for Brulé as follows: Rub the upper and outer part of the right thigh
in a small circle with the open right hand, fingers pointing downward.
These Indians were once caught in a prairie fire, many burned to death,
and others badly burned about the thighs; hence the name Si-ca^n-gu,
burnt thigh, and the sign. According to the Brulé chronology, this fire
occurred in 1763, which they call “The-people-were-burned winter.”
CHEYENNE.
[Illustration: FIG. 494.--Cheyenne.]
Fig. 494.--The Cheyenne who boasted that he was bullet and arrow proof
was killed by white soldiers, near Fort Robinson, Nebraska, in the
intrenchments behind which the Cheyennes were defending themselves after
they had escaped from the fort. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1878-’79.
[Illustration: FIG. 495.--Cheyenne.]
The marks on the arm constitute the tribal pictographic emblem. It is
explained by the gesture sign as follows: Pass the ulnar side of the
extended index finger repeatedly across extended finger and back of the
left hand. Fig. 495 illustrates this gesture sign. Frequently, however,
the index is drawn across the wrist or forearm, or the extended index,
palm upward, is drawn across the forefinger of the left hand (palm
inward), several times, left hand stationary, right hand is drawn toward
the body until the index is drawn clear off; then repeat. Some Cheyennes
believe this to have reference to the former custom of cutting the arms
as offerings to spirits, while others think it refers to a more ancient
custom of cutting off the enemy’s fingers for necklaces, and sometimes
to cutting off the whole hand or forearm as a trophy to be displayed as
scalps more generally are.
[Illustration: FIG. 496.--Cheyenne.]
Fig. 496 is from the Winter Count of Battiste Good for the year
1785-’86. In that record this is the only instance where the short
vertical lines below the arrow signify Cheyenne. In all others those
marks are numerical and denote the number of persons killed. That these
short lines here signify Cheyenne is explained by the foregoing remarks.
[Illustration: FIG. 497.--Cheyenne.]
Fig. 497.--Picket-Pin went against the Cheyennes. A picket-pin is
represented in front of him and is connected with his mouth by the usual
line. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1790-’91.
The black band across his face denotes that he was brave and had killed
enemies. The cross is the symbol for Cheyenne. This mark stands for the
scars on their arms or stripes on their sleeves, and also to the gesture
sign for this tribe. The cross is, therefore, the conventionalized form
both for the emblem and the gesture.
DAKOTA OR SIOUX.
[Illustration: FIG. 498.--Dakota.]
Fig. 498.--Standing-Bull, the great grandfather of the present
Standing-Bull, discovered the Black Hills. American-Horse’s Winter
Count, 1775-’76. He carried home with him a pine tree of a species
he had never seen before. In this count the Dakotas are usually
distinguished by the braided scalp lock and the feather they wear at the
crown of the head, or by the manner in which they brush back and tie the
hair with ornamented strips. Many illustrations are given in the present
paper in which this arrangement of the hair is shown more distinctly.
With regard to the designation of this tribe by paint it seems
that pictures made by the northern Dakotas represent themselves as
distinguished from other Indians by being painted red from below the
eyes to the end of the chin. But this is probably rather a special war
painting than a tribal design.
HIDATSA, GROS VENTRE, OR MINITARI.
[Illustration: FIG. 499.--Hidatsa.]
Fig. 499 shows the tribal designation of the Gros Ventres by the
Dakotas, on the authority of Battiste Good, 1789-’90.
Two Gros Ventres were killed on the ice by the Dakotas. The two are
designated by two spots of blood on the ice, and killed is expressed by
a blood-tipped arrow against the figure of the man above. The long hair,
with a red forehead, denotes the Gros Ventre. In other Dakota records
the same style of painting the forehead red designates the Arikara and
Absaroka Indians. The horizontal band, which is blue in the original,
signifies ice.
KAIOWA.
[Illustration: FIG. 500.--Kaiowa.]
Fig. 500 shows the tribal designation of the Kaiowa by the Dakota, taken
from the Winter Count of Battiste Good, 1814-’15. He calls the winter
“Smashed-a-Kaiowa’s-head-in winter.” The tomahawk with which it was done
is in contact with the Kaiowa’s head.
The sign for Kaiowa is sometimes made by passing one or both hands,
naturally extended, in short horizontal circles on either side of
the head, together with a shaking motion, the conception being
“rattle-brained” or “crazy heads.” The picture is drawn to represent
the man in the attitude of making this gesture, and not the involuntary
raising of the hands upon receiving the blow, such attitudes not
appearing in Battiste Good’s system.
[Illustration: FIG. 501.--Kaiowa.]
This gesture is illustrated in Fig. 501.
MANDAN.
[Illustration: FIG. 502.--Mandan.]
Fig. 502.--Two Mandans killed by Minneconjous. The peculiar arrangement
of the hair distinguishes the tribe. The-Flame’s Winter Count, 1789-’90.
MANDAN AND ARIKARA.
[Illustration: FIG. 503.--Mandan and Arikara.]
Fig. 503.--The Mandans and Rees made a charge on a Dakota village. An
eagle’s tail, which is worn on the head, stands for Mandan and Ree.
American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1783-’84.
The mark on the tipi, which represents a village, is not, as it at first
sight appears, a hatchet, but a conventional sign for “it hit.” See Fig.
987 and accompanying remarks.
OJIBWA.
Carver (_a_), writing in 1776-’78, tells that an Ojibwa drew the
designation of his own tribe as a deer. The honest captain of provincial
troops may have mistaken a clan mark to be a tribal mark, but the
account is mentioned for what it is worth, and the context serves to
support the statement.
OMAHA.
[Illustration: FIG. 504.--Omaha.]
Fig. 504 is the tribal designation of the Omahas by the Dakotas, taken
from the Winter Count of Battiste Good, for the year 1744-’45. The
pictograph is a human head with cropped hair and red cheeks. It is a
front view. This tribe cuts the hair short and uses red paint upon the
cheeks very extensively. This character is of frequent occurrence in
Battiste Good’s count.
[Illustration: FIG. 505.--Omaha.]
Fig. 505.--The Dakotas killed an Omaha in the night. Cloud-Shield’s
Winter Count, 1806-’07.
This is a side view of the same. The illustration does not show the
color of the cheeks.
[Illustration: FIG. 506.--Omaha.]
Fig. 506.--The Dakotas and Omahas made peace. Cloud-Shield’s Winter
Count, 1791-’92.
The Omaha is on the right and the Dakota on the left.
PAWNEE.
[Illustration: FIG. 507.--Pawnee.]
Fig. 507 is the tribal designation of the Pawnee by the Dakotas, taken
from Battiste Good’s Winter Count for the year 1704-’05.
He says: The lower part of the legs are ornamented with slight
projections resembling the husks on the bottom of an ear of corn.
[Illustration: FIG. 508.--Pawnee.]
Fig. 508.--Brulés kill a number of Pawnees. The-Flame’s Winter Count,
1873-’74.
This is the abbreviated or conventionalized form of the one preceding.
[Illustration: FIG. 509.--Pawnee.]
Fig. 509.--They killed many Pawnees on the Republican river.
Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1873-’74.
Here the arrangement of the hair makes the distinction.
In this connection it is useful to quote Dunbar (_a_):
The tribal mark of the Pawnees in their pictographic or historic
painting was the scalp lock dressed to stand nearly erect or curving
slightly backwards, somewhat like a horn. This, in order that it
should retain its position, was filled with vermillion or other
pigment, and sometimes lengthened by means of a tuft of horse hair
skillfully appended so as to form a trail back over the shoulders.
This usage was undoubtedly the origin of the name Pawnee. * * * It
is most probably derived from _pá-rĭk-ĭ_, a horn, and seems to have
been once used by the Pawnees themselves to designate their peculiar
scalp lock. From the fact that this was the most noticeable feature
in their costume, the name came naturally to be the denominative
term of the tribe.
PONKA.
[Illustration: FIG. 510.--Ponka.]
Fig. 510.--The Ponkas came and attacked a village, notwithstanding peace
had just been made with them. American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1778-’79.
Some elk hair which is used to form a ridge about 8 inches long and 2 in
breadth, worn from the forehead to the back of the neck, and a feather,
represent Ponka. Horse tracks are used for horses. Attack is indicated
by marks which represent bullet marks, and which convey the idea that
the bullet struck. The marks are derived from the gesture-sign “it
struck.” See Chapter XVIII, section 4.
[Illustration: FIG. 511.--Ponka.]
Fig. 511.--An Indian woman, who had been unfaithful to a white
man to whom she was married, was killed by an Indian named Ponka.
American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1804-’05.
The emblem for Ponka is the straight elk hair ridge.
[Illustration: FIG. 512.--Ponka.]
Fig. 512.--A Ponka, who was captured when a boy by the Oglalas,
was killed while outside the village by a war party of Ponkas.
American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1793-’94.
The artificial headdress, consisting of a ridge of elk hair, is again
portrayed.
SHOSHONI.
Dr. George Gibbs (_b_) describes a pictograph made by one of the Indian
tribes of Oregon and Washington, upon which “the figure of a man with a
long queue or scalp lock reached to his heels denoted a Shoshoni, that
tribe being in the habit of braiding horse or other hair into their own
in that manner.”
This may be correct regarding the Shoshoni Indians among the extreme
northwestern tribes, but the mark of identification could not be based
upon the custom of braiding with their own hair that of animals, to
increase the length and appearance of the queue, as this custom also
prevails among the Absaroka, Hidatsa, and Arikaa Indians, respectively,
as before mentioned in this work.
Tanner’s Narrative (_e_) gives additional information on this topic
regarding the absence of any tribal sign in connection with a human
figure.
The men of the same tribe are extensively acquainted with the
totems which belong to each, and if on any record of this kind
the figure of a man appears without any designatory mark, it is
immediately understood that he is a Sioux or at least a stranger.
Indeed, in most instances the figures of men are not used at all,
merely the totem or surname, being given. * * * It may be observed
that the Algonkins believe all other Indians to have totems,
though from the necessity they are in general under of remaining
ignorant of those hostile bands, the omission of the totem in their
picture writing serves to designate an enemy. Thus, those bands
of Ojibbeways who border on the country of the Dahcotah or Sioux,
always understand the figure of a man without totem to mean one of
that people.
[Illustration: FIG. 513.--Tamga of Kirghise tribes.]
In Sketches of Northwestern Mongolia, (_a_) are the tamga or seals of
Kirghise tribes, of which Fig. 513 is a copy.
The explanation given is as follows: _a._ Kipchaktamga: letter alip.
_b._ Arguin tamga: eyes. _c._ Naiman tamga: posts (of door). _d._
Kong-rat, Kirei, tamga: vine. _e._ Nak tamga: prop. _f._ Tarakti tamga:
comb. _g._ Tyulimgut tamga: pike.
SECTION 2.
GENTILE AND CLAN DESIGNATIONS.
The clan and totemic system formerly called the gentile system
undoubtedly prevailed anciently in Europe and Asia, but first became
understood by observations of its existence in actual force among the
aborigines of America and Australia, and typical representations of it
are still found among them. In Australia it is called kobong. An animal
or a plant, or sometimes a heavenly body was mythologically at first and
at last sociologically connected with all persons of a certain stock,
who believe, or once believed, that it was their tutelar god and they
bear its name.
Each clan or gens took as a badge or objective totem the representation
of the tutelar daimon from which it was named. As most Indian tribes
were zootheistic, the object of their devotion was generally an
animal--e. g., an eagle, a panther, a buffalo, a bear, a deer, a raccoon,
a tortoise, a snake, or a fish, but sometimes was one of the winds, a
celestial body, or other impressive object or phenomenon.
American Indians once generally observed a prohibition against killing
the animal connected with their totem or eating any part of it. For
instance, most of the southern Indians abstained from killing the wolf;
the Navajo do not kill bears; the Osage never killed the beaver until
the skins became valuable for sale. Afterward some of the animals
previously held sacred were killed; but apologies were made to them at
the time, and in almost all cases the prohibition or taboo survived with
regard to certain parts of those animals which were not to be eaten on
the principle of synecdoche, the temptation to use the food being too
strong to permit entire abstinence. The Cherokee forbade the use of the
tongues of the deer and bear for food. They cut these members out and
cast them into the fire sacramentally. A practice still exists among the
Ojibwa as follows: There is a formal restriction against members of the
bear clan eating the animal, yet by a subdivision within the same clan
an arrangement is made so that sub-clans may among them eat the whole
animal. When a bear is killed, the head and paws are eaten by those who
form one branch of the bear totem, and the remainder is reserved for the
others. Other Indian tribes have invented a differentiation in which
some clansmen may eat the ham and not the shoulder of certain animals,
and others the shoulder and not the ham.
It follows, therefore, that sometimes the whole animal is designated as
a clan totem, and also that sometimes only parts of it is selected.
Many of the devices given in this paper under the heading of personal
names have this origin. The following figures show a selection of
parts of animals that may further illustrate the subject. It must,
however, be borne in mind that some of the cases may be connected with
individual visions or with personal adventures and not directly with the
clan system. In the absence of detailed information in each instance
discrimination is impossible.
Schoolcraft says that the Ojibwa always placed the totemic or clan
pictorial mark upon the _adjedatig_ or grave-post, thereby sinking the
personal name which is not generally indicative of the totem. The same
practice is found in other tribes. The Pueblos depict the gentile or
totemic pictorial sign upon their various styles of ceramic work.
[Illustration: FIG. 514.--Dakota gentile designations.]
Fig. 514, gives examples taken from Dakota drawings, which appear to
be pictured totemic marks of gentes or clans. If not in every instance
veritable examples, they illustrate the mode of their representation as
distinct from the mere personal designations mentioned below, and yet
without positive information in each case, it is not possible to decide
on their correct assignment to this section of the present chapter.
_a._ Bear-Back. Red-Cloud’s Census.
This and the six following figures exhibit respectively the portions
of the bear, viz, the back or chine, the ears, the head, the paw, the
brains, and the nostrils or muzzle, which are probably the subject of
taboo and are the sign of a clan or subclan.
_b._ Bear’s-Ears, a Brulé, was killed in an Oglala village by the Crows.
American-Horse’s Winter Count, 1785-’86.
_c._ Bear’s-Ears was killed in a fight with the Rees. Cloud-Shield’s
Winter Count, 1793-’94.
This is another and more graphic delineation of the animal’s ears.
_d._ Bear-Head. Red-Cloud’s Census.
_e._ Bear-Paw. Red-Cloud’s Census. The paws of the bear are considered
to be a delicacy.
_f._ Bear-Brains. Red-Cloud’s Census.
_g._ Bear-Nostrils. Red-Cloud’s Census.
_h._ Hump. Red-Cloud’s Census. The hump of the buffalo has been often
praised as a delicious dish.
_i._ Elk-Head. Red-Cloud’s Census.
Fig. 515 represents carved uprights in a house of the Kwakiutl Indians,
British Columbia, taken from a work of Dr. Franz Boas (_b_).
[Illustration: FIG. 515.--Kwakiutl carvings.]
The author says that these uprights are always carved according to the
crest of the gens of the house owner, and represent men standing on
the heads of animals. This use of the term “crest” is not heraldically
correct, as literally it would require the men to be standing on the
coverings of their own heads, but the idea is plain, the word being
used for a device similar in nature and significance to the crest in
heraldry, and it was adopted by the ancestors of the Kwakiutl gentes in
relation to certain exploits that they had made. Both human figures show
painting and probably also tattooing on their faces.
The character on the left hand also shows a design on the breast. That
on the right hand presents a curious artifice of carving by which the
legs and an arm are exhibited while preserving the solidity of the
upright.
SECTION 3.
SIGNIFICANCE OF TATTOO.
Tattooing proper is a permanent marking of the skin accomplished by
the introduction of coloring matter under the cutaneous epidermis. In
popular expression and often in literature it includes penetration of
the skin by cuts, gashes, or sometimes burns, without the insertion of
coloring matter, the cicatrix being generally whiter than the sound
skin of the people, most frequently of the dark races, among whom
the practice is found. This form of figuration is distinguished as
scarification and some examples of it are given below. The two varieties
of tattoo may, however, for the purpose of this paper, be considered
together and also in relation to painting the human body, which in its
early use differs from them only in duration.
Mr. Herbert Spencer (_a_) considers all forms of tattoo to be originally
tribal marks, and draws from that assumption additional evidence for his
favorite theory of the deification of a dead tribal chief. Miss A. W.
Buckland (_a_), in her essay on tattooing, follows in the same track,
although recognizing modern deviations from the rule. A valuable article
in the literature of the subject entitled “Tattooing among civilized
people,” by Dr. Robert Fletcher should be consulted. Also A tatuagem em
Portugal, by Rocha Peixoto.
Dr. C. N. Starcke (_a_) lays down the law still more distinctly, thus:
The tattoo-marks make it possible to discover the remote
connection between clans, and this token has such a powerful
influence on the mind that there is no feud between tribes which
are tattooed in the same way. * * * Tattooing may also lead to the
formation of a group within the tribe.
Prof. Frederick Starr (_a_) makes these remarks:
As a sign of war prowess the gash of the Kaffir warrior may be
described. After an act of bravery the priest cuts a deep gash in
the hero’s thigh. This heals blue and is a prized honor. To realize
the value of a tribal mark think for a moment of the savage man’s
relation to the world outside. He is a very Ishmaelite. So long as
he remains on his own tribal territory he is safe; when on the land
of another tribe his life is the legitimate prey of the first man he
meets. To men in such social relations the tribal mark is the only
safety at home; without it he would be slain unrecognized by his own
tribesmen. There must have been a time when the old Hebrews knew all
about this matter of tribe marks. By this custom only can we fully
understand the story of Cain (Gen. IV, 14, 15), who fears to be sent
from his own territory lest he be slain by the first stranger he
meets, but is protected by the tribal mark of those among whom he is
to wander being put upon him. But in scarring, as in so many other
cases, the original idea is often lost and the mark becomes merely
ornamental. This is particularly true among women. Among men it more
frequently retains its tribal significance.
After careful study of the topic, less positive and conclusive
authority is found for this explanation of tattooing than was expected,
considering its general admission.
The great antiquity of tattooing is shown by reference to it in the Old
Testament, and in Herodotus, Xenophon, Tacitus, Ammianus, and Herodian.
The publications on the topic are so numerous that the notes now to be
presented are by no means exhaustive. They mainly refer to the Indian
tribes of North America with only such comparatively recent reports from
other lands as seem to afford elucidation.
TATTOO IN NORTH AMERICA.
G. Holm (_b_) says of the Greenland Innuit that geometric figures
consisting of streaks and points, are used in tattooing on the breasts,
arms, and legs of the females.
H. H. Bancroft (_b_) says:
The Eskimo females tattoo lines on their chins; the plebeian
female of certain bands has one vertical line in the center and one
parallel to it on either side. The higher classes mark two vertical
lines from each corner of the mouth. * * * Young Kadiak wives tattoo
the breast and adorn the face with black lines. The Kuskoquim women
sew into their chin two parallel blue lines.
William H. Gilder (_a_) reports:
The Esquimau wife has her face tattooed with lampblack and is
regarded as a matron in society. * * * The forehead is decorated
with the letter V in double lines, the angle very acute, passing
down between the eyes almost to the bridge of the nose, and sloping
gracefully to the right and left before reaching the roots of the
hair. Each cheek is adorned with an egg-shaped pattern, commencing
near the wing of the nose and sloping upward toward the corner of
the eye; these lines are also double. The most ornamented part,
however, is the chin, which receives a gridiron pattern; the lines
double from the edge of the lower lip, and reaching to the throat
toward the corners of the mouth, sloping outward to the angle of the
lower jaw. This is all that is required by custom, but some of the
belles do not stop here. * * * None of the men are tattooed.
An early notice of tattooing in the territory now occupied by the United
States, mentioned in Hakluyt (_d_), is in the visit of the Florida
chief, Satouriona, in 1564, to Réné Laudonnière. His tattooed figure was
drawn by Le Moyne, Tabulæ VIII, IX.
Capt. John Smith (_a_) is made to say of the Virginia Indians:
They adorne themselues most with copper beads and paintings.
Their women, some haue their legs, hands, breasts and face cunningly
imbrodered with divers workes, as beasts, serpents, artificially
wrought into their flesh with blacke spots.
[Illustration: FIG. 516.--Virginian tattoo designs.]
Thomas Hariot (_a_), in Pl. XXIII, here reproduced as Fig. 516,
Discoveries of 1585, discussing “The Marckes of sundrye of the Chief
mene of Virginia,” says:
The inhabitats of all the cuntrie for the most parte haue marks
rased on their backs, wherby yt may be knowen what Princes subiects
they bee, or of what place they haue their originall. For which
cause we haue set downe those marks in this figure, and haue annexed
the names of the places, that they might more easelye be discerned.
Which industrie hath god indued them withal although they be verye
simple, and rude. And to confesse a truthe I cannot remember, that
euer I saw a better or quietter people than they.
The marks which I observed amonge them, are heere put downe in
order folowinge.
The marke which is expressed by A. belongeth tho Wingino, the
cheefe lorde of Roanoac.
That which hath B. is the marke of Wingino his sisters husbande.
Those which be noted with the letters of C. and D. belonge vnto
diverse chefe lordes in Secotan.
Those which haue the letters E. F. G. are certaine cheefe men of
Pomeiooc, and Aquascogoc.
Frère Gabriel Sagard (_b_) says (about 1636) of the Hurons that they
tattooed by scratching with a bone of bird or fish, a black powder being
applied to the bleeding wounds. The operation was not completed at
once, but required several renewals. The object was to show bravery by
supporting great pain as well as to terrify enemies.
In the Jesuit Relation for 1641, p. 75, it is said of the Neuter Nation
that on their bodies from head to foot they marked a thousand diverse
figures with charcoal pricked into the flesh on which beforehand they
have traced lines for them.
Lemoyne D’Iberville, in 1649, Margry (_b_), remarked among the
Bayogoulas that some of the young women had their faces and breasts
pricked and marked with black.
In the Jesuit Relation for 1663, p. 28, there is an account that the
head chief of the Iroquois, called by the French Nero, had killed sixty
enemies with his own hand, the marks of which he bears printed on his
thigh, which, therefore, appears covered over with black characters.
Joutel, in Margry (_c_), speaks of tattooing among the Texas Indians in
1687. Some women make a streak from the top of the forehead to chin,
some make a triangle at the corners of their eyes, others on the breast
and shoulders, others prick the lips. The marks are indelible.
Bacqueville de la Potherie (_b_) says of the Iroquois:
They paint several colors on the face, as black, white, yellow,
blue, and vermillion. Men paint snakes from the forehead to the
nose, but they prick the greater part of the body with a needle to
draw blood. Bruised gunpowder makes the first coat to receive the
other colors, of which they make such figures as they desire and
they are never effaced.
M. Bossu (_a_) says of tatooing among the Osages in 1756:
It is a kind of knighthood to which they are only entitled by
great actions; they suffer with pleasure in order to pass for men of
courage.
If one of them should get himself marked without having
previously distinguished himself in battle he would be degraded, and
looked upon as a coward, unworthy of an honor. * * *
I saw an Indian, who, though he had never signalized himself
in defense of the nation, got a mark made on his body in order to
deceive those who only judged from appearance. The council agreed
that, to obviate such an abuse, which would confound brave men with
cowards, he who had wrongfully adorned himself with the figure of a
club on his skin, without ever having struck a blow at war, should
have the mark torn off; that is, the place should be flayed, and
that the same should be done to all who would offend in the same
case.
The Indian women are allowed to make marks all over their body,
without any bad consequences; they endure it firmly, like the men,
in order to please them, and to appear handsomer to them.
James Adair (_a_) says of the Chikasas in 1720:
They readily know achievements in war by the blue marks over
their breasts and arms, they being as legible as our alphabetical
characters are to us. Their ink is made of the root of pitch
pine, which sticks to the inside of a greased earthen pot; then
delineating the parts, they break through the skin with gairfish
teeth, and rub over them that dark composition, to register them
among the brave, and the impression is lasting. I have been told
by the Chikasah that they formerly erased any false marks their
warriors proudly and privately gave themselves, in order to engage
them to give real proofs of their martial virtue, being surrounded
by the French and their red allies; and that they degraded them in
a public manner, by stretching the marked parts, and rubbing them
with the juice of green corn, which in a great degree took out the
impression.
Sir Alex. Mackenzie (_b_) tells that the Slave and Dog Rib Indians of
the Athabaskan stock practiced tatooing. The men had two double lines,
either black or blue, tattooed upon each cheek from the ear to the nose.
In James’s Long (_c_) it is reported that--
The Omahas are often neatly tattooed in straight 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.
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey (_a_) says:
In order that the ghost may travel the ghost-road in safety it
is necessary for each Dakota, during his life, to be tattooed either
in the middle of the forehead or on the wrists. In that event his
spirit will go directly to the “Many Lodges.”
The female Midē' of the Ojibwa frequently tattoo the temples, forehead,
or cheeks of sufferers from headache or toothache, which varieties of
pain are believed to be caused by some malevolent manido or spirit.
By this operation such demons are expelled, the ceremony being also
accompanied by songs and gesticulations of exorcism. Relief is sometimes
actually obtained through the counterirritant action of the tattooing,
which is effected by using a small bunch of needles, though formerly
several spicules of bone were tied together or used singly.
One old Ojibwa woman who was observed in 1887 had a round spot over each
temple, made there to cure headache. The spots were of a bluish-black
color, and about five-eighths of an inch in diameter. Another had a
similar spot upon the nasal eminence, and a line of small dots running
from the nostrils, horizontally outward over either cheek, two-thirds of
the distance to the ears.
The men of the Wichita wore tattoo lines from the lips downward, and it
is a significant fact that their tribal sign means “tattooed people,”
the same expression being used to designate them in the language of
several neighboring tribes. This would imply that tattooing was not
common in that region. The Kaiowa women, however, frequently had small
circles tattooed on their foreheads, and the Sixtown Choctaws still are
distinguished by perpendicular lines tatooed on the chin.
Mr. John Murdoch (_b_) reports of the Eskimo:
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, An̄oru
had a broad band across each cheek from the corners of the mouth,
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'n̄ialu had a couple of small marks on
one forearm. Niăksára, the wife of An̄oru, 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. 15), 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.
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.
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 and those of Siberia, St.
Lawrence island, and the Diomedes.
TATTOO ON THE PACIFIC COAST.
During the summer of 1884 Dr. Hoffman met, at Port Townsend, Washington,
a party of Haida Indians from Queen Charlottes island, who were encamped
there for a short time. Most of them were tattooed after the manner
of the Haidas, the breast, back, forearm, and legs bearing partial or
complete designs of animate forms relating to totems or myths. Some
of the persons had been tattooed only in part, the figures upon the
forearms, for instance, being incomplete, because the operation at a
previous “potlatch” or festival had to be suspended on account of the
great length of time required, or on account of an extra inflammatory
condition of the affected parts.
Among this party of Haidas was Makdē'gos, the tattooer of the tribe,
whose work is truly remarkable. The designs made by him are symmetrical,
while the lines are uniform in width and regular and graceful in every
respect. In persons tattooed upon the breast or back the part operated
upon is first divided into halves by an imaginary vertical line upon the
breast through the middle of the sternum and upon the back along the
middle of the vertebral column. Such designs are drawn double, facing
outward from this imaginary line. One side is first drawn and completed,
while the other is merely a reverse transfer, made immediately
afterwards or at such future time as the operation of tattooing may be
renewed.
The colors are black and red, the former consisting of finely powdered
charcoal, gunpowder, or India ink, while the latter is Chinese
vermilion. The operation was formerly performed with sharp thorns,
spines of certain fishes, or spicules of bone; but recently a small
bunch of needles is used, which serves the purpose to better effect.
As is well known, the black pigments, when picked into the human skin,
become rather bluish, which tint, when beneath the yellowish tinge of
the Indian’s cuticle, appears of an olive or sometimes a greenish-blue
shade. The colors, immediately after being tattooed upon the skin,
retain more or less of the blue-black shade; but by absorption of the
pigment and the persistence of the coloring matter of the pigmentary
membrane the greenish tint soon appears, becoming gradually less
conspicuous as time progresses, so that in some of the oldest tattooed
Indians the designs are greatly weakened in coloration.
Upon the bodies of some persons examined the results of ulceration are
conspicuous. This destruction of tissue is the result of inflammation
caused by the tattooing and the introduction under the skin of so great
a quantity of irritating foreign matter that, instead of designs in
color, there are distinct, sharply defined figures in white or nearly
white cicatrices, the pigmentary membrane having been totally destroyed
by the ulceration.
[Illustration: FIG. 517.--Haida tattoo, sculpin and dragon fly.]
The figures represented upon the several Indians met with, as
above-mentioned, were not all of totemic signification, one arm, for
instance, bearing the figure of the totem of which the person is a
member, while the other arm presents the outline of a mythic being, as
shown in Fig. 517, copied from the arms of a woman. The left device is
taken from the left forearm, and represents kul, the skulpin, a totemic
animal, whereas the right hand device, taken from the right arm of the
same subject, represents mamathlóna, the dragon fly, a mythic insect.
[Illustration: FIG. 518.--Haida tattoo, thunder-bird.]
In Fig. 518 two forms of the thunderbird are presented, copied from the
right and left forearms and hands, respectively, of a Haida woman. The
right hand device is complete, but that on the left, copied from the
opposite forearm and hand, is incomplete, and it was expected that the
design would be entirely finished at the “potlatch” which was to be held
in the autumn of 1884. In the completed design the transverse curve in
the body of the tail was red, as also the three diagonal lines upon the
body of the bird running outward from the central vertical toward the
radial side of the hand. The brace-shaped lines within the head ornament
had also been tattooed in red.
[Illustration: FIG. 519.--Haida tattoo, thunder-bird and tshimō's.]
In some instances the totem and mythic character are shown upon the same
member, as is represented in Fig. 519. This tattooing was copied from
the left arm of a woman, the complete figure upon the forearm and hand
being that of a thunder bird, while the four heads upon the fingers
represent that of the tshimō's, a mythic animal. The thunder-bird
had been tattooed upon the arms a number of years before the heads
were added, probably because the protracted and painful operation of
tattooing so large a figure deterred the sufferer from further sitting.
Sometimes, however, such, postponement or noncompletion of an operation
is the result of inability on the part of the subject to defray the
expense.
[Illustration: FIG. 520.--Haida tattoo, bear.]
Another instance of the interrupted condition of tattooed designs is
presented in Fig. 520. The figure upon the forearm and hand is that of
the bear totem, and was made first. At a subsequent festival the bear
heads were tattooed upon the fingers, and, last of all, the body was
tattoed upon the middle finger, leaving three yet to be completed.
[Illustration: FIG. 521.--Haida tattoo, mountain goat.]
Fig. 521 shows tattoo designs upon the leg. These represent mēt, the
mountain goat.
[Illustration: FIG. 522.--Haida tattoo, double thunder-bird.]
It is seldom that double designs occur on the extremities, such being
reserved for the breast and back, but an instance was noted, represented
in Fig. 522, which is a representation of hélinga, the thunder-bird, and
was on the left arm of a man.
[Illustration: FIG. 523.--Haida tattoo, double raven.]
One of the most conspicuous examples of the art observed among the party
of traveling Haidas mentioned, was that of a double raven tattooed upon
the breast of Makdē'gos, copied here as Fig. 523.
[Illustration: FIG. 524.--Haida tattoo, dogfish.]
Upon the back of this Indian is also the figure of kahátta, the
dog-fish, Fig. 524. In addition to these marks he bears also upon his
extremities totemic and mythic animals.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXIV
HAIDA DOUBLE THUNDERBIRD.]
Sometimes the simple outline designs employed in tattooing are painted
upon property belonging to various persons, such as boats, housefronts,
etc. In such instances colors are employed that could not be used in
tattooing. One fine example of such is presented in Pl. XXIV and another
of more elaborate design in Pl. XXV.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXV
HAIDA DOG-FISH.]
Mr. James G. Swan made a valuable contribution on tattoo marks of the
Haida Indians of Queen Charlotte islands, British Columbia, and the
Prince of Wales archipelago, Alaska, published in the Fourth Annual
Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, which, much condensed, is reproduced
as follows:
Among all the tribes or bands belonging to the Haida family,
the practice of tattooing the person in some manner is common; but
the most marked are the Haidas proper, or those living on Queen
Charlotte islands, and the Kaiganis, of Prince of Wales archipelago,
Alaska.
I am of the opinion, judging from my own observation of over
twenty years among the coast tribes, that but few females can
be found among the Indians, not only on Vancouvers island, but
all along the coast to the Columbia river, and perhaps even to
California, that are _not_ marked with some device tattooed on their
hands, arms, or ankles, either dots or straight lines; but of all
of the tribes mentioned, the Haidas stand preeminent for tattooing,
and seem to be excelled only by the natives of the Fiji islands or
the King’s Mills group in the south seas. The tattoo marks of the
Haidas are heraldic designs or the family totem, or crests of the
wearers, and are similar to the carvings depicted on the pillars and
monuments around the homes of the chiefs, which casual observers
have thought were idols.
These designs are invariably placed on the men between the
shoulders just below the back of the neck, on the breast, on the
front part of both thighs, and on the legs below the knee. On the
women they are marked on the breast, on both shoulders, on both
forearms, from the elbow down over the back of the hands to the
knuckles, and on both legs below the knee to the ankle.
Almost all of the Indian women of the northwest coast have
tattoo marks on their hands and arms, and some on the face; but as
a general thing these marks are mere dots or straight lines having
no particular significance. With the Haidas, however, every mark has
its meaning; those on the hands and arms of the women indicate the
family name, whether they belong to the bear, beaver, wolf, or eagle
totems, or any of the family of fishes. As one of them quaintly
remarked to me, “If you were tattooed with the design of a swan, the
Indians would know your family name.”
In order to illustrate this tattooing as correctly as possible I
inclose herewith sketches of the tattoo marks on two women and their
husbands, taken by me at Port Townsend.
[Illustration: FIG. 525.--Tattooed Haidas.]
The man on the left hand of Fig. 525 is a tattooed Haida. On his breast
is the cod (kahátta), split from the head to the tail and laid open;
on each thigh is the octopus (noo), and below each knee is the frog
(flkamkostan).
The woman in the same figure has on her breast the head and forepaws
of the beaver (tsching); on each shoulder is the head of the eagle
or thunder-bird (skamskwin); on each arm, extending to and covering
the back of the hand, is the halibut (hargo); on the right leg is the
skulpin (kull); on the left leg is the frog (flkamkostan).
[Illustration: FIG. 526.--Tattooed Haidas.]
The woman in Fig. 526 has a bear’s head (hoorts) on her breast. On each
shoulder is the eagle’s head, and on her arms and legs are figures of
the bear.
The back of the man in the same figure has the wolf (wasko), split in
halves and tattooed between his shoulders, which is shown enlarged in
Fig. 531. Wasko is a mythological being of the wolf species, similar to
the chu-chu-hmexl of the Makah Indians, an antediluvian demon supposed
to live in the mountains.
[Illustration: FIG. 527.--Two forms of skulpin, Haida.]
[Illustration: FIG. 528.--Frog, Haida.]
[Illustration: FIG. 529.--Cod, Haida.]
[Illustration: FIG. 530.--Squid, Haida.]
[Illustration: FIG. 531.--Wolf, Haida.]
The skulpin, on the right leg of the woman in Fig. 525, is shown
enlarged in Fig. 527; the frog on the left leg in Fig. 528. The codfish
on the man in Fig. 525 is shown enlarged in Fig. 529; the octopus or
squid in Fig. 530.
As the Haidas, both men and women, are very light-colored, some of
the latter--full blooded Indians, too--having their skins as fair as
Europeans, the tattoo marks show very distinct.
The same author continues:
This tattooing is not all done at one time, nor is it everyone
who can tattoo. Certain ones, almost always men, have a natural gift
which enables them to excel in this kind of work. One of the young
chiefs, named Geneskelos, was the best designer I knew, and ranked
among his tribe as a tattooer.
He told me the plan he adopted was first to draw the design
carefully on the person with some dark pigment, then prick it in
with needles, and then rub over the wound with some more coloring
matter till it acquired the proper hue. He had a variety of
instruments composed of needles tied neatly to sticks. His favorite
one was a flat strip of ivory or bone, to which he had firmly tied
five or six needles, with their points projecting beyond the end
just far enough to raise the skin without inflicting a dangerous
wound, but these needle points stuck out quite sufficiently to make
the operation very painful, and although he applied some substance
to deaden the sensation of the skin, yet the effect was on some to
make them quite sick for a few days; consequently, the whole process
of tattooing was not done at one time. 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.
Other notices about the tattooing of the Indians of the Pacific slope of
North America are subjoined.
Stephen Powers (_c_) says the Karok (California) squaws tattoo in blue
three narrow fern leaves perpendicularly on the chin, one falling from
each corner of the mouth and one in the middle.
The same author reports, page 76:
Nearly every (Hupâ, California) man has ten lines tattooed
across the inside of the left arm about halfway between the wrist
and the elbow; and in measuring shell money he takes the string in
his right hand, draws one end over his left thumb nail, and if the
other end reaches to the uppermost of the tattoo lines the five
shells are worth $25 in gold, or $5 a shell. Of course, it is only
one in ten thousand that is long enough to reach this high value.
Also on page 96:
The Pátawāt (California) squaws tattoo in blue three narrow
pinnate leaves perpendicularly on their chins, and also lines of
small dots on the backs of their hands.
On page 148, of the Kástel Pomo:
The women of this and other tribes of the Coast range frequently
tattoo a rude representation of a tree or other object covering
nearly the whole abdomen and breast.
Of the Wintūns he says, page 233: “The squaws all tattoo three narrow
lines, one falling from each corner of the mouth and one between.”
The same author says, on page 109:
The Mattoal, of California, differ from other tribes in that
the men tattoo. Their distinctive mark is a round blue spot in the
center of the forehead. The women tattoo pretty much all over their
faces.
In respect to this matter of tattooing there is a theory
entertained by some old pioneers which may be worth the mention.
They hold that the reason why the women alone tattoo in all other
tribes is that in case they are taken captives their own people may
be able to recognize them when there comes an opportunity of ransom.
There are two facts which give some color of probability to this
reasoning. One is that the California Indians are rent into such
infinitesimal divisions, any one of which may be arrayed in deadly
feud against another at any moment, that the slight differences in
their dialects would not suffice to distinguish the captive squaws.
The second is that the squaws almost never attempt any ornamental
tattooing, but adhere closely to the plain regulation mark of the
tribe.
Blue marks tattooed upon a Mohave woman’s chin denote that she is
married. See Whipple (_f_).
Mr. Gatschet reports that very few Klamath men now tattoo their faces,
but such as are still observed have but a single line of black running
from the middle of the lower lip to the chin. Half-breed girls appear to
have but one perpendicular line tattooed down over the chin while the
full-blood women have four perpendicular lines on the chin.
In Bancroft’s Native Races (_c_), it is stated that the Modoc women
tattoo three blue lines, extending perpendicularly from the center and
corners of the lower lip to the chin.
The same author on pages 117 and 127 of the same volume says:
The Chippewas have tattooed cheeks and foreheads. Both sexes
have blue or black bars or from one to four straight lines to
distinguish the tribe to which they belong. They tattoo by entering
an awl or needle under the skin and drawing it out, immediately
rubbing powdered charcoal into the wounds. * * * On the Yukon river
among the Kutchins, the men draw a black stripe down the forehead
and the nose, frequently crossing the forehead and cheeks with red
lines and streaking the chin alternately with red and black, and the
women tattoo the chin with a black pigment.
Stephen Powers, in Overland Monthly, XII, 537, 1874, says of the Normocs:
I saw a squaw who had executed on her cheeks the only
representation of a living object which I ever saw done in
tattooing. It was a couple of bird’s wings, one on each cheek, done
in blue, bottom-edge up, the butt of the wing at the corner of the
mouth, and the tip near the ear. It was quite well wrought, both
in correctness of form and in delicateness of execution, not only
separate feathers but even the filaments of the vane, being finely
pricked in.
Dr. Franz Boas (_c_) says:
Tattooings are found on arms, breast, back, legs, and feet among
the Haida; on arms and feet among the Tshimshian, Kwakiutl and
Bilqula; on breast and arms among the Nootka; on the jaw among the
Coast Salish women.
Among the Nootka scars may frequently be seen running at regular
intervals from the shoulder down the breast to the belly, and in the
same way down the legs and arms. * * *
Members of tribes practicing the Hamats'a ceremonies show
remarkable scars produced by biting. At certain festivals it is the
duty of the Hamats'a to bite a piece of flesh out of the arms, leg,
or breast of a man.
TATTOO IN SOUTH AMERICA.
Dr. im Thurn (_c_) says:
Tattooing or any other permanent interference with the surface
of the skin by way of ornament is practiced only to a very limited
extent by the Indians; is used, in fact, only to produce the small
distinctive tribal mark which many of them bear at the corners of
their mouths or on their arms. It is true that an adult Indian is
hardly to be found on whose thighs and arms, or on other parts of
whose body are not a greater or less number of indelibly incised
straight lines; but these are scars originally made for surgical,
not ornamental purposes.
Herndon and Gibbon (_a_), p. 319, report:
Following the example of the other nations of Brazil (who tattoo
themselves with thorns, or pierce their nose, the lips, and the
ears,) and obeying an ancient law which commands these different
tortures, this baptism of blood, * * * the Mahués have preserved * *
* the great festival of the Tocandeira.
Paul Marcoy (_b_) says of the Passés, Yuris, Barrés, and Chumanas,
of Brazil, that they mark their faces (in tattoo) with the totem, or
emblem of the nation to which they belong. It is possible at a few steps
distant to distinguish one nation from another.
EXTRA-LIMITAL TATTOO.
Ancient monarchs adopted special marks to distinguish slaves; likewise
for vengeance as an indelible and humiliating brand, a certain tattoo
denounced him who had fallen into disgrace with a sovereign. Two monks
having censured the iconoclastic frenzy of the emperor Theophilus, he
ordered to be imprinted on their foreheads eleven iambic verses; Philip
of Macedon, from whom a soldier had solicited the possession of a man
saved by him from shipwreck, ordered that on his forehead should be
drawn signs indicative of his base greed; Caligula, without any object,
commanded the tattooing of the Roman nobles.
In the period of the decline of Rome, tattooing was extensively
practiced. Regulative laws prescribed the adopted symbols which were
a proof of enlistment in the ranks and on which the military oath was
taken. The purpose of this ordinance, which continued in force for a
long time, was similar to that which authorized the marking of the
slaves, since, the spirit of the people having become degenerated, the
army was composed of mercenaries who, if they should run away, must
be recognized, pursued, and captured. Until recently the practice,
though more as a mark of manhood, was followed by the soldiers of the
Piedmontese army.
Élisée Reclus (_a_) says:
Tattooing was in Polynesia widespread, and so highly developed
that the artistic designs covering the body served also to clothe
it. In certain islands the operation lasted so long that it had to
be begun before the children were six years old, and the pattern was
largely left to the skill and cunning of the professional tattooers.
Still traditional motives recurred in the ornamental devices of the
several tribes, who could usually be recognized by their special
tracings, curved or parallel lines, diamond forms and the like. The
artists were grouped in schools like the old masters in Europe, and
they worked not by incision as in most Melanesian islands, but by
punctures with a small comb-like instrument slightly tapped with a
mallet. The pigment used in the painful and even dangerous operation
was usually the fine charcoal yielded by the nut of Aleurites
triloba, an oleaginous plant used for illuminating purposes
throughout eastern Polynesia.
The following is from Rev. Richard Taylor (_c_) about the New
Zealanders, Te Ika a Maui:
Before they went to fight, the youth were accustomed to mark
their countenances with charcoal in different lines, and their
traditions state that this was the beginning of the tattoo, for
their wars became so continuous, that to save the trouble of thus
constantly painting the face, they made the lines permanent by the
moko; it is, however, a question whether it did not arise from a
different cause; formerly the grand mass of men who went to fight
were the black slaves, and when they fought side by side with their
lighter colored masters, the latter on those occasions used charcoal
to make it appear they were all one.
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.
[Illustration: FIG. 532.--Australian grave and carved trees.]
Fig. 532 is an illustration from the same work, facing page 378. It
shows the “grave of an Australian native, with his name, rank, tribe,
etc., cut in hieroglyphics on the trees,” which “hieroglyphics” are
supposed to be connected with his tattoo marks.
[Illustration: FIG. 533.--New Zealand tattooed head and chin mark.]
Fig. 533 is a copy of a tattooed head carved by Hongi, and also of the
tattooing on a woman’s chin, taken from the work last cited.
[Illustration: FIG. 534.--Tattoo design on bone, New Zealand.]
The accompanying illustration, Fig. 534, is taken from a bone obtained
from a mound in New Zealand, by Prof. I. C. Russell, formerly of the U.
S. Geological Survey. He says that the Maori formerly tattooed the bones
of enemies, though the custom now seems to have been abandoned. The work
consists of sharp, shallow lines, as if made with a sharp-pointed steel
instrument, into which some blackish pigment has been rubbed, filling up
some of the markings, while in others scarcely a trace remains.
In connection with the use of the tattoo marks as reproduced on
artificial objects see Fig. 734.
[Illustration: FIG. 535.--Tattooed woman, New Zealand.]
Fig. 535 is a copy of a photograph obtained in New Zealand by Prof.
Russell. It shows tattooing upon the chin.
Prof. Russell, in his sketch of New Zealand, published in the Am.
Naturalist, XIII, 72, Feb., 1879, remarks, that the desire of the
Maori for ornament is so great that they covered their features with
tattooing, transferring indelibly to their faces complicated patterns
of curved and spiral lines, similar to the designs with which they
decorated their canoes and their houses.
E. J. Wakefield (_a_) reports of a man observed in New Zealand that he
was a tangata tabu or sacred personage, and consequently was not adorned
with tatu. He adds, p. 155, that the deeds of the natives are signed
with elaborate drawings of the moko or tatu on the chiefs’ faces.
Dr. George Turner (_b_) says:
Herodotus found among the Thracians that the man who was not
tattooed was not respected. It was the same in Samoa. Until a young
man was tattooed he was considered in his minority. He could not
think of marriage, and he was constantly exposed to taunts and
ridicule, as being poor and of low birth, and as having no right
to speak in the society of men. But as soon as he was tattooed he
passed into his majority, and considered himself entitled to the
respect and privileges of mature years. When a youth, therefore,
reached the age of 16, 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. Tattooing is still kept up
to some extent and is a regular profession, just as house-building,
and well paid. The custom is traced to mythologic times and has its
presiding deities.
In Révue d’Ethnographie (_a_) (translated) it is published that--
Tattoo marks of Papuan men in New Guinea can be worn on the
chest only when the man has killed an enemy. Fig. 26, p. 101, shows
the marks upon the chest of Waara, who had killed five men.
Tattoo marks upon parts other than the chest of the bodies
of men and women do not seem to have significance. They are made
according to the fancy of the designer. Frequently the professional
tattooers have styles of their own, which, being popular and
generally applied, become customary to a tribe.
The illustration above mentioned is reproduced as Fig. 536.
[Illustration: FIG. 536.--Tattoo on Papuan chief.]
In the same article, p. 112, is the following, referring to Fig. 537:
[Illustration: FIG. 537.--Tattooed Papuan woman.]
Among the Papuans of New Guinea tattooing the chest of females
denotes that they are married, though all other parts of the body,
including the face and legs, may be tattooed long before; indeed the
tattooing of girls may begin at 5 years of age. Fig. 39, p. 112,
gives an illustration of a married woman. * * * The different forms
of tattoo depend upon the style of the several artists. Family marks
are not recognizable, but exist.
De Clercq (_a_) gives further particulars about tattooing among the
Papuans of New Guinea. Among the Sègèt it is only on women. They call it
“fadjan,” and the figures consist of two rows of little circles, on each
side of the abdomen toward the region of the arm-pit, with a few cross
strokes on the outer edge; it is done by pricking with a needle and
afterwards the spots are fumigated with the smoke of burning resin. It
is said to be intended as an ornament instead of dress, and that young
girls do it because young men like to see it.
At Roembati tattooing is called “gomanroeri” and at Sĕkar “béti.” They
do it there with bones of fish, with which they prick many holes in
the skin until the blood flows, and then smear on it in spots the soot
from pans and pots, which, after the staunching of the blood, leaves an
ineffaceable bluish spot or streak. Besides the breast and upper arm
they also tattoo in the same way the calf of the leg, and in some cases
the forehead, as a mere ornamentation, both of men and women--children
only in very exceptional cases.
The Bonggose and Sirito are much tattooed over the breast and shoulder.
At Saoekorèm, a Doré settlement, a few women were seen tattooed on the
breast and in the face. At Doré it is called “pa,” and is done with
thorns, and charcoal is rubbed over the bloody spots; only here and at
Mansinam is it a sign of mourning; everywhere else it merely serves as
ornamentation.
At Ansoes it does not occur much, and is principally in the face; it is
there called “toi.” It is found somewhat more commonly on Noord-Japèn,
and then on shoulder and upper arm. In Tarfia, Tana-mérah, and Humboldt
bay but few persons were tattooed, mostly on the forehead.
The tattooing is always the work of women, generally members of the
family, both on men and on women. First the figure is drawn with
charcoal, and if it suits the taste then begins the pricking with the
thorn of a citrus or a fine bone of some animal. It is very painful and
only a small spot can be pricked at one time, so long as the tattooee
can stand it. If the pain is too violent, the wounds are gently pressed
with a certain leaf that has been warmed, in order to soothe the pain,
and the work is continued only after three or four days. No special
names are given to the figures; those are chosen which suit the taste.
Children are never tattooed at the wish of the parents; it is entirely a
matter of individual choice.
Mr. Forbes, in Journ. Anthrop. Inst. G. B. and I., August, 1883, p. 10,
says that in Timor Laut, an island of the Malay archipelago--
Both sexes tattoo a few simple devices, circles, stars, and
pointed crosses, on the breast, on the brow, on the cheek, and on
the wrists, and scar themselves on the arms and shoulders with
red-hot stones, in imitation of immense smallpox marks, in order
to ward off that disease. * * * I have, however, seen no one
variola-marked, nor can I learn of any epidemic of this disease
among them.
Prof. Brauns, of Halle, reports, Science, III, No. 50, p. 69, that among
the Ainos of Yazo the women tattoo their chins to imitate the beards of
the men.
Carl Bock (_a_) says:
All the married women here are tattooed on the hands and feet
and sometimes on the thighs. The decoration is one of the privileges
of matrimony and is not permitted to unmarried girls.
In Myths and Songs from the South Pacific, London, 1876, p. 94, it is
said that in Mangaia, of the Hervey group, the tattoo is in imitation
of the stripes on the two kinds of fish, avini and paoro, the color of
which is blue. The legend of this is kept in the song of Iná.
Elisée Reclus (_b_) says:
Most of the Dayaks tattoo the arms, hands, feet, and thighs;
occasionally also breast and temples. The designs, generally of a
beautiful blue color on the coppery ground of the body, display
great taste, and are nearly always disposed in odd numbers, which,
as among so many other peoples, are supposed to be lucky.
In L’Anthropologie (_a_), 1890, T. I, No. 6, p. 693, it is thus reported:
Tradition tells that the Giao chi, the alleged ancestors of the
Annamites, were fishermen and in danger from marine monsters. To
prevent disasters from the genii of the waters the king directed
the people to tattoo their bodies with the forms of the marine
monsters, and afterwards the dragons, crocodiles, etc., ceased
their persecution. The custom became universal, and even the kings
tattooed a dragon on their thighs as a sign of power and nobility.
The same idea was in the painting of eyes, etc., on the prows of
Annamite boats, which strongly resembled the sea monsters.
Mr. O’Reilly, the professional tattooer of New York, in a letter, says
that he is familiar with the tattoo system of Burmah, and that, besides
the ruling principle of ordeal, the Burmese use special tattoo marks
to charm and to bring love. They also believe that tattooing the whole
person renders the skin impenetrable to weapons.
In Zeitschrift für Ethnologie (_a_) it is recounted of the Badagas in
the Nilgiri mountains, India:
All the women are tattooed on the forehead. The following [Fig.
538] _a_ is the most usual form:
[Illustration: Fig 538 a]
Besides this there occur the following (same Fig., _b_, _c_,
_d_, and _e_):
[Illustration: Fig. 538 b-e]
Besides the forehead, the tattooing of which is obligatory for
women, other parts of the body are often tattooed thus (same Fig.,
_f_)
[Illustration: Fig. 538 f-g]
on each shoulder. Other forms not infrequently found are
variously grouped dots, also those shown in the same Fig., _g_, on
the forearm and the back of the hand.
[Illustration: FIG. 538.--Badaga tattoo marks.]
Nordenskiöld (_a_) gives the following account of tattooing among the
Chukchis of Siberia:
It is principally the women that tattoo. The operation is
performed by means of pins and soot; perhaps also graphite is
employed, which the Chukchis gather. The tattooing of the women
seems to be the same along the whole Chukchi coast from Cape
Shelagskoy to Bering strait. The usual mode of tattooing is found
represented in Nordenskiöld’s “Voyage of the Vega around Asia and
Europe,” second part, p. 104. Still the tattooing on the cheek is
not rarely more compound than is there shown. The picture given
below [Fig. 539] represents a design of tattooing on the cheek.
Girls under nine or ten years are never tattooed. On reaching
that age they gradually receive the two streaks running from the
point of the nose to the root of the hair; next follow the vertical
chin streaks and lastly the tattooing on the cheeks, of which the
anterior arches are first formed and the posterior part of the
design last. The last named in fact is the part of the design which
is oftenest wanting.
The accompanying picture (the left hand of the same Fig.)
represents the tattooing of the arms of a woman from the town of
T’ápka. The design of the tattooing extends from the shoulder joint,
where the upper triple ring is situated, to the hand joint at the
bottom. As appears from the drawing, the tattooing on the right and
left arm is different.
The men at the winter station of the Vega tattooed themselves
only with two short horizontal streaks across the root of the nose.
Some of the men at Rerkaypiya (C. North), on the other hand, had a
cross tattooed on each cheek bone; others had merely painted similar
ones with red mold. Some Chukchis at the latter place had also the
upper lip tattooed.
[Illustration: FIG. 539.--Chukchi tattoo marks.]
The Chukchi designs are much simpler than those of the Eskimo.
Dr. Bazin, in “Étude sur le Tatouage dans la Régence de Tunis,” in
L’Anthropologie (_b_), tells that the practice of tattooing is very
widespread and elaborate in Tunisia, but chiefly among the natives of
Arab race, who are nomads, workmen in the towns, and laborers, and also
among the fellahs. The Berbers, on the contrary, who have remained
mountaineers, the merchants of the coast towns, and the rich proprietors
are little or not at all tattooed. In regard to the last class this
proves that tattooing has become nothing but an ornament, since the
members of this class are clothed in such a way that the legs and arms
are completely covered, so that it would be useless to draw figures
which would be invisible or almost entirely hidden. He adds that the
notables “du Tinge” do not disfigure themselves by incisions. The
distinctive sign of the lower classes is the presence of three incisions
on the temples, three on the cheeks, and three also on the lower part of
the face.
Notes on East-Equatorial Africa, in Bull. Soc. d’Anthro. de Bruxelles
(_a_) contains the following memoranda: Tattooing is done by traveling
artists. Perhaps at first it showed tribal characteristics, but now
it is difficult to distinguish more than fancy. The exception is that
Wawenba alone tattoo the face. The local fetiches bear marks of tattoo.
Gordon Cumming (_a_) says:
One of the “generals” of Mosielely, King of the Bakatlas group
of the Bechuana tribe, had killed about twenty men in battle with
his own hand, and bore a mark of honor for every man. This mark was
a line tattooed on his ribs.
David Greig Rutherford (_a_) makes remarks on the people of Batanga,
West Tropical Africa, from which the following is extracted:
Tattooing evidently originated in certain marks being applied
to the face and other parts of the body in order to distinguish the
members of one tribe from those of another. The same marks would be
used for both sexes, but as the tendency to ornamentation became
developed, they would be apt to observe some artistic method in
making them. Among the Dualles the custom at one time appears to
have obtained with both sexes, with a preponderance, however, in the
practice of it on the side of the women. The men did not always see
the force of giving themselves needless pain, but the women, with
a shrewd idea that it added to their charms, persisted in having
it done. The men (and it is significant that in places where the
men have ceased to tattoo themselves they continue to do it for the
women) tattooed their children at an early age, but as the girls
approached a marriageable age they added, on their own account,
various ornamentations to those already existing. As an example that
tattooing in its later stages is regarded as an increase of beauty,
I may mention an instance given me by the wife of a missionary here.
A woman belonging to some neighboring tribe having come to stay at
the mission, was presented with a dress of some showy material as
an inducement to her to discard the loin cloth she had been in the
habit of wearing and as an introduction to the habits of civilized
life. She objected to wear the dress, however, upon the ground that
if she did so she would thereby hide her beauty. It appears certain
that the unmarried woman who is most finely tattooed wins most
admiration from the men.
Oscar Peschel (_a_) describes tattooing as another substitute for
raiment and remarks: “That it actually takes away from the impression
of nudity is declared by all who have seen fully tattooed Albanese.” As
bearing in the same direction Mr. Darwin, in “Voyage of the Beagle,” may
be quoted, who, when at New Zealand, speaking of the clean, tidy, and
healthy appearance of the young women who acted as servants within the
houses, remarks: “The wives of the missionaries tried to persuade them
not to be tattooed, but a famous operator having arrived from the south
they said: ‘We really must have a few lines on our lips, else when we
grow old our lips will shrivel, and we shall be so very ugly.’”
In September, 1891, a Zulu, claiming to be a son of the late Cetewayo,
gave to a reporter of the Memphis Avalanche the following account:
When some one expressed a doubt of his coming from Zululand he
promptly rolled up his sleeve and showed on his right arm the brand
of the tribe. The brand is just below the elbow-joint, and it is of
a bright red color, showing conclusively that it had been burned
into the flesh. The design is very much on the principle of a double
heart with a cross running through the center. The same design has
been branded over his left eye in a somewhat smaller shape. When
questioned about these brands he said:
“In our country all the men have to have the brand of their
tribe burned into their skin so that they can never desert us, and
no matter where they are found, you can always tell a Zulu by the
brand. Always look for it just over the left eye and on the inside
of the right arm. Does it hurt? Oh, no: you see they just take the
skin together in their fingers and when the brand is red hot touch
it once to the skin and it is all done, and the brand can never wear
away.”
SCARIFICATION.
The following notes regarding scarification are presented:
Edward M. Curr (_b_), p. 94, says:
The principal and most general ornament throughout Australia
consists of a number of scars raised on the skin. They are made by
deep incisions with a flint or shell, which are kept powdered with
charcoal or ashes. The wounds thus made remain open for about three
months, and, when covered with skin, scars sometimes almost as thick
and long as one’s middle finger remain raised above the natural
surface of the skin. The incisions are made in rows on various
parts of the body, principally on the chest, back, and on the upper
muscle of the arm, and less frequently on the thighs and stomach.
The breasts of the female are often surrounded with smaller scars.
In some tribes dots cut in the skin take the place of scars. The
operation is a very painful one, and is often carried out amidst
yells of torture. Both sexes are marked in this manner, but the male
more extensively than the female.
In the same volume, p. 338, is the following:
When, as often happens, a young man and girl of the Whajook
tribe in Australia elope and remain away from the tribe for a time,
it is not unusual for them to scar each other in the interim as a
memorial of their illicit loves; a singular proceeding when one
remembers the agony caused by the operation and the length of time
required to get over it. This proceeding is a great aggravation of
the original offense in the eyes of husbands.
In Vol. II, p. 414, the same author says:
Men of the Cape river tribe scar their backs and shoulders in
this way. Scars are made generally on the left thigh both of the
men and women, continues Mr. Chatfield, but occasionally on the
right, for the purpose of denoting the particular class to which
they belong; but as such a practice would conflict with the custom
prevalent throughout the continent as far as known, which is to make
these marks for ornament alone, the statement cannot be received
without further evidence.
Thomas Worsnop, in the Prehistoric Arts of the Aborigines of Australia,
says:
This practice of tattooing by scarification was common all over
the continent, varying in character amongst the respective tribes,
each having its own distinctive marks, although all patterned upon
one monotonous idea.
This is far from evidence of distinct tribal marks, the slight varieties
of which may be only local or tribal fashions.
Alfred C. Haddon (_a_), p. 366, says:
Tattooing is unknown, but the body used to be ornamented
with raised cicatrices. * * * The Torres strait islanders are
distinguished by a large, complicated, oval scar, only slightly
raised and of neat construction. This, which I have been told has
some connection with a turtle, occupies the right shoulder and is
occasionally repeated on the left. I suspect that a young man was
not allowed to bear a cicatrice until he had killed his first turtle
or dugong.
The same author, op. cit., says of the Mabuiag of Torres straits:
The people were formerly divided up into a number of clans. *
* * A man belonging to one clan could not wear the badge of the
totem of another clan. * * * All the totems appear to have been
animals--as the crocodile, snake, turtle, dugong, dog, cassowary,
shark, sting-ray, kingfish, etc.
The same writer, in Notes on Mr. Beardsmore’s paper, in Jour. Anthrop.
Inst. of Gr. Br. and I. (_a_), says:
A large number of the women of Mowat, New Guinea, have a
Λ-shaped scar above the breasts. * * * Maino of Tud told me that it
was cut when the brother leaves the father’s house and goes to live
with the men; and another informant’s story was that it was made
when a brother harpooned his first dugong or turtle. Maino (who,
by the by, married a Mowat woman) said that a mark on the cheek
recorded the brother’s prowess.
D’Albertis (_c_) tells that the people of New Guinea produced scars
“by making an incision in the skin and then for a lengthened period
irritating it with lime and soot. * * * They use some scars as a sign
that they have traveled, and tattoo an additional figure above the right
breast on the accomplishment of every additional journey. * * * In Yuli
island women have nearly the whole body covered with marks. Children are
seldom tattooed; slaves never. Men are hardly ever tattooed, though they
have frequently marks on the chest and shoulders; rarely on the face.
Tribes and families are recognized by tattoo marks.”
Mr. Griffith, in his paper on Sierra Leone, in Jour. Anthrop. Inst. of
Gr. Br. and I. (_b_), says:
The girls are cut on their backs and loins in such a manner as
to leave raised scars, which project above the surface of the skin
about one-eighth of an inch. They then receive Boondoo names, and
after recovery from the painful operation are released from Boondoo
with great ceremony and gesticulation by some who personate Boondoo
devils. They are then publicly pronounced marriageable.
Dr. Holub (_b_), speaking of three cuts on the breast of a Koranna of
Central South Africa, says:
They have among themselves a kind of freemasonry. Some of them
have on their chest three cuts. When they were asked what was the
reason of it they generally refused to answer, but after gaining
their confidence they confessed that they belonged to something like
a secret society, and they said, “I can go through all the valleys
inhabited by Korannas and Griquas, and wherever I go when I open my
coat and show these three cuts I am sure to be well received.”
Mr. H. H. Johnston (_a_) tells us that scarification is practiced right
along the course of the Congo up to the Stanley falls. The marks thus
made are tribal. Thus the Bateke are always distinguished by five or
six striated lines across the cheek bones, while the Bayansi scar their
foreheads with a horizontal or vertical band.
E. Brussaux, in L’Anthropologie (_c_), reports that scarifications in
Congo, which are chiefly on the back, are made for therapeutic reasons.
Julian Thomas (_a_) gives the following description of a New Hebrides
woman:
She had a pattern traced over her throat and breast like a
scarf. It was done with a shark’s tooth when a child. The women’s
skins are blistered up into flowers and ferns. The skin is cut
and earth and ashes placed inside the gashes, and the flesh grows
into these forms. Of course they do not cover up these beauties by
clothing.
According to Mr. Man, Journ. Anthrop. Inst. of Gr. Br. and I. (_c_), the
Andamanese, who also tattoo by means of gashing, do so first by way of
ornament, and, secondly, to prove the courage of the individual operated
upon and his or her power of enduring pain.
SUMMARY OF STUDIES ON TATTOOING.
Many notes on the topic are omitted, especially those relating mainly to
the methods of and the instruments used in the operation. But from those
presented above it appears that tattooing still is or very recently
was used in various parts of the world for many purposes besides the
specific object of designating a tribe, clan, or family, and also apart
from the general intent of personal ornament. The most notable of those
purposes are as follows: 1, to distinguish between free and slave
without reference to the tribe of the latter; 2, to distinguish between
a high and low status in the same tribe; 3, as a certificate of bravery
exhibited by supporting the ordeal of pain; 4, as marks of personal
prowess, particularly, 5, as a record of achievements in war; 6, to show
religious symbols; 7, as a therapeutic remedy for disease, and 8, as a
prophylactic against disease; 9, as a brand of disgrace; 10, as a token
of a woman’s marriage, or, sometimes, 11, of her marriageable condition;
12, identification of the person, not as tribesman or clansman, but as
an individual; 13, to charm the other sex magically; 14, to inspire fear
in the enemy; 15, to magically render the skin impenetrable by weapons;
16, to bring good fortune; and 17, as the device of a secret society.
The use of tattoo marks as certificates and records of prowess in war
is considered to be of special importance in any discussion of their
origin. A warrior returns from the field stained with blood from an
honorable wound, the scars of which he afterwards proudly displays. It
would be strictly in the line of ideography to make artificial scars or
to paint the semblance of wounds on the person as designations of honor,
and from such origin quite as well as from a totemic representation all
other forms and uses may have been evolved. For instance, the vigor of
manhood being thus signified, the similar use would show the maturity
of women. Yet some of the practices of tattoo may have originated
independently of either totem or glory mark. 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. Primitive man never seemed to be
content to leave the surface of his body in its natural condition, and
from recognition of that discontent studies of clothing and of ornament
should take their point of departure.
In this paper many examples are presented of the use, especially by
the North American Indians, of tribal signs carved or painted on rock,
tree, bark, skin, and other materials, and suggestion is made of an
interesting connection between these designs and those of heraldry in
Europe. It would, therefore, seem natural that the same Indians who
probably for ages used such totemic and tribal devices should paint or
tattoo them on their own persons, and the meagerness of the evidence
that they actually did so is surprising. Undoubtedly the statement
has been made in a general way by some of the earlier explorers and
travelers, but when analyzed it is frequently little more than a vague
expression of opinion, perhaps based on a preconceived theory. Nearly
all the Indian tribes have peculiarities of arrangement of the hair and
of some article of apparel and accouterment by which they can always be
distinguished. These are not totemic, nor are they by design expressions
of a tribal character. They come under the heading of fashion, and
such fashions in clothing and in arrangement of the hair still exist
among civilized peoples, so that the people of one nation or province
can at once be distinguished from others. Very little appears from the
account of actual observers to show that the character of the tattoo
marks of the North American Indians, perhaps excluding those of the
northwest coast, was more than a tribal fashion. Such styles or fashions
with no intent or deliberate purpose that they should serve as tribal
signs prevail to-day in Africa and in some other regions, and have been
introduced by the professional artists who had several styles. Besides
the necessary influence of a school of artists, it is obvious that
people living together would contract and maintain the same custom and
fashion in their cutaneous decoration.
SECTION 4.
DESIGNATIONS OF INDIVIDUALS.
These are divided into: (1) Insignia or tokens of authority. (2) Signs
of individual achievements. (3) Property marks. (4) Personal names.
INSIGNIA OR TOKENS OF AUTHORITY.
Champlain (_e_) says of the Iroquois in 1609:
Those who wore three large “pannaches” [plumes] were the chiefs,
and the three chiefs delineated have their plumes much larger than
those of their companions who were simple warriors.
In Travels of Lewis and Clarke (_a_) it is said:
Among the Teton Sioux the interior police of a village is
confided to two or three officers who are named by the chief for
the purpose of preserving order, and remain in power some days, at
least till the chief appoints a successor; they seem to be a sort
of constable or sentinel, since they are always on the watch to
keep tranquility during the day and guarding the camp in the night.
* * * Their distinguishing mark is a collection of two or three
raven skins fixed to the girdle behind the back in such a way that
the tails stick out horizontally from the body. On the head too is
a raven skin split into two parts and tied so as to let the beak
project from the forehead.
In James’s Long (_d_) it is reported that--
Among the Omaha on all occasions of public rejoicings,
festivals, dances, or general hunts, a certain number of resolute
warriors are previously appointed to preserve order and keep the
peace. In token of their office they paint themselves entirely
black; usually wear the crow, and arm themselves with a whip or
war-club with which they punish on the spot those who misbehave, and
are at once both judges and executioners.
Prince Maximilian of Wied (_a_) says:
In every numerous war party there are four leaders (partisans,
karokkanakah) sometimes seven, but only four are reckoned
as the real partisans; the others are called bad partisans
(karokkanakah-chakohosch, literally, partisans galeux). All
partisans carry on their backs a medicine pipe in a case which
other warriors dare not have. To become a chief (Numakschi) a man
must have been a partisan and then kill an enemy when he is not a
partisan. If he follows another partisan for the second time he must
have first discovered the enemy, have killed one and then possessed
the hide of a white buffalo cow complete with the horns to pretend
to the title of chief (Numakschi). * * * All the warriors wear
small war pipes round their necks, which are often very elegantly
ornamented with porcupine quills.
Pls. XXVI and XXVII are illustrations specially relating to insignia
of office selected from an important and unique pictorial roster of
the heads of Oglala families, eighty-four in number, in the band of
Chief Big-Road, which were obtained by Rev. S. D. Hinman at Standing
Rock Agency, Dakota, in 1883, from the United States Indian agent, Maj.
McLaughlin, to whom the original had been delivered by Chief Big-Road
when brought to that agency and required to give an account of his
followers. Other selections from this Oglala Roster appear under the
headings of Ideography, Personal names, Comparisons, Customs, Gestures,
Religion, and Conventionalizing.
Chief Big Road and his people belong to the northern Oglala, and at the
time mentioned had been lately associated with Sitting-Bull in various
depredations and hostilities against settlers and the United States
authorities. The translations of the names have been verified and the
Oglala name attached. At the date of the roster Chief Big-Road was above
50 years old, and was as ignorant and uncompromising a savage in mind
and appearance, as one could well find.
The drawings in the original are on a single sheet of foolscap paper,
made with black and colored pencils, and a few characters are in
yellow-ocher waters color paint. They were made for the occasion with
the materials procured at the agency.
Pl. XXVI exhibits the five principal chiefs with their insignia. Each
has before him a decorated pipe and pouch, the design of each being
distinct from the others. The use of pipes as insignia for leaders is
frequently mentioned in this work. The five chiefs do not have the war
club, their rank being shown by pipe and pouch. Each of the five chiefs
has at least three transverse bands on the cheek, with differentiations
of the pattern.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXVI
OGLALA CHIEFS.]
Pl. XXVII shows the subchiefs of the band. The three red bands are the
sign that they are Akicita-itacanpi, which means head soldiers--captains
in war, and captains of police in civil administration. Each of them is
decorated with three red transverse bands on the cheek and carries a war
club held vertically before the person.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXVII
OGLALA SUB-CHIEFS.]
The other male figures not represented in the plates have in general
each but a single red band on the cheek; others, two bands, red and
blue. These are merely ornamental and without significance.
It will be noticed that in this series the device indicating the name is
not generally connected by lines with the mouth but only when there is a
natural connection with it. It appears attached by a line to the crown
of the head, but sometimes without any connecting line.
Pl. XXVI shows the five principal chiefs of the Oglala in 1883, who are
severally designated as follows:
_a._ Cankutanka, Big-Road. Big-Road is often called Good-Road because a
road that is big or broad and well traveled is good. The tracks on both
sides of the line indicating a mere path show that the road is big. The
bird flying through the dusk indicates the rapidity of travel which the
good road allows. This is the same chief as the following:
[Illustration: FIG. 540.--Big-Road.]
Fig. 540, Big-Road as appearing in Red-Cloud’s Census, No. 96. The
broad and big road is indicated by the artist of that series as having
distinctly marked sides and horsetracks between these roadsides. In this
instance as in several others it is obvious that the ideographic device
was not fixed but elastic and subject to variation, the intention being
solely to preserve the idea.
_b._ Sunka-kuciyela, Low-Dog. The dog figure is represented as “low” by
the shortness of the legs as compared with the next figure of Long-Dog.
_c._ Sunka-hanska, Long-Dog. This term “long” is in the pictography of
the Siouan tribes, but is differently translated as tall. There is a
marked variation in the length of the legs between this and the next
foregoing.
_d._ Kangi-maza, Iron-Crow. The term “iron” is explained above. The
color blue is always used in Dakotan pictography for the word translated
as iron.
_e._ Cetan-cigala, Little-Hawk.
Pl. XXVII shows the subchiefs or partisans of the Oglala at the time of
the roster in 1883.
_a._ Represents Tatanka-he-luta, Red-horn-Bull. The bull’s horns have
been made bloody by goring.
_b._ Represents Cetan-watakpe, Charging-Hawk. This subchief also appears
with a slightly different form of “charging” in Red-Cloud’s Census, in
which the bird is represented head downward.
[Illustration: FIG. 541.--Charging-Hawk.]
Fig. 541.--Charging-Hawk, from Red-Cloud’s Census, No. 142. On careful
examination the bird is seen to be not erect, as at first appears, but
is swooping down.
_c._ Represents Wiyaka-aopazan, Wears-the-Feather. The feather in its
conventional form is presented twice, once connected by a line with the
mouth and also over the war club as in common with other pictures of
this series. The same person is represented next below.
[Illustration: FIG. 542.--Feather-on-his-Head.]
Fig. 542.--Feather-on-his-Head, from Red-Cloud’s Census, No. 86. In this
case the feather droops while it is erect in the figure next above. No
significance is indicated in the slight variation.
_d._ Represents Pankeskahoksila, Shell-Boy. The shell is the circular
object over the head of the small human figure, which is without the
proper number of legs, showing perhaps that he can not march, and his
open, weaponless hands say that he is not a warrior, i. e., he is a boy.
The object, now translated shell, was originally a large excrescence on
the trunk of a tree which was often cut away by the Dakotas, hollowed
out and used as a bowl.
_e._ Mato-niyanpi, The-Bear-spares-him. The bear passing through the
marks of several tracks indicates an incident not explained, in which
the subchief was in danger.
_f._ Represents Cetan-maza, Iron-Hawk. The bird is colored blue, as
before explained.
_g._ Represents Kangi-luta, Red-Crow.
_h._ Represents Situpi-ska, White-Tail. The bird is probably one of the
hawks, as is more distinctly indicated in the representation of the same
name as follows:
[Illustration: FIG. 543.--White-Tail.]
Fig. 543.--White-Tail; from Red-Cloud’s Census, No. 190. This is
inserted for convenient comparison with the foregoing, being a slightly
variant device for the same person.
_i._ Represents Mato-ska, White-Bear.
[Illustration: FIG. 544.--White-Bear.]
Fig. 544.--White-Bear; from Red-Cloud’s Census, No. 252. This is
inserted here for comparison of the drawings. The characteristics of the
animal appear in both.
_k._ Represents Mato-najin, Standing-Grizzly-Bear. The differentiations
of these and other similar positions of the same object remind one of
the heraldic devices “statant,” “regardant,” “passant,” and the like.
[Illustration: FIG. 545.--Standing-Bear.]
Fig. 545.--Standing-Bear; from Red-Cloud’s Census, No. 140. This is
probably the same man as in the last-mentioned figure, though the fancy
of the artist has blazoned the bear as demi. This was, however, for
convenience and without special significance, as the forequarters are
not indicated in the name. But that might well have been done if the
device were strictly totemic and connected with the taboo. Some of the
bear gens are only allowed to eat the fore quarters of the animal,
others the hind quarters.
_l._ Represents Tatanka-najin, Standing-Buffalo-Bull.
_m._ Represents Tasunke-inyanke, His-Running-Horse. This man was
probably the owner of a well known racing pony.
[Illustration: FIG. 546.--Four-Horn calumet.]
Fig. 546.--A Minneconjou Dakota, named Red-Fish’s-Son, danced the
calumet dance. The-Swan’s Winter Count, 1856-’57.
Maj. Bush says: “A Minneconjou, Red-Fish’s-Son, The-Ass, danced the
Four-Horn calumet.”
The peculiarly ornamented pipe, frequently portrayed and mentioned in
the parts of the paper relative to the Dakotas, is, at least for the
time of the duration of the ceremonies, the sign of the person who leads
them.
In connection with the display of pipes as insignia of authority and
rank, Figs. 547 and 548 are introduced here.
[Illustration: FIG. 547.--Two-Strike as partisan.]
Fig. 547, drawn and explained by an Oglala Dakota, exhibits four erect
pipes, to show that he had led four war parties.
[Illustration: FIG. 548.--Lean-Wolf as partisan.]
Fig. 548 is a copy of a drawing made by Lean-Wolf, when second chief of
the Hidatsa, to represent himself. The horns on his head-dress show that
he is a chief. The eagle feathers on his war bonnet, arranged in the
special manner portrayed, also show high distinction as a warrior. His
authority as “partisan,” or leader of a war party, is represented by the
elevated pipe. His name is also added, with the usual line drawn from
the head. He explained the outline character of the wolf, having a white
body with the mouth unfinished, to show that it was hollow, nothing
there; i. e., lean. The animal’s tail is drawn in detail and dark, to
distinguish it from the body.
The character for “partisan” is also shown in Lone-Dog’s Winter Count
for the year 1842-’43.
[Illustration: FIG. 549.--Micmac head dress in pictographs.]
Fig. 549 gives three examples, actual size, of a large number of similar
designs scratched on the rocks of Kejimkoojik lake, Nova Scotia. They
were at first considered to be connected with the ceremonial or mystery
lodges, many sketches of which appear on the same rocks, and examples
of which are given in Figs. 717 and 718. Undoubtedly there is some
connection between the designs, but those now under consideration are
recognized by the Indians of the general locality as the elaborate forms
of head dress sometimes so extended as to become masks, which are still
worn by a few of the Micmac and Abnaki women. Those women are or were of
special authority and held positions in social and religious ceremonies.
Their ornamental head coverings therefore were insignia of their
rank. The modern specimens seen by the present writer are elaborately
wrought with beads, quills, and embroidery on fine cloth, velvet or
satin, but were originally of skin. The patterns still used show some
fantastic connection with those of the rock drawings of this class, and
again the latter reproduce some of the tracings on the ground plans of
the mystery lodges before mentioned. The feathery branches of trees
appearing on both of the two classes of illustrations are in the modern
head coverings actual feathers. The first of the three figures shows
the branch or feather inside of the pattern, and the other two have
them outside, in which variation the bushes or branches of the medicine
lodges show a similar proportion. The third sketch, in addition to the
exterior feathers, shows flags or streamers, which in the ceremonial
head gear in present use is imitated by ribbons.
[Illustration: FIG. 550.--Micmac chieftainess in pictograph.]
If there had been any doubt remaining of the interpretation of this
class of drawing it would be removed by the presence of a number of
contiguous and obviously contemporary sketches of which Fig. 550 is an
example. Here the female chieftain or, perhaps, priestess appears in a
ceremonial robe, with her head completely covered by one of these capote
masks. The researches made not only establish the significance of this
puzzling class of designs, but also show that their authors were of the
Abnaki or Micmac branches of the Algonquian linguistic family.
[Illustration: FIG. 551.--Insignia traced on rocks, Nova Scotia.]
The two lower drawings in Fig. 551 were printed from the Kejimkoojik
slate rocks, Nova Scotia, and are recognized by Micmacs of that
peninsula as copies of insignia which they say their chiefs used to
wear. The designs show some marks suggesting the artistic devices used
in the Roman Catholic Church, though the figuration of the cross is by
no means conclusive of European origin. The use of gorgets and other
ornaments bearing special designs, as insignia of rank and authority,
was well established, and it is quite possible that some of the Micmac
designs were affected by the influence of the early missionaries, who
indeed may have issued to the chiefs of their flock medals which adopted
the general aboriginal style, but were redeemed by Christian symbols.
There is no intrinsic evidence to decide whether these particular
drawings were or were not made before the arrival of the earliest French
missionaries.
The upper right-hand drawing of the three trees with peculiar devices
near their several roots was also printed from one of the Kejimkoojik
rocks. It became intelligible to the present writer after examination
of a silver disk in the possession of Mrs. W. Wallace Brown, of Calais,
Maine, which, not long before, had been owned by the head chief of the
Passamaquoddy tribe, whose title had been modernized into “governor.”
The disk, which is copied in the upper left-hand corner, was probably
not of Indian workmanship, but appeared to have been ordered from
a silversmith to be made from a Passamaquoddy design. It was known
to represent the three superior officers of the tribe mentioned and
had been worn by a former governor as a prized sign of his rank. The
middle device is for the governor and the right and left for the
officers next in rank to him. The devices at the roots of the trees
of the drawing before mentioned are noticeably similar. They may have
been made, as were most of the other characters on the Kejimkoojik
rocks, by the Micmacs, in which case it would seem that they designated
their chiefs by emblems similar to those used by their congeners of the
Passamaquoddy tribe or some member of the last-named tribe may have
drawn the emblem on the rocks in the Micmac territory. In any case there
is encouragement in the attempt to decipher petroglyphs from the fact
that the tree drawing in Nova Scotia, which seemed without significance,
was readily elucidated by a metal inscription found in Maine, the
interpretation being verified through living Indians, not only in the
two geographic divisions mentioned, but also by the Amalecites in New
Brunswick.
Father P. J. De Smet (_b_), referring to the Piegan and Blackfeet or
Satsika, describes the great Tail-Bearer:
His tail, composed of buffalo and horse hair, is about 7 or 8
feet long, and instead of wearing it behind, according to the usual
fashion, it is fastened above his forehead and there formed into
a spiral coil resembling a rhinoceros’s horn. Such a tail among
the Blackfeet is a mark of greater distinction and bravery--in all
probability the larger the tail the braver the person.
The following description of a Chilkat ceremonial shirt, with the
illustration reproduced in Fig. 552, is taken from Niblack (_c_):
[Illustration: FIG. 552.--Chilkat ceremonial shirt.]
The upper character in the figure represents the sea lion, and that
below is a rear view of the same shirt ornamented with a design of
wasko, a mythological animal of the wolf species. The edges and arm
holes are bordered with red cloth and the whole garment is neatly made.
The same authority describes a Chilkat cloak, with the illustration
reproduced as Fig. 553, as follows:
[Illustration: FIG. 553.--Chilkat ceremonial cloak.]
It represents a cloak with a neck opening, ornamented in red cloth
with the totemic design of the Orca or Killer. It is in the form of a
truncated cone, with no openings for the arms.
[Illustration: FIG. 554.--Chilkat ceremonial blanket.]
The same author gives description accompanying Pl. X, Figs. 33 and
34, of ceremonial blankets and coats. The first-mentioned drawing is
reproduced here as Fig. 554:
It is worn by Indians of rank and wealth on the northwest coast,
commonly called a “Chilkat blanket,” because the best specimens
come from the Chilkat country, although other tribes are more or
less expert in weaving them. The warp is composed of twisted cord
or twine of cedar bark fiber, and the woof of worsted spun from
the wool of the mountain goat. Brown, yellow, black, and white are
the colors used, and these are skillfully wrought into a pattern
representing the totem or a totemic legend of the owner.
The design on the blanket shown represents Hoorts, the bear.
[Illustration: FIG. 555.--Chilkat ceremonial coat.]
Fig. 555 is described thus: “A ceremonial shirt or coat of similar
workmanship as the blanket just described, is trimmed on the collar and
cuffs with sea-otter fur.”
[Illustration: FIG. 556.--Bella Coola Indians.]
In the Verhandl. der Berliner Gesellsch. für Anthrop. (_a_) is the
illustration from which Fig. 556 is reproduced. It shows a group
of Bella Coola Indians, which is made interesting by the elaborate
ceremonial coat worn by the middle figure in the foreground.
[Illustration: FIG. 557.--Guatemala priest.]
Dr. S. Habel (_c_) gives the following description of Fig. 557, which
reproduces only the upper part of the sculpture:
The design represents in low relief an erect human figure in
profile, with the head and shoulders slightly inclined forward.
The body is apparently naked, excepting those portions which are
concealed by elaborate ornaments, the most prominent of which is a
crab covering the head. Since there is every reason to believe the
figure to represent a priest, the crab may be taken as the emblem of
priestly rank.
Pls. LXV and LXVI of the Codex Mendoza, in Vol. I of Lord Kingsborough’s
Antiquities of Mexico, exhibit the devices and insignia of the soldiers
who advanced step by step to higher command, according to their military
achievements. The chief criterion, indeed the only one mentioned for
these steps and promotions, was the number of prisoners severally
taken by the soldiers in war. From the large number of degrees in rank
and titles of valor expressed in the above-mentioned plates, a number
have been selected and copies of them, exact in drawing, size, and
coloration, are presented here in Pls. XXVIII and XXIX. The quaint text
relating to them is in Kingsborough (_p_).
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXVIII
MEXICAN MILITARY INSIGNIA.]
Pl. XXVIII.--_a_ represents a young man who if he took any prisoners
was presented with a square mantle bearing a device of flowers as a
sign of valor. He holds a prisoner by the hair. _b_: This brave man has
been presented with a device of arms, which he wears, and with a square
orange-colored mantle with a scarlet fringe besides, as a sign of valor,
on account of his having taken prisoner two of the enemy, one of whom he
holds by the hair. _c_: This brave man, whose title is that of Quachie,
and device of arms such as he wears, bears proof that he has captured
five prisoners in war, besides having taken many other prisoners from
the enemy in other wars. He also is drawn holding a prisoner. _d_:
This brave man, whose title is Tlacatecatl and device the robe which
he wears, with his braided hair and the insignia of a rich plume,
declares by his presence that he has obtained the title of a valiant and
distinguished person, by merit surpassing that of the others who are
represented behind him.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXIX
MEXICAN MILITARY INSIGNIA.]
In Pl. XXIX.--_a_: An Alfaqui or superior officer, who merits further
promotion and to whom has been presented as a reward for his valor, on
account of his having taken three prisoners in war, the device and arms
which he wears. He grasps a prisoner by the hair. _b_: The same Alfaqui,
who, as a sign of valor on account of his having captured four of the
enemy, has been presented with the device of arms which he wears. He
holds a prisoner as before.
Each one of the remaining figures in the plate of Kingsborough declares
the titles which officers gained and acquired in the exercise of
arms, by which they rose to higher rank, the kings of Mexico creating
them captains and generals of their forces or as officers of dispatch
[similar to aids-de-camp] to execute their orders, whether they related
to the affairs of their own kingdom or to those of the other vassal
states, who promptly obeyed without in any manner deviating from the
commands which they had received. The two selected are shown in the
present Pl. XXIX, viz: _c_, Ezguaguacatl, an officer of dispatch, and
_d_, Tocinltecatl, a man of distinguished courage in war and one of the
officers who filled the post of generals of the Mexican armies.
Wiener (_b_), p. 763, says:
Passing in review the numerous delineations of men on the
different tissues in the Peruvian graves, it is to be remarked that
a chief is always recognized by a panache, which for the decurion
has two plumes, for the centurion four, for the chief of a thousand
men six, and the colors of these plumes indicate civil or military
functions.
A. W. Howitt (_e_) says:
Messengers in central Australia sent to form a Pinya to avenge a
death wear a kind of net on the head and a white frontlet in which
is stuck a feather. The messenger is painted with yellow ochre and
pipeclay and bears a bunch of emu feathers stuck in his girdle at
the back, at the spine. He carries part of the deceased’s beard or
some balls of pipeclay from the head of one of those mourning for
him. These are shown at the destination of the messenger and are at
once understood.
The same author, p. 78, reports:
A third party which the Dieri sent out was the dreaded Pinya. It
was the avenger of the dead, of those who were believed to have been
done to death by sorcery.
The appearance at a camp of one or more men marked each with
a white band round the head, with diagonal white and red stripes
across the breast and stomach, and with the point of the beard tied
up and tipped with human hair, is the sign of a Pinya being about.
These men do not converse on ordinary matters, and their appearance
is a warning to the camp to listen attentively and to reply truly
to such questions as may be put concerning the whereabouts of the
condemned man. Knowing the remorseless spirit of the Pinya, any and
every question is answered in terror.
SIGNS OF INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENTS.
Prince Maximilian of Wied, (_b_) gives an account explanatory of Figs.
558 and 559:
[Illustration: FIG. 558.--Mark of exploit. Dakota.]
[Illustration: FIG. 559.--Killed with fist. Dakota.]
The Sioux highly prize personal bravery, and therefore
constantly wear the marks of distinction which they have received
for their exploits; among these are, especially, tufts of human hair
attached to the arms and legs, and feathers on their heads. He who,
in the sight of the adversaries, touches a slain or living enemy
places a feather horizontally in his hair for this exploit.
They look upon this as a very distinguished act, for many are
killed in the attempt before the object is attained. He who kills an
enemy by a blow with his fist sticks a feather upright in his hair.
If the enemy is killed with a musket a small piece of wood
is put in the hair, which is intended to represent a ramrod. If
a warrior is distinguished by many deeds he has a right to wear
the great feather-cap with ox-horns. This cap, composed of eagle
feathers, which are fastened to a long strip of red cloth hanging
down the back, is highly valued by all the tribes on the Missouri.
* * * Whoever first discovers the enemy and gives notice to his
comrades of their approach is allowed to wear a small feather which
is stripped except towards the top.
The following scheme, used by the Dakotas, is taken from Mrs. Eastman’s
Dahcotah. Colors are not given, but red undoubtedly predominates, as is
known from personal observation.
[Illustration: FIG. 560.--Killed an enemy. Dakota.]
A spot upon the larger web denotes that the wearer has killed an enemy.
Fig. 560.
[Illustration: FIG. 561.--Cut throat and scalped. Dakota.]
Fig. 561 denotes that the wearer has cut the throat of his enemy and
taken his scalp.
[Illustration: FIG. 562.--Cut enemy’s throat. Dakota.]
Fig. 562 denotes that the wearer has cut the throat of his enemy.
[Illustration: FIG. 563.--Third to strike. Dakota.]
Fig. 563 denotes that the wearer was the third that touched the body of
his enemy after he was killed.
[Illustration: FIG. 564.--Fourth to strike. Dakota.]
Fig. 564 denotes that the wearer was the fourth that touched the body of
his enemy after he was killed.
[Illustration: FIG. 565.--Fifth to strike. Dakota.]
Fig. 565 denotes that the wearer was the fifth that touched the body of
his enemy after he was killed.
[Illustration: FIG. 566.--Many wounds. Dakota.]
Fig. 566 denotes that the wearer has been wounded in many places by the
enemy.
The following variations in the scheme were noticed in 1883 among the
Mdewakantanwan Dakotas, near Fort Snelling, Minnesota.
Feathers of the eagle are used as among the other bands of Dakotas.
A plain feather is used to signify that the wearer has killed an enemy,
without regard to the manner in which he was slain.
When the end is clipped transversely, and the edge colored red, it
signifies that the throat of the enemy was cut.
A black feather denotes that an Ojibwa woman was killed. Enemies
are considered as Ojibwas, that being the tribe with which the
Mdewakantanwan Dakotas have been most in collision.
When a warrior has been wounded a red spot is painted upon the broad
side of a feather. If the wearer has been shot in the body, arms, or
legs, a red spot is painted upon his clothing or blanket, immediately
over the locality of the wound. These red spots are sometimes worked in
porcupine quills, or in cotton fiber as now obtained from the traders.
Belden (_a_) says:
Among the Sioux an eagle’s feather with a red spot painted on
it, worn by a warrior in the village, denotes that on the last
war-path he killed an enemy, and for every additional enemy he has
slain he carries another feather painted with an additional red spot
about the size of a silver quarter.
A red hand painted on a warrior’s blanket denotes that he
has been wounded by the enemy, and a black one that he has been
unfortunate in some way.
Boller (_a_) in Among the Indians, p. 284, describes a Sioux as wearing
a number of small wood shavings stained with vermilion in his hair, each
the symbol of a wound received.
Lynd (_c_) gives a device differing from all the foregoing, with an
explanation:
To the human body the Dakotas give four spirits. The first is
supposed to be a spirit of the body, and dies with the body. The
second is a spirit which always remains with or near the body.
Another is the soul which accounts for the deeds of the body, and is
supposed by some to go to the south, by others to the west, after
the death of the body. The fourth always lingers with the small
bundle of the hair of the deceased kept by the relatives until they
have a chance to throw it into the enemy’s country, when it becomes
a roving, restless spirit, bringing death and disease to the enemy
whose country it is in.
From this belief arose the practice of wearing four
scalp-feathers for each enemy slain in battle, one for each soul.
It should be noted that all the foregoing signs of individual
achievements are given by the several authorities as used by the same
body of Indians, the Dakota or Sioux. This, however, is a large body,
divided into tribes, and it is possible that a different scheme was used
in the several tribes. But the accounts are so conflicting that error in
either observation or description or both is to be suspected.
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey (_b_) explains the devices on the shield of a Teton
Dakota:
* * * The three pipes on the shield, in a colored sketch
prepared by Bushotter, denote that on so many expeditions he carried
a war pipe. The red stripes declare how many of the enemy were
wounded by him, and the human heads show the number of foes that he
killed. The half moon means that he shouted at his foes on a certain
night. Once he threw aside his arms and engaged in a hand-to-hand
struggle with a foe; this is shown by the human hand. The horse
tracks indicate that he ran off with so many horses. If his name was
Black Hawk, for instance, a black hawk was painted in the middle of
his shield.
Irving (_a_), in Astoria, says of the Arikara:
He who has killed an enemy in his own land is entitled to drag
at his heels a fox skin attached to each moccasin; and he who
has slain a grizzly bear wears a necklace of his claws, the most
glorious trophy that a hunter can exhibit.
Prince Maximilian, of Wied (_c_), thus reports on the designations of
the Mandans connected with the present topic:
The Mandans wear the large horned feather cap; this is a cap
consisting of strips of white ermine with pieces of red cloth
hanging down behind as far as the calves of the legs, to which is
attached an upright row of black and white eagle feathers, beginning
at the head and reaching to the whole length. Only distinguished
warriors who have performed many exploits may wear this headdress.
If the Mandans give away one or more of these headdresses, which
they estimate very highly, they are immediately considered men of
great importance. * * * On their buffalo robes they often represent
this feather cap under the image of a sun. Very celebrated and
eminent warriors, when most highly decorated, wear in their hair
various pieces of wood as signals of their wounds and heroic deeds.
Thus Mato-Topé had fastened transversely in his hair a wooden knife
painted red and about the length of a hand, because he had killed a
Cheyenne chief with his knife; then six wooden sticks, painted red,
blue, and yellow, with a brass nail at one end, indicating so many
musket wounds which he had received. For an arrow wound he fastened
in his hair the wing feather of a wild turkey; at the back of his
head he wore a large bunch of owl’s feathers, dyed yellow, with red
tips, as the badge of the Meniss-Ochata (the dog band). The half of
his face was painted red and the other yellow; his body was painted
reddish-brown, with narrow stripes, which were produced by taking
off the color with the tip of the finger wetted. On his arms, from
the shoulder downwards, he had seventeen yellow stripes, which
indicated his warlike deeds, and on his breast the figure of a hand,
of a yellow color, as a sign that he had captured some prisoners.
* * * A Mandan may have performed many exploits and yet not be
allowed to wear tufts of hair on his clothes, unless he carries a
medicine pipe and has been the leader of a war party. When a young
man who has never performed an exploit is the first to kill an enemy
on a warlike expedition he paints a spiral line round his arm, of
whatever color he pleases, and he may then wear a whole wolf’s tail
at the ankle or heel of one foot. If he has first killed and touched
the enemy he paints a line running obliquely round the arm and
another crossing it in the opposite direction, with three transverse
stripes. On killing the second enemy he paints his left leg (that
is, the leggin) a reddish-brown. If he kills the second enemy before
another is killed by his comrades he may wear two entire wolves’
tails at his heels. On his third exploit he paints two longitudinal
stripes on his arms and three transverse stripes. This is the
exploit that is esteemed the highest; after the third exploit no
more marks are made. If he kills an enemy after others of the party
have done the same he may wear on his heel one wolf’s tail, the tip
of which is cut off.
The Hidatsa scheme of designating achievements was obtained by Dr.
Hoffman, at Fort Berthold, North Dakota, during 1881, and now follows:
[Illustration: FIG. 567.--Marks of exploits, Hidatsa.]
A feather, to the tip of which is attached a tuft of down or several
strands of horse hair, dyed red, denotes that the wearer has killed an
enemy and that he was the first to touch or strike him with the coup
stick. Fig. 567 _a_.
A feather bearing one red bar made with vermillion, signifies the wearer
to have been the second person to strike the fallen enemy with the coup
stick. Same Fig. _b_.
A feather bearing two red bars signifies that the wearer was the third
person to strike the body. Same Fig. _c_.
[Illustration: FIG. 568.--Marks of exploits, Hidatsa.]
A feather with three bars signifies that the wearer was the fourth to
strike the fallen enemy. Fig. 568 _a_. Beyond this number honors are not
counted.
A red feather denotes that the wearer was wounded in an encounter with
an enemy. Fig. 568 _b_.
A narrow strip of rawhide or buckskin is wrapped from end to end with
porcupine quills dyed red, though sometimes a few white ones are
inserted to break the monotony of color. This strip is attached to the
inner surface of the rib or shaft of the quill by means of very thin
fibers of sinew, and signifies that the wearer killed a woman belonging
to a hostile tribe. It is shown in Fig. 568 _c_. In very fine specimens
the quills are directly applied to the shaft without resorting to the
strap of leather.
Similar marks denoting exploits are used by the Hidatsa, Mandan, and
Arikara Indians. The Hidatsa claim to have been the originators of the
devices.
The following characters are marked upon robes and blankets, usually
in red or blue colors, and often upon the boat paddles. Frequently
an Indian has them painted upon his thighs, though this is generally
resorted to only on festal occasions or for dancing.
[Illustration: FIG. 569.--Successful defense. Hidatsa, etc.]
Fig. 569 denotes that the wearer successfully defended himself against
the enemy by throwing up a ridge of earth or sand to protect the body.
The manner of depicting this mark upon the person or clothing is shown
in Pl. XXX upon the shirt of the third figure in the lower row.
[Illustration: FIG. 570.--Two successful defenses. Hidatsa, etc.]
Fig. 570 signifies that the wearer has upon two different occasions
defended himself by hiding his body within low earthworks. The character
is merely a compound of two of the preceding marks placed together. Both
of the devices shown in Figs. 569 and 570 are displayed on the clothing
in Fig. 575, drawn by a Hidatsa.
[Illustration: FIG. 571.--Captured a horse. Hidatsa, etc.]
Fig. 571 signifies that the one who carries this mark upon his blanket,
leggings, boat paddle, or any other property, or upon his person, has
distinguished himself by capturing a horse belonging to a hostile tribe.
This character appears upon the garments and legs of several of the
human figures in Pl. XXX, drawn by a Hidatsa, at Fort Berthold, North
Dakota.
[Illustration: FIG. 572.--Exploit marks, Hidatsa.]
In Fig. 572, _a_ signifies among the Hidatsa and Mandans that the wearer
was the first person to strike a fallen enemy with a coup stick. It
signifies among the Arikara simply that the wearer killed an enemy.
_b_ represents among the Hidatsa and Mandans the second person to strike
a fallen enemy. It represents among the Arikara the first person to
strike the fallen enemy.
_c_ denotes the third person to strike the enemy, according to the
Hidatsa and Mandan; the second person to strike him according to the
Arikara.
_d_ shows among the Hidatsa and Mandan the fourth person to strike the
fallen enemy. This is the highest and last number; the fifth person to
risk the danger is considered brave for venturing so near the ground
held by the enemy, but has no right to wear a mark therefor.
The same mark among the Arikara represents the person to be the third to
strike the enemy.
_e_, according to the Arikara, represents the fourth person to strike
the enemy.
According to the Hidatsa, the wearer of the mark _f_ had figured in four
encounters; in those recorded by the marks in each of the two lateral
spaces he was the second to strike the fallen enemy, and the marks in
the upper and lower spaces signify that he was the third person upon two
other occasions.
[Illustration: FIG. 573.--Record of exploits.]
The marks at _c_, in Fig. 572, may be compared with Fig. 573. The head
of the victim in this instance is a white man. Such drawings are not
made upon the person or clothing of the hero, but upon buffalo robes or
other substances used for record of biographical events.
[Illustration: FIG. 574.--Record of exploits.]
The marks at _d_, in Fig. 572, are drawn on records in the mode shown in
Fig. 574.
Illustrations of the actual mode of wearing several of the above devices
appear in Fig. 575, drawn by a Hidatsa.
[Illustration: FIG. 575.--Exploit marks as worn.]
The mark of a black hand, sometimes made by the impress of an actually
blackened palm or drawn of natural size, or less, signifies that the
person authorized to wear the mark has killed an enemy.
[Illustration: FIG. 576.--Scalp taken.]
Fig. 576, drawn by a Hidatsa, means that the owner of the robe or
record on which it appears had taken a scalp. Fig. 577, also drawn by
a Hidatsa, means that the bearer struck the enemy in the order above
mentioned and took his scalp and his gun.
[Illustration: FIG. 577.--Scalp and gun taken.]
The drawing reproduced on Pl. XXX was made by a Hidatsa at Fort
Berthold, North Dakota. It represents several dancing figures, upon
which the several marks of personal achievements can be recognized.
The fourth figure of the upper row shows the wearer to have been the
second person to strike an enemy upon four different occasions. Upon the
right-hand figure of the lower row two distinct marks will be observed;
that upon the wearer’s left leg indicating him to have been the second
to strike an enemy upon two different occasions; and the mark upon the
right leg, that he was twice the second person to strike enemies, and
twice the third person to perform that exploit.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY TENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. XXX
HIDATSA DANCERS BEARING EXPLOIT MARKS.]
Miss Agnes Crane (_a_), in an article on Ancient Mexican Heraldry, seems
to assert that the evidence of emblems in the western hemisphere as
boastful records of individual achievements is confined to Mexico. The
present section may supply the evidence lacking.
The following information regarding Winnebago devices of the character
now under consideration was given by St. Cyr, a mixed blood Winnebago,
in April, 1886.
To show that the wearer killed a man, strike the muddy hand upon the
body or horse. Clay of any kind is used. When 20 men have been killed,
an otter skin is worn on the back. A skunk skin worn on the calf
signifies a man killed.
Scented grass worn on the neck or the wrist shows that a prisoner had
been captured and tied with grass in the absence of other cords.
To show that the wearer had been wounded, cover the part of the body
with white clay, and indicate the spot with red paint.
Paul Kane (_a_) says that among the Cree Indians red earth was spotted
on a leg to indicate that the wearer had been wounded.
Prof. Dall (_b_) tells of the Sitka-Kwan:
They perforate their noses, wearing a ring adorned with
feathers. They make a succession of perforations all around the
edge of the ears, which are ornamented with scarlet thread, shark’s
teeth, or pieces of shell. Each hole is usually the record of a deed
performed or a feast given by the person so adorned.
PROPERTY MARKS.
This topic, upon which much interesting material has been collected in
many geographic and ethnologic divisions of the earth, can not include
objectively or pictorially many genuine and distinctive illustrations
from the North American Indians. The reason for this paucity is that
the individual Indian had very little property. Nearly everything
which could be classed as personal property belonged to his tribe or,
more generally, to his clan or gens. Yet articles of a man’s personal
manufacture, such as arrows, were often marked in such a manner as to
be distinguished. Those marks, many examples of which are upon arrows
in the U. S. National Museum, are not of sufficient general interest
to be reproduced here. They are not valuable unless they are connected
with the makers or owners by a concurrence of the devices with the signs
adopted by persons or by classes, the evidence of which can not now
except in rare instances be procured. Most of the devices mentioned seem
to have degenerated into mere ornamentation, which might be expected,
because the arrows are not of great antiquity, and during recent years
the records which could have been used for their identification have
decayed as authorities even when they have remained in the immediate
family, having escaped sale and robbery.
As a general rule neither a man nor a family, in the modern sense,
had any property in land, which belonged to a much larger sociologic
division, but on their arrival in California Europeans noticed among
the Indians there a device to assert rights in realty by the use of
distinctive marks. It is not clear whether these marks were merely
personal or were tribal or gentile.
According to Mr. A. F. Coronel, of Los Angeles, California, the Serrano
Indians in that vicinity formerly practiced a method of marking trees to
indicate the corner boundaries of patches of land. The Indians owning
areas of territory of whatever size would cut lines upon the bark of
the tree corresponding to lines drawn on their own faces, i. e., lines
running outward and downward over the cheeks, or perhaps over the chin
only, tattooed in color. These lines were made on the trees on the side
facing the property, and were understandingly recognized by the whole
tribe. This custom still prevailed when Mr. Coronel first located in
southern California about the year 1843.