THE KINGS MILL ISLANDERS. 103 



destroyed after birth. According to Wood, this custom does not pre- 

 vail at Makin. 



There are professed tattooers, who are held in great estimation, and 

 receive very high prices ; this confines the art to the wealthy and 

 those of rank. The young men are not tattooed before the age of 

 twenty, and slaves never. The tattooing is mostly in short oblique lines, 

 about the eighth of an inch apart. These are arranged in perpendicular 

 rows, of which there are four or five down the back on each side of 

 the spine, with a similar marking in front, beginning just below the 

 collar-bone. The legs also are marked. 



The women are tattooed in the same manner, but not so much as 

 the men. Owing to the lightness of the lines, and the distance between 

 them, they do not show very conspicuously. The colouring matter 

 used is charcoal, mixed with cocoanut-oil. The instrument employed 

 is a piece of bone, cut like a fine-toothed comb, similar to that used at 

 the Samoan Group. The tattooing is done at different times, to alle- 

 viate the pain which attends the operation. 



Of all their customs, the funeral ceremonies are the most remark- 

 able. When a man dies, his body is taken to the mariapa, washed, and 

 laid out on a clean mat, where it remains for eight days, and every 

 day at noon it is taken into the sun, washed, and oiled. During this 

 time the friends are engaged in wailing and singing praises of the dead, 

 and dancing; but they think it a great weakness to shed tears on such 

 occasions. After this mourning, the body is sewed up in two mats, and 

 sometimes buried in the house of the nearest relatives, the head being 

 always turned towards the east. In other cases, it is stored away in 

 the loft. When the flesh is nearly gone, the skull is taken off, carefully 

 cleaned, oiled, and put away. The skulls of their ancestors are kept by 

 chiefs as a kind of household deity, to which they frequently offer up 

 prayers and entreaties, to have a regard and to keep watchful care 

 over their descendants. The skulls are not unfrequently taken down, 

 bound around with wreaths, anointed with oil, and have food set before 

 them. In passing from one island to another, these skulls are always 

 carried along, as if members of the family, and treated with every 

 mark of reverence. 



The funeral ceremonies on Makin, according to Wood, are still 

 more extraordinary ; but we have no good reason to doubt the facts, 

 as they seem to be somewhat allied to those above related. After the 

 first ceremonies of wailing, the body is washed and laid out upon a 

 new mat, which is spread on a large oblong plate, made of several 

 tortoise-shells sewed together. From two to six persons, according 

 to the size of the corpse, seat themselves opposite to one another on 



