Pictographs of the North American Indians. A preliminary paper: Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-83, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886, pages 3-256Mallery, Garrick
History
Pictographs of the North American Indians. A preliminary paper: Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1882-83, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886, pages 3-256
Mallery, Garrick
Haida Indians; Picture-writing, Indian; Tattooing
The same author, on page 96, says: The squaws (Pat´awāt, Cal.) tattoo
in blue three narrow pinnate leaves perpendicularly on their chins, and
also lines of small dots on the backs of their hands.
He reports, page 148, of the Kas´tel Pomo: The women of this and other
tribes of the Coast Range frequently tattoo a rude representation of a
tree or other object, covering nearly the whole abdomen and breast.
Of the Wintūns of California the same author says (page 233) that the
squaws all tattoo three narrow lines, one falling from each corner of
the mouth, and one between.
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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