49 8 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



But the niost remarkable examples are to be found in the Pacific 

 islands. In the Marquesas Islands the patterns often represent 

 animals : the head is covered with one design, the breast bears a 

 shield, the arms and thighs are striped, the back is crossed, and 

 each finger bears its own pattern. The tattoo is here applied to 

 both sexes, though mainly to men. It is begun at nineteen or 

 twenty years, and is rarely finished before forty. The instrument 

 used is a small comb-chisel. The figure is drawn on the skin, 

 the comb is dipped in ink of burnt cocoanut-shell and water, and 

 driven by a mallet through the skin. Only a few square inches 

 are tattooed at one time. The spot swells and becomes sore, with 

 fever. 



In New Zealand we find quite as remarkable a condition of 

 things. The patterns here are composed of curves and spirals. 

 The general design is conventional, and the lines of which it is 

 composed bear special names. These may vary indefinitely in 

 minor details. A difference of importance is found in the method 

 of tattooing in New Zealand and that prevalent throughout Poly- 

 nesia. Here the lines are cut, instead of being pricked in by 



points. " The patient lies 

 on his back, with his head 

 between the knees of the 

 squat operator, who draws 

 the outline in black pig- 

 ment and slightly scratches 

 it. The chisel, of tooth or a 

 bird's bone, is then taken 

 and the pattern cut through 

 the skin. The operator dips 

 the edge of the chisel con- 

 stantly into the pigment and 

 rubs it into the cut each few 

 inches, using a little bunch 

 of fiber. The cutting is done 

 by hammering the chisel, 

 not by a knife. The com- 

 plete pattern takes two or 

 three years. During the 

 operation friends sing, to 

 drown the groans of the sub- 



Fig. 9. Japanese, showing Tattoc 



ject " (Wood ). In Japan the tattoo was formerly very common, but 

 is now prohibited by law. Such designs as "a monster crab on the 

 small of the back, a pretty cottage on the chest, or a scarlet fish 

 between the shoulders," were common (Fig. 9). As to the origin 

 and meaning of the tattoo we can scarcely err in regarding it the 

 same as for painting. The victor returns stained with blood and 



