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The Native Races [of the Pacific states], Volume 1, Wild Tribes, Volume 1

Note 508 — Chapter IV · CALIFORNIANS.

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At Bodega the women 'were as much tatooed or punctured as any of the females of the Sandwich islands.' Vancouver's Voy., vol. ii., p. 436. In the Sacramento Valley 'most of the men had some slight marks of tattooing on the breast, disposed like a necklace.' Pickering's Races, in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. ix., p. 105. Dana, in a note to Hale, says: 'The faces of the men were colored with black and red paint, fancifully laid on in triangles and zigzag lines. The women were tattooed below the mouth.' Hale's Ethnog., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. vi., p. 222. 'Most of them had some slight marks of tattooing on their breast; somewhat similar to that of the Chinooks.... The face was usually painted, the upper part of the cheek in the form of a triangle, with a blue-black substance, mixed with some shiny particles that looked like pulverized mica.' Wilkes' Nar., in U. S. Ex. Ex., vol. v., pp. 198, 259. 'Their faces daubed with a thick dark glossy substance like tar, in a line from the outside corners of the eyes to the ends of the mouth, and back from them to the hinge of the jawbone ... some also had their entire foreheads coated over.' Kelly's Excursion to Cal., vol. ii., p. 111. 'The women are a little tattooed on the chin.' Pfeiffer's Second Journ., p. 307. At Monterey and vicinity, 'se peignent le corps en rouge, et en noir lorsqu'ils sont en deuil.' La Pérouse, Voy., tom. ii., p. 305. 'Se peignent la peau pour se parer.' Rollin, in La Pérouse, Voy., tom. iv., p. 53. 'This one thing was obserued to bee generall amongst them all, that euery one had his face painted, some with white, some blacke, and some with other colours.' Drake's World Encomp., p. 126. 'Tattooing is practised in these tribes by both sexes, both to ornament the person and to distinguish one clan from another. It is remarkable that the women mark their chins precisely in the same way as the Esquimaux.' Beechey's Voy., vol. ii., p. 77. 'Les indigènes indepéndents de la Haute-Californie sont tatoués ... ces signes servent d'ornement et de distinction, non seulement d'une tribu à une autre tribu, mais encore, d'une famille à une autre famille.' Petit-Thouars, Voy., tom. ii., pp. 134-5. 'Tattooing is also used, but principally among the women. Some have only a double or triple line from each corner of the mouth down to the chin; others have besides a cross stripe extending from one of these stripes to the other; and most have simple long and cross stripes from the chin over the neck down to the breast and upon the shoulders.' Langsdorff's Voy., vol. ii., p. 167; see plate, p. 169. When dancing, 'ils se peignent sur le corps des lignes régulières, noires, rouges et blanches. Quelques-uns ont la moitié du corps, depuis la tête jusqu'en bas, barbouillée de noir, et l'autre de rouge; le tout croisé par des raies blanches, d'autres se poudrent les cheveux avec du duvet d'oiseaux.' Choris, Voy. Pitt., part iii., p. 4; see also plate xii. 'I have never observed any particular figured designs upon their persons, but the tattooing is generally on the chin, though sometimes on the wrist and arm.' Mostly on the persons of the females. Johnston, in Schoolcraft's Arch., vol. iv., p. 223. 'Les femmes seules emploient le tatouage.' Auger, Voy. en Cal., p. 165.

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