102 ETHNOGRAPHY. 



him, who seems to be a sort of prime minister, and really has the 

 direction of the government. As regards their system of descent we 

 could learn but little. At the time we were there, the king was a 

 young man, and his father was still living ; though hardly past the 

 prime of life, and in the full vigor of his faculties, he had resigned his 

 power to his son, but whether of his own accord, or in obedience to 

 some established law, Grey could not inform us. 



TATTOOING. 



There is nothing peculiar or striking in the tattooing of these 

 natives. It is mostly in short, oblique lines, about an eighth of an 

 inch apart. These are arranged in perpendicular rows, of which 

 there are four or five down the back, on each side of the spine ; with 

 a similar marking in front, beginning just below the collar-bone. The 

 legs also are imprinted, but not the arms or face. The women are 

 tattooed in the same manner, but not so much as the men. There 

 are professional tattooers, whose prices are so high that slaves cannot, 

 in general, afford to be thus ornamented, but there is no law against 

 it. On the dark-skinned race of the southern clusters, the marking 

 does not show very clearly, and at a little distance would hardly be 

 observed ; but on the natives of Makin it is quite distinct. 



HOUSES, CANOES, ETC. 



The dwelling-houses have two stories, a ground floor and a loft, or 

 garret, separated by a horizontal partition of slender sticks laid upon 

 joists. According to Kirby, this mode of building was adopted in 

 order to escape the ravages made by the rats, which swarm in the 

 islands. As the loft is only connected with the ground by the four 

 corner posts, the lower part of the house being open all around, these 

 animals cannot reach the food, mats, and other articles which are 

 kept in it. It is curious enough that an animal so insignificant 

 should thus affect the architecture of a numerous people. On the 

 Apamama cluster, and the islands south of it, the loft is raised but 

 three or four feet above the ground, and of course the inmates on the 

 lower floor must be constantly in a sitting or reclining posture. On 

 Tarawa, however, the houses were larger, and some had two upper 

 stories, the second floor being laid about three feet above the first. 

 On Makin, where the supply of timber is abundant, the houses are of 



