Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1882-01-26
RACES THAT TATTOO.


= AAS S-A6kh Va bAbpcO&AE 4ny AOADtACccs
the origin OF whiting namely, pnre
brainless Incidence. But while the
civilized American merely whittles at
his chair, his table, or piece Of soft
wood, the untutored and childish savage
naturally preferred whittling at his fell
low crsatures. He saw no fun in whit
ting at dead, unfeeling matter. The
love Of giving pain is one Of the earliest
instincts of our nature, and the practice
is as agreeable to the least developed
savage as to the most accomplished
modern ibeler We may even regard
tattooing as an upward step toward
civilization. Mans very first impulse,
if We may believe some speculative
philosophers, was to eat his neighbors,
sans phrase. His next idea was to keep
him alive when caught and to tattoo
him. His third idea was to use his
captive as slave. But the gulf be-
tween tattooing captives and the use Of
tattooing as universal fashion is wide
one, and We must leave some future in
quirer to leap across it with the conjec-
tural agility of Mr.. Herbert Spencer.
In the infancy of mankind, before
people wore clothes, and when all men,
except those who shared the same cave,
were enemies, il was necessary for the
different groups to have some sort of
distinguishing mark. Otherwise near
relations might come to blows, and per-
sons of the same stock might inter-
marry thing utterly repugnant to
primitive morality. BY way, therefore,
Of having some recognizable mark,
people are supposed to have tattooed
themselves with the efigy Of some
animal common in their neighborhood,
or, which was easier and simpler. with
some combination of dots or lines. One
set OF persons was marked with the sign
of the crane, another with that of the
wombat, a third with the turtle.
Whether this was really primitive
practice or not, it is certain that heraldic
bearings of this kind are traced on the
breasts of the red men of North America.
But they are comparatively advanced
savages, and, indeed, we can hardly be-
lieve that very rude tribes could draw a
recognizable wombat, or crane that
might not easily be mistaken for a swan,
and SO lead to iniringements of etiquette
and morality. A man marked with the
crane might m AIRY lady of the same
mark under the delusion that she was
| tattooed with the swan, and so heinouE
offense against early morality might be
un Willingly committed. The least de
veloped tattooing with which we are
acquainted is that of the natives o.
Australia. The purely decorative tat
tooing may be traced to the primitive
stage of mere arbitrary whiting. Gen
tlemen Of fashion have their bodies
covered with huge scars in relief, scar
which make no attempt to represen
any object, and which are not ever
pretty in shape and arrangement. ii
Mr.. Brough Smyth's "Aborigines o
Australia" there is portrait Of good
looking black fellow. with scars at leas
an inch high all over his back. Down
the spine runs a line of these scars
others appear to indicate the position
of the ribs. Both men and women il
Queensland get themselves marked il
this way. The instrument used is &
piece Of broken shell, inserted in th,
end Of the throwing stick which is uset
to give velocity to the fight Of th'
spear. This custom must probably b.
the survival of some very old institu
tion, because the Australians are capa
BILE Of designing very graceful decora
tive patterns, such as the herring bone
chevron, ard satire. But they keel
these marks for their shields, and hacl
their own bodies in arude and handsome
fashion.
| In addition to the mere unmeaning
scars, the different groups tattoo them
selves with patterns common to th
tribe. Three rows Of five dots, fiv
upright lines, and q rude curve, like Al
attempt to draw boomerang, are amonI
the recognized tribal marks. Th
untaunt Australians find it almos
impossible to draw curve. and thi
naturally limits their powers Of deco
rative design. The lower Brazilian
tribes, according to Bates, are on th,
same artistic level as the Australians
and scar themselves with mere line
and patches. The New Zealanders, Of
the other hand, much more advanced
race, show Us tattooing on the level 0
/ fine art. It is impossible, withou
i the use of illustrations, to demonstrat
the richness, beauty and variety OF tn
New Zealanders tattooing. The orna
ments are the herring bone and trian
gular markings but these are subor
dinate to the loop-coil which wind
gracefully in and out OF all their orna
mentations. The patterns are intricate
the lines deep, and the style bold
Ornament Of the same sort is found i
Borneo, and it has been suggested tina
the Polynesian style is really dabase'
form of the Asiatic. However this ma
be, the New Zealanders cut and carv
their own skins with al the resource
Of their art. The ''monko" is not said t
constitute mark Of rank, except in 81
far as inability to pay the nsokoiss is
sign Of poverty. Nor do the Ne'
Zealand tattooings indicate the differ