rorH] DEFORMATION, DECORATION, ORNAMENTS, CLOTHES 421 
round, up and down, respectively, and another line below the mouth 
(fig. 229 C). The Patamona women may have three or four “ hooks” 
on the edge of the mouth instead of two, and a straight line above 
the mouth instead of below it (D). 
510. Concerning the tattoo of other portions of the body there are 
records of its occurrence among members of both Arawak and Carib 
stocks. Of the former, there are the Atorai and Wapishana with, at 
times, a tattoo on the arms (Cou, u, 316). I have seen Wapishana 
and Taurepang (Arekuna) women with a series of dots on front of, 
and sometimes behind, the forearms. Sometimes the Wapishana 
women may have a special mark (fig. 229, E, F) on the forearm. The 
Trio (Diau) of Carib stock tattoo the whole body like the South Sea 
Islanders, according to Schomburgk (SR, 1, 479), but some 40 years 
later they only made some black marks (tattoo) on the inner portion 
of the arms at the level of the biceps, according to Crévaux (Cr, 280). 
This perhaps points to the possibility of the present-day face or arm 
tattoo indicating a time in the past history of the Indian when, like 
the Trio of Schomburgk’s day, the whole body was more or less 
tattooed. Such a general tattoo was in fact practiced by the power- 
ful and warlike Mundurucu on the right bank of the Amazon, between 
the Madeira and Tapajos Rivers. It was these same people whom 
Wallace believed to be the only perfectly tattooed nation in South 
America, the markings being extended all over the body (ARW, 
359). Such an hypothesis is certainly more tenable than the expla- 
nation of one traveler that the tattoo on the arms recalls some heroic 
deed (Cou, 1, 316), or the equally irresponsible dictum of another 
one that the practice . . . is used, in fact, only to produce the small 
distinctive tribal mark which many of them bear at the corners of 
their mouths, or on their arms (IT, 195-196). Indeed, at this rate, 
in the former case, Arawak, Warrau, and Carib—absolutely different 
nations—would possess identical tribal marks, while, in the latter, 
each Island Carib at Guadeloupe would have belonged to a different 
tribe. From personal inquiry among the Makusi, Patamona, and 
Taurepang (Arekuna),I learned that the mothers tattoo their girls 
on the first signs of puberty, the alleged object being to insure their 
becoming good cassiri brewers. The honey, with which the pig- 
ment is mixed, is believed to act as a charm or bina (WER, v1, 
sec. 233) to make the drink taste “sweet.” Gumilla has recorded 
how the operation was performed by the Achagua on their little 
girls: With a fang (colmillo) of the payara (morocot) fish, which 
is as sharp as a lancet, they cut into the living flesh the necessary 
strokes by which the “mustaches” are clearly delineated. . . The 
little creature may scream and fly into a violent passion, but they 
have no pity for her. When the design is finished, they wipe 
