Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/167

162 Both men and women did the work, but the female artist was preferred, as "she was more careful." Their fees were small and uncertain, as the operation was not one calculated to expand the heart of the victim and induce him to pay generously. The lines were drawn on the face first in dry charcoal, then some of the powdered charcoal was mixed with water, and the thorns were dipped into this and pricked into the skin along the outlines. As the operation progressed the face was frequently washed to see if the color was being well pricked in. Two operations were necessary, though it sometimes took more; one operation occupied an entire day. For four days thereafter the face remained swollen, and throughout that period the wound was rubbed with charcoal daily. At the end of that time a wash of squash seeds macerated in water was applied. Some times the lips were slow in healing and the individual was compelled to subsist upon pinole, as the swollen lips and chin forbade partaking of solid food; during this time the squash applications were continued.

The men were tattooed along the margin of the lower eyelid and in a horizontal line across the temples. Tattooing was also carried across the forehead, where the pattern varied from a wavy transverse line to short zigzag vertical lines in a band that was nearly straight from side to side. Occasionally a band was also tattooed around the wrist.

The women had the line under the lids, as did the men; but instead of the lines upon the forehead they have two vertical lines on each side of the chin, which extended from the lip to the inferior margin of the jaw and were united by a broad bar of tattooing, which included the whole outer third of the mucous membrane of the lip on either side.

The tattooing was done between the ages of 15 and 20; not, it would seem, at the time of puberty, but at any time convenient to the individual and the operator. Oftentimes a bride and groom were tattooed just after marriage. All the older Pimas are tattooed, but the young people are escaping this disfigurement. As in the case of painting, the practice of the art is passing away and the meaning of the designs is unknown. The Pimas aver that the lines prevent wrinkles; thus fortified they "retain their youth." The purely apocryphal theory that the women about to be married have their lower eyelids tattooed, that they may thereafter "look at no man except their husband," is untenable, as we shall see when we come to study their marriage customs.