Tatting

“ Among the women the tattooing extends over the face, fore part of the arms, and whole front of body continued backwards a little way over the shoulders, usually, but not always, leaving the back untouched. ”

“ Their tattooing, however, is much fainter and less profuse than among the women, every visible part of whose skin is generally marked with a great variety of patterns, the most usual style among them consisting in series of double parallel or converging lines an inch or more apart, the intervals being occupied by small figures, or irregular lines, with detached rectilinear figures fancifully filled up. ”

“ The custom of tattooing was never prevalent among the women, except those who had been captured from other communities to be companions for the men in the Failu or Pabai; they were tattooed on the backs of their hands and on their legs as a lasting reminder, when they had married respectably and had lost their youthful charm in bringing up a family, that once they had been like the lilies of the field and a thing of beauty, but, sadly indeed, not a joy forever. ”

“ After one session, the tattooing is not resumed until the skin is entirely healed, unless an approaching marriage necessitates the utmost speed; should a woman have a child before her tattooing is completed, she is lastingly disgraced. The Kenyah women are tattooed only on the forearms and hands and on the dorsum of the foot, not on the legs or thighs. ”

“ Not a trace of tattooing is now to be seen, though in olden days it was practised by almost all Tahitians, both men and women, simply as a personal adornment. Happily they seldom disfigured their faces, but the women tattooed their feet, up to the ankles, and marked bracelets on their arms and wrists. The men sometimes covered the whole body with intricate patterns, often gracefully drawn, as when a cocoa-nut palm was designed on the leg, or a bread-fruit tree, with twining vines, on the chest. ”

“ In New Zealand, America, the Pacific islands, among the tribes of India, and in Burmah, Borneo, and New Guinea, patterns are first drawn upon the skin, and then punctured with thorns, needles, or splinters of human bones. Color is then rubbed in. The process is very painful and can only be carried on at intervals, several years being sometimes required for its completion. Among men tattooing is valued as a mark of bravery. In the case of women devices are worked upon the chin to signify marriage. ”

“ The more elaborate style of tattooing is only practised by the chiefs, as a mark of their birth and rank. It requires ten years to complete the whole process. The colour is introduced by fine puncturings over the surface—a painful process, which causes swelling and inflammation. ”

“ The children are then affianced, and when arrived at a proper age they live together. The wife then has her face tattooed with lamp-black and is regarded as a matron in society. The method of tattooing is to pass a needle under the skin, and as soon as it is withdrawn its course is followed by a thin piece of pine stick dipped in oil and rubbed in the soot from the bottom of a kettle. ”

“ The eyebrows are widened and painted till they appear to meet, while sham moles or stars are painted on the chin and cheek; even spangles are stuck at times on the chin and forehead. Tattooing is common among the poor and in villages, and is seen among the upper classes. ”

“ Even the rude savage seeks to gratify his aesthetic tastes, so far as the means which nature places at his command permit. The custom of tattooing the skin is widely practiced among the lower races, and stars and circles, trees and plants, and other ingenious devices are impressed with laborious patience upon the different members of the body. ”

“ This tattooing by scarring as compared with the more common mode of pricking is, as a general rule, confined to the black races. Light-skinned races tattoo, while dark practise scarring. In Polynesia the art of tattooing reached its highest perfection. In the Marquesas group of islands, for example, the men were tattooed all over, even to the fingers and toes and crown of the head, and as each operation took from; three to six months, beginning at virility, a man must have been nearly thirty before his body was completely covered. ”

“ The chin, cheek-bones, and forehead, among the women, are tattooed; and this operation is performed among the Esquimaux by pricking through the skin with some sharp instrument, and rubbing ashes into the wound: as the marks are not deep, their appearance is not disagreeable. I imagine that the tattooing does not take place until the female arrives at the age of puberty, because the youngest girls were without any such marks. None of the men undergo the operation ”

“ The tedious and painful operation of tattooing is performed by professionals, who make a paying business of it. The skin is punctured by an instrument made of bone, or by spines of the shaddock-tree, while the dye injected is usually obtained by boiling the candle-nut. Among some of the Pacific tribes tattooing is considered religiously binding ”

“ Tattooing is not exclusively confined to men; but that of the women is mostly limited to those bands over the breast-bone above described. After a man has undergone the process, he secludes himself, for a season, from the society of women, and, in some measure, from that of men also. A cord, made of the fur of the opossum, is tied around each arm, about one-third below the shoulder, and he is presented with two sticks, which are nothing more than common twigs, but worn smooth from constant use. ”

“ The men wear the merest rag of a garment, the women wear a kind of tunic covering the body, but the legs and thighs and feet are quite bare. The peculiar custom of tattooing the faces of the women, described in Chapter X., gives them rather a hideous appearance, and when seen in such a dress, with the face tattooed in that fashion, and with a bamboo pipe stuck in their mouths, smoking, the effect is not the most lady-like imaginable. ”

“ The fashion of elaborate tattooing, which seems to have been prevalent among the men of the past generation in Uap, is at present decidedly on the wane. There are still some few middle-aged men who proudly display a complete suit of tattooing, but I am afraid that they are looked upon by the dandies of the day somewhat in the same light as the wearer of a frilled shirt-front and lace cuffs would be regarded by the exquisites of our own day,—just a tinge of respect for old age [158] but a devout thankfulness that such fashions are not the demand of this enlightened and superior era. ”

“ Whilst the males had every part of the face tattooed, and the thighs as well, the females had chiefly the chin and the lips, although occasionally they also had their thighs and breasts, with a few smaller marks on different parts of the body as well. There were regular rules for tattooing, and the artist always went systematically to work, beginning at one spot and gradually proceeding to another, each particular part having its distinguishing name. ”

“ As usual these savages are beardless, or nearly so. [442] Tattooing, though not carried to any great extent, is universal among the women, and much practiced by the men, the latter confining this ornamentation to the breast and arms. The women tattoo in three blue lines, extending perpendicularly from the centre and corners of the lower lip to the chin. In some tribes they tattoo the arms, and occasionally the back of the hands. As they grow older the lines on the chin, which at first are very faint, are increased in width and color, thus gradually narrowing the intervening spaces. ”

“ The principal reasons which they give for thus plucking out their beards and the hair next to their foreheads, are that they may have a clean skin to lay the paint on, when they dress for their festivals or dances, and to facilitate the tattooing themselves, a custom formerly much in use among them, especially with those who had distinguished themselves by their valour, and acquired celebrity. ”

“ This practice of tattooing the body--or marking it with colouring matter introduced into the skin by means of punctures or incisions--is rarely exhibited by the men, and in them is usually confined to a few blue lines or stars upon the right breast ”

“ A clever tattooer can cover the stomach or back in a day. As soon as the picture is complete, the patient is bathed in hot water. The Ainus, on the other hand, tattoo only the exposed parts of the body, the women, unlike the Japanese, being frequently patients. The tattooing instruments used in Polynesia consisted of pieces of sharpened bone fastened into a handle, with their edges cut into teeth. ”

“ The art of sculpture is also in its rudest state, and is almost limited to the ornamenting of the war-club with indented lines, forming different angular figures.
Their persons are often neatly tattooed in straight 74 lines, and in angles on the breast, neck, and arms. The daughters of chiefs, and those of wealthy Indians, generally are denoted by a small round spot, tattooed on the forehead. The process of tattooing is performed by persons, who make it a business of profit. ”

“ That is as it should be, for tattooing is of our gods and of our religion before the whites destroyed it. I was and am the master of our arts. I did not sketch out my design upon his skin with burned bamboo, as do some, but struck home the ama ink directly. My needles were the bones of one whom I had slain, an enemy of the Oi tribe. I myself gathered the candlenuts and, burning them to powder, mixed that with water and made my color. ”

“ Tattooing is carried on to a considerable extent, especially by the women, who have a habit of raising little elevated scars in their foreheads, sometimes arranged in the form of a diamond, and situated between the eyes. Several marks are made on the cheeks, and a few on the chest and abdomen. ”

“ Tattooing prevails as widely among the lower races of the world as painting, and the fashionable designs range from a few blue lines on the face or arms, up to the flower-patterns with which the skins of the Formosans are covered like damask. Where the art is carried to perfection as in Polynesia, the skin is punctured, and the charcoal-colour introduced, by tapping rows of little prickers. ”

“ So, too, tattooing and other mutilative practices, originally subordinative in their intention, becoming at last merely æsthetic, are prized by women as increasing their natural attractions. Every one must remember the plea of the New Zealand girls, quoted by Mr. Darwin, who answered the remonstrances of the missionary against tattooing by saying, "We must have just a few lines upon our lips, or else when we grow old we shall be so very ugly." Similarly, Central African women admire their own pelelé, the piece of wood inserted in their mutilated lips. ”

“ Tattooing, may it please your highness, is puncturing the skin with needles or sharp points—and then rubbing Indian ink or gun-powder into the wounds. This leaves an indelible mark of a deep blue tint. All the islanders in those seas practise it, and very often the figures that are drawn are very beautiful. ”

“ Among the means taken by these people to produce personal ornamentation that of tattooing the face and wearing a labret is the most noticeable. The custom of tattooing having existed from the earliest historical epochs is important, not only from an ethnological but from a medical and pathological point of view, and even in its relation to medical jurisprudence in cases of contested personal identity. ”

“ THE DIAMONDS.
1st Diamond—With the gold twine or silk work a diamond as page 4, and for the
1st round—With the light magenta wool and crochet needle commence in one of the pearl loops of the diamond, work 4 chain and 1 plain in the next pearl; repeat 11 times more, and fasten off, always knotting the ends together. [Pg 12]
2nd round—With the dark magenta commence in one of the loops of the 1st round, work 6 chain, miss 4, 1 plain in the next loop; repeat all round and fasten off.
Work as many more Diamonds as required for the size. ”

“ In this case the incision having injured the non-pigmented dermic layer the scars are less coloured than the surrounding skin. Tattooing by puncture is only possible among clear-skinned peoples; among the latter may be instanced the New Zealanders, the Dyaks, and the Laotians, called “green-bellies.” In the case of a great number of peoples, tattooing is restricted to one sex only, chiefly to women (Ainus, Fig. 49, Chukchi) , or else to certain categories of persons (postilions and drawers of carriages in Japan; sailors, criminals, and prostitutes in Europe) . ”

“ TATTOO MARKS ON A CHIEF OF THE MARQUESAS.
"Doctor Bronson says the custom prevails in many of the islands of Polynesia, though not in all, but is fast dying out through the influence of Christianity and civilization. Tattooing has been practised in almost all parts of the world and in all ages. ”

“ It is gratifying to be able to say that this custom is becoming less and less in use among the rising generation, and the same may be said as to tattooing the chin and cheeks. The hands and feet of the women are so small as to be noticeable in that respect. ”

“ Khond women wear a red or parti-coloured skirt reaching the knee, the neck and bosom being left bare. Pāno females generally wear an upper cloth. All tattoo their faces. [Tattooing is said to be performed, concurrently with ear-boring, when girls are about ten years old. The tattoo marks are said to represent the implement used in tilling the soil for cultivation, moustache, beard, etc.] Ornaments of beads and brass bangles are worn, but the usage of diverse muttas (settlements) varies very much. ”