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Pbrteyh Voyage 



with a shark's tooth, or shells, but iiow most commonly with a piece' 

 of iron hoop ground down to so sharp an edge as to remove the 

 hair without giving much pain. The beard of the young men, 

 and the hair under the arms of both men and women, is plucked 

 out by means of shells, and there are certain other parts of the 

 body where the females pay as little respect to the works of nature. 

 The females at times, on what occasion I do not know, shave 

 their heads close ; but I am induced to believe such occasions 

 are rare, as some wear their hair long, some cut short, and some 

 cropped close, while others are close shaved. They have such 

 varieties in wearing their hair, that I could not discover any fashion 

 which seemed to prevail over the others, except among the young 

 men, to which class it seemed wholly confined. Their custom is 

 to put it up in two knots, one on each side of the head, and they 

 are secured with white strips of cloth, with a degree of neatness 

 and taste which might defy the art of our best head-dressers to 

 equal. The old men wear it sometimes cut short, sometimes the 

 head is shaved, and they occasionally have their heads entirely 

 shaved, except one lock on the crown, which is worn loose or put 

 up in a knot. But this latter mode of wearing the hair is only 

 adopted by them when they have a solemn vow, as to revenge the 

 death of some near relation, &c. In such case the lock is never 

 cut off until they have fulfilled their promise. Besides the shark's 

 tooth and iron hoop razors, they make use of a brand of fire to 

 singe off, and shells as tweezers to pluck out the beard and hair 

 on different parts of the body. 



Tattooing is performed by means of a machine made of bone, 

 something like a comb, with the teeth only on one side. The 

 points of the teeth are rubbed with a black paint, made of burnt 

 cocoa-nut shell ground to powder, and mixed with water. This 

 is struck into the flesh by means of a heavy piece of wood, which 

 serves the purpose of a hammer. The operation is extremely 

 painful, and streams of blood follow every blow, yet pride in- 

 duces them to bear this torture, and they even suffer themselves 

 to be tied down while it is performing, in order that their agony 

 may not interrupt the operator. The men commence tattooing 

 as soon as they are able to bear the pain ; generally at the age of 

 eighteen or nineteen, and are rarely completely tattooed until they 

 arrive at the age of thirty-five. The women begin about the 

 same age ; but have only their legs, arms, and hands tattooed, 

 which is done with extraordinary neatness and delicacy. Some 

 slight lines are drawn across their lips. It is also the practice with 

 some to have the inside of their lips tattooed, but the object of 

 this ornament I could never find out, as it is never seen unless 

 they turn out their lips to show it. Every tribe in the island, 

 I observed, was tattooed after a different fashion, and I was in-. 



