Aboriginal Races of America [pp. 59-92]

84 Aboriginal Races of Amertzca. [July,
tent in all the tribes; though the savage tribes show a
greater development of the posterior portion of the brain
than the Toltecs-thus forming the link which binds these
races to the savage races of the old world.
An interesting fact was mentioned to us by an American
officer, of high standing, who accompanied our army in its
march through Mexico, during the late war. Though his
head, which we measured, is below the average size of the
Anglo-Saxon race, he told us he could not find, in a large
hat store in Tampico, a single hat which would go on his
head; and this statement we have had confirmed by others.
We see, through the xvinter season, in Mobile, daily, at
least one hundred Indians, of the Choctaw tribe, wandering
through the streets, with their little packs of wood to sell;
and a glance at their heads will show that they correspond,
in every particular, with the description we have just given.
They present the same heads, which are taken from the
mounds over the whole territory of the United States, and
form a most striking contrast with the Anglo-Saxons, French,
Spaniards and Negroes, among whom they are moving.
It is impossible to say how long human bones may be preserved, in a dry soil. There are some curious statements, of
Squier and Davis, respecting the barrows of the ancient Britons, where skeletons have been preserved at least two
thousand years.* From the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon,
we have bones of at least twenty-five hundred years; from
the Catacombs of Egypt, both mummied and unmummied
bones have been taken, of still higher antiquity, in perfect
preservation; and numerous other proofs might be brought
forward, to the same effect; and'yet the skeletons of the old
* "Considering that the earth around these skeletons is wonderfully compact
and dry, and that the conditions for their preservation are exceedingly favouxable,
while they are in fact so much decayed, we may form some approximate estimate
of their remote antiquity. In the barrows of the ancient Britons, entire, well pre served skeletons are found, although possessing an undoubted antiquity of at least
eighteen hundred years. Local causes may produce singular results, in particular
instances, but we speak now of these remains in the aggregate."-Ancient Monu ments of the Valley, 4c.,p. 168.