162 



THE PIMA INDIANS 



[ETH. ANN. 26 



Both men and women did the work, but the female artist was pre- 

 ferred, as "she was more careful." Their fees were small and uncer- 

 tain, as the operation was not one calculated to expand the heart of 

 the victim and induce him to pay generously. The lines were drawn 

 on the face first in dry charcoal, then some of the powdered charcoal 

 was mixed with water, and the thorns were dipped into this and 

 pricked into the skui along the outlines. As the operation pro- 

 gressed the face was freciuently washed to see if the color was being 

 well pricked in. Two operations were necessary, though it some- 

 times took more; one operation occupied an entire day. For four 

 days thereafter the face remained swollen, and tliroughout that 

 period the wound was rubbed with charcoal daily. At the end of that 

 time a wash of scjuash seetls macerated in water was applied. Some- 

 times the lips were slow in healing and the individual was compelled 

 to subsist upon pinole, as the swollen lips and chin forbade partaking 

 of solid food; during this time the squash applications were continued. 



The men were tattooed along the margin 

 of the lower eyelid and in a horizontal Ime 

 across the temples. Tattooing was also 

 carried across the forehead, where the pat- 

 ^^^ ^ tern varied from a wavy transverse line to 



^^^B ^^^ Jr short zigzag vertical lines in a band that 

 ^^^H ^^K fn was nearly straight from side to side. Oc- 



^^^V ^^V 7 li casionally a band was also tattooed around 

 ^^^ ^^^ '1 the wTist. 



The women had the line under the lids, 

 as did the men; but instead of the Imes 

 upon the forehead they had two vertical 

 lines on each side of the chin, which ex- 

 tended from the lip to the inferior margin of the jaw and were united 

 by a broad bar of tattooing, wliich included the whole outer third of 

 the mucous membrane of the lip on either side. 



The tattooing was done between the ages of 15 and 20; not, it 

 would seem, at the time of puberty, but at any time convenient to the 

 individual and the operator. Oftentimes a bride and groom were tat- 

 tooetl just after marriage. All the older Pimas are tattooed, but the 

 young people are escaping this disfigurement. As in the case of 

 painting, the practice of the art is passing away and the meaning of the 

 designs is unknown. The Pimas aver that the lines prevent wrinkles; 

 thus fortified they "retain their youth." The purely apocryphal 

 theory that the women about to be married have their lower eyelids 

 tattooed, that they may thereafter "look at no man except their 

 husband," is untenable, as we shall see when we come to study their 

 marriage customs. 



a be 



Fig. 78. Tattooing outfit, a, Mes 

 quite charcoal; b, willow chaf' 

 coal: c, needles. 



