114 A MISSION TO VITI. 
followed tatooing as a trade; for a trade it was and is, 
quite as much as tailoring is in our own country, and 
requiring by far greater care and caution. The blue 
tracery once made cannot, like a coat or pair of trousers, 
be thrown aside when spoilt in the cut, but has to be 
worn for life, exposed to all the remarks which good 
and ill-natured friends may be disposed to make. A 
tradition, current in Tonga and Fiji, corroborates the 
fact of tatooing having been derived from the latter 
group. It is stated, that at a remote period the king 
of Tonga (Tui Toga) sent a mission to Fiji, in order to 
ascertain whether, as had been reported, the women of 
those islands were tatooed. On reaching the island of 
Ogea, in the eastern part of Fiji, the mission, with some 
difficulty, made the natives comprehend that they wished 
to find out what sex was tatooed (qia); to which the 
Fijians replied, “Qia na alewa” (women are tatooed). 
In obedience to orders, the first person met had been 
asked, and as a plain answer to a plain question had 
been obtained, the mission departed homewards. There 
were no other means of remembering the answer than 
by repeating it continually. This was done without 
interruption until their canoe reached the Ogea pas- 
sage, where, the sea becoming rough, apprehensions 
about the safety of the canoe began to be entertained, 
and in the ensuing excitement the repetition of the pre- 
cious words was neglected. Suddenly the neglect was 
perceived, and it was asked all round what the words 
were. Somebody replied, “Qia na tagane” (men are 
tatooed), instead of “Qia na alewa” (women are 
tatooed); which mistake, passing unnoticed, was re- 
