The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-07-15

A TATTOOED MAN.-One of the greatest Gu
riosities in Barnum's show is Captain George
Costentenus, who is indeed marvel of tattoo
ing From head to foot on every inch of his
body. including even his scalp and the soles of
his feet he is mass of the most artistic and
deliberately colored tattooing, in letters, signs
and figures of quadrupeds, birds, fishes and
reptiles. Captain Ccstentenus is tall, dark
complexioned, of superb physique, and about
45 years of age. He does not read English, but
converses fuently in his own tongue, and in
the italian, Arab, Turkish and Persian Ian.
guages, and speaks little French and Ger
man, and few words of English. The climate
here affects him so that he keeps muff1ed in a
coarse suit lined with fur, with soft round
cap pulled down over his forehead and thick
pair of gloves on his hands. His heavy beard
only partially conceals the tattooing on his
weather-beaten face.
Costentenus's early history is that of many
Albanians He has always been soldier of
fortune. In 1867 he and eleven others penetra-
ted Chinese Tartary and sided with the rebels.
The party were captured, and two or three
were killed, and the rest were submitted to an
ordeal of tattooing, which only two survived
Captain Costentenus and a Spaniard who has
since died. The operation lasted three months
and was performed daily. Six men held him
down, while a seventh welded the tattooing
apparatus. At the conclusion of the operation
he regained his health, and was freed by the
Tartars, instead of making his escape, as was
reported. This tattooing was done to warn
outside barbarians of the danger of penetrating
the Tartars' domains. Nothing like the cap
tain's person has ever been seen in civilized
countries By the side of his gorgeously-em-
bellished cuticle the tattooing Of South Sea
Islanders fades into insignifcance. The mate
rial used was indigo and cinnabar, the former
producing black and the latter a red At
first glance the captains body seems to be COW
cred with Turkish shawl, but closer exami-
nation shows that the pictures in two colors
are produced by unnumbered points. On his
forehead are animals and Inscriptions, and on
the face star-like figures. On the hands are
numerous red points, and figures resembling
sculptures, as well as long. panther-like
shapes, The ears are absolutely the only part
of the body free from tattoong even the scalp
being embellished. On the neck, chest, abdo-
men, back and extrem.ties the skin is mass
of symmetrically arranged and admirably exc
cuted figures of monkeys, tigers, lions, ele-
plants, peacocks, storks, swans, snakes, croco-
dies, lizards, mingled with bows, arrows
leaves, flowers and fruits Between the figures
are words in Berminian in blue and red letters,
and simple points or stars and circles The
original skin is invisible. On the palms Of the
hands are indescribable figures, and little fig
ures are on the inside of the fingers. On the
back sides of both feet to the toes are blue
points, and from the toes to the nails are red
lines. Altogether there are 1888 tattooed pic
lures on the entire body,-on the forehead 2,
neck s. chest so, back 81, abdomen 50, upper
extremties 101, lower extremites 1877; yet the
Captain is in perfect health.
The instrument used in tattooing, the captain
says, was divided into three parts. The part
holding the fluid was slit like pen four inches
long and an inch and half wide, coming down
in two points. In the middle was cylinder OF
brass four inches long, and on top was third
piece, four inches long, of iron, with knob at
the end. The three parts were joined by cap
sules. The instrument was inserted between
the thumb and forefnger of the left hand to
guide it, and the right hand made the pune
lures with extreme rapidity.
The captain has several scars on his person
as evidence of his numerous engagements. and
these show plainly through the tattooing.