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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



Photograph by John W. Church 



A GROUP OP MAROUESANS RESPLENDENT IN THEIR NEW COSTUMES WHICH THEY 

 HAVE JUST BOUGHT FROM THE SKIPPER OF A TRADING SCHOONER 



Before the white man brought these machine-woven fabrics to the islands, the Marquesans wore 

 aprons and skirts of tappa cloth, hammered from the bark of the breadfruit tree. 



some of them about the shade of old 

 ivory, the delicate tracery of the tattoo 

 stood in clear relief. 



TATTOO DESIGNS EOR WOMEN RESEMBEED 

 PINE EACE 



To one unaccustomed to the human 

 form beautifully tattooed instead of 

 clumsily concealed beneath the garments 

 of civilization, it will possibly be difficult 

 to convex- its attractiveness ; but to the 

 many travelers who have become familiar 

 with the sight of the South Sea natives, 

 with their lithe, graceful bodies and mar- 

 velously tattooed skins, the unrelieved 

 pallor of the white races seems sickly and 

 uninteresting. 



The period required for tattooing was 

 from (wo to three weeks, during which 

 time the tattooee was tapu — lived in soli- 

 tary agony in one of the huts provided 

 for the purpose, and awaited with stoical 

 patience the subsidence of the inflamma- 



tion and fever incidental to the operation 

 of decoration. 



It has been said that the tattoo was an 

 institution in some way connected with 

 the tribal worship ; and for this reason 

 the French prohibited it at the request of 

 church dignitaries. This may possibly be 

 true, but the Marquesan religion was at 

 best but a casual affair. 



THE MARQUESAN A EORD OF EASE 



Although the Marquesan was averse to 

 work of any kind, he could be industrious 

 on occasion, as evidenced by the magni- 

 tude of his stone-work in the sacred 

 groves, the hundreds of terraces in every 

 valley, and the scores of canoes owned by 

 each tribe. 



In the fashioning and decorating of his 

 war clubs, spears, and paddles he found 

 leisurely employment for idle hours, and 

 here his labor ceased. Even the trails 

 through the villages would test the ability 



