Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/187

1769 their language. This they do by inlaying black under their skins, in such a manner as to be indelible. Every one is thus marked in different parts of his body, according maybe to his humour, or different circumstances of his life. Some have ill-designed figures of men, birds or dogs; but they more generally have a Z, either plain—as is generally the case with the women on every joint of their fingers and toes and often round the outside of their feet—or in different figures such as squares, circles, crescents, etc., which both sexes have on their arms and legs; in short, they have an infinite diversity of figure in which they place this mark. Some of them we were told had significations; but these we never learnt to our satisfaction. Their faces are generally left without any marks; I did not see more than one instance to the contrary. Some few old men had the greater part of their bodies covered with large patches of black, which ended in deep indentations, like coarse imitations of flame; these we were told were not natives of Otahite, but came from a low island called Noonoora. Although they vary so much in the application of the figures—I have mentioned that both the quantity and situation seem to depend entirely upon the humour of each individual—yet all the islanders I have seen (except those of Oheteroa) agree in having their buttocks covered with a deep black. Over this most have arches, which are often a quarter of an inch broad, drawn one above the other as high as their short ribs, and neatly worked on their edges with indentations, etc. These arches are their great pride: both men and women show them with great pleasure, whether as a mark of beauty, or a proof of their perseverance and resolution in bearing pain I cannot tell. The pain in doing this is almost intolerable, especially the arches upon the loins, which are so much more susceptible to pain than the fleshy buttocks.

The colour they use is lamp black prepared from the smoke of a kind of oily nut, used by them instead of candles. This is kept in cocoanut shells, and occasionally mixed with water for use. Their instruments for pricking this under the skin are made of flat bone or shell; the lower part of