long,” says he, “ before we met with a new, enemy, equally brave as the Iroquois,
less politic, but much more ferocious, and whom it was impossible to conquer or
to surprise. They might be compared to those insects which appear to have as
many lives as limbs; for they were no sooner dispersed than they reappeared, and
when reduced to a mere handful of brigands, they were still to be encountered
every where, and for twenty-five years interrupted commerce, and infested the
roads, over a tract more than five hundred leagues in circumference. These were
the O t t ig a m i e s , commonly called Foxes.”* A late traveller remarks that these
people still retain their ancient character, being “ constantly embroiled in wars
and disputes with their neighbors, the results of which show that they have more
courage in battle than wisdom in council.”f
PLATE XXXI.
OTTIGAMIE.
A large and ponderous skull of a full-blood Fox Indian, for which, and
various similar favors, I am indebted to the kindness of Dr. B. B. Brown, of St.
Louis, Missouri. It is one of the largest aboriginal skulls in my collection, as
will be seen by the following
Longitudinal diameter,
ME ASUREMENT 9.
7. inches.
Parietal diameter, . 5.9 inches.
Frontal diameter, 4.7 inches.
Vertical diameter, . 5.5 inches.
* Hist. Generale de la Nouv. France, IV, p. 94. t Schoolcraft, Trav. p. 348.