14 Ber)iice P. Bishop Museum — Bulletin 



represent about as full a collection as could be obtained today of the 

 tattoo designs of the Marquesas. What may be learned of the history 

 and meaning of the art from the study of these designs may be of interest. 



The parts of the body ornamented differ today, as they have always, 

 for men and women, a complete suit of tattooing for the men (PI. i) 

 covering the crown of the head (PI. v, 9), face (Pis. iii, iv, v) including the 

 eyelids, often the inside of the nostrils, tongue, palms and back of the 

 hand (Pis. viii, A; xi, C), arms (Pis. xii-xni), legs (Pis. xxix-xxxviii), 

 and the entire trunk (PI. xiv) but not the penis, which all save one of our 

 modern informants deny ever to have been tattooed. (See also: 15, p. 16; 

 4, p. 14; 5, p. 232; 14, pp. 78, 114; II, p. in; 10, pp. 122-123; 8, p. 155; 

 17, p. 306; 13, pp. 83-84, 90-91 ; 18, p. 222.) At the present day, the one 

 man who might be said to be fully tattooed or nioho, is lacking the crown 

 piece, save for a section, and the tongue and palm coverings. From the 

 earliest times accounts such as those of Cook, Marchand, Langsdorff, 

 Krusenstern, Melville, Berchon and Porter note the simpler decoration of 

 the women, G. Forster observing none on them. On the bodies of women 

 observed today, patterns are found on the lips running back to the 

 base of the gums (Pis. 11, A; vi. A), on the ear lobes, behind the ears 

 (PI. VI, C; Porter, p. 114), on the curve of the shoulder (PI. vi, B; see 

 also 13, p. 95; 6, p. 132), on the lower back of which but one example 

 remains, as far as known (PI. xv), on the hands (Pis. vii-xi) and on the 

 legs from the buttocks down (Pis. xvi-xxvin). One old woman of Nuku 

 Hiva describes the tattooing on women as covering also, formerly, the 

 whole length of the arms on the inside, the buttocks, and the abdomen. 

 She, as well as all others hving today, declares that the vulva was never 

 tattooed, although one woman reports a girdle that came around in front. 



Various reasons are given for covering different parts of the body. 

 The decorated hand was noticeable in kneading and eating popoi. The 

 under-arm pattern made a fine showing when the arms were uplifted to 

 strike with the war club. Shoulder and chest decorations were displayed 

 when men walked with arms crossed behind the back. Circular motives 

 on the inside of the knees were in evidence when men sat cross-legged. 

 The inside thighs where the loin cloth hung and covered them were often 

 left vacant. 



There are numerous indications both in the types of design to be seen 

 today and in descriptions and stories of natives and of visitors to the 

 islands, that fashion in this mode of decoration was no exception to 

 the rule of fashion's fickleness. There are to be seen naturalistic, 

 geometric, and conventional motives, both symmetrically and irregularly 

 arranged ; there are stories of inter-island exchange of motives and of 



