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.