MOKO, OK TATTOO. 
151 
the beard, which was not considered in the light of an orna¬ 
ment. In former days, a pair of muscle shells were generally 
employed, but since their acquaintance with Europeans, 
a pair of large tweezers, an inch and a half wide, and three or 
four inches long, will generally be seen hanging from the 
garment or neck; and whenever the gentleman can find no 
other employment, he will occupy himself with them. 
To allow the beard to grow, is a sign of old age, and a proof 
that the wearer has ceased to care for his appearance. A 
person with a beard, is addressed as e weki, which is a saluta¬ 
tion equivalent to, old man. 
Before they went to fight, the youth were accustomed to 
mark their countenance with charcoal in different lines, and 
their traditions state, that this was the beginning of the tattoo, 
for their wars became so continuous, that to save the trouble 
of thus continually painting the face, they made the lines 
permanent by the moko. 
The substance generally used as coloring matter is the resin 
of the kauri or rimu, which, when burnt, is pounded, and 
converted to a fine powder. At Taupo, I went to see the place 
where this pigment was manufactured. A narrow pit was sunk 
at a little distance from a precipice, and from the face of the 
cliff a passage was cut to the bottom of it, over the mouth 
of which pieces of wood containing the resin were burnt, and 
the residuum falling within, was taken away by means of the 
passage. 
The uhi or instrument used was a small chisel, made of the 
bone of an albatross, very narrow and sharp, which was driven 
by means of a little mallet (a malioe) quite through the skin, 
and sometimes completely through the cheek as well, so that 
when the person undergoing the operation took his pipe, 
the smoke found its way out through the cuttings. The 
pain was excruciating, especially in the more tender parts, 
and caused dreadful swellings. Only a small piece could be 
done at a time. The operator held in his hand a piece of 
muka (flax) dipped in the pigment, which he drew over the 
incision immediately it was made. The blood which flowed 
freely from the wound was constantly wiped away with a little 
