REPORT ON THE HUMAN CRANIA. 
43 
I am not aware of any other observations than my own on the palato -maxillary index 
in the Australian skull, which, as is shown on p. 39, is dolichuranic. 
In their cubic capacity the Australian skulls are microcephalic. The average 
obtained by MM. de Quatrefages and Hamy is 1269 c.c., that by Prof. Flower is 1298, 
and that by myself is 1230 ; results which closely approximate, and definitely establish 
the microcephalic character of these people. We are also in accord in placing the 
capacity of the female skull as distinctly below the male. As far as the capacities of 
the individual skulls have been recorded, it is clear that not only is the mean of the 
race a low one, but that individual skulls do not attain a high capacity, such as one sees 
in the more cultivated races. Thus in Prof. Flower’s series, thirty-two of which were 
gauged, only eight specimens were 1400 c.c. and upwards, and the highest of these was 
1460 c.c. ; whilst in my series of thirty -four crania, only three specimens were 1400 c.c. or 
upwards, and the highest of these, a male from Port Curtis, Queensland, was 1514 c.c. 
From the above analysis the general characters of the Australian skulls may be 
summarised as follows : — markedly dolichocephalic, tapeinocephalic, not strongly 
prognathic, as a rule platyrhine, microseme or mesoseme, dolichuranic and microcephalic. 
It is generally admitted that the northern and north-west coasts of Australia have 
been visited by both the Papuans and the Malays, and it is possible that the Polynesians 
may also have landed on the north-east coast. It is not unlikely that small colonies of 
these races may have been established on the Australian sea-board, and that there 
a certain local intermixture with the aboriginal Australian people may have taken place. 
Putting aside, however, these local and occasional admixtures, the question has been 
discussed by various travellers and anthropologists, if the Australians are a homogeneous 
people, or if the aborigines of the great island-continent consist of more than one race. 1 
I need not enter into a full analysis of the evidence which has been advanced on the one 
side or the other, but may content myself with referring to two or three prominent writers. 
Dr. Martin describes 2 from personal observation the natives of the district of Roebuck ' 
Bay in the North West, and states that those of the interior excel those of the sea coast in 
bodily structure. They are more muscular, taller, and apparently more intelligent ; the 
profile more resembling that of a Polynesian than that of an Australian proper. They are 
however, black, and the hair is in spiral locks about three or four inches in length, wavy- 
crisp or frizzled, though not strongly, and jet-black. He gives the measurements of one 
skull, length 7 '23 inches, breadth 5*31, facial angle 94°, upper jaw prognathic so as to 
give a very oblique insertion to the teeth. Dr. Topinard after a comparison of the 
1 In the Journal of the Anthropological Society of London, p. xxxii., prrhlished in the Journ. of Anthrop., 1870, 
is a short report of a communication made by Dr. Carter Blake, from which it would appear that he considered three 
types of Australian skull to exist. The report is a mere abstract and without detail. See also Mr. Staniland Wake in 
Journ. of Anthrop., 1871, and Journ. of Anthropological Instit., vol. 1. 1872. 
2 Journal of Royal Geographical Society, vol. xxxv. p. 283, 1865. 
