along the rivers in northern Mongolia, particularly the Kerulen, and in many other parts regarding which reliable information could be obtained. The little investigation that has been made of these remains is due, in the main, to Adrianov and his colleagues at Minusinsk, and especially to Professor Talko-Hryncewitz of Krakow, who was for many years the government physician at Kiachta. The mounds yield, according to their age, implements of iron, copper, bronze, or stone, occasionally some gold ornaments, and skeletons. The majority of these “kourgans” date doubtless from fairly recent times, corresponding to Ugrian or Turk or “Tatar[1]” elements, and to the modern Mongolian, and the skeletons found in them show mostly brachycephalic skulls, which occasionally resemble quite closely American crania of the same form. The older kourgans, on the other hand, particularly those in which no metal occurs, yield an increasing number of dolichocephalic crania, in which close resemblances with the dolichocephalic skulls of the American Indians are very frequent. To what people these older remains belong is as yet an unanswered question; but there are in certain localities, as for instance on the lower Yenisei, to this day remnants of native populations among whom dolichocephalic individuals are quite common, and these individuals often bear a most remarkable physical resemblance to the American Indian.
Besides mounds, the writer saw and learned of numerous large caverns, particularly in the mountains bordering the Yenisei River, which offer excellent opportunities for archeological investigation. Very little research work has thus far been done in these caverns, but some have yielded, to Jelieniev, stone implements that indicate old burials.
In regard to the living people, the writer had the opportunity of seeing numerous Buriats, representatives of a number of tribes on the Yenisei and Abacan Rivers, many thousands of Mongolians, a number of Tibetans, and many Chinese with a few Manchurians. On one occasion alone, that of an important religious ceremony, he had an opportunity to observe over 7,000 natives assembled from all parts of Mongolia. He has also seen photographs of members of some of the eastern Siberian tribes. Among all these people, but more especially among the Yenisei Ostiaks, the Abacan Katchinci and related groups, the Selenga Buriats, the eastern Mongolians, the Tibetans, the east Siberian Oroczi and the Sachalin Giliaks, there
- ↑ The term “Tatar” in Siberia is applied to large numbers of natives and covers a number of physically heterogeneous types.
