Fthnography of Micronesia. 21 



tribe marks are also made on some part of the body of the women, 

 when their brothers have killed their first dugong or turtle.^ These 

 are the different methods of cicatrization. One of the objects is 

 evidently to show personal bravery, which is very characteristic of 

 uncivilized races. 



B. Tattooing. — The practice of tattooing is universal among the 

 inhabitants of the different islands. Excepting children, practically 

 all the natives tattoo without any distinction of sex, though the 

 patterns differ as to fineness and size. There are some young men 

 of about thirty years of age who have simple patterns of European 

 origin or their names tattooed on the foi"carm, wdiich was not, of 

 course, the original custom. But there are others wlio ornament 

 their skin with particular and complex patterns. In Truk and 

 Jokaj district of Ponapé, the men tattoo on the upper and lower 

 limbs, particularly over a wide surface on the lower limbs. The 

 locality and design of marks, however, are not necessarily uniform. 

 Some tattoo only on the outside of the thigh, while others extend 

 the marks down the knee in several vertical strips. Among the 

 islanders of Jaluit, however, more extreme instances are found. In 

 the island I saw an old man the upper half of whose body was 

 covered all over with tattoo marks. I even met with a chief who 

 had his face pricked with marks. Some of the natives of Jokaj 

 district, Ponapé, who came from Pingelap, have tattoos on the 

 l)reast. As regards the face-tattooing, I had no opportunity to 

 observe whether it was practised outside the Marshall Islands. 

 The tattooing on the face forms a sort of symbol of rank, for the 

 same is limited to chiefs only. The presence or absence of tattoos 

 is frequently associated with rank among various other triljcs. 



I E. Beardmore, "The Natives of Mowat, Daiirla-, New Guinea," J nr. Anthr. lust, XIX, 

 1W)(), i>. 460. 



