_Tattooing._--The custom of tattooing is almost universal among the
women, but the marks are confined almost exclusively to the chin and
form a very simple pattern. This consists of one, three, five, or
perhaps as many as seven vertical lines from the under lip to the tip
of the chin, slightly radiating when there are more than one. When
there is a single line, which is rather rare, it is generally broad,
and the middle line is sometimes broader than the others. The women as
a rule are not tattooed until they reach a marriageable age, though
there were a few little girls in the two villages who had a single
line on the chin. I remember seeing but one married woman in either
village who was not tattooed, and she had come from a distant
settlement, from Point Hope, as well as we could understand.
Tattooing on a man is a mark of distinction. Those men who are, or
have been, captains of whaling umiaks that have taken whales have
marks to indicate this tattooed somewhere on their persons, sometimes
forming a definite tally. For instance, Añoru had a broad band across
each cheek from the corners of the mouth (Fig. 87, from a sketch by
the writer), made up of many indistinct lines, which was said to
indicate “many whales.” Amaiyuna had the “flukes” of seven whales in a
line across his chest, and Mû´ñialu had a couple of small marks on one
forearm. Niăksára, the wife of Añoru, also had a little mark tattooed
in each corner of her mouth, which she said were “whale marks,”
indicating that she was the wife of a successful whaleman. Such marks,
according to Petitot (Monographie, etc., p. xv) are a part of the
usual pattern in the Mackenzie district--“deux traits aux commissures
de la bouche.” One or two men at Nuwŭk had each a narrow line across
the face, over the bridge of the nose, which were probably also “whale
marks,” though we never could get a definite answer concerning
them.[N241]
[Footnote N241: Compare the custom observed by H.M.S.
_Investigator_, at Cape Bathurst, where, according to McClure
(Discovery of the Northwest Passage, p. 93), a successful
harpooner has a blue line drawn across his face over the bridge of
the nose; or, according to Armstrong (Personal Narrative, p. 176),
he has a line tattooed from the inner angle of the eye across the
cheek, a new one being added for every whale he strikes. Petitot,
however (Monographie, etc., p. xxv), says that in this region
whales are “scored” by tattooing crosses on the shoulder, and that
a murderer is marked across the nose with a couple of horizontal
lines. It is interesting to note in this connection that one of
the “striped” men at Nuwŭk told us that he had killed a man.
According to Holm, at Angmagsalik (east Greenland), “Mændene ere
kun undtagelsvis tatoverede og da kun med enkelte mindre Streger
paa Arme og Haandled, for at kunne harpunere godt” (Geogr. Tids.,
vol. 8, p. 88). Compare also Hooper, Tents, etc., p. 37, “Men only
make a permanent mark on the face for an act of prowess, such as
killing a bear, capturing a whale, etc.;” and Parry, 2d Voyage,
p. 449, where some of the men at Iglulik are said to be tattooed
on the back of the hand, as a souvenir of some distant or deceased
person.]
[Illustration: FIG. 87.--Man with tattooed cheeks.]
The tattooing is done with a needle and thread, smeared with soot or
gunpowder, giving a peculiar pitted appearance to the lines. It is
rather a painful operation, producing considerable inflammation and
swelling, which lasts several days. The practice of tattooing the
women is almost universal among the Eskimo, from Greenland to Kadiak,
including the Eskimo of Siberia, the only exception being the natives
of Smith Sound, though the custom is falling into disuse among the
Eskimo who have much intercourse with the whites.[N242]
[Footnote N242: Bessels, Naturalist, vol. 18, p. 875 (Smith
Sound); Egede, p. 132, and Crantz, vol. 1, p. 138, already given
up by the Christian Greenlanders (Greenland); Holm. Geogr. Tids.,
vol. 8, p. 88, still practiced regularly in east Greenland; Parry,
1st Voyage, p. 282 (Baffin Land); 2d Voyage, p. 498 (Iglulik);
Kumlien, Contrib., p. 26 (Cumberland Gulf, aged women chiefly);
Boas, “Central Eskimo,” p. 561; Chappell, “Hudson Bay,” p. 60
(Hudson Strait); Back, Journey, etc., p. 289 (Great Fish River);
Franklin, 1st Exped., vol. 2, p. 183 (Coppermine River); 2d
Exped., p. 126 (Point Sabine); Petitot, Monographie, etc., p. xv
(Mackenzie district); Dall, “Alaska,” pp. 140, 381 (Norton Sound,
Diomede Islands, and Plover Bay); Petroff, Report, etc., p. 139
(Kadiak); Lisiansky, Voyage, p. 195 (Kadiak in 1805, “the fair sex
were also fond of tattooing the chin, breasts, and back, but this
again is much out of fashion”); Nordenskiöld, Vega, vol. 2, pp.
99, 100, 251, and 252, with figures (Siberia and St. Lawrence
Island); Krause brothers, Geographische Blätter, vol. 5, pp. 4,
5 (East Cape to Plover Bay); Hooper, Tents, etc., p. 37, “Women
were tattooed on the chin in diverging lines” (Plover Bay); Rosse,
Cruise of the _Corwin_, p. 35, fig. on p. 36 (St. Lawrence
Island).
Frobisher’s account, being the earliest on record, is worth
quoting: “* * * The women are marked on the face with blewe
streekes downe the cheekes and round about the eies” (p. 621).
* * * “Also, some of their women race their faces proportionally,
as chinne, cheekes, and forehead, and the wristes of their hands,
whereupon they lay a colour, which continueth dark azurine”
(p. 627). Hakluyt’s Voyages, etc., 1589.]
The simple pattern of straight, slightly diverging lines on the chin
seems to prevail from the Mackenzie district to Kadiak, and similar
chin lines appear always to form part of the more elaborate patterns,
sometimes extending to the arms and other parts of the body, in
fashion among the eastern Eskimo[N243] and those of Siberia, St.
Lawrence Island, and the Diomedes.
[Footnote N243: Holm (East Greenland) says: “et Paar korte Streger
paa Hagen” (Geogr. Tids. vol. 8, p. 88).]
[Illustration: FIG. 88.--Woman with ordinary tattooing.]
Fig. 88, from a sketch made on the spot by the writer, shows the Point
Barrow pattern.
_Painting._--On great occasions, such as dances, etc., or when going
whaling, the face is marked with a broad streak of black lead, put on
with the finger, and usually running obliquely across the nose or one
cheek.[N244] Children, when dressed up in new clothes, are also
frequently marked in this way. This may be compared with the ancient
custom among the people of Kadiak of painting their faces “before
festivities or games and before any important undertaking, such as the
crossing of a wide strait or arm of the sea, the sea-otter chase,
etc.”[N245]
[Footnote N244: Compare Kotzebue’s Voy., vol. 3, p. 296, where
Chamisso describes the natives of St. Lawrence Bay, Siberia, as
having large quantities of fine graphite, with which they painted
their faces.]
[Footnote N245: Petroff Report, etc., p. 139.]