466 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
might serve as an index to his disposition and his cha¬ 
racter. The neck and throat were sometimes singularly 
marked. The head and the ears were also tataued, though 
among the Tahitians this ornament was seldom applied 
to the face. 
The females used the tatau more sparingly than the 
men, and with greater taste. It was always the custom 
of the natives to go barefooted, and the feet, to an inch 
above the ankles, of the chief women, were often neatly 
tataued; appearing as if they wore a loose kind of san¬ 
dal, or elegant open-worked boot. The arms were fre¬ 
quently marked with circles, their fingers with rings, 
and their wrists with bracelets. The thin transparent 
skin over the black dye, often gave to the tatau a tinge 
of blue. 
The females seldom, if ever, marked their faces; the 
figures on their feet and hands were all the ornaments 
they exhibited. Many suffered much from the pain 
occasioned by the operation, and from the swelling and 
inflammation that followed, which often continued for a 
long time, and ultimately proved fatal. This, however, 
seldom deterred others from attempting to secure this 
badge of distinction or embellishment of person. 
On account of the immoral practices invariably con¬ 
nected with the process of tatauing, the chiefs prohibited 
it altogether, and, excepting a few foreign seamen, who 
often evinced as great a desire to have some figure 
tataued on their arms or hands, as the natives them¬ 
selves, there had not been an individual marked for some 
years. 
In the month of July, We heard that a number, about 
forty-six young persons, had been marking themselves. 
The principal chiefs came to ask our opinion, as to what 
