REMARKS ON ABORIGINAL ART. II7 



etching the figure of a man with a line drawn from the mouth. I 

 have not been able to obtain records of this kind, but am informed 

 that instances of their discovery are known. 



One form of carving characters upon the bark of trees or poles 

 was mentioned by the Hon. A. F. Coronel, of Los Angeles, Cal., 

 whose residence there dates back to 1843. "^'he tattooed marks upon 

 the face of a chief were reproduced upon trees or poles marking 

 the corners or boundaries of his land. These marks were well known 

 to, and recognized by, neighboring chiefs, and no attempts to tres- 

 pass was made* 



Facial ornamentation, by the application of colors, is still prac- 

 ticed by most of the Indians west of the Mississippi river, but 

 seldom of any special designs or marks, excepting when participa- 

 ting in religious ceremonies or on the war-path. Among many of 

 the tribes there are still numbers of individuals to be found bearing 

 tattoo marks upon the chin, the cheeks, and even upon other parts 

 of the body ; but these marks seldom occur in any forms other than 

 narrow lines, excepting among the Haida Indians, of Queen Char- 

 lotte's Island, where the practice and art of tattooing has reached 

 the highest degree of development in this country. Tattooing was 

 done by tracing the design in paint made of powdered bituminous 

 coal, charcoal in the same form, and the skin pricked with sharp 

 splinters of bone or the fins of fish. Of late years, however, gun- 

 powder, India ink, vermillion, and steel needles can be procured 

 without difficulty, and these serve to replace the more primi- 

 tive materials. Suppuration not infrequently follows the operation, 

 and I have examined a number of examples in which the designs 

 are considerably marred by partial obliteration. 



The Haidas tattoo upon the back, breast, forearms, thighs, and 

 the legs below the knee. Women submit to the operation as well 

 as men, though to meet a Haida woman in the clothing now adopted, 

 nothing of her highly decorated body would be observed, unless, 

 perhaps, the backs of the hands, and then only upon careful in- 

 spection. The characters tattooed upon the breast and back are 

 generally large enough to cover all convenient space between the 



* The tattooed designs upon the face of an Australian native are engraved up- 

 on the bark of trees near his grave, which serve as an inscribed tombstone, and 

 can readily be recognized by others of the tribe. Te Ika a Maui, or New Zea- 

 land and its Inhabitants, by Rev. Richard Taylor, Lond., 1870, PI. facing p. 378.. 



