7^ CEREMONIAL INSTITUTIONS. 



ditions show us a stage at which the scar betokens allegiance 

 either to an unspecified supernatural being, or to a deceased 

 ruler who has become a god. Odin, &quot; when he was near his 

 death, made himself be marked with the point of a spear; &quot; 

 and .Xiort &quot; before he died made himself be marked for 

 Odin with the spear-point.&quot; 



It is probable that scars on the surface of the body, thus 

 coming to express loyalty to a deceased father, or a deceased 

 ruler, or a god derived from him, initiate among other dis 

 figurements those we class as tattooing. Lacerations, and 

 the traces they leave, are certain to take different forms 

 in different places. The Andaman Islanders u tattoo 

 by incising the skin . . . without inserting colouring 

 matter, the cicatrix being whiter than the sound skin.&quot; 

 Some natives of Australia have ridges raised on this or that 

 part of the body; while others brand themselves. In 

 Tanna the people make elevated scars on their arms and 

 chests. And Burton, in his Abeokuta, says &quot; the skin 

 patterns were of every variety, from the diminutive prick to 

 the great gash and the large boil-like lumps . . . In this 

 country every tribe, sub-tribe, and even family, has its 

 blazon, whose infinite diversifications may be compared 

 with the lines and ordinaries of European heraldry.&quot; 

 Naturally, among the various skin-mutilations originating 

 in the way alleged, many will, under the promptings of 

 vanity, take on a character more or less ornamental; and 

 the use of them for decoration will often survive when their 

 meaning has been lost. 



Hypothesis apart, we have proof that these marks are in 

 many cases tribal marks; as they would of course become 

 if they were originally made when men bound themselves 

 by blood to the dead founder of the tribe. Among the 

 Cuebas of Central America, &quot; if the son of a chief declined 

 to use the distinctive badge of his house, he could, when he 

 became chief, choose any new device he might fancy; &quot; but 

 &quot; a son who did not adopt his father s totem was always 



