Tattooing

the process of marking the surface of the body with indelible patterns made by pricking the skin and inserting various coloring materials. Sailors have been accustomed from time immemorial to tattoo love emblems, names, anchors, and the like on the arm and wrist in India ink. The pigment eats into the skin and dyes it so permanently that it can neither be washed out nor carried away by the absorptive processes of the body. Of civilized peoples, the Japanese have been most addicted, until of late, to the practice. The women of the upper Nile Valley tattoo their bodies extensively. Tattooing has been carried to its greatest extent among the people of the South Sea Islands. The word is of Tahitian origin. The Tahitians, the Dyaks of Borneo, the Fiji Islanders, the inhabitants of the Solomon group, and the Papuans of New Guinea are noted for the extent to which they tattoo their bodies. The Maoris of New Zealand, in particular, covered the body with fantastic designs until their skins were as brilliant as oriental rugs. The younger generation have ceased to decorate the body in this fashion.