'^i'.30 DESIGN AEEAS IN OCEANIA — KRIEGEE 15 



nut oil. The ie sina are very scarce, and the art of making them 

 is almost lost, if not entirely so. There are villages which do not 

 have a single shaggy mat. 



Some of the fine mats are for costume purposes, others are in 

 the nature of house furnishings. They are used only by the chiefs 

 of high rank, and then only on ceremonial occasions and in an 

 official capacity. 



Tattooing. — ^Among the dark-skinned races of Africa, Australia, 

 and Melanesia, tattooing is replaced by the artificial production 

 of raised scar tissue on the body or face, forming designs in relief. 

 This so-called cicatrization is a decorative technic not productive of 

 elaborate or pleasing decorative designs. Asiatic races, Indian 

 tribes generally throughout America, and Oceanic peoples, however, 

 understand thoroughly the tattooer's art which is universal among 

 them. The word tatu is of Tahitian origin, its American equivalent 

 meaning " to mark." Among the peoples mentioned the process of 

 tattooing was attended with ceremony, while among the Polynesians 

 the fact that a boy is tattooed signifies he has entered the ranks of 

 the men. 



Nowhere is tattooing more effectively applied from the stand- 

 point of esthetic art than in New Zealand. The tattooed faces are 

 wonderful examples of the artist's skill in the application of spirals 

 and of curved line etching. These lines are usually centripetal and 

 cover the entire face, including the lower lip and nose. There are no 

 straight lines and the designs vary from individual to individual, 

 but are symmetrical and conform to stylistic patterns. In Polynesia 

 the decorations appropriate to objects of material culture, such as 

 houses, are different from tattooed designs. Designs applied to cloth 

 or incised on bows of canoes are different again. 



In the Marquesas Islands, tattooing occurs in series of triangles of 

 solid color on rectangular bases. These designs tattooed on the body 

 and legs are said to be symbolic and to represent in part mythological 

 events. In part they are merely decorative, depicting animals, mainly 

 the turtle and crustaceans. 



According to Samoan legend, tattooing originated in Fiji, where 

 at first only the women were so decorated. In Samoa and in the 

 Marquesas the men alone are tattooed. At the present time, owing 

 to the influence of European and American culture, a native sense 

 of propriety leads them to cover the tattooed parts of the body. The 

 abundance of trader's cotton goods is also a contributory factor. The 

 practice is gradually discontinued as useless and expensive. There 

 is no longer an incentive to bear the pain involved. 

 66993—31 2 



