See also page [167] infra.
Rev. M. Eells says (Bull. U. S. Geol. and Geog. Survey, III, p. 75) of the Twana Indians: A little of this tattooing is done, but much less than formerly, and chiefly now among the children.
Blue marks tattooed upon a Mojave woman’s chin denotes that she is married. See Pacific R. R. Exped., III, 1856, p. 33.
The only remarkable instance of tattooing now among the Hidatsa is that of Lean-Wolf, the present second chief of the tribe. The ornamentation consists of horizontal stripes, from one-third to one-half an inch broad, running from the middle of the breast around the right side of the body to the spinal column. The right arm and the right leg are encircled by similar bands, between which there are spaces of equal width. Lean-Wolf professed not to be able to give the origin and history of this ornamentation, although, he represents himself with it upon pictographs relating to personal events of warfare and the chase.
Bancroft (Native Races, Vol. I, p. 48) says of the Eskimo, that the 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. On page 72 he says that young Kadiak wives tattoo the breast and adorn the face with black lines. The Kuskoquim women sew into their chin two parallel blue lines. This color is applied by drawing a thread under the skin or pricking it with a needle. On page 117 he says that the Chippewyans 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 on drawing it out, immediately rubbing powdered charcoal into the wounds. On page 127 he states that 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.
It will be observed that these statements by Bancroft, about tattooing among the Hyperboreans, seem to be confined to the face, except as is mentioned among the Kadiak, where the women tattoo the breast, and that these tattoo marks seem to be simple straight lines, either vertical or horizontal.
In this place is properly inserted the following report of original research among the Haidas on this subject, by Mr. James G. Swan, of Port Townsend, Washington, for which the thanks of this Bureau are tendered to him.