POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
465 
circles, lozenges, &c. 3 the patterns are usually taken 
from nature, and are often some,of the most graceful. 
A cocoa-nut tree is a favourite object; and I have often 
admired the taste displayed in the marking of a chiefs’ 
legs, when I have seen a cocoa-nut tree correctly and 
distinctly drawn, its root spreading at the heel, its elastic 
stalk pencilled as it were along the tendon, and its waving 
plume gracefully spread lOut on the broad part of the 
calf. Sometimes a.eouple of stems would be twined up 
from the heel, and divided on the calf, each bearing a 
plume of leaves. 
The ornaments round the ankle, and upon the instep, 
make them often appear as if they wore the elegant 
Eastern sandal. The sides of the legs are sometimes 
tataued from the ankle upward, which gives the appear¬ 
ance of wearing pantaloons with ornamented seams. 
From the lower part of the back, a number of straight, 
waved, or zigzag lines, rise in the direction of the spine, 
and branch off regularly towards the shoulders. But, of 
the upper part of the body, the chest is the most tataued. 
Every variety of figure is to be seen here. Cocoa-nut 
and bread-fruit trees, with convolvulus wreaths hanging 
round them, boys gathering the fruit, men engaged in 
battle, in the manual exercise, triumphing over a fallen 
foe; or, as I have frequently seen it, they are represented 
as carrying a human sacrifice to the temple. Every kind 
of animal—goats, dogs, fowls, and fish—may at times be 
seen on this part of the body; muskets, swords, pistols, 
clubs, spears, and other weapons of war, are also 
stamped upon theii arms or chest. 
They are not all crowded upon the same person, but 
each one makes a selection according to his fancy; and I 
have frequently thought the tatauing on a man’s person 
II. 3 o 
