660 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



sons, and gods. Noses are among the trophies taken from slain foes ; 

 and we have loss of noses inflicted on prisoners, on slaves, on trans- 

 gressors of certain kinds. Ears are brought back from the battle- 

 field ; and occasionally they are cut off from prisoners, criminals, or 

 slaves ; while there are people among whom pierced ears mark the 

 servant or the subject. Jaws and teeth, too, are trophies ; and teeth, 

 in some cases knocked out in propitiation of a dead chief, are, in vari- 

 ous other cases, knocked out by a priest as a quasi-religious ceremony. 

 Most prevalent and complete is the evidence furnished by mutilation 

 of the hair. Scalps are taken from killed enemies, and sometimes 

 their hair is used to decorate a victor's dress; and then come various 

 sequences. Here the enslaved have their heads cropped; here scalp- 

 locks are worn subject to a chiefs ownership, and these are demanded 

 in sign of submission ; while, elsewhere, men are shorn of their beards 

 to ornament the robe of a superior: unshorn hair being thus rendered 

 a mark of rank. Among numerous peoples, hair is sacrificed to pro- 

 pitiate the ghosts of relatives ; whole tribes cut it on the deaths of 

 their chiefs or kings ; it is yielded up to express subjection to deities ; 

 occasionally f it is offered to a living superior in token of respect ; and 

 this complimentary offering is extended to others. Similarly with gen- 

 ital mutilations, there is a like, taking of parts from slain enemies and 

 from living prisoners ; and there is a presentation of them to kings and 

 to gods. Nor is it otherwise with mutilations of another class. Self- 

 bleeding, initiated partly, perhaps, by cannibalism, but more exten- 

 sively by the mutual giving of blood in pledge of loyalty, enters into 

 several ceremonies expressing subordination : we find it occurring in 

 propitiation of ghosts and of gods, and occasionally as a compliment 

 to living persons. Naturally it is the same with the resulting marks. 

 Originally indefinite in form and place, but rendered definite by cus- 

 tom, and at length often decorative, these healed wounds, at first en- 

 tailed only on relatives of deceased persons, then on all the followers 

 of a man who was much feared while alive, so became marks expres- 

 sive of subjection to a dead ruler, and eventually to a god : thus 

 growing into tribal and national marks. 



If, as we have seen, trophy-taking as a sequence of conquest enters 

 as a factor into those governmental restraints which conquest initiates, 

 it is to be inferred that the mutilations originated by trophy-taking 

 will do the like. The evidence justifies this inference. Beginning as 

 marks of personal slavery, and becoming marks of political and reli- 

 gious subordination, they play a part like that of oaths of fealty and 

 pious self-dedications. Moreover, being public acknowledgments of 

 submission to a ruler, visible or invisible, they enforce authority by 

 making conspicuous to all eyes the extent of his sway. And where 

 they signify class-subordination, as well as where they show the sub- 

 jugation of criminals, they further strengthen the hands of the regu- 

 lative agency. 





