418 PICTURE-WRITING OF THE- AMERICAN INDIANS. 
Julian Thomas (a) gives the following description of a New Hebrides 
woman : 
She had a pattern traced over her throat and breast like a scarf. It was done 
with a shark’s tooth when a child. The women’s skins are blistered up into flowers 
and ferns. The skin is cut and earth and ashes placed inside the gashes, and the 
flesh grows into these forms. Of course they do not cover up these beauties by 
clothing. 
According to Mr. Man, Journ. Anthrop. Inst. of Gr. Br. and I. (e), 
the Andamanese, who also tattoo by means of gashing, do so first by 
way of ornament, and, secondly, to prove the courage of the individual 
operated upon and his or her power of enduring pain. 
SUMMARY OF STUDIES ON TATTOOING. 
Many notes on the topic are omitted, especially those relating mainly 
to the methods of and the instruments used in the operation. But from 
those presented above it appears that tattooing still is or very recently 
was used in various parts of the world for many purposes besides the 
specific object of designating a tribe, clan, or family, and also apart 
from the general intent of personal ornament. The most notable of 
those purposes are as follows: 1, to distinguish between free and slave 
without reference to the tribe of the latter; 2, to distinguish between 
a high and low status in the same tribe; 3, as a certificate of bravery 
exhibited by supporting the ordeal of pain; 4, as marks of personal 
prowess, particularly, 5, as a record of achievements in war; 6, to show 
religious symbols; 7, as a therapeutic remedy for disease, and 8, as a 
prophylactic against disease; 9, as a brand of disgrace; 10, as a token 
of a womaw’s marriage, or, sometimes, 11, of her marriageable condi- 
tion; 12, identification of the person, not as tribesman or clansman, 
but as an individual; 13, to charm the other sex magically; 14 to 
inspire fear in the enemy; 15,-to magically render the skin impene- 
trable by weapons; 16, to bring good fortune; and 17, as the device of a 
secret society. 
The use of tattoo marks as certificates and records of prowess in war 
is considered to be of special importance in any discussion of their 
origin. A warrior returns from the field stained with blood from an 
honorable wound, the sears of which he afterwards proudly displays. 
It would be strictly in the line of ideography to make artificial scars or 
to paint the semblance of wounds on the person as designations of 
honor, and from such origin quite as well as from a totemic representa- 
tion all other forms and uses may have been evolved. For instance, 
the vigor of manhood being thus signified, the similar use would show 
the maturity of women. Yet some of the practices of tattoo may have 
originated independently of either totem or glory mark. The mere idea 
of decoration as shown in what civilized people call deformations of 
nose, lip, ear, teeth, and in fact all parts of the body, is sufficient to ac- 
count for the inception of any form of tattoo. Primitive man never 
