80 
singing. An indelible stain is produced hy rubbing a little finely- 
])o\vdered willow-charcoal into the punctures. A half-breed, whose 
arm I amputated, declared that tattooing was not only the more 
})ainful operation of the two. but I'endered infinitely more difficult 
to bear by its tediousness, having lasted in his case three days.'”’ 
Eskimo women always tattooed their faces, sometimes also their 
limbs; but the men rarely marked their persons and then only with 
one or two short bars. Among the Indians, men practised this 
form of decoration more than women. The designs varied greatly, 
following to some extent the art patterns of each region. Natives of 
the Pacific coast often tattooed their clan crests in the conventional 
form typical of the art of that area.- East of the Rockies three or 
four lines radiating from the lower lip to the chin were universal 
from tlie Cree northward, and the other designs consisted mainly of 
straight lines either parallel, radiating, or forked. The Troquoians. 
like the Assiniboine, “ impressed upon the skin fixed and permanent 
re])resen tat ions of birds or animals, .such as a snake, an eagle, or 
a toad.'”-'’" 
More widely spread than tattooing was face and body painting. 
i:iractised l:)y all the tribes in Canada except the Eskimo. The 
aborigines had at their command a variety of colours derived from 
both vegetable and mineral sources. d"he Piegan, for example, had 
ten colours: “a dark red, nearly a Spanish brown; a red, inclining 
to pale vermilion; a tleep yellow; a light yellow; a dark blue; a 
light or sky-coloured blue; a shining and glossy lead colour; a green; 
a white ; and charcoal.”'^ There were no colours or patterns distinctive 
of the tribal units, but on the plains various organizations that 
corresponded roughly with our fraternities or lodges had each its 
special style of face-painting, and both in that region and among 
the eastern Indians distinctive patterns indicated valour in battle, 
or were associated with certain religious beliefs. It is rather curious 
that the Indians east of the Rocky mountains should have exercised 
more care and taste in face and body painting than the Indians on 
the coast of British Columbia, where painting on wood and other 
1 Franklin, ,T. : “A Journey 1o tlie Shores of the Polar Sea,” p. 71 O.oiulon, 1823). 
- Dawson: Loe. eit. Morice, A. G. : “Notes on the Western Denes”; Trans. Can. In.st,, vol. iv, 
p. 182 (Toronto, 1895). Teit, J. : Unpiililishecl Note.s. 
•t “ .Jesuit Rel.ations,” vol. i, p. 279; vol. I.xvi, p. 109. 
4 Henrj' and Thompson: Op. cit., vol. ii, p. 731. Cf. “ .Jesuit Relations," vol. Ixx, p. 95 (1747-64): 
“ Vermilion, white, green, j'ellow. and black. . . on a single savage face are seen united all these 
different colours.” 
