warrior, and probably one of some 
celebrity, as the elaborate decoration of his grave would denote. 
Skull number three is probably that of a female. The walls 
are more fragile and show smoother surfaces than the former. 
Besides this, there was nothing of personal adornment found in 
the grave. This was the most perfectly preserved cranium of the 
series. The number of teeth in both jaws is complete. The skull 
is decidedly asymmetrical ; viewed from above, the compression 
is seen to be on the right side, but this deformation is undoubt- 
edly accidental. It presents a more orthognathous form than the 
two preceding. 
The late Anders Retzius, of Stockholm, who devoted much at- 
tention to the study of the craniology of the American tribes, 
classes the Algonquins and Iroquois with the dolicocephali or long- 
heads. This point, however, cannot be satisfactorily determined 
until sufficient material be collected for more extensive measure- 
ments. The few Lenni Lenape skulls which have thus far been 
recovered, present such variable features that a general average 
of a large number must be obtained before we can arrive at any 
satisfactory results. There are some ethnologists who place the 
modern Indian tribes of America with the brachycephalic or 
short-headed class. It is exceedingly desirable, for the purpose 
- of comparison, that every opportunity be embraced for obtaining 
and preserving the skulls of this tribe, as in a comparatively short 
time all traces of them will have irrevocably disappeared. 
The discoveries in these graves go to prove that the inmates 
were among the last of their tribe who lingered on the banks of 
their dearly loved stream, ere the remnants of their people gath- 
ered themselves together and sadly wended their way westward. 
They had adopted, to a considerable extent, both in their manner — 
of living and the disposal of their dead, the customs of the whites, 
with whom they had been thrown into contact for a number of 
years. The local legends and memories of the oldest inhabitants 
ascribe to these graves an age of about a century and a half, 
though some of them may be much more recent, as it is not 
probable that the entire number of interments were even approxi- 
