CHAP. III.] TATTOOING. 33 



uncourteous behaviour, pronounced a curse on the 

 celestial orb ; but as a punishment she stumbled and 

 fell. The moon descended, raised her from the 

 ground, and she now resides with her. 



There is no separation of the sexes during child- 

 hood, nor indeed at any later age. Although pu- 

 berty appears earlier than with us, the difference in 

 th period is not so great as it is between us and 

 the southern nations of Europeans. 



Families are not large ; there are rarely more 

 than two or three children, although I found more 

 numerous families in the interior. One of the 

 causes may be the habit of nursing the child for a 

 very long time. I have seen, however, as many as 

 ten children by the same father and mother. As 

 soon as the boy grows up he partakes in the occu- 

 pations of the man, and tries to get a name for 

 warlike exploits. He then receives the tattooing, 

 an operation which lasts some time, and is done at 

 intervals. The Tobunga is charged with this func- 

 tion ; but it is not every one of them that is able 

 to perform the operation. Some of the chief mas- 

 ters of the art are slaves, and the Waikato tribe are 

 celebrated for their skill, in the perfect execution of 

 the designs. The tattoo, or " moko" which is its 

 native name, is done either with the sharp bone of 

 a bird, or with a small chisel called ulil. The 

 candidate for this distinction reposes his head upon 

 the knees of the operator, who drives the chisel 

 into the skin with his hand. Each time, the chisel 



VOL. n. D 



