but if possible upon the remains of earlier and perhaps now extinct tribes. This possibility has been brought nearer for the Philippines through certain cave deposits. We have to thank, for the first information, the traveler Jagor, whose exceptional talent as collector has placed us in the possession of rich material, especially crania. To his excellent report of his journey I have already dedicated a special chapter, in which I have presented and partially illustrated not only the cave crania, but also a series of other skulls. An extended conference upon them has been held in the Anthropological Society.[1]
The old Spanish chroniclers describe accurately the mortuary customs which were in vogue in their time. The dead were laid in coffins made from excavated tree trunks and covered with a well-fitting lid. They were then deposited on some elevated place, or mountain, or river bank, or seashore. Caves in the mountains were also utilized for this purpose. Jagor describes such caves on the island of Samar, west of Luzon, whose contents have recently been annihilated.[2]
The few crania from there which have been intrusted to me bear the marks of recent pedigree, as also do the additional objects. Unfortunately, Dr. Jagor did not himself visit these interesting caves, but he has brought crania thence which are of the highest interest, and which I must now mention.
The cave in question lies near Lanang,[3] on the east coast of Samar, on the bank of a river, it is said. It is, as the traveler reports, celebrated in the locality “on account of its depressed gigantic crania, without sutures.” The singular statement is made clear by means of a well-preserved example, which I lay before you. The entire cranium, including the face, is covered with a thick layer of sinter, which gives it the appearance of belonging to the class of skulls with Leontiasis ossea. It is, in fact, of good size, but through the incrustation it is increased to gigantic proportions. It is true, likewise, that it has a much flattened, broad and compressed form. The cleaning of another skull has shown that artificial deformation has taken place, which obviously was completed before the incrustation was laid on by the mineral water of the cave. I will here add that on the testimony of travelers no Negritos were on Samar. The island lies in the neighborhood of the Visayas. Although no description of the position of the skull is at hand and of the skeleton to which it apparently belonged, it
- ↑ Note.—In the matter of evidence for high antiquity and separate race furnished by incrusted cave crania, Prof. William H. Holmes's paper on the Calaveras skull (printed in this volume), should be studied, in which serious doubts are thrown upon the value of such relics as witnesses.—Translator.
- ↑ F. Jagor, Grabstätten zu Nipa-Nipa. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 1869, I, p. 80.
- ↑ Die Philippinen und ihre Bewohner. Verh. der Berliner Anthrop. Gesellsch., 1870, session of 25th of January.
