12 Bcrnice P. Bishop Museum — Bulletin 



Chants for women do not seem to be general. At some time during the 

 operation, the opou was given a new name, referred to as patiki. This was 

 taken from some personal defect of his own, such as a blind eye, for example, 

 or from some imaginary peculiarity of the genital organs of his father or 

 mother. 



The operation, as may be imagined, was extremely painful and the 

 patient cried and screamed without restraint. Berchon notes that after 

 each sitting, there were from eight to twelve days of local inflammation, 

 followed by fever and sometimes swellings, which were at times fatal. 

 Light inflammation and swelling and ulcers lasting for several days (6, p. 132 ; 

 II, p. no; 10, p. 118) seem to have been usually the most serious results 

 of the rigorous treatment. The juice of the banana stem was used as 

 an ointment (paku) to hasten healing. Berchon says an emollient of 

 hibiscus leaves was applied to relieve the inflammation. 



The duration of the operation depended largely upon the fortitude 

 and health of the patient. A Nuku Hiva man is reported to have been 

 completely covered in three days ; the legs and back of one man of Hana- 

 menu were done in seven days ; but as a rule the designs were put on 

 in more leisurely fashion, a section of the body being covered at a sitting, 

 with three-day rest periods called days of blood (a toto) after each, so 

 that the operation covered from two weeks to four months. Under such 

 conditions a woman's lips and shoulder might be decorated in a day, a 

 man's legs from knees to ankles, or perhaps his thighs and buttocks. 

 Langsdorff says that the first sitting usually lasted from three to four 

 weeks and that only the groundwork of the principal figures upon the 

 breast, arms, back, and thighs, was laid the first year, additions, however, 

 being made for years at intervals of from three to six months. 



After the operation, fruits of noni (Morinda citrofolia) the most usual 

 healing agent, were offered at the me'ae or sacred place ; the tuhuna was 

 paid ; and, when the tapu was lifted, the sacred oho'au tiki was burned 

 (though not the common house of women) ; and all those participating in 

 the operation, who had not been allowed to bathe during the entire time, 

 now went first to the sea to bathe, afterwards to the river. This ac- 

 complished, they covered themselves with fragrant ointment, which turned 

 the skin yellow so that their new patterns showed brilliantly. Meanwhile, 

 relatives had prepared such ornaments as tortoise-shell crowns, girdles 

 of tapa, feather head ornaments, earrings, and the like. These they left 

 outside their houses on the night before the festival (Ko'iua tuhi tiki: 

 Ko'ina, feast; tuhi, show; tiki, design), which was always given to cele- 

 brate the completion of the work, and the newly decorated girls and 

 boys donned them before their apjjearance on the leaved floor of the 



