Photo 188/7(5)

Genre: Ethnographical Photography

Scene shows a youth held down over the knees of an elder man squatting on the ground, while another man incises patterned cuts down his back. A group of women arranged in a semi-circle behind stand with their hands held palms together in front of them. The accompanying letterpress gives a long account of the various types of scarification carried out in the North Andaman group. The passage relevant to this print reads as follows: '2nd [form]. The lines down the back, which are done with an arrow head as shown...The tattooing is usually done when a boy is about fifteen years of age...and is the principal form. All night before he washes in the sea to get his skin soft and pliant, and at about 9 a.m. lies in the manner shown, his male friends holding his chest, stomach, and feet, while the women stand round. The lines are then cut by one of the elders of the tribe with an arrow head, the operation taking about an hour and a half. The patient makes no complaint but his friends weep loudly for him. After the operation he sleeps, and is an invalid for some days, his wounds being very painful.'