“Upon the back is a large cross, which begins at the neck and ends with the last vertebra. In the front of the thigh are often figures which seem intended to represent the human face. On each side of the calf of the leg is an oval figure, which produces a very good effect. The whole, in fact, displays much taste and discrimination. Some of the tenderest parts of the body—the eyelids, for example—are the only parts not tattooed.”

As may be seen by the [illustration No. 2] on the 1046th page, even the hands are tattooed with the same minute care that is bestowed on the body. Each finger has its own pattern, so that the hand looks as if enclosed in a very tight-fitting glove. The reader will notice the great length of the nails. Among the Marquesans, as among the Chinese, very long nails are esteemed as a mark of rank, being a proof that the wearer is not obliged to do any hard work.

This elaborate ornamentation answers the purpose of dress, and is considered as such. Indeed, it would be useless to undergo so much pain, and to pay the operator such costly fees, if the tattooing were to be hidden by clothing. The men, therefore, wear nothing but a slight cloth round their waists, and the women of rank a similar garment, with the addition of a larger piece which they throw over their bodies to keep off the darkening rays of the sun.

Few phenomena struck the earlier travellers more than the difference in appearance and stature between the men and the women; and the same writer who has just been quoted remarks more than once that it was difficult to believe that the undersized, stumpy, awkward women could have been the parents of the magnificent, gigantic, and graceful men. There is, however, a great distinction between the women of rank and those of the lower orders. As was afterward discovered, the better class of women, who for some time kept themselves aloof from the strangers, being well developed, and of a fair complexion, about which they were very careful, enveloped themselves in their bark cloths, and never ventured into the sunshine without holding over their heads a bunch of leaves by way of parasol.

So careful are they of their complexions, that if they find themselves getting sunburnt they have a mode of bleaching themselves again, which they adopt before all great ceremonies, though at the cost of much time and trouble. They take the sap of three trees, with which they anoint the whole body. The immediate effect of the mixture is to dye the skin of a deep black. The pigment is allowed to remain on the skin for six days, during which time the woman remains within the house. At the expiration of that time she bathes, when all the black dye comes off, and the skin is left beautifully fair.

A woman who has just undergone this process, and who has dressed herself in all her native finery, is a very striking object, her body being gracefully enveloped in bark cloth, her hair adorned with flowers, and her fair skin almost without ornament except upon the feet, hands, and arms, which appear as if she were wearing boots, gloves, and bracelets.

The mode of tattooing is almost exactly like that of the Samoan islanders, except that the “comb” is made of the wing-bone of the tropic bird. The operation is always conducted in certain houses belonging to the professional tattooers, who lay on these buildings a tapu, which renders them unapproachable by women. As is the case in Samoa, the best tattooers are men of great importance, and are paid highly for their services, a Marquesan thinking that he is bound to be liberal toward a man to whom he is indebted for the charms which he values so highly. These men gain their skill by practising on the lower orders, who are too poor to pay for being tattooed, and who would rather wear a bad tattoo than none at all. A considerable amount is generally exacted at each operation, which lasts from three to six months; and so elaborate is the process, that a really complete tattoo can hardly be finished until the man is thirty years old.

By the time that the last piece of tattoo is executed, the first generally begins to fade, and if the man is rich enough he has the pattern renewed. Some men have been tattooed three times, and, as the patterns cannot be made to coincide precisely with each other, the result is that the whole skin becomes nearly as dark as that of a negro. In this state it is greatly admired, not because the effect is agreeable to the eye, but because it is an indubitable mark of wealth. The pigment used in the tattooing is the well-known aleurita, or candle nut, burned to a fine charcoal and mixed with water.

The ornaments worn by the men are more imposing than those of the women. In the first place, they allow the hair to grow to a considerable length, and dispose of it in various ways. For a number of years it is tied in a bunch on the top of the head; but when the man is rich enough to be entirely tattooed, he shaves all the head with the exception of a patch at each side, in order to allow the pattern of the tattoo to be extended over his head. In such a case, the tuft of hair at each side is still suffered to grow long, but is twisted into a conical form, so as to make a sort of horn projecting outward over each temple. Examples of this curious mode of wearing the hair may be seen in the [illustration No. 1], on page 1046.

Sometimes a man may be seen wearing the whole of his hair in curled ringlets. Such men are cultivating a crop for sale, as the Marquesans are very fond of decorating with these ringlets the handles of their spears and clubs, and of making them into ornamental figures which are worn on the ankles. The most valued of these decorations are long white human beards, which are grown for the express purpose, and sold at a very high price. The purchaser uses them either as plumes for his head or as ornamental appendages to his conch-shell trumpet. One of these beards is now always reckoned as equivalent in value to a musket, and before fire-arms were introduced was estimated at an equally high rate.