170 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
having their tongues tataued; and the artist was per¬ 
forming this operation on her’s when Ī entered. He 
first immersed the face of the instrument, which was a 
quarter of an inch wide, and set with a number of small 
fish-bones, into the colouring matter, placed it on her 
tongue, and giving it a quick and smart stroke with a 
small rod in his right hand, punctured the skin, and 
injected the dye at the same time. Her tongue bled 
much, and a few moments after I entered she made a 
sign for him to desist. She emptied her mouth of the 
blood, and then held her hands to it to counteract the 
pain. As soon as it appeared to have subsided a little, 
I remarked that Ī was sorry to see her following so 
useless a custom; and asked if it was not exceedingly 
painful ? She answered, He eha nui no, he nui roa ra 
Jam aroha ! Pain, great indeed; but greater my affec¬ 
tion ! After further remarks, I asked some of the others 
why they chose that method of shewing their affec¬ 
tionate remembrance of the dead? They said, Aore roa 
ia e naro! That will never disappear, or be obliter¬ 
ated ! 
Another method, very generally practised by all 
classes on these occasions, was that of burning on 
their skin a large number of semicircles disposed in 
different forms. It was not done by a heated iron, but 
having stripped the bark from a small branch of a tree, 
about an inch in diameter, they held it in the fire till 
one end of the bark was perfectly ignited, and in this 
state applied it to the face or bosom, which instantly 
raised the skin, and after the blister had subsided the 
scars remained a number of days. 
We never found any apologists for the enormities 
practised on these occasions; and the only excuse 
