THE SAVAGE ORIGIN OF TATTOOING. 799 



tion for a saint believe that by engraving his image on their 

 flesh they will give him a proof, a clear testimony, of their love. 

 We know that the Phoenicians marked the sign of their divinity 

 on their foreheads (Ewald, Juddischen Altertlium, iii) ; in the 

 Marshall Islands they have to ask the permission of the gods to 

 tattoo themselves ; and the priests alone in New Zealand perform 

 the office of tattooing (Scherzer). Lubbock adds to this that a 

 woman who does not wear a tattoo mark can not enjoy eternal 

 felicity. The women of Britain tattooed themselves in obedience 

 to religion (Pliny, 33). 



The second cause is the spirit of imitation. A Lombard sol- 

 dier answered me laughingly one day when I rallied him on his 

 having spent a small sum to spoil his arm : " See, monsieur, we are 

 like sheep ; and when one of us does anything we all imitate him 

 at once, even if we risk doing ourselves harm." 



Love of distinction also has its influence. A thief of the most 

 incorrigible sort, who had six brothers tattooed like himself, im- 

 plored me, although he was half covered with the oddest tattoo 

 marks, to find him a professional tattooer to complete what might 

 well be styled the embroidery of his skin. " When the tattooing 

 is very curious and spread all over the body," he told me, " it is 

 to us other thieves like the black coat of society with decorations ; 

 the more we are tattooed, the more we esteem one another ; the 

 more a person is tattooed, the more influence he has over his com- 

 panions. On the contrary, one who is not tattooed has no influ- 

 ence ; he is regarded simply as a good fellow, and is not esteemed 

 by the company." 



There are also tattooings inspired by vengeance. Bastrenga, 



the cruel assassin of T , had various tattoo marks on his arm (a 



horse, an anchor, etc.). On the advice of his father, who remon- 

 strated with him that they would make him more easily recog- 

 nizable, he effaced them. But in 1868 he was arrested anew by 

 the police agents, and when he resisted actively one of them 

 struck him so violently on the head that his eye was permanently 

 hurt. Then, forgetting all prudence, he tattooed himself anew on 

 the right arm ; engraved there the fatal date of 1868, and a helmet 

 on the arm that was to strike. " I shall keep this mark many 

 years," he said, " till the time comes when I can satisfy my venge- 

 ance." This fact is curious, and illustrates one of the causes 

 that induce savages to tattoo themselves for registration. It 

 shows, too, that with the born criminals the spirit of revenge 

 prevails over the most ordinary prudence, even when they have 

 been put on their guard. Indolence also counts for something. 

 It explains the number of cases of tattooing which we meet 

 among deserters, prisoners, shepherds, and sailors. Among eighty- 

 nine tattooed persons, I saw seventy-one who had been tattooed 



