Tattoo

“ The only ornament which accompanies the soul to the other world is the godna or tattoo.9 Besides being a religious obligation the tattoo is used as a decoration, and it hence takes the form of various kinds of jewelry. The tattooing is done by the women of the Bâdi or Malâr tribes of Nats. The remuneration varies according to the wealth of the patient and the character of the ornament. It ranges from half an anna to four annas. Women get themselves tattooed on the wrists, arms, shoulders, neck, breast, thighs, knees and below the knees. ”

“ They daubed themselves all over with bright, sticky paint. But what they thought most handsome of all was to have a great many tattoo marks. When a man had killed another he was allowed to have his skin pricked with coloured dye. ”

“ As a primitive mode of ornamentation, tattooing is very widespread, its distribution as compared with the related custom of scarification being determined by the color of the skin. In general, light-skinned races tattoo, while dark-skinned peoples practice scarring. ”

“ Was it not so, O Timor Tom! thou famed leviathan, scarred like an iceberg, who so long did’st lurk in the Oriental straits of that name, whose spout was oft seen from the palmy beach of Ombay? Was it not so, O New Zealand Jack! thou terror of all cruisers that crossed their wakes in the vicinity of the Tattoo Land? Was it not so, O Morquan! King of Japan, whose lofty jet they say at times assumed the semblance of a snow-white cross against the sky? Was it not so, O Don Miguel! thou Chilian whale, marked like an old tortoise with mystic hieroglyphics upon the back! ”

“ For those who desire a really striking and chic novelty, that up-to-date line, the Great Eccentric, is reported to have engaged a staff of expert tattoo artists, who will puncture the date and designation of the pass upon the left cheek of the holder. ”

“ Tattooing is a gift,” said the night-watchman, firmly. “It ‘as to be a gift, as you can well see. A man ‘as to know wot ‘e is going to tattoo an' ‘ow to do it; there's no rubbing out or altering. It's a gift, an' it can't be learnt. I knew a man once as used to tattoo a cabin-boy all over every v'y'ge trying to learn. ‘E was a slow, painstaking sort o' man, and the langwidge those boys used to use while ‘e was at work would ‘ardly be believed, but ‘e ‘ad to give up trying arter about fifteen years and take to crochet-work instead. ”

“ The men seldom tattoo more than one ornament on the upper part of the arm, near the shoulder, while the women cover nearly the whole of their bodies with stars, lines, and crosses, often rather tastefully arranged. ”

“ Tatt′ling, given to tattling or telling tales.—n. (Shak.) the act of tale-telling.—adv. Tatt′lingly. [M. E. tatelen; Low Ger. tateln, to gabble; an imit. word.]
Tattoo, tat-tōō′, n. a beat of drum and a bugle-call to call soldiers to quarters, originally to shut the taps or drinking-houses against them.—The devil's tattoo, the act of drumming with the fingers on a table, &c.; in absence of mind or impatience. [Dut. taptoe—tap, a tap, and toe, which is the prep., Eng. to. Ger. zu, in the sense of 'shut.']
Tattoo, tat-tōō′, v.t. ”

“ And not less furiously does the man also scratch his though he takes much more pains over his hair, combing and smoothing it in order to divide it well in front and display the tattoo which distinguishes the parting. ”

“ No man could tattoo himself, and the delicacy of touch and certainty of line was so difficult of attainment, that tattooing became an art or science, which was left in the hands of a few practitioners, who derived a good income from their business. ”

“ They begin to tattoo the arms when a girl is five or six, and work from the elbow downwards. They expressed themselves as very much grieved and tormented by the recent prohibition of tattooing. They say the gods will be angry, and that the women can't marry unless they are tattooed ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Various old persons said that they remembered seeing men with a pattern on the back similar to the rings and girdle of the images. It seems, however, doubtful whether the image design merely represented tattoo, in view of the fact that it was raised, not incised, and in any case this would only put the search for its prototype a stage further back. The fact, however, remains that those particular marks were still being perpetuated, and form a link connecting the present with the past. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Scar tattooing is connected with various rites such as are followed when a brave arrives at manhood, and certainly tattooing serves to indicate the family or tribe to [277] which the ornamented person belongs. There is no doubt, however, that the intention of much tattooing is to increase individual beauty. ”

“ The mere idea of decoration as shown in what civilized people call deformations of nose, lip, ear, teeth, and in fact all parts of the body, is sufficient to account for the inception of any form of tattoo. ”

“ Tattoo′ing, a widespread custom among savages of marking the skin with figures by means of slight cuts or punctures and a coloring matter. It is almost universal in the islands of the Pacific. New Zealanders often cover the whole face and sometimes the chest, arms and other parts of the body with tattoo patterns. A boy is tattooed on entering manhood ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ At Nukahiva, noble ladies are permitted to wear more numerous tattoo marks than the women of the people.
In Samoa, widows, it seems, tattoo the tongue; men paint the body from the girdle to the knees. The bald heads of old men in the Marquesas Islands may be seen covered with tattoo marks. ”

“ 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 ”

“ To tattoo a person fully was therefore a work of time, and to attempt to do too much at once endangered life. I remember a poor porangi, or insane person, who, during the war, was tattooed most unmercifully by some young scoundrels; the poor man’s wounds were so dreadfully inflamed, as to occasion his death ”

“ When a youth, therefore, reached the age of sixteen, he and his friends were all anxiety that he should be tattooed. He was then on the outlook for the tattooing of some young chief with whom he might unite. On these occasions, six or a dozen young men would be tattooed at one time; and for these there might be four or five tattooers employed. ”

“ The rudest form of tattooing is that practised specially by the Australians and some tribes of negroes. It consists in cutting gashes, arranged in patterns, on the skin and filling the wounds with clay so as to form raised scars. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The arms and front of the body display a regular pattern, which is usually carried over the shoulder for a little way, but leaves the back untouched. The most delicate pattern is reserved for the arm and waist, where it looks like a delicate blue lace fitting tightly to the skin. The women are very proud of this ornament, and are always gratified when a stranger expresses admiration of it. The men occasionally use the tattoo, but in a comparatively scanty manner, confining the patterns to a star or two on the breast. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Among their personal ornaments must be reckoned that mode of marking the body called tattooing, which, of the customs not essential to the comfort or happiness of mankind, is perhaps the most extensively practised throughout the world. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Tattooing often reveals the psychology, habits, and vices of the individual. The tattooing on pederasts usually consists of portraits of those with whom they have unnatural commerce, or phrases of an affectionate nature addressed to them. ”

“ As this tattooing is a mark of honor, it is generally done at or just prior to a Tomanawos performance and at the time of raising the heraldic columns in front of the chief’s houses. The tattooing is done in open lodge and is witnessed by the company assembled. Sometimes it takes several years before all the tattooing is done, but when completed and the person well ornamented, then they are happy and can take their seats among the elders. ”

“ 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. ”