DRESS AND ADORNMENT. 



499 



bearing an honorable wound. This is replaced by an artificial 

 wound to show his prowess. We actually find this practice in 

 Kaffirland, and the Tuski makes a permanent mark upon his face 

 for each act of courage. The idea once originated, the arrange- 

 ment of such scars in an ornamental fashion and the adoption of 

 colors would gradually arise, and in time the whole matter would 

 become simply ornamental, a sign of rank, or religiously sym- 

 bolical. 



Gashing is a most remarkable custom, best studied in Africa 

 and Australia. In Africa, gashes cut upon the forehead, cheeks, 

 breast, or elsewhere, serve two chief purposes: (1) as tribal 

 marks ; (2) as signs of prowess. The Yorubas have perpendicular 

 scars from temples to chin ; the Ijasha have a long parallelogram 

 of cross-lines ; the Mahees, three long oblique cuts on one cheek 

 and a cross on the other ; the Nyambanas, pimples or warts, the 

 size of a pea, from the top 

 of the forehead to the tip 

 of the nose (Fig. 10) . These 

 gashes are usually made 

 with a knife, and wood- 

 ashes or some other irri- 

 tating material is rubbed 

 in, to cause a swelling 

 scar. 



To what an extent these 

 cuttings are carried may 

 be seen in the Bornu, 

 where " twenty cuts on 

 each side of the face, con- 

 verging in corners of the 

 mouth, from the angle of 

 the lower jaw and the 

 cheek-bones, while a sin- 

 gle cut runs down the 

 center of the forehead ; 

 six cuts are made on each 

 arm ; six more on the thighs ; the same number on the legs ; four 

 on each breast ; nine on each side above the hip-bones. These are 

 made in infancy, and the children suffer not only from the pain 

 of wounds but from the countless flies that settle on the one hun- 

 dred and three cuts." 



As a sign of war prowess, the gash of the Kaffir warrior, al- 

 ready mentioned, may be described. After an act of bravery, the 

 priest cuts a deep gash in the hero's thigh. This heals blue and 

 is a prized honor. Interesting examples of scars as tribal marks 

 might be described from Australia. To realize the value of a 



Fig. 10. NrAiiBANA Tribal Mark. 



