The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1879-03-06
TATTOOING AS A FINE ART.

Frank auckland in Land and Water.
Man in his primitive state exhibits
many instincts and customs which ciyii-
cation modifes, if not entirely dissipates
One OF the curious customs which
obtains among savage people is the habit
of tattOoing or marking the person, gen.
orally out of vanity, partly in case OF
mourning
Those very remarkable people, the
Jews, seem to have been very fond of
marking themselves Moses distinctly
tells them not to do this. Lsviticus may
be said to be Il consolidated act, and the
ritual is so strict that he lays down laws
even for personal dress, thus: Ye shall
not round the corners of your hesds,
neither shalt thou mar the corners OF
| thy beard ye shall not make any cut
/ tings in your flesh for the dead nor
print any marks upon you From
this, therefore, it seems probable that
some custom resembling tattoOing was
pr8cticed in the time of Moses, at the
time of the exodus, 1890, B. c., or
| 8 1858 yesrs ago. don't think the Jews
could have learned this from the Egypt
ians. Mr.. Douglas Murray, who has
| been to Egypt many times, and given
great attention to the drawings on the
sculptures, thinks that the Egyptian
! priests, in carrying out their splendid
ritual, would never think OF cutting
| themselves.
l am induced to mike these remarks
on the characterization of The human
body, being requested by Mr.. Jamrach
to describe a magnificent specimen OF a
| head OF a New u alander which has
lately ccme into his possession. This
head is dried up, so that the skin appears
| like S piece of parchment taken from an
! illustrate missal. The hair is rusty
black, had been worn in curls, and is
still curly. A mark appears around the
| front OF the head, as though fillet had
at one time been tied on. The nose has
been stuffed out TO its natural dimen-
siOns but yet it looks somewhat shrunken
in. The lips, in process of drying, have
been so arranged SIS to show the teeth,
| which are exceeding white, very regular
and quite perfect. The ears are much
shrunK, but they are perforated with a
round hole big enough 10 admit the
pointed end OF cedar pencil. The face
l. tattooed IN q most beautiful manner.
| A straight line runs from the middle OF
the forehead to the middle OF the nose ;
toward this the lines on the nose cons
verge, either in a zig-zsg or straight
| direction. The same pattern, however,
J obtains on each temple.
Upon the cheeKs the marking some
J what resembles the figure 8; round the
mouth we observe rings. A dark line Is
/ taken from each angle Of the cheek, and
| this line gives of other lines upward
toward the chin At each angle of the
nose there is an elegant marking, repre-
senting very much an ordinary watch
spring. Even in its present state these
/ tattoo marks give the face q particularly
1 ferocious appearance. In life they must
| have made the countensnce Of this saw
/ age very terrific, il not diabolical in APP
! pearaDce.
OF late years the tattooed heads OF
! New Zsalanders have become very
scarce. The influence of civilization
seems to have almost done away with the
native customs OF the New Zsalanders
[ do not think that the tattCoed heads
.of the New Zealanders were at all known
! in this country before Captain Cooks
time My authority for saying this Is
that the late DR.. Kidd, Rsgius profess u
of anatomy in the university of Oxford,
| told me so when attending bis lectures
| in the anatomy school at Christ church.
In this museum there used to be two
very fine heads of New ZsalandeIs, and
DIR. Kidd pointed out TO his class that
one of these heads had been tattOOed
after death, the other before death.
The reason for his coming to this cOnciu-
sion was that in the case where the
markings had beer done before death the
lines allowed as distinct hollow grooves !;
in the csss where the marking had been
done alter death they did not appear as
grooves, but as patterns in the skin
itself The reason of this Is, o! course,
| . 10
man had grown over the cuts, and as 1t
were, vanished them over.
The word Z" tattoo" is first mentioned
in Captain Cooks account of the South
Sea Islanders Captain Cook began his
| voyages in 1875, and finished them in
I77I. The operation is called tattOOing
snd appears to be formed by the dupli-
cation OF the POlynesian verb Is, 3"
meaning to strike. TGis may possibly be
the origin of the word & tattoo" as
applied 10 the peculiar beating of a
drum. Captain Cook writes: The
| practice OF tatto0ing, or punctuTlDg the
body, prevails among these people (the
Sandwich IslsndeFs), and Of all III
i-lands in this ocean il is only a. New
Z saland and the Sandwich Isles that the
tace is tattoOed. There 10 this difference
between these two nations that the New
| 4 .aiaDders perform this operation On
elegant spira galutes, and the Sandwich
Islanders in straight lines that intersect
eacs. other at right angles. Some OF the
natives have hall their bodies, from head
to foot, tattooed, This gives them q
most striking appearance.
Now comes q most interesting psras
graph, which may possibly be brought to
near upon the argument that the New
z islanders are descended from the ten
lost tribes of Israel. We have seen
above how very strictly Moses forbade
tattooing as marks Of mourning. On this
point Capt+in Cook writes, and it is q
strange piece OF evidence: We have
some reason to imagine that the practice
Of tattooing is often intended a. sign o.
mourn ny on the deeease of q chief or
any other calamit0us occurrence"
In a work entitled tThe New lea
lander" published by Charles Knight,
1880, fad some portraits Of ttttoOing
instruments, They appear to be very
like combs Of different sizes, en'y that
the points of the teeth OF the comb are
= very sharp. 1t appears that in 1916 =
gsilor OF the name Of Rutherford va-
captured by the natives, and remained
with them some ten years. At the end