GATTANEWA'S PORTRAIT.
"The marks made by tattooing are permanent, and no application has ever been found that will remove them. We have seen several men whose entire bodies were tattooed, others whose arms and faces had alone been wrought upon, and others again who had kept their faces free from marks but had their bodies covered. One old fellow consented to stand for his photograph in consideration of being rewarded with a hatchet and some fish-hooks, which we willingly gave him. We added a pocket-knife, which he received with a grunt of satisfaction, but without deigning to say 'Thank you,' or anything like its equivalent. He said his name was Gattanewa, and that he was grandson of a former chief of that name.
"The faces of the women are not tattooed, except that now and then they have a black line on the upper lip, which is quite suggestive of a budding mustache. One pretty woman was pointed out to us who was said to be the daughter of a chief; her hands and arms were tattooed, the tattooing on the arms extending nearly to the elbow. At a little distance she seemed to have on a pair of embroidered gloves, and this fact suggested an idea. Why could not the ladies of civilized lands have their hands tattooed in imitation of gloves, and thus save themselves the trouble and expense of donning a new pair so often? An ingenious artist could do it nicely, and he might even tattoo the buttons in their places, so that the gloves could have no possible chance of slipping off or getting out of shape.
TATTOO MARKS ON A CHIEF OF THE MARQUESAS.
"There was a chief of one of the interior tribes who presented an excellent specimen of the work of the Polynesian artist on a living canvas. Circles, squares, and all sorts of curious figures had been delineated on his skin, and then punctured in with the tattoo instrument; and the artist certainly possessed a correct eye, as all the drawing was mathematically exact. The chief allowed Frank to make a sketch of him, as the photograph did not bring out all the lines with distinctness; of course he was rewarded for his condescension, and as he received twice as much as he had expected, we had any number of candidates offering themselves when it was known how liberally we paid for services.
"Doctor Bronson says the custom prevails in many of the islands of Polynesia, though not in all, but is fast dying out through the influence of Christianity and civilization. Tattooing has been practised in almost all parts of the world and in all ages. According to the Bible, it must have existed in the time of Moses, for we find it to be one of the practices prohibited to the Jews. Read what is said in Leviticus, xix. 28: 'Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you.' It prevailed among the ancient Thracians, and the ancient Britons practised it. It still exists among sailors, and has probably descended through them from the time when it was common in Great Britain, though they may have adopted it from the barbarous countries to which their occupation carries them.
"Frank says these people are like a French salad, as they are dressed with oil; they use cocoanut-oil for polishing their skins and anointing their hair, and it is applied with great liberality. One of the presents we gave to the chief who stood for his picture was a flat bottle like a pocket-flask; he said through the interpreter that it was just the thing for carrying oil, and he will no doubt use it for that purpose until it goes the way of all bottles and is broken. The effect on the skin is less disagreeable than you might suppose, as it makes it shine like a piece of mahogany, and brings out the tattoo marks just as varnishing a picture brings out its strong points more clearly than before.