Ethnography of Micronesin, 205 



to C. Gr. Seligraann, among the Koita tribe. He says : " At the 

 age of six or seven, the region aroand the vulva and upwards 

 over the lower abdomen as far as the navel is tattooed ; this re- 

 gion is known in tattooing as kiudori (vulva top). Next follows 

 the region klubacU (vulva trunk or base), that is the upper part 

 of the front, and inner surface of the thighs."^ According to Otto 

 Finsch, this custom prevails also among the Motu tribe, where the 

 girls are tattooed at the age of puberty. " It appears," he says, 

 " that the tattooing of the vulva occurs last of all, when the girl 

 has arrived at a marriageable age, which is about 15 to 17 years 

 of age."^ In Rigo District, the tattooing on the vulva is a neces- 

 sary qualification for a wife. In connection with this custom A. C. 

 English observes that " one pattern is tatued on either side of the 

 vulva, and until this design is tatued on the girl she is of no 

 value as a wife."^ From R. Parkinson's paper* it appears that 

 the women of Ongtong Java, one of the Solomon Islands, have a 

 custom of tattooing the vulva and the adjacent regions. It is not 

 expressly mentioned by him, but a plate inserted shows it un- 

 mistakably. As already noted, the natives of the is-and, both 

 male and female, have the body covered wdth extensive tattoo 

 marks. 



Women are more profusely tattooed than men in Palau, a 

 fact also to be noticed among the natives of New Guinea. The 

 inhabitants of the tw^o islands agree in having the vulva or its 

 adjacent regions tattooed. 



In Palau the operation on women is invariably done by women, 



1 C. G. Seligmann, " The Melanesians of British New Guinea," p. 74 ; PI. X. 



- O. Finsch, quoted by A. C. Haddon, " The Decarative Art of British New Guinea," p. 175. 



3 A. C. English, " Annual Beport of British New Guinea, 1894," quoted by A. C. Haddon, 

 "Tatuing at Hula, British New Guinea," Man, V, 1905, 53. 



* R. Parkinson, " Zur Ethnographie der Ongtong Java und Tasman Inseln," Jntem. f. 

 Ethnog., X, 1897, Taf. VKI. 



