SAMOAN GROUP. 



149 



property they possess, for they cost much pains to the manufacturers, 

 and are often a year or eighteen months in their hands. 



In the way of ornaments they use but few. The men usually 

 wear a shell (the ovula) suspended around the neck by a string. 



Their hair formerly claimed much of their attention, as it does still 

 that of the heathen, who, as has been seen, wear it long and have it 

 nicely combed and twisted up in a knot on the top of the head. The 

 females frequently used to wear a wreath of flowers, which gave 

 them a picturesque and pleasant appearance ; but the use of flowers 

 as ornaments has been interdicted by the missionary teachers. 



Tattooing, if not in reality, at least in appearance, may be said to 

 form a part of dress. It is performed by persons who make it a 

 regular business. The age at which it takes place 

 is from fourteen to eighteen, and is usually con- 

 sidered the initiation to manhood. The usual 

 colouring matter is obtained from the kernel of 

 the candle-nut. Tattooing is here called ta-ta-tan, 

 and is tastefully drawn. The natives are very 

 fond of it. It is expensive to the family, for the 

 operator always receives a high price for his la- 

 bour, consisting of the finest mats, siapo, and other 

 property, as agreed upon before the operation is 

 begun. The instrument used is made of bone, 

 sharp like the teeth of a comb, and requires but 

 a slight blow to enter the skin. The part tattooed 

 on the males is from the loins to the thighs, but the women have 

 only a few lines on their hands and bodies. 



The articles of which their dress is composed are manufactured by 

 the females, who are exceedingly industrious. The common cloth or 

 tapa is made of the inner bark of the paper-mulberry, which is culti- 

 vated for the purpose in nurseries. It is cut when the stem is about 

 one and a half inches in diameter ; the inner bark is separated and 

 washed in water, which deprives it of some of its gum ; it is then 

 beaten until the adhesion of the fibres forms many of the strips into 

 a single mass. The mallet used for this purpose is about two inches 

 square, and about fourteen inches long, with a handle at one end ; two 

 of its faces are grooved and the other two smooth ; the bark is laid 

 on a board, and struck with the mallet in a direction at right angles 

 with its fibres ; the grooved sides are used to spread out the fibres, 



vol. ii. 38 



