the anterior part, as if one end Otf the oval figure had been
flattened, the ovaL figure beingHotherwise somewhat widir than
the figure formed by the circumference of dhe basis cranü in
the other two eksses of skulls.
. All the foramina in the basis of the skull are perceptibly
larger in the portraits of the Chinese and Kalmuks; some
other characters are observable,' which are not perceptible in
the skulls. “ The narrow and linear aperture of the eyelids extends
upwards towards the temples, and the internal angle of
the eye is depressed towards the nosé, the superior eyelid being
continued into the inferior by a rounded sweep.” This conformation
is not dependent on the shape of the skull, in which
the orbits are quite level, those of the Chinese being nearly
square or rather oblong, with a well-defined or sharp edge*
In neither of these skulls is the cerebral cavity much contracted
j as much space being afforded as in many Earèpèan
skulls^for the anterior part of the brain.
“ The zygomatic arches, though forming a round sweep
when we turn the skull, present in the front view an angular
appearance, owing to a.slight projection of the Idwenedge óf
the Urch. This is particularised from its affca-dmg a character
y ^ ic h has been thought distinctive of the northern Asiatic
nations from the Americans.
Paragraph 2.—Of the Skulls of the aboriginal Americans.
The skulls of the American tribes display the same broad
and pyramidal form as the heads of Turanian nations.,. Travellers
have been struck with the general resemblance which
certainly subsists between these two departments of mankind.
“ What we have been stating as to the exterior form of the
indigenous Americans,” says M. de Humboldt, “ confirms
the accounts of other travellers, as to. a striking analogy between
the American and the Mongole race. This analogy is
* This is the ease particularly iD the skull of an Esquimaux. The cranium of
an American, supposed to belong to an ancient and extinct race, found in a tumulus
near Niagara, resembles the Esquimaux in almost every other respect, and
particularly in the pyramidal or triangular form of the front face, but- differs in
having the edges of the orbit rounded off in a remarkable manner.
particularly evident in the colour of the skin and hair, in the
defective beard, fligh cheek-bones, and in the direction of the
eyes. We cannot refuse to admit, that the human species
does not contain races resembling one another more than the
Americans, Mongoies, Mantchoux, and Malays.” The samfe
writer mentions, as a characteristic of the American nations,
£fja facial angle? more inclined, though straighter than that of
the Negro;” and,he adds, “ that there. is'.no race of men
upon the. globe in which the frontal bone is more depressed
backwards, or which has a less projecting forehead.” But
this-observation will not apply equally to all, and probably
not to the greater part of the American races.* On this subje
c t I shall* cite the observations of ene of_the best informed
writers,f whose state'mfents are the result ,of personal observation.*
“ The facial angle of the American cranium has been represented
by Blumenbach at 73°, an obliquity which induced
him foplaes the American Indian in his series of the .varieties
of the human race, as the fourth in numheiMBut his obser*
vations Were made on the cranium of a Carib, and will, not
rigidly apply to the Western Indian, who certainly possesses
a greater** verticality of profile*. Agreeably to the mensurations
of Dr. Harlan, a cranium which we obtained on the
plains of theTPlatte,. exhibits an angle, of 78.5!.; a Wabash
male, 7 | ' female, 9 0 ° and a Cherokee only 75°.
Other points of difference may be referred to the .direction
of the orbits, the* degree of prominence in the nosef and the
shape of the cheek-bones..
“ The line of the direction of their, eyes is nearly.reeti-
liriearly transverse,” says the writer above cited, in describing
the lineaments of the Indians on the Missouri* “ This,” he
adds,, “ is intermediate between the atcuated line of the eyes
of Europeans, and that of the Indians of New Spain, who,.ae-
* See an excellent account of the physical charaeturgiOfthe nations of the Missouri,
with observations oh the peculiarities of the American tribes in general,
Chiefly drawn up from the hot® of M. Say, in the second volume of James’s History
of the Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, under Major Long, p* 3. et