The painted designs vary among different individuals, but are fairly
persistent for each. The prevailing design at Costa Rica in 1893 was
that of the aged matron known as Juana Maria (plate XVIII), with
variations in detail such as that exhibited by her unmarried daughter
Candelaria (the Seri belle shown in plate XXIV); next in frequency
were the designs, in white and red, exhibited by the matrons portrayed
in plates XX and XXII. Other designs observed are indicated in plate
XXVI. The variations in individual designs are apparently due either
to varying care in the application of the paint or to the degree of
obliteration by wear—e. g., the withered Juana Maria sometimes put
on her design askew and was negligent of details, while the blooming
Candelaria greatly elaborated the details of the pattern and carefully
perfected the symmetry of the whole when preparing for her full-dress
sitting before the camera (plate XXIV), so that her design was then
gorgeous by contrast with the nearly obliterated blur of a half-hour
before. The designs are renewed every few days, especially for
ceremonious occasions, and hence are practically permanent.
When grouped in relation to their wearers, the designs are found to
exhibit family connection. Thus, Juana Maria’s design is repeated,
with greater elaboration of detail and with a pair of supplementary
marks, in that of her daughter Candelaria; the winged symbol of the
Seri matron portrayed in plate XX is repeated with minor variations
in that of her daughter, the Seri maiden pictured in plate XXV; while
the symbols of the mother and infant daughter depicted in plate XV
are essentially alike. It is noticeable, too, that in the nearly
spontaneous arrangement of individuals in the group shown in plate
XIII there is a tendency toward subgrouping by symbols; and it was
constantly observed that the family groups gathered about particular
jacales (such as that shown in plate XIV) displayed corresponding
designs, though there were frequent visitors from neighboring jacales
bearing other designs. Briefly, all the observed facts, as well as the
supplementary information gained by inquiry, indicate that the designs
are hereditary in the female line, but are susceptible of slight
modification both in elaborateness of detail and in the addition of
minor supplementary features.
The principal apparatus and materials used in the face-painting are
illustrated in plate XXVII. The chief pigments are ocher, gypsum, and
the rare mineral dumortierite; the ocher yields various shades of red,
ranging from pink to brown; the gypsum affords the white used in most
of the designs; while the dumortierite is the source of the slightly
varying tints of blue. So far as was observed, the pigments are not
blended by mixing, though there is some blending due to overlapping
in application. The ocher is commonly extracted and transported as
lumps of ocherous clay or ocherous gypsum (plate XXVII, figures 1 and
5), though it is sometimes reduced to powder and transported in bits
of skin or rag, or in cylinders of cane (plate XXVII, figures 3 and
4); and it is prepared by trituration with a pebble or rubbing with
the fingers, usually in a shell cup. Sometimes the shell used for the
purpose is the valve of a _Cardium_, which serves indiscriminately
as cup, spoon, skin-scraper, etc.; but preference is apparently given
to thick and strong shells, such as the wave-worn valve of _Chama_
(?), shown in plate XXVII, figure 7, which are consecrated to the use
and eventually buried with the user, together with a supply of the
paint (like that illustrated in the cane cylinder—figure 4—which was
a mortuary sacrifice). The gypsum is usually carried in natural slabs
or other fragments, perhaps rounded by wear (plate XXVII, figures 6
and 8); it is prepared by wetting and rubbing two pieces together, the
larger being reduced to metate shape by the operation. The dumortierite
was observed only in the form of a pencil made by pulverizing the
substance and mixing with sufficient clay to give consistency. The
several pigments are applied wet by means of human-hair brushes kept
for the purpose, the process occupying from half an hour to three or
four hours for the more elaborate designs. So far as observed at Costa
Rica in 1894, the paints were mixed in water only; but since painting
outfits found on Tiburon island in 1895 were smeared with grease,
it is probable that either water or fats may serve for menstrua, at
the convenience of the artists. Commonly the process of painting is
measurably cooperative. The matron usually depicts her device on the
faces of her daughters up to the age of 12 or 15 years, when they
learn to make the applications themselves; and frequently two or more
women (usually those with similar devices) work together in preparing
and applying the pigments, each laying the paint on her own face and
apparently guiding her hand partly by the sense of feeling and partly
by suggestions from her coworkers; but Candelaria and some other of the
younger women at Costa Rica frequently worked alone, aided by a mirror
in the form of a shallow bowl of water set in the shadow while the
brilliant desert glare fell full on the face.
The mines yielding the pigments were not located. The geologic
conditions are such that the ochers are undoubtedly abundant; but
it is probable that the gypsum is uncommon and confined to a remote
locality or two, and that the dumortierite is rare and scanty here as
elsewhere. The care with which the paints are preserved, prepared, and
applied, the fact that they are indispensable feminine appurtenances
even on the longest journeys, and their sacred rôle in the mortuary
customs, all combine to indicate that they are among the most highly
prized possessions of the people and by far the most precious of their
minerals.
* * * * *
The sematic functions of the designs are esoteric, yet an inkling of
their meaning was obtained through Mashém, the interpreter at Costa
Rica in 1894; from his expressions it appears that the designs are
sacred insignia of totemic character, serving to denote the clans of
which the tribe is composed. But three clans were identified, and
these only with some uncertainty, viz., the Turtle clan,[257] denoted
by the symbols of Juana Maria (plate XVIII) and Candelaria (plate XXIV
and the upper left figure in plate XXVI); the Pelican clan, denoted by
the designs of two typical matrons (plates XX and XXII) and a typical
maiden (plate XXV), and probably also by those of the medio-lateral
figures in plate XXVI; and (still less certainly) the Rattlesnake
clan, denoted by the symbol of the lower left figure in this plate.
The special sematic values of the colors also are esoteric, and were
not ascertained; even in the case of the simple pelican design, the
difference in meaning between the solid red pattern of one group
and the similar pattern of white in another group was successfully
concealed. So, too, the significance of the various subordinate or
supplementary devices—the distinct border-line shown in plate XX, the
lower cheek devices in plate XXIV, the separate chin mark in plate XXV,
the fetish-like symbols on the lower cheeks in the lower left figure
of plate XXVI, etc.—eluded inquiry; while some of the minor features of
both form and color were sufficiently variable in the devices borne by
different faces of the same family, and even in successive paintings of
the same face, to suggest some individual freedom in carrying out the
detail of the generally uniform designs.
[257] This tutelary may be the shark; it was described as a water
monster instrumental in the creation and good for food, but the
identification is not beyond doubt. Cf. p. 278.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY