IQ Art. VIL— A. Matsnmura : 



sions. They are now mostly Christians, so it is customary for 

 them to paint themselves particularly beautiful on Sundays. 



Besides the inhabitants of Truk, the natives of Ponapé and 

 those of Saipan who came from the Caroline Islands also paint 

 the body. The custom further prevails in the West Caroline 

 Islands. In Ponapé, it is the women, we are informed, who pre- 

 pare the pigments by mixing coconut-oil or fish-oil. 



The painting of the body with various pigments is practised 

 not only in Micronesia, but the custom is also met with among differ- 

 ent tribes in the South Sea Islands. Some of the tribes employ 

 the colour obtained from the turmeric, which, as mentioned already, 

 is used by the natives of the East Caroline Islands. In Rotuma, 

 for instance, in the north of the Fiji Islands, if a chief come into 

 the house, the people smear him over the left breast with pigments 

 mixed with coconut-oil. It is also used for smearing the body in 

 dances. Further, when a child is born, the mother is at once 

 washed and colours applied to her breast and abdomen. ^ In a 

 certain part of the New Hebrides, the women paint their entire 

 face, and their infants all over, with bright orange turmeric or red 

 lead.'^ The Samoans rub scented oil on the body from head to 

 foot, and sometimes mix turmeric with the oil to give their skin 

 a tinge of yellow.^ 



Besides the preparation from the turmeric, the important 

 pigments used are red (clay), white (burnt shell, clay), black 

 (burnt coconut, ore of manganese), and yellow (clay). For dances 

 or on ceremonial occasions, the face, breast or the whole body 

 is painted with such varieties. Of these, black is not infrequent- 



1 S. J. Gardiner, " The Natives of Kotuma," Jour. Anthr. Inst., XXVII, 1898, pp. 413, 480. 

 - B. T. Somerville, " Ethnological Notes on New Hebrides," Jour. Anthr. Inst., XXIII, 18)4, 

 p. 370. 



3 G. Turner, "Samoa a huJidred years ago and long before," London, 1884, p. 121. 



