of J. G. Riedel,
a most observant Dutch resident, was called to the fact that cranial
deformation is still practiced in the Celebes, and he was so good as to
send us a specimen of the compressing apparatus for delicate infants
(1874). Compressed crania were also found. But the number was small
and the compression of the separate specimens was only slight. In
both respects what was observed in the Sunda islands did not differ
from the state of the case in the Philippines. Through Jagor's
collections different places had become known where deformed crania
were buried. Since then the number of localities has multiplied. I
shall mention only two, on account of their peculiar locality. One is
Cagraray, a small island east of Luzon, in the Pacific Ocean, at the
entrance of the Bay of Albay; the other, the island of Marinduque,
in the west, between Luzon and Mindoro. From the last-named island I
saw, ten years ago, the first picture of one in a photograph album
accidentally placed in my hands. Since then I had opportunity to
examine the Schadenberg collection of crania, lately come into the
possession of the Reichsmuseum, in Leyden, and to my great delight
discovered in it a series of skulls which are compressed in exactly
the same fashion as those of Lanang. It is said that these will soon
be described in a publication.

It is of especial interest that this method has been noted in the
Philippines for more than three hundred years. In my first publication
I cited a passage in Thevenot where he says, on the testimony of a
priest, that the natives on some islands had the custom of compressing
the head of a newborn child between two boards, so that it would be
no longer round, but lengthened out; also they flattened the forehead,
which they looked upon as a special mark of beauty. This is, therefore,
an ancient example. It is confirmed by the circumstance that these
crania are found especially in caves, from the roofs of which mineral
waters have dripped, which have overlaid the bones partly with a thick
layer of calcareous matter. The bones themselves have an uncommonly
thick, almost ivory, fossil-like appearance. Only the outer surface
is in places corroded, and on these places saturated with a greenish
infiltration. It is to be assumed, therefore, that they are very old. I
have the impression that they must have been placed here before the
discovery of the islands and the introduction of Christianity. Their
peculiar appearan