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.