In every pueblo, there are one or more men, called “bu-ma-fa’-tek,” who understand the art of tattooing.  There are two such in Bontoc —­ Toki, of Lowingan, and Finumti, of Longfoy —­ and each has practiced his art on the other.  Finumti has his back and legs tattooed in an almost unique way.  I have seen only one other at all tattooed on the back, and then the designs were simple.  A large double scallop extends from the hip to the knee on the outside of each of Finumti’s legs.

The design is drawn on the skin with ink made of soot and water.  Then the tattooer pricks the skin through the design.  The instrument used for tattooing is called “cha-kay’-yum.”  It consists of from four to ten commercial steel needles inserted in a straight line in the end of a wooden handle; “cha-kay’-yum” is also the word for needle.  After the pattern is pricked in, the soot is powdered over it and pressed in the openings; the tattooer prefers the soot gathered from the bottom of ollas.

The finished tattoo is a dull, blue black in color, sometimes having a greenish cast.  A man in Tulubin has a tattoo across his throat which is distinctly green, while the remainder of his tattoo is the common blue black.  The newly tattooed design stands out in whitish ridges, and these frequently fester and produce a mass of itching sores lasting about one month (see Pl.  CXLVII).

The Igorot distinguishes three classes of tattoos:  The chak-lag’, the breast tattoo of the head taker; pong’-o, the tattoo on the arms of men and women; and fa’-tek, under which name all other tattoos of both sexes are classed.  Fa’-tek is the general word for tattoo, and pong’-o is the name of woman’s tattoo.

It is general for boys under 10 years of age to be tattooed.  Their first marks are usually a small, half-inch cross on either cheek or a line or small cross on the nose.  One boy in Bontoc, just at the age of puberty, has a tattoo encircling the lower jaw and chin, a wavy line across the forehead, a straight line down the nose, and crosses on the cheeks; but he is the youngest person I have seen wearing the jaw tattoo —­ a mark quite commonly made in Bontoc when the chak-lag’, or head-taker’s emblem, is put on.

The chak-lag’ is the most important tattoo of the Igorot, since it marks its wearer as a taker of at least one human head.  It therefore stands for a successful issue in the most crucial test of the fitness of a person to contribute to the strength of the group of which he is a unit.  It no doubt gives its wearer a certain advantage in combat —­ a confidence and conceit in his own ability, and, likely, it tends to unnerve a combatant who has not the same emblem and experience.  No matter what the exact social importance or advantage may be, it seems that every man in Bontoc who has the right to the emblem shows his appreciation of the privilege, since nine-tenths of the men wear the chak-lag’.  It consists of a series of geometric markings running upward from the breast near each nipple and curving out on each shoulder, where it ends on the upper arm.  The accompanying plates (CXLIII to CXLIX) give an excellent idea of the nature and appearance of the Igorot tattoo —­ of course, reproductions in color would add to the effect.  The distinctness of the markings in the photographs is about normal.