100 



fATtootiro 



[B. A. E. 



meaning 'to mark,' 'to write' ). The cus- 

 tom of tattooing prevailed to a greater or 

 less extent over the entire country. 



When an Eskimo girl reached matur- 

 ity a line was tattooed from the edge of 

 the lower lip to the point of the chin; 

 later two or more lines were added tomark 

 her as a married woman. With western 

 Eskimo men the tattoo mark meant per- 

 sonal distinction; sometimes successful 

 whalers had the tally of their catches 

 pricked upon the cheek, chest, or arms. 

 Occasionally the wife of such a man had 

 an extra mark put at the corner of her 

 mouth. Alongthe Pacific coast both men 

 and women were tattooed on the face and 

 body, a custom that recently reached its 

 mostornatedevelopmentamongtheHaida 



HAIDA TATTOOING (mALLERy) 



of Queen Charlotte ids. Thedesigns were 

 of conventionalized "totemic" figures, 

 and seem to have indicated personal or 

 tribal distinction rather than any religious 

 cult. On the middle Atlantic coast geo- 

 metric designs were tattooed on the person 

 so as to have a decorative effect. The 

 same type of design was incised on the 

 pottery of that region (Holmes in 20th 

 Eep. B. A.E., 151). Tattooing was exten- 

 sively practised among the tribes of the 

 interior. The Wichita, because of their 

 profuse useof this decoration, were known 

 to the French as "Pani Pique." Cabeza 

 de Vaca, about 1530, mentions the use of 

 colors, red and blue, in tattooing by the 

 tribes of the Gulf of Mexico, a custom 

 similar to that which still obtains among 



the Haida of the n. Pacific coast. Vases 

 have been found in the moundsof the mid- 

 dle Mississippi valley showing the human 

 face with tattoo marks, some of the designs 

 combining geometric and totemic figures. 

 As tattooing gave a permanent line, it 

 served a different purpose from decoration 

 by paint. Among men it marked personal 

 achievement, some special office, symbol- 

 ized a vision from the supernatural powers, 

 or served some practical purpose, as among 

 the Hupa, where the men have "10 lines 

 tattooed across the inside of the left arm 

 about half way between the wrist and the 

 elbow," for the purpose of measuring 

 strings of "shell monev" ( Powers in Cont. 

 N. A. Ethnol., in, 76, 1877). Among the 

 Osage a peculiar design was tattooed on 

 the hereditary keepers of the tribal pipes; 

 when one so marked was successful in war 

 and had cut off the head of an enemy, a 

 skull was added to tiie design, which cov- 

 ered much of his 1 )reast and back. Among 

 women the tattooing was more social in its 

 significance. The connection between 

 pottery and basket designs and those tat- 

 tooed on the face or body of a woman has 

 been noted. Among the Kiowa the tribal 

 mark was a circle on the forehead of the 

 woman. With the Omaha and some of 

 their cognates a small round spot on the 

 forehead of a girl, and a four-pointed star 

 on the back and breast, were marks of 

 honor to signify the achievements of her 

 father or near of kin. In other tribes cer- 

 tain lines on the face indicated the mar- 

 riageable or married woman. 



The Chippewa sometimes resorted to 

 tattooing as a means of curing pain, as 

 the toothache. The process of tattooing 

 was always attended with more or less 

 ceremony; chants or songs frequently 

 accompanied the actual work, and many 

 superstitions were attached to the manner 

 in which the one operated upon bore the 

 pain or made recovery. Most tribes had 

 one or more persons expert in the art who 

 received large fees for their services. 



Among the Omaha and cognate tribes 

 the instrument latterly used was a bunch 

 of steel needles fastened tightly in leather, 

 making a kind of stiff brush. The ink was 

 made from charred box-elder wood. The 

 device was first outlined with the ink and 

 the flesh within the outline carefully 

 pricked. The pricking was done twice 

 during the operation to insure a solid 

 figure. Formerly sharp flint points were 

 used for needles. According to Hrdlicka, 

 in the S.W. cactus spines served as needles, 

 and charcoal formed the ink. The dyes 

 injected to give color to the design varied 

 in different parts of the country. 



Consult Dall in Cont. N. A. Ethnol., i, 

 1877;Dorseyin3dRep.B. A.E.,^884;God- 

 dardinITniv. Cal. Pub.,Am. ArchcTol.and 

 Ethnol., I, no. 1,1903; Holmes in 20th Rep. 



