Handy — Tattooing in the Marquesas 17 



conceive to be the forerunner of the underarm ipiioto, the original po'i'i or 

 sliellfish motive (PI. ix, A, a; xii. A, B, D). 



An examination of the extant examples of the art shows a distinct 

 cleavage between the two groups in their conception of design, that of the 

 southeastern being purely conventional with but minor relics of the geo- 

 metric and the slightest trace of the naturalistic ; that of the northwestern 

 showing several examples of naturalistic art, many of the geometric, and 

 a simpler form of the conventional than the other. Marquesans are all 

 agreed, that, as far as tattooing customs went, the islands were divided 

 into two groups : Nuku Hiva and Ua Pou forming one ; Hiva Oa, Tahu 

 Ata, Fatu Hiva and Ua Huka — because of its close intercourse with the 

 north and west coast of Hiva Oa — forming the other. It may be re- 

 marked that Fatu Hiva is accepted as the home of carving and modern 

 tattooing; but, being regarded as a kind of suburb of Hiva Oa, the latter 

 island is referred to as the center. Several trustworthy informants de- 

 clare that before the whites came, tuhuna patu tiki went from Hiva Oa to 

 Nuku Hiva to teach them the art there, as before this time the Nuku 

 Hivans used only "dirty black patches." We know that, by Melville's 

 time, a transfer from the one to the other group was taking place, for he 

 says that when he was in Nuku Hiva in 1843 (12, p. 48), Hiva Oa 

 enjoyed a reputation for tattooing in the whole group. At the time of 

 its discontinuance as a practice, it was certainly Hiva Oa tattooing that 

 prevailed over the whole group. 



Face patterns seem to have followed the same general lines of develop- 

 ment, with a period at least of divergent styles in the two groups. Some 

 Hiva Oa natives say that lizard motives were anciently used on the face ; 

 but early voyagers indicate only geometric figures, Marchand — the first 

 to attempt to define them — speaking vaguely of various lines on the fore- 

 head representing kinds of hieroglyphics or characters of Chinese writing 

 (16, Vol. n, PI. 133; 10, PI. VI, p. 117). Langsdorff pictures a man with a 

 spiral on his cheek (10, PI. vi, p. 117) and this convention is confirmed 

 by living informants who describe these kokoata (PI. v, 7) on the faces 

 of warriors and chiefs. Today, naturalistic motives are not to be seen 

 upon the face, but what may be a descendant of the spiral occurs on 

 Ua Pou in a fine design on the nostril (PI. iv, 7, 10; V, 4). The prevalent 

 style called ti'ati'apu, to encircle several times, consists of three solid 

 stripes, sometimes seen as unfinished half-stripes, banding the face hori- 

 zontally, one across the forehead, one across the eyes and the third across 

 the mouth. (See Pis. in-v.) This is everywhere declared to be a Hiva Oa 

 style and there is a variant where the mouth band covers the nostrils, 



