CLOTHING AND ORNAMENT. 41 



opinions. But I must agrée with Wyatt Gill, when he says [1885, 288] that a beautiful tattooing of a 

 naked person créâtes in our mind the same impression as a beautiful dress. Tattooing did not appear to 

 be equally in use amongst ail the tribes visited by our expédition. This varying frequency has also been 

 noriced elsewhere. Whilst Finsch [1888 — 93, 86] met with fréquent tattooing in South and South East 

 New Guinea — with men f. i. as an indication of achievements in war, but still more with women, a.o. 

 as Andréas and Maltese crosses — and Haddon [1901, 101] noticed illustrations of plants (cocoa- and 

 nipa-palm, Diacaena) and animais (crab, cassowary and crocodile legs) as indications of totems, tattooing 

 only appears very seldom in K. W. Land. It seems limited hère to the Berlin Harbour district and is accor- 

 ding to ParkinsoN [1900, 24] almost exclusively found on the face and the chest of women. Concerning 

 Xetherl. N. G. it is f. i. known that the inhabitants of the Arfak Mountains do not apply any tattooing at 

 ail, (Van der Goes [1858, 165]), the people of the island ofAdi, situated on the S.W. coast [1. c. 112] only 

 very moderately, the men of Ajambori, in the interior of Doré, more often on chest, arms and forehead 

 [1. c. 160], whilst in the bay of Kaimani the forehead of the men is fairly generally decorated. The report 

 of the same [1. c. 147], that the coast people of Doré allow figures without any meaning to be pricked into 

 the skin and thereby indicate no mourning, has since been improved by De Clercq and Schmeltz 

 [1893, 31]. In some cases, without any doubt, mourning is intended, which is also reported by Ling 

 Roth [1900, 19S] of the Sandwich Islands. 



As far as the inhabitants of Humboldt Bay are concerned, of whom I collected 

 most data, tattooing is in use with both sexes. On account of the dark colour of the skin of 

 the men the design is not very easily noticed and it is necessary to look very close if one 

 does not wish often to overlook a figure. Thus it was possible for casual visitors like MOSELY 

 [1879, 440] and FlNSCH [1888, 362] (see also JOEST [1887,40]) not to notice any tattooing of 

 the men; FlNSCH (see JOEST [1. c. 37]) states however, no doubt somewhat carelessly : „on the skin of 

 the Melanesian, tattooing shows off very well". This is usually the case when no tinea imbri- 

 cata, chàsè, exists. Not only do the dirty grey brown scales of the skin then form an impe- 

 diment to the light to penetrate, but the design in the long run becomes indistinct with 

 thèse sufferers, at ail events one of my patients, suffering from this disease, who was nearly 

 cured and already showed a smooth skin, now possessed a more faded drawing than his fellow- 

 villagers of the same âge. 



Apart from this, there is hère certainly not a single man who is not decorated in 

 several places with certain ornaments. In considering the designs of tattooing it is best to 

 place oneself on the standpoint occupied by PREUSS [1897, 83]: „The tattooing must be 

 judged together with the whole of the ornament of the tribe, with the lines of which it 

 generally agrées". Strange to say, it is very difficult to discover this agreement amongst the 

 tribe of the Jotëfa; on the contrary it would appear that for tattooing, motives are generally 

 used, which for other ornaments are seldom or never applied. 



The motive occurring most, for the tattooing of the men, is no doubt the fish-eye, 

 idje ruwhitûge, — wèntûge, — windû, represented by an exactly round circle of 2 — 3 cm. in 

 diameter and very often to be found on the forehead, just above the root of the nose and 

 besides on the backs of the hands, the thighs and generally in large numbers on both halves 

 of the back, distributed amongst other ornaments. Without knowing their meaning, FlNSCH 

 [1888 — 93, 226] has already noticed and mentioned thèse rings on the forehead of a man in 

 the district of Sékâ. Everywhere where I met with such a small circle in the skin, it was 

 ahvays called fish-eye. Unquestionably the beautiful, irreproachably circulai- design of the 

 Nova Guinea. III. Ethnography. 6 



