1769 TATTOWING 129 
their language. This they do by inlaying black under their 
skins, in such a manner as to be indelible. Every one is 
thus marked in different parts of his body, according maybe 
to his humour, or different circumstances of his life. Some 
have ill-designed figures of men, birds or dogs; but they 
more generally have a Z, either plain—as is generally the 
case with the women on every joint of their fingers and toes 
and often round the outside of their feet—or in different 
figures such as squares, circles, crescents, etc., which both 
sexes have on their arms and legs; in short, they have an 
infinite diversity of figure in which they place this mark. 
Some of them we were told had significations ; but these we 
never learnt to our satisfaction. Their faces are generally 
left without any marks ; I did not see more than one instance 
to the contrary. Some few old men had the greater part 
of their bodies covered with large patches of black, which 
ended in deep indentations, like coarse imitations of flame ; 
these we were told were not natives of Otahite, but came 
from a low island called Noonoora. Although they vary so 
much in the application of the figures—I have mentioned 
that both the quantity and situation seem to depend entirely 
upon the humour of each individual—yet all the islanders I 
have seen (except those of Oheteroa) agree in having their 
buttocks covered with a deep black. Over this most have 
arches, which are often a quarter of an inch broad, drawn 
one above the other as high as their short ribs, and neatly 
worked on their edges with indentations, etc. These arches 
are their great pride: both men and women show them with 
great pleasure, whether as a mark of beauty, or a proof of 
their perseverance and resolution in bearing pain I cannot 
tell. The pain in doing this is almost intolerable, especially 
the arches upon the loins, which are so much more susceptible 
to pain than the fleshy buttocks. 
The colour they use is lamp black prepared from the 
smoke of a kind of oily nut, used by them instead of candles. 
This is kept in cocoanut shells, and occasionally mixed with 
water for use. Their instruments for pricking this under 
the skin are made of flat bone or shell; the lower part of 
K 
