MURDOCH.] TATTOOING. 139 
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 a man 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 tattooed somewhere on their persons, sometimes 
forming a definite tally. For instance, Atoru had a broad band across 
each cheek from the corners of the mouth (Fig. 87, from a sketch by the 
writer), made up of many indistinct lines, which was said to indicate 
“many whales.” Amaiyuna had the “flukes” of seven whales in a line 
across his chest, and Mai/nialu had a couple of small marks on one fore- 
arm. Niaiksara, the wite of Anoru, also had a little mark tattooed in 
each corner of her mouth, which she said were 
“whale marks,” indicating that she was the wife 
of a successful whaleman. Such marks, accord- 
ing to Petitot (Monographie, ete., p. xv) are a part 
of the usual pattern in the Mackenzie distriet— 
“deux traits aux commissures de la bouche.” One 
or two men at Nuwik had each a narrow line 4,, 97 stan with tattooed 
across the face, over the bridge of the nose, which cheeks. 
were probably also ** whale marks,” though we never could get a definite 
answer concerning them.! 
The tattooing is done with a needle and thread, smeared with soot or 
gunpowder, giving a peculiar pitted appearance to the lines. It is 
rather a painful operation, producing considerable inflammation and 
swelling, which lasts several days. The practice of tattooing the 
women is almost universal among the Eskimo, from Greenland to 
Kadiak, including the Eskimo of Siberia, the only exception being the 
‘Compare the custom observed by H. M.S. Investigator, at Cape Bathurst, where, according to Mc- 
Clure (Discovery of the Northwest Passage, p. 93), a successful harpooner has a blue line drawn across 
his face over the bridge of the nose; or, according to Armstrong (Personal Narrative, p-. 176), he has a 
line tattooed from the inner angle of the eye across the cheek, a new one being added for every whale 
hestrikes. Petitot, however (Monographie, etc., p. xxv), says that in this region whales are “scored” by 
tattooing crosses on the shoulder, and that a murderer is marked across the nose with a couple of hori- 
zontal lines. It is interesting to note in this connection that one of the ‘‘striped”” men at Nuwik told 
us that he had killed a man. According to Holm, at Angmagsalik (east Greenland), ‘‘Mzndene ere 
kun undtagelsvis tatoverede og da kun med enkelte mindre Streger paa Arme og Haandled, for at 
kunne harpunere godt” (Geogr. Tids., vol. 8, p. 88). Compare also Hooper, Tents, etc., p.37, ‘‘Men 
only make a permanent mark on the face for an act of prowess, such as killing a bear, capturing a 
whale, etc. ;"’ and Parry, 2d Voyage, p. 449, where some of the men at Iglulik are said to be tattooed 
on the back of the hand, as a souvenir of some distant or deceased person. 
