Linton — Tlic Marquesas Islands 421 



Pani was ttsed only on the hair, the body being anointed with pao pann, 

 coconut oil scented with sandalwood. 



BODY PAINTING 



Persons of both sexes painted the entire body yellow, but the use of other 

 colors, or of painted designs, seems to have been unknown. The principal source 

 of the pigment was the root of the turmeric which was cultivated for this pur- 

 pose. In Hiva Oa this is called cna, but Dordillon gives the word kofohi, which he 

 translates as "root of turmeric which is planted." The turmeric root was dried, 

 grated, and mixed with coconut oil to form the paint. The natives still stain their 

 faces and hands with the fresh root as a protection against insects. Several other 

 plants seem to have been used for body painting, all of which yielded a yellow dye. 

 Langsdorff (38, p. 114) also says that in Nuku Hiva both sexes painted them- 

 selves with the sap of Thespesia popiilnea mixed with coconut oil. Jardin (33, 

 pp. 32-59) says that the juice of Sinapis nigra was used to stain the body. He also 

 says that a much prized yellow dye, used for both body painting and tapa dyeing, 

 was obtained from a species of amomum {Curcuma longa) which grew in a 

 single locality — a place called Muake in the interior of Nuku Hiva. The roots of 

 this plant were prepared by a secret process and the dye was sold in powdered 

 form. The name which Jardin gives for this plant, cka, is the Nuku Hivan equiv- 

 alent of the Hiva Oan word cna. but it seems certain that the cka root of Nuku 

 Hiva was not the turmeric (ena). It was probably this substance which was an 

 article of trade in ancient times, and which was so highly prized by the natives of 

 Hiva Oa that they sent two large canoes to Nuku Hiva in exchange for it. 



SKIN BLEACHING 



White skin was greatly admired by the Marquesans, and it is mentioned as 

 a beauty feature in some of their legends. They had discovered a process for tem- 

 porarily bleaching the skin, so that immediatel)' after treatment they were almost 

 as light as southern Europeans. The earliest account of the process is given by 

 Langsdorff (38 pp. 113-114), who says: 



The manner in which it [bleaching] is done is to rub the whole body with sap extracted 

 from the leaves of three different plants called here epapha, hoko-kiih and olnic. The skin be- 

 comes at first entirely black, and for four or five days the person undergoing the operation 

 cannot leave the house : they then wash themselves well with fresh water which takes off the 

 black sap and leaves the skin its natural, nearly white color. 



The account obtained by Handy differs somewhat from this. The body, and 

 especially the face, was first painted with cna and coconut oil. Over this was 

 smeared the juice from the crushed leaves of the kokuu tree or papa vine. This 

 gave the skin a green color. The person undergoing the operation stayed in the 



[161] 



