MOKO, OE TATTOO. 
821 
could be done at a time; the operator held in his hand a 
piece of m,nka, flax, dipped in the pigment, which he drew 
oyer the incision immediately, it was made; the blood 
which flowed freely from the wound was constantly wiped 
away with a bit of flax ; the pattern was first drawn either 
with charcoal or scratched in with a sharp-pointed instru- 
ment. To tattoo a person fully was therefore a work of 
time, and to attempt to do too much at once endangered 
life ; I remember a poor porangi, or insane person, who, 
during the war, ’was tattooed most unmercifully by some 
young scoundrels; the poor man's wounds were so dread- 
fully inflamed, as to occasion his death ; whilst any one 
was being operated upon, all persons in the pa were 
tapu, until the termination of the work, lest any evil 
should befal him ; to have fine tattooed faces, was the 
great ambition of young men, both to render themselves 
attractive to the ladies, and conspicuous in war : for even if 
killed by the enemy, whilst the heads of the untattooed were 
treated with indignity, and kicked on one side, those which 
were conspicuous by their beautiful moko, were carefully cut 
off, stuck on the turuturu, a pole with a cross on it, and then 
preserved ; all which was highly gratifying to the survivors, 
and the spirits of their late possessors. 
The person operated upon was stretched all his length on 
the ground, and to encourage him manfully to endure the 
pain, songs were continually sung to him. On such occa- 
sions the ladies sang to strengthen the sufferer in bearing 
the excruciating operation, that he might also be ashamed of 
their seeing him faint under it in their presence : — 
E noho ana e kai tahi ana 
Ki te titiro ki nga rewha 
I te ihu o Tutetawha. 
E wekoki ana me he peke 
ngarara taiamai raki te uhi 
a Mataora 
Taria e tuku atn, 
We are sitting eating together. 
We are viewing the prints on the 
eyebrows 
And nose of Tutetawha. 
They are crooked as a lizard’s 
leg. 
Tatoo him with the point of Ma- 
taora. 
Be not impatient to go 
Y 
