“Tattooing thus originated among the gods and was first practised by the children of Taaroa, their principal deity.  In imitation of their example, and for the accomplishment of the same purpose, it was practised among men.” (Ellis, P.R., I., 262.)

TATTOOING IN AMERICA

On the American continent we find tattooing practised from north to south, from east to west, for the most diverse reasons, among which the desire to facilitate courtship is never even hinted at.  The Eskimos, about the age of puberty, apply paint and tattooing to their faces, cut holes and insert plugs or labrets.  The object of these disfigurements is indicated by Bancroft (I., 48):  “Different tribes, and different ranks of the same tribe, have each their peculiar form of tattooing.”  Moreover, “these operations are supposed to possess some significance other than that of mere ornament.  Upon the occasion of piercing the lip, for instance, a religious feast is given.”  John Murdoch relates (Mallery, 396) that the wife of an Eskimo chief had “a little mark tattooed in each corner of her mouth, which she said were ‘whale marks,’ indicating that she was the wife of a successful whaleman.”  Of the Kadiaks Bancroft says (72):  “The more the female chin is riddled with holes, the greater the respectability.”  Among the Chippewayan Indians Mackenzie found (85) that both sexes had “blue or black bars, or from one to four straight lines, on their cheeks or foreheads to distinguish the tribe to which they belong.”  Swan writes (Mallery, 1882-83, 67) that

“the tattoo marks of the Haidas are heraldic designs or the family totem, or crests of the wearers, and are similar to the carvings depicted in the pillars and monuments around the homes of the chiefs.”

A Haida Indian remarked to Swan (69):  “If you were tattooed with the design of a swan, the Indians would know your family name.”  It is at festivals and masquerade performances, says the same writer, that “the tatoo marks show with the best effect, and the rank and family connection [are] known by the variety of design,” Lafitan reports (II., 43) regarding the Iroquois and Algonquins that the designs which they have tattooed on their faces and bodies are employed as hieroglyphics, writing, and records, to indicate victories, etc.  The designs tattooed on an Indian’s face or body distinguish him, he adds, as we do a family by its armorial bearings.

“In James’s Long it is reported that the Omahas are often neatly tattooed....  The daughters of chiefs and those of wealthy Indians generally are denoted by a small round spot tattooed on the forehead.”

(Mallery, 1888-89, 395.) Bossu says regarding the practice of tattooing by the Osages (in 1756):  “It is a kind of knighthood to which they are only entitled by great actions.”  Blue marks tattooed upon the chin of a Mojave woman indicate