COLOR FOR SOCIAL STATUS. 633 
shapes, if it is not by nature long or black enough, so that they look not otherwise 
than if the similar devil or hellish Circe came running out of hell. 
Curr (c) tells that the Australians whitened themselves with white 
clay when about to engage in war. Some African tribes, according to 
Du Chaillu, also paint their faces white for war. 
Haddon (c) says of the western tribe of Torres straits: 
When going to fight the men painted their bodies red, either entirely so 01 par- 
tially, perhaps only the upper portion of the body and the legs below the knees, or 
the head and upper part of the body only. The body was painted black all over by 
those who were actually engaged in the death dance. 
Du Chaillu (¢) tells that among the Scandinavians there were peace 
and war shields, the former white and the latter red. When the white 
was hoisted on a ship it was a sign for the cessation of hostility, in the 
same manner that a flag of the same color is now used to procure or 
mark atruce. The red shield displayed on a masthead or in the midst 
of a body of men was the sign of hostility. 
COLOR DESIGNATING SOCIAL STATUS. 
The following extract is translated from Peter Martyr (¢): 
For the men are in body long and straight, possess a vivid and natural complexion 
which compares somewhat with a red and genuine flesh color. Their whole body 
and skin is lined over with sundry paints and curious figures, which they consider 
as a handsome ornament and fine decoration, and the uglier a man’s painting or 
lining over is the prettier he considers himself to be, and is also regarded as the 
most noble among their number. 
Mr. Dorsey reports of the Osages that all the old men who have 
been distinguished in war are painted with the decorations of their 
respective gentes. That of the Tsicu wactake is as follows: The face 
is first whitened all over with white clay; then a red spot is made on 
the forehead and the lower part of the face is reddened; then with the 
fingers the man scrapes off the white clay, forming the dark figures by 
letting the natural color of the face show through. 
H. H. Bancroft (/), citing authorities, says the central Californians 
(north of San Francisco bay) formerly wore the down of Asclepias (?) 
(white) as an emblem of royalty; and in the same volume, p. 691, it is 
told that the natives of Guatemala wore red feathers in their hats, the 
nobles only wearing green ones. 
The notes immediately following are about the significant use of 
color, not readily divisible into headings. 
Belden (c) furnishes the following remarks: 
The Yanktons, Sioux, Santees, and Cheyennes use a great deal of paint. A Santee 
squaw paints her face the same as a white woman does, only with less taste. If she 
wishes to appear particularly taking she draws a red streak half an inch wide from 
ear to ear, passing it over the eyes, the bridge of the nose, and along the middle of 
the cheek, When a warrior desires to be left alone he takes black paint or lamp- 
black and smears his face; then he draws zigzag lines from his hair to his chin by 
seraping off the paint with his nails. This is a sign that he is trapping, is melan- 
choly, or in love. - 
