74 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
Zealand, prohibited the trade in Maori heads. ‘The practice of tattooing 
gradually died and more than a generation has passed since it ceased 
to exist. ‘The heads are now extremely scarce, hence the Museum con- 
sidered itself particularly fortunate in securing last June, as noted in the 
October JOURNAL, the famous Robley collection. The collection comes 
as the gift of the late President Jesup. 
Major-General G. Robley of the British army, who made a close 
study of the subject of tattooing while he was making his collection, 
states that the old-time Maori tattooer took an artist’s pride in his work, 
TATTOOED MAORI HEADS FROM NEW ZEALAND. 
and the result, not being easily accomplished, was highly prized when 
completed. As may be seen from the photographs reproduced on this. 
page the designs are intricate and really beautiful, and the skill of the 
artist must have been great to reproduce them with such accuracy on 
the uneven surface of the human face, particularly in view of the ex- 
tremely tedious and painful process that was employed. 
The tools used, which are represented in the collection, were narrow 
comb-shaped chisels made from the wing-bone of a sea-bird. ‘The 
chisel was driven by tapping with a little mallet quite through the skin. 
