96 
A Study of the Crania of the Moriori 
Australians and markedly from the fnll-blooded negro races. Scott continues: 
"the orbits are as a rule high, and the appearance of height is increased by the 
form of the superciliary ridges; while the nasal opening is narrow*." Table III 
(p. 98) will show that the orbits [OJ^) are higher than any of the comparative material 
provided, although the Fuegians come fairly close and the Maori follow them, 
but they are distinctly higher than modern European races and the Negroes. On 
the other hand the orbits are distinctly broader than those of any other race, and 
the result is that relatively to the breadth they about equal the Fuegians in orbit, 
fall behind the Maori and about equal the Negroes and Bavarians. It would probably 
be better to state that Moriori orbits are large rather than high. Again the state- 
ment that the Moriori nasal opening is narrow requires qualification. Its absolute 
breadth is aboxit the same as Maori, Fuegian and Aino, and in excess of modern 
Europeans. It will be found that it is the nasal height of the Moriori which is 
the noteworthy absolute feature of their noses, and the result is that their nasal 
index falls below that of any of the races placed in Table III for comparison. This 
is markedly true of the males. 
Of general descriptive properties Dr Scott says there were no metopic crania 
in his series, that the coronal and sagittal sutures were simple, but the lambdoid 
often very complicated; these remarks would apply well to the Royal College of 
Surgeons' collection, although two of the skulls of Moriori children at Berlin are, 
as might well be, metopic. The Moriori cranium does, indeed, strike one as 
"primitive," but in a different sense to the Australian cranium. A comparison 
of the following table will show how very little resemblance there is between the 
Australian and Moriori crania : 
Character 
Australians (Robertsonf ) 
Moriori (Thomson) 
<? (78) 
? (22) 
3 (34) 
$ (22) 
Maximum Length (L) ... 
183-56 
175-59 
186-87 
178-60 
Maximum Breadth (B)... 
130-60 
128-73 
141-40 
138-41 
Basio- apical Height {H) 
131-13 
124-50 
135-91 
132-81 
100 B/L 
71-29 
73-36 
76-07 
77-52 
100 H/L 
71-50 
70-95 
72-78 
74-52 
100 H/B 
100-60 
96-64 
96-12 
95-95 
It is clear that the Moriori is a much larger skull than the aboriginal Australian, 
and of wholly different proportions. And yet those who have handled the Moriori 
skull cannot doubt that in its special manner it is as primitive as the Australian. 
The very bulging glabella, the low receding forehead, the considerable flattening 
* loc. cit. p. 25. It should be noted that Scott means these remarks to apply to his first type, but 
he admits the continuity of his first with his second type (p. 26). 
f Proceedings R. 8. Edinburgh, 1910 — 1911, Vol. xxxr. pp. 1 — 16. Craniological Observations on 
the Length, Breadth and Height of 100 Australian Aboriginal Crania. 
