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Dimensions of Cranium, compared with those of two belonging to the
Stone Period in Denmark, of nearly the same size.

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Mr. CARTER BLAKE congratulated the Society on having so lucid an account of these remains placed before them, in which the specimens which Mr. Roberts had obtained with such industry and energy had been described by Professor Busk in the most complete manner. As some confusion, however, appeared to exist respecting the signi fication in which Professor Busk used the words, "strongly brachycephalic," when speaking of a skull whose proportions were 1000 he would hint that it would be very convenient if a more minute subdivision of skulls, classified according to length, on the plan of M. Paul Broca, could be adopted. M. Broca, while adhering to Professor Retzius's general classification, arranged certain skulls which he obtained from a cemetery in La Cité, as follows:

1. Dolichocephali. Index smaller than 77.7 per cent.

A. Pure Dolichocephali.

823

Index

smaller than 75 per cent. B. Subdolichocephali. Index ranging from 75 to 77.6 per cent.

2. Mesaticephali. Index ranging from 77.7 to 79.9 per cent.

3. Brachycephali. Index of 80 per cent. and beyond.

100

A. Subbrachycephali. Index rang

ing from 80 to 84.9 per cent. B. Pure Brachycephali. Index of 85 per cent. and beyond.

100'

or

It would be seen that this skull would be classed amongst the subdolichocephali by M. Broca, who reserved the term, pure brachycephali for such skulls as those from Kellet,† in Lancashire, 85 from some of the Danish tumuli of the stone period. With respect to the skulls which had been derived from undoubtedly Celtic burial places, by Mr. George Tate, F.G.S., and others, one of them had been described by Dr. Barnard Davis. Its cranial proportion was 80 To such a skull as this it would be scarcely accurate to apply the term brachycephalic in any other sense than as implying that they presented a short-headed type, which Mr. Tate identifies on evidence of the highest archæological value with that of the Northumbrian Celts. He, however, did not interpret Mr. Tate's observation as implying any hypothetical resemblance between the cranial type of the Northumbrian Celt and that of the more markedly brachycephalic Danish mound builder. He felt confident that the evidence which such observers as Mr. Tate and Mr. Roberts had discovered would speedily

From mesátios, average.

+ Geologist, 1862, p. 424.

Anthrop. Review, vol. i, 425. Trans. Berwickshire Naturalists' Field Club,

p. 412.

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place a series of accurate, well-ascertained facts before us, which may hereafter enable us to generalise on the subject, a task we cannot as yet accomplish.

Mr. ROBERTS offered a few remarks on the bones on the table, which had been procured by himself. Three or four kists have since been discovered along the sea-board of the Tarbotness promontory.

PROFESSOR MARSHALL inquired the exact date of the skull ?

Mr. ROBERTS replied, that, as the oldest and most indeterminate form of flint implement (the simple flake) was met with, the exact date could not satisfactorily be ascertained.

Mr. A. A. FRASER inquired, whether any larger or better worked flints have been obtained from the same locality, to which Mr. Roberts replied in the negative.

PROFESSOR MARSHALL remarked, that the foramen jugulare was much larger on the right than on the left side, in the Bennet Hill skull, a fact to be accounted for by reason that the right jugular vein went direct to the heart, whilst the left one crossed over indirectly. As the viscera in the body have often been transposed, so that the heart was found on the right side, it was interesting to find that in the Bennet Hill skull no departure from the normal type was visible.

Indian Tribes of Vancouver's Island. By CAPTAIN EUSTACE W. JACOB.

Vancouver's Island is chiefly, if not altogether, inhabited by the Nootka Sound Indians (Flat-heads), speaking the Wakarh language, and falling into the following tribes:-Naspatl; Nootkans proper; Ilaoquatsh; Nittenat; Shuswah, or Atna; Kitunaha.

Like other Indian tribes, the Nootka Columbians are a dirty race, living in poor huts formed of planks or logs. The men are slow in their movements, lazy. The legs of the squaws are crooked, giving them when walking a waddling gait, anything but graceful. They are black haired, the locks worn long and flowing; stunted but muscular, both sexes of nearly equal height, with good teeth and fine eyes-treacherous in character. The complexion is a copper-brown, not very dark, some of the women, indeed, are little darker than Europeans of a far lighter complexion than English gipsies. The language is remarkably guttural, sounding like the clicking of a clock, the voice proceeding entirely from the throat. The travelling dress is usually a blanket, purchased at the Hudson's Bay Company's store, the women carrying their kettle or large round cauldron at their back, attached by a hempen band passed round their forehead. Chinook, a jargon composed of English, French, and Spanish words, strung together without the smallest attempt at grammatical construction, is the medium of communication between these Indians and the white

races.

The Nootka Columbians, like other Indian tribes, have no pretension to morals. Many of the women are married, at least to all intents and purposes, to the older residents. Those who live in the neighbourhood of Victoria by concubinage and prostitution, imitate Europeans in dress,

Mr.

wearing gowns, generally of some very bright colour, such as chromeyellow, crinoline, hair-nets, with straw mushroom-shaped hats with large rosettes in front, or otherwise tie a coloured cotton or silk handkerchief round their heads, as Chinese women. These semi-civilised Indians delight in having their cartes de visite taken, and the women possessing exuberant spirits and not the smallest trace of mauvaise honte, are especially vain. The face, in most of the photographs which I saw, wore a sullen, melancholy air, calculated to give a stranger an erroneous idea of the general expression of countenance. The boys are fond of gay crimson and blue ribbons, with which, like the young recruit, they deck their caps. When trained by Europeans, the boys make capital and smart servants. Naturally they are of a nomadic disposition, and dislike being tied down to employment of a permanent character. The heads of the children of the free men and chiefs are flattened by means of a stone tied to the head of the new born child. I fancy that many of the Indian curiosities, supposed to be of great antiquity, are merely made for sale. The rude wood carvings and imitation jewelry show an aptitude for handicraft. Queen Charlotte's Island, inhabited by the Haidah tribe, is the great manufactory. Pemberton has stated in his "Facts and Figures," that he has known an Indian stock a gun; that in addition to carving their pipes, and constructing their canoes, they raise enormous weights in the construction of their dwellings; that they are eminently commercial, and can generally make a rude map of the country that they travel through; that they distribute periodically their wealth, divide legacies, and bear pain heroically. It is to be regretted that Mr. Macdonald, C. E. and others, should have drawn such highly coloured portraits of the native tribes. Long may the Colonial Government, while protecting_the rights and mercantile interests of the settlers, remain "supine." Considering that the native tribes in Vancouver's Island outnumber four times the foreign settlers, a harsh policy, bringing the natives into collision with the settlers, would be greatly to be deprecated, to say nothing of the higher ground by which the matters should be weighed -the cause of justice and humanity. The nearness of the American coast, and the number of American settlers in Victoria, promotes in great measure the hostile feeling. No attempt is made by the settlers to ameliorate the condition of the native tribes, whose behaviour, on the whole, is good. I have seen both men and women, despite the stringent laws respecting the sale of intoxicating drinks, lying drunk in the streets of Victoria. The number of the natives is estimated at 18,000. Those in the immediate neighbourhood of Victoria have been transported to the north of the Island, were driven away, or have been decimated with small-pox, which proves almost invariably fatal. The disease is attributed to the Europeans by the Indians, and tends to increase the bad feelings which exist.

There are Indian remains of rock and stone which are deserving of notice, and are thus described by Dr. Forbes, R.N. in his "Prize Essay," published on the spot by the Colonial Government in 1862:

"Scattered in irregular groups, of from three or four to fifty or more, these stone circles are found, crowning the rounded promontories

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