" Every one of these people was
tattooed upon reaching majority. According to Carl Bock, among
the Dyaks of Borneo all of the married women were tattooed on the
hands and feet, and sometimes on the thighs. The decoration is
one of the privileges of matrimony, and is not permitted to
unmarried girls. Andrew Lang says of the Australian tribes that
the Wingong or the Totem of each man is indicated by a tattooed
representation of it on his flesh. The celebrated American
traveler, Carpenter, remarks that on his visit to a great prison
in Burmah, which contains more than 3000 men, he saw 6000
tattooed legs. The origin of the custom he was unable to find
out, but in Burmah tattooing was a sign of manhood, and
professional tattooers go about with books of designs, each
design warding off some danger. Bourke quotes that among the
Apaches-Yumas of Arizona the married women are distinguished by
several blue lines running from the lower lip to the chin; and he
remarks that when a young woman of this tribe is anxious to
become a mother she tattoos the figure of a child on her
forehead. After they marry Mojave girls tattoo the chin with
vertical blue lines; and when an Eskimo wife has her face
tattooed with lamp-black she is regarded as a matron in society.
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