mound was plainly a sacred spot of the family or sept.
Before you are pieces of charred bone. Of the bones unburnt some were
of large size. There are before us two skulls, one from the grand
mound, the other from the Red River mound opened by the Society in
1879. The following are the measurements of the two skulls which I
have made carefully; and alongside the average measurements of the
Brachycephalic type given by Dr. Daniel Wilson, as well as of the
Dolichocephalic:

AVERAGE RAINY RED AVERAGE
DOLICHO- RIVER RIVER BRACHY-
CEPHALIC. SKULL. SKULL. CEPHALIC.

Longitudinal diameter 7.24 7.3 in 6.7 6.62

Parietal diameter 5.47 5.8 5.5 5.45

Vertical " 5.42 6.2 5.8 5.30

Frontal " 4.36 4.2 3.7 4.24

Intermastoid Arch 14.67 15.3 15.6 14.63

Intermastoid line 4.23 5.8 4.3 4.25

Occipito frontal Arch 14.62 17.0 13.8 13.85

Horizontal circumference 20.29 22.3 19.6 19.44

From this it will be seen that the Red River mound skulls agree with
the Toltecan Brachycephalic type; and the Rainy River skull while not
so distinctly Brachycephalic yet is considerably above the average of
the Dolichocephalic type.

2. _Wood_. As already stated it is only in some of the mounds that
charred wood is found. This specimen is from the mound at
Contcheteheng, at the head of Rainy River. It stands beside the
Rapids. This mound has supplied many interesting remains. From this
fact as well as from its situation, I would hazard the opinion that
here, as at the great Rainy River Falls, three miles farther down,
there were villages in the old mound building days. It is a fact
worthy of notice that the site of the first French Fort on Rainy
River, St. Pierre built by Verandrye in 1731, was a few hundred yards
from this mound.

3. _Bark_. Specimens of birch bark were found near by the bones. It
was no doubt originally used for swathing or wrapping the corpses
buried. That a soft decayable substance such as bark, should have
lasted while a number of bones had decayed may seem strange. No doubt
this may be explained in the same way as the presence among the
remains in Hochelaga, on the Island of Mon