76 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



3. The Caroline islanders tattoo themselves not out of motives of 

 decency, nor altogether for ornament, but as a means of distinguish- 

 ing their families and clans, and of retaining the memory of persons, 

 objects, and events. Liitke found on one of the coral islands a man 

 who had marks tattooed upon him to represent all the islands of the 

 archipelago. At Banabe, the wife has tattooed upon her the marks 

 standing for the names of her husband's ancestors. The natives of 

 this group, looking over an English book, took it to be the white 

 man's tattoo, but could not understand the object of the frequent repe- 

 tition of the same characters, saying that it was useless.* 



4. While the system of government in most of the Polynesian 

 groups is of a very simple character, that of the Caroline islanders is, 

 on the contrary, unusually complex. Not only is the whole popula- 

 tion, in many of the islands, divided into distinct classes, which never 



natives did actually employ the tenikadaradara, as they termed them, for a medium of 

 trade ; they brought them off in great quantities, some individuals having many fathoms 

 tied around the waist, and no article of traffic besides. It is noted in my journal, that on 

 the first day at Taputeouea, before we landed, more than half a bushel of the beads were 

 obtained. On inquiring of others who were more engaged than myself in bartering with 

 the natives, I find that their recollections accord with my own. They are disposed to 

 think that the opinion above expressed with regard to the use of the articles in question 

 is correct, and that we were mistaken at the time in supposing them to be merely orna- 

 ments, though they may have been worn as such, as some of the South American 

 soldiers have their accoutrements covered with silver coins. As the materials of which 

 the disks are made are very common, the value must arise from the labour necessary to 

 cut and polish them to their proper shape, which, for the number contained in a string, 

 must be very great. 



But the inferences which may be deduced from the general diffusion of this species of 

 circulating medium among the Caroline islanders, are very important. The most 

 common Chinese coins, as is well known, have a hole through the centre, are strung 

 upon strings, and disposed of by lengths. In Beechey's " Voyage to the Pacific," p. 393, 

 (Am. edit.,) speaking of the assertion that the people of Loo Choo have no money, he 

 says, " Our meeting with this peasant, however, disclosed the truth, as he had a string of 

 cash (small Chinese money) suspended to his girdle, in the manner adopted by the 

 Chinese." In a note he adds, " These coins, being of small value, are strung together 

 in hundreds, and have a knot at each end, so that it is not necessary to count them." I 

 am disposed to consider this fact as one of the most important evidences that the Micro- 

 nesians, or at least the dominant class among them, derive their origin from Eastern 

 Asia, and from a civilized people. It has teen thought best to let the remarks in the 

 text stand as first written, in order to show the importance which the universal preva- 

 lence and peculiar character of the supposed ornament led us to attach to it when its 

 probable origin and nature were unsuspected. 



* O'Connell's Narrative, p. 163. 



