TATTOOED MAORI HEADS 75 
Then the tattooer rubbed into the wound a pigment made from the 
powdered charred resin of the “kauri” or “rimu”’ tree. This process 
left deep blue-black grooves with raised borders, and is entirely different 
from the method common in other parts of the world, in which needles 
are used and the skin left smooth. After the advent of white men in the 
South Seas, iron chisels took the place of the bone tools and the tattooers 
produced finer tracery, while the furrows left were not so deep. The 
illustration on this page shows two of the ancient chisels and one of 
MAORI TATTOOING CHISELS AND FEEDING FUNNEL. 
the carved wooden funnels that were used in feeding a man while his: 
face was swollen by the wounds due to the tattooing. 
According to General Robley, only the heads of prominent men were 
preserved after death. The principal object was to keep alive the 
memory of the dead, either of great friends or powerful enemies, and the 
“moko mokai,” as they were called, supplied the place of statues and 
monumental records. In the case of a departed chieftain, his preserved 
