The herald., 1894-12-30
THE ANCIENT cATAL|N|ANS,
Interesting Deductions From
Their Cranio.0gy.
Were They Different Race From
the Mainland Pe0ples
The Cran,sl Investigations Made by DR..
Luoisn OArr-An Ancient Nest
of Shells Found
lBY G. F. HoLDER.]


ants in late issue OF The HERALD, Mr..
J. J. Warner adds some extremely in
teresting facts to those already known
regarding the history OF the islands. In
this paper Mr.. Warner suggests that
throw some light upon the question as
to how long skulls would retain their
shape in conditions similar to those
found at Santa Catalina.
This is a question somewhat difficult
to answer. At San Nicolas, where the
skulls are exposed continuously to the
sun and fog by the constant shifting Of
the sands. 1 should think that they
would soon disintegrate, but am conf
dent that others deposited in dry sand
would retain their form for very long
time.
In one trench opened by me at Santa
Catalina some years ago the bodies had
been deposited in layers at least four
deer. In the lower layer there was a
skeleton in a fair state of preservation
and which could have been kept intact
had appliances been at hand. This,
Judge. .antedated Cabrillo,or was at least
$50 years old, as with the body were
no objects of iron or Spanish beads
which mpany the bodies buried at u
later period. The soil was dry and
sandy, stained the color Of iron rust, and
had the appearance of an excellent pre-
servstive. as l have no doubt it was.
Ia my article in THE HERALD l did
not give DIR. Carr's reasons for believing
the Santa Catalinians we're distinct peo-
pie from the others, but it may be of in
terest to present them briefly and some
thing regarding the language of the ma
tive trites. The cranial measurements
were made by DR.. Lucien Carr, assistant
curator of the Peabody Museum, the ma
torial be worked upon being about 800
skulls taken from the various islands.
OF them a ii, those from Santa Catalina
and San Clemente had the greatest Ca
pacity. Thus the capacity of males OF
San Miguel waa 1878 that of the natives
of Santa Catalina, l470; that OF San Gle
mnnto 1452,
DR.. Carr is of the opinion that there is
nothing to show how long the islands
were inhabited previous to the arrival OF
the Spaniards. or, to quote his words
"How long these people we're in posses-
sion of these islands before the coming
of the Spaniards We can never know, but
we do know that. be that period long or
short, so far as the testimony of the
graves is concerned, there was from rat
to last no advance in any OF the arts by
which we are wont to estimate the pro-
gress OF a people in civilization"
The largest skull found by DR.. Carr is
in the Peabody collection and ia from
San Clsmente. The mean average of
the whole is less than the American In
dian OF the mound buildere OF Tennessee
and # the Eskimos of Greenland and of
the northwest coast, but larger than the
ancient Peruvians, who were somewhat
rsmarkable for their advancement in the
arts.
The peculiarities which struck the eye
OF the ethnologist in the skulle of the
islanders we're the prevalence OF the Pc
culiar Inca bone." and ia per cent
the persistence Of the frontal suturs; in
% per cent there was evidence Of press.
ure. Summing up, says Dr. Carr: 1--WE
find that the typical or average skull Of
this collection is small and low. and of
medium length ga compared with its
breadth; that it has a retreating fore-
head. a prominent occiput and is slight.
ly scaphocephalic or roof-shaped along
the sagittal suturs. Its chief develop
ment is in the occipital region; go much
90, indeed, that plane perpendicular
to the horizon drawn through the auric.
ular openings would divide the skull
into two unequal parts, of which the
posterior portion would be much the
larger. The face is small and narrow.
even as compared with the Peruvians.
1t is more prognathic than the white
man, though it by no means reaches
the extreme in that respect. The nasal
opening is of medium size, while
the orbit is large. The malar bones are
broad and slope back from the median
line of the face. differing widely in this
respect, 40 also in the prominence OF
the nasal bones. from the Greenland Es-
kimc, whose face ia fat.
Tried by any craniometrical standard,
this cannot be said to be high order OF
skull but If judged by the contents OF
their graves this people. except in their
ignorance OF the manufacture of pottery,
had reached phase of development
equal to anything found on tue eastern
slope OF the continent. Certainly their
work in Clipped and polished stone and
in shell is not surpassed by anything
vet revealed in the mounds; while their
large stone mortars (portable mills). and
their steatile ollas and comalis used for
cooking purposes indicate ON advance in
the domestic arts that, go far as is yet
known, is peculiarly their own"
DR.. Carr deduces from his examina-
tion of the skull that the Santa Catalin-
ians were OF distinct race from those
OF Santa Cruz and believes that the evil
dence OF the crania points to tho con-
clusion that they were of different
race from the people of the opposite
mainland; his words being: Indeed,
the evidence OF the orania 10 decidedly
opposed to this view between
the orania from Santa Catalina and
those from the mainland there is no
such uniformity"
Summing up he says: "Read in the
light of history, We probably have here
the story of q contest in which the
original dolichocephalic possesses OF
the soil were worsted by their brachy-
cephalic invaders and driven back,
comewhat rs the Basques were in
Northwest Spain, until they wore fin
ally ciTcumscribed within the narrow
limits of San Clemente and Santa Cat.
alma. with nothing but the broad ex.
panse OF the ocean between them and
the Hawaiian islands, hundreds of miles
away. Here, unable to retreat farther,
shut in between the devil and the
desp sea- they were tcund at the
time the Spaniards overran California.
end here they fingered miserable
remnant-until about the beginning Of
tie present century, when they were
removed to the meiplsnd by the Gath
olic fathsrs. and collected around the