Decoration
Under this head are classed all the forms of permanent adornment of the person.
First must be cited the cutting and stretching of the ear. Whereas the long, pendant earlobe is not the end in itself, nor is the long slit always permanent, yet the mutilation of the ear is permanent and desired. In a great many cases the lobe breaks, and the two, and even three, long strips of lobe hanging down seem to give their owner certain pride. Often the lower end of one of these strips is pierced and supports a ring. The sexes share alike in the preparation for and the wearing of earrings.
The woman has a permanent decoration of the nature of the “switch” of the civilized woman. The loose hair combed from the head with the fingers is saved, and is eventually rolled with the live hair of the head into long, twisted strings, some of which are an inch in diameter and three feet long; some women have more than a dozen of these twisted strings attached to the scalp. This is a common, though not universal, method of decorating the head, and the mass of lard-soaked, twisted hair stands out prominently around the crown, held more or less in place by the various bead hairdresses. (See [Pls. CXLI] and [CXLII].)
Tattoo
The great permanent decoration of the Igorot is the tattoo. As has been stated in [Chapter VI] on “War and Head-Hunting,” all the members—men, women, and children—of an ato may be tattooed whenever a head is taken by any person of the ato. It is claimed in Bontoc that at no other time is it possible for a person to be tattooed. But Tukukan tattooed some of her women in May, 1903, and this in spite of the fact that no heads had recently been taken there. However, the regulations of one pueblo are not necessarily those of another.
In every pueblo, there are one or more men, called “bu-ma-fa′-tĕk,” who understand the art of tattooing. There are two such in Bontoc—Toki, of Lowingan, and Finumti, of Longfoy—and each has practiced his art on the other. Finumti has his back and legs tattooed in an almost unique way. I have seen only one other at all tattooed on the back, and then the designs were simple. A large double scallop extends from the hip to the knee on the outside of each of Finumti’s legs.
The design is drawn on the skin with ink made of soot and water. Then the tattooer pricks the skin through the design. The instrument used for tattooing is called “cha-kay′-yum.” It consists of from four to ten commercial steel needles inserted in a straight line in the end of a wooden handle; “cha-kay′-yum” is also the word for needle. After the pattern is pricked in, the soot is powdered over it and pressed in the openings; the tattooer prefers the soot gathered from the bottom of ollas.
The finished tattoo is a dull, blue black in color, sometimes having a greenish cast. A man in Tulubin has a tattoo across his throat which is distinctly green, while the remainder of his tattoo is the common blue black. The newly tattooed design stands out in whitish ridges, and these frequently fester and produce a mass of itching sores lasting about one month (see [Pl. CXLVII]).