Note 885 — Chapter XIX · MEDICINE AND FUNERAL RITES AMONG THE NAHUAS.

Gomara says they had wide foreheads. Conq. Mex., fol. 317. 'La forma, ò figura de las Cabeças, comunmente las tienen proporcionadas à los cuerpos, y à los otros miembros de èl, y derechas; algunos las tienen empinadas, y las frentes quadradas, y llanas; otros (como son estos Mexicanos, y algunos del Pirù) las tenian, y tienen de mejor forma, algo de hechura de Martillo, ò Navio, que es la mejor forma de todas.' Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., p. 582-3. 'The Aztec skulls are described as being remarkable for the shortness of their axis, their large flattened occiput obliquely truncated behind, the height of the semicircular line of the temples, and the shortness and trapezoidal form of the parietal plane. They present an elevation or ridge along the sagittal suture; the base of the skull is very short, and the face slightly prognathic, as among the Mongol-Kalmucs. They bear a strong analogy to the skulls of a Peruvian Brachycephali delineated by Morton.' Foster's Pre-Hist. Races, p. 326. 'The aboriginal Mexicans of our own time are of good stature and well proportioned in all their limbs. They have narrow foreheads, black eyes, white, well-set, regular teeth, thick, coarse and glossy black hair, thin beards, and are in general without any hair on their legs, thighs, or arms. Their skin is olive coloured, and many fine young women may be seen among them with extremely light complexions. Their senses are very acute, more especially that of sight, which they enjoy unimpaired to the most advanced age.' Figuier's Hum. Race, p. 455. For remarks on Mexican Crania, descriptions and measurements of skulls with cuts, see Morton's Crania Amer., pp. 144-7, 152-7, 231-3, 257, and plates xvi-xviii.a, lix.-lxi.