When Captain Cook visited New Zealand (1769) he was much interested in
the tattooing of the Maoris, and noted that each tribe seemed to have
a different custom in regard to it; thus calling attention to one of
its main functions as a means to distinguish the tribes from each
other. He described the different patterns on divers parts of the body
used by various tribes, and made the further important observation
that "by adding to the tattooing they grow old and honorable at the
same time." The old French navigator d'Urville found in the Maori
tattooing an analogy to European heraldry, with this difference: that
whereas the coat-of-arms attests the merits of ancestors, the Maori
moko illustrates the merits of the persons decorated with it. It makes
them, as Robley wittily says, "men of mark." One chief explained that
a certain mark just over his nose was his name; it served the purposes
of a seal in signing documents. It has been suggested that the body of
a warrior may have been tattooed for the sake of identification in
case the head was separated from it; for the Maoris carried on a
regular trade in heads. Rutherford, who was held for a long time as a
captive, said that only the great ones of the tribe were allowed to
decorate the forehead, upper lip, and chin. Naturally such marks were
"a source of pride" (a sign of rank), and "the chiefs were very
pleased to show the tattooing on their bodies." To have an untattooed
face was to be "a poor nobody." Ellis (_P.R._, III., 263) puts the
matter graphically by saying the New Zealander's tattooing answers the
purpose of the particular stripe or color of the Highlander's plaid,
marking the clan or tribe to which they belong, and is also said to be
employed as "a means of enabling them to distinguish their enemies in
battle."
In his great work on Borneo (II., 83), Roth cites Brooke Low, who said
that tattooing was a custom of recent introduction: "I have seen a few
women with small patterns on their breasts, but they were the
exception to the rule and were not regarded with favor." Burns says
that the Kayan men do not tattoo, but
"many of the higher classes have small figures of stars,
beasts, or birds on various parts of their body, chiefly the
arms, distinctive of rank. The highest mark is that of
having the back of the hands colored or tattooed, which is
only conferred on the brave in battle."
St. John says that "a man is supposed to tattoo one finger only, if he
has been present when an enemy has been killed, but tattoos hand and
fingers if he has taken an enemy's head." Among the Ida'an a man makes
a mark on his arm for each enemy slain. One man was seen with
thirty-seven such stripes on the arm. A successful head-hunter is also
allowed to "decorate" his ears with the canine teeth of a Bornean
leopard. "In some cases tatu marks appear to be used as a means of
communicating a fact," writes Roth (II., 291). Among the Kayan it
indicates rank. Slaughter of an enemy, or mere murder of a slave, are
other reasons for tattooing. "A Murut, having run away from the enemy,
was tatued on his back. So that we may justly conclude that tatuing
among the natives of Borneo is one method of writing." Among the Dusun
the men that took heads generally had a tattoo mark for each one on
the arm, and were looked upon as very brave, though their victim might
have been only a woman or a child (159).
In the fifth volume of Waitz-Gerland's _Anthropologie_ (Pt. II.,
64-67), a number of authors are cited testifying that in the
Micronesian Archipelago the natives of each island had special kinds
of tattoo marks on different parts of the body, to distinguish them
from others. These marks were named after the islands. The
Micronesians themselves attached also a religious significance to
these marks. The natives of Tobi believed that their island would be
destroyed if the English visitors who came among them were not at once
tattooed. Only those completely marked could enter the temple. The men
were more tattooed than the women, who were regarded as inferiors.
In the sixth volume of Waitz-Gerland (30-40) is gathered a large mass
of evidence, all of which shows that on the Polynesian islands, too,
tattooing was indulged in, not for aesthetic and amorous but for
religious and practical reasons. In Tonga it was a mark of rank, not
permitted to common people or to slaves. Not to be tattooed was
considered improper. In the Marquesas the older and more distinguished
a man, the more he was tattooed. Married women were distinguished by
having marks on the right hand and left foot. In some cases tattoo
marks were used as signs to call to mind certain battles or festivals.
A woman in Ponapé had marks for all her successive husbands made on
her arm--everything and anything, in fact, except the purpose of
decorating for the sake of attracting the other sex. Gerland (33-40)
makes out a very strong case for the religions origin of tattooing,
which he aptly compares to our confirmation.
In Samoa the principal motive of tattooing seems to have been
licentiousness. It was prohibited by the chiefs on account of the
obscene practices always connected with it, and there is a legend of
the incestuous designs of two divine brothers on their sister which
was successful.
"Tattooing thus originated among the gods and was first
practised by the children of Taaroa, their principal deity.
In imitation of their example, and for the accomplishment of
the same purpose, it was practised among men." (Ellis,
_P.R._, I., 262.)