The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-04-15
TnttOOing.


We doubt If the owners of those rough
hands that follow the work OF tattooing
ION board ship" to-day know much of
the antiquity of the custcm, or would
find much meaning in the statement
hat it must have been not merely one
of the first steps in the decoration of the
person, but one of the first achieve
ments when that decoration began to
assume the shape of art, however
rudely. 1t seems to have been prac-
ticed by the more uncouth barbarians
as far back as we have any record, and
always to have been fashion with
most OF the islanders of the southern
half of the globe. with whom 1t is sol
of aspiration toward the pictorial.
Captain Cook, speaking of the people
who met him at Adventure bay, saws
they "wore no ornaments, unless we
consider as such, and as proof of their
love of finery, some large punctures of
ridges raised on different parts of their
bodies, some in straight and others in
curved lines"
Among people of paler face the sail
ors have almost a monopoly OF the Gus
tom. Some older man of their mum ber
becomes an expert in the matter, and
they submit themselves to his skill
The "saucy ship" that is stippled over
the heart of The man before the mast, is
carried by him almost as religiously as
a pledge OF faith; he adds to it the flag
and shield, the name of his girl" u
heart pierced with darts, anchors and
cables, verses and notices and legends,
all drawn in red and blue ink, with a
pl plecision of which, while his open shirt
bptrays it, he grows prouder every day
as an ornament. although first assumed
as badge of loyalty to all that is dear
est to him.
Nowhere is tattooing to be seen done
in the complete manner in which il is
exhibited by the natives of the South
sea islands. There it is d mark Of pow
erty, almost disgrace, if a young man
has not undergone the operation in
more or less elaborate style. There are
tattooers whose profession it is, and who
do their work with delicacy, and one
might almost say with beauty, sur
passing belief. 1t is the habit there
Tor severai young men to unite and go
through the affair together, companion
ship making it more endurable, and,
by means OF the rotation of the victim,
some rest and relief being found during g
the process, which is both painful and
tedious, owing to the absorption of the
coloring matter and the irritation
of the infnitessmal punctures, 1t
occupies two or more months, and
sometimes costs as much as two thous-
and dollars of our money. When half
done, the workman pauses for his pay !;
if it is not ready, work on the delin
quent ceases, and he goes about, the re-
proach of all his world. A lumuer of
fine needles and a little mallet are
the tools, The young men who go in
robust and hearty, come out the skele-
tons Of themselves, but proud and happy
in their new possession-a suit of
silken lace, as one might describe it, in
the best instances, drawn over the
swarthy and shining skin, hidden only
by the laya-lava," or breech- cloth,
wrought with fine meshes and all sort
of exquisite interlinear tracery, with
such nicely as to carry the thing near
the region of art, and to make it very
different from the crude anchors and
arrows in general use in the forecastle
decoration, or from any of the quaint
designs which the early Portuguese
sailors learned of the sailors of the East
and Farther Ind.