SUMMARY OF STUDIES ON TATTOOING.
Many notes on the topic are omitted, especially those relating mainly to the methods of and the instruments used in the operation. But from those presented above it appears that tattooing still is or very recently was used in various parts of the world for many purposes besides the specific object of designating a tribe, clan, or family, and also apart from the general intent of personal ornament. The most notable of those purposes are as follows: 1, to distinguish between free and slave without reference to the tribe of the latter; 2, to distinguish between a high and low status in the same tribe; 3, as a certificate of bravery exhibited by supporting the ordeal of pain; 4, as marks of personal prowess, particularly, 5, as a record of achievements in war; 6, to show religious symbols; 7, as a therapeutic remedy for disease, and 8, as a prophylactic against disease; 9, as a brand of disgrace; 10, as a token of a woman’s marriage, or, sometimes, 11, of her marriageable condition; 12, identification of the person, not as tribesman or clansman, but as an individual; 13, to charm the other sex magically; 14, to inspire fear in the enemy; 15, to magically render the skin impenetrable by weapons; 16, to bring good fortune; and 17, as the device of a secret society.
The use of tattoo marks as certificates and records of prowess in war is considered to be of special importance in any discussion of their origin. A warrior returns from the field stained with blood from an honorable wound, the scars of which he afterwards proudly displays. It would be strictly in the line of ideography to make artificial scars or to paint the semblance of wounds on the person as designations of honor, and from such origin quite as well as from a totemic representation all other forms and uses may have been evolved. For instance, the vigor of manhood being thus signified, the similar use would show the maturity of women. Yet some of the practices of tattoo may have originated independently of either totem or glory mark. The mere idea of decoration as shown in what civilized people call deformations of nose, lip, ear, teeth, and in fact all parts of the body, is sufficient to account for the inception of any form of tattoo. Primitive man never seemed to be content to leave the surface of his body in its natural condition, and from recognition of that discontent studies of clothing and of ornament should take their point of departure.
In this paper many examples are presented of the use, especially by the North American Indians, of tribal signs carved or painted on rock, tree, bark, skin, and other materials, and suggestion is made of an interesting connection between these designs and those of heraldry in Europe. It would, therefore, seem natural that the same Indians who probably for ages used such totemic and tribal devices should paint or tattoo them on their own persons, and the meagerness of the evidence that they actually did so is surprising. Undoubtedly the statement has been made in a general way by some of the earlier explorers and travelers, but when analyzed it is frequently little more than a vague expression of opinion, perhaps based on a preconceived theory. Nearly all the Indian tribes have peculiarities of arrangement of the hair and of some article of apparel and accouterment by which they can always be distinguished. These are not totemic, nor are they by design expressions of a tribal character. They come under the heading of fashion, and such fashions in clothing and in arrangement of the hair still exist among civilized peoples, so that the people of one nation or province can at once be distinguished from others. Very little appears from the account of actual observers to show that the character of the tattoo marks of the North American Indians, perhaps excluding those of the northwest coast, was more than a tribal fashion. Such styles or fashions with no intent or deliberate purpose that they should serve as tribal signs prevail to-day in Africa and in some other regions, and have been introduced by the professional artists who had several styles. Besides the necessary influence of a school of artists, it is obvious that people living together would contract and maintain the same custom and fashion in their cutaneous decoration.
SECTION 4.
DESIGNATIONS OF INDIVIDUALS.
These are divided into: (1) Insignia or tokens of authority. (2) Signs of individual achievements. (3) Property marks. (4) Personal names.
INSIGNIA OR TOKENS OF AUTHORITY.
Champlain (e) says of the Iroquois in 1609:
Those who wore three large “pannaches” [plumes] were the chiefs, and the three chiefs delineated have their plumes much larger than those of their companions who were simple warriors.
In Travels of Lewis and Clarke (a) it is said: