MALLERY. | NORTH AMERICAN TATTOO. 395 
Sir Alex. Mackenzie ()) tells that the Slave and Dog Rib Indians of 
the Athabaskan stock practiced tatooing. The men had two double 
lines, either black or blue, tattooed upon each cheek from the ear to the 
nose. 
In James’s Long (c) it is reported that— 
The Omahas are often neatly tattooed in straight lines, and in angles on the breast, 
neck, andarms. The daughters of chiefs and those of wealthy Indians generally are 
denoted by a small round spot tattooed on the forehead. The process of tattooing 
is performed by persons who make it a business of profit. 
Rey. J, Owen Dorsey (a) says: 
In order that the ghost may travel the ghost-road in safety it is necessary for each 
Dakota, during his life, to be tattooed either in the middle of the forehead or on the 
wrists. In that event his spirit will go directly to the ‘‘ Many Lodges.” 
The female Midé’ of the Ojibwa frequently tattoo the temples, fore- 
head, or cheeks of sufferers from headache or toothache, which varieties 
of pain are believed to be caused by some malevolent manido or spirit. 
By this operation such demons are expelled, the ceremony being also 
accompanied by songs and gesticulations of exorcism. Relief is some- 
times actually obtained through the counterirritant action of the tat- 
tooing, which is effected by using a small bunch of needles, though 
formerly several spicules of bone were tied together or used singly. 
One old Ojibwa woman who was observed in 1887 had a round spot 
over each temple, made there to cure headache. The spots were of a 
bluish-black color, and about five-eighths of an inch in diameter, An- 
other had a similar spot upon the nasal eminence, and a line of small 
dots running from the nostrils, horizontally outward over either cheek, 
two-thirds of the distance to the ears. 
The men of the Wichita wore tattoo lines from the lips downward, 
and it is a significant fact that their tribal sign means ‘“ tattooed peo- 
ple,” the same expression being used to designate them in the language 
of several neighboring tribes. This would imply that tattooing was 
not common in that region. The Kaiowa women, however, frequently 
had small circles tattooed on their foreheads, and the Sixtown Choctaws 
still are distinguished by perpendicular lines tatooed on the chin. 
Mr. John Murdoch (b) reports of the Eskimo: 
The custom of tattooing is almost universal among the women, but the marks are 
confined almost exclusively to the chin, and form a very simple pattern. This con- 
sists of one, three, five, or perhaps as many as seven vertical lines from the under 
lip to the tip of the chin, slightly radiating when there are more than one. When 
there is a single line, which is rather rare, it is generally broad, and the middle line 
is sometimes broader than the others. The women, as a rule, are not tattooed until 
they reach a marriageable age, though there were a few little girls in the two 
villages who had a single line on the chin. I remember seeing but one married 
woman in either village who was not tattooed, and she had come from a distant 
settlement, from Point Hope, as well as we could understand. 
Tattooing on aman is a mark of distinction. Those men who are, or have been, 
captains of whaling umiaks that have taken whales have marks to indicate this tat- 
tooed somewhere on their persons, sometimes forming a definite tally. For instance, 
Anoru had a broad band across each cheek from the corners of the mouth, made up 
