392 PICTURE-WRITING OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 
Dr. C. N. Starcke (a) lays down the law still more distinctly, thus: 
The tattoo-marks make it possible to discover the remote connection between 
clans, and this token has such a powerful influence on the mind that there is no 
feud between tribes which are tattooed in the same way. * * * ‘Tattooing may 
also lead to the formation of a group within the tribe. 
Prof. Frederick Starr (a) makes these remarks: 
As a sign of war prowess the gash of the Kaffir warrior may be described. After 
an act of bravery the priest cuts a deep gash in the hero’s thigh. This heals blue 
and is a prized honor, To realize the value of a tribal mark think for a moment of 
the savage man’s relation to the world outside. He is a very Ishmaelite. So Jong 
as he remains on his own tribal territory he is safe; when on the land of another 
tribe his lite is the legitimate prey of the first man he meets. To men in such social 
relations the tribal mark is the only safety at home; without it he would be slain 
unrecognized by his own tribesmen. There must have been a time when the old 
Hebrews knew all about this matter of tribe marks. By this custom only can we 
fully understand the story of Cain (Gen. tv, 14,15), who fears to be sent from his 
own territory lest he be slain by the first stranger he meets, but is protected by the 
tribal mark of those among whom he is to wander being put upon him. But in 
scarring, as in so many other cases, the original idea is often lost and the mark be- 
comes merely ornamental. This is particularly true among women. Among men 
it more frequently retains its tribal significance. 
After careful study of the topic, less positive and conclusive authority 
is found for this explanation of tattooing than was expected, consider- 
ing its general admission. 
The great antiquity of tattooing is shown by reference to it in the 
Old Testament, and in Herodotus, Xenophon, Tacitus, Ammianus, and 
Herodian. The publications on the topic are so numerous that the 
notes now to be presented are by no means exhaustive. They mainly 
refer to the Indian tribes of North America with only such compara- 
tively recent reports from other lands as seem to afford elucidation. 
TATTOO IN NORTH AMERICA. 
G. Holm ()) says of the Greenland Innuit that geometric figures con- 
sisting of streaks and points, are used in tattooing on the breasts, arms, 
and legs of the females. 
H. H. Baneroft (b) says: 
The Eskimo females tattoo lines on their chins; the plebeian female of certain 
bands has one vertical line in the center and one parallel to it on either side The 
higher classes mark two vertical lines from each corner of the mouth. * * * 
Young Kadiak wives tattoo the breast and adorn the face with black lines. The 
Kuskoquim women sew into their chin two parallel blue lines. 
William H. Gilder (a) reports: 
The Esquimau wife has her face tattooed with lampblack and is regarded as a 
matron in society. * * * The forehead is decorated with the letter V in double - 
lines, the angle very acute, passing down between the eyes almost to the bridge of 
the nose, and sloping gracefully to the right and left before reaching the roots 
of the hair. Each cheek is adorned with an egg-shaped pattern, commencing near 
the wing of the nose and sloping upward toward the corner of the eye; these lines 
are also double. The most ornamented part, however, is the chin, which receives 
a gridiron pattern; the lines double from the edge of the lower lip, and reaching to 
9 ah meggan Nepean Manet 
