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.