Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/154

 126 FIJI AND THE FIJIANS. across the forehead a frontlet of small scarlet feathers fixed on palm- leaf, while a long black comb or tortoiseshell hair-pin — aJids, " scratcher " — projects several inches beyond the right temple. Ear ornaments are used by both sexes, not pendent, but passing through the lobe of the ear, and varying in size from the thickness of the finger to that of the wrist. Some insert a white cowry, and a few have the opening so dis- tended as to admit a ring ten inches in circumference. The Fijian procures many ornamental articles of his toilette from the forest, the vines and flowers of which are wrought into chaplets, necklaces, and wreaths : the latter are thrown over one shoulder, so as to cross the body and fall gracefully on the opposite hip. Fillets of dried leaves are worn on the limbs, and enduring but unsightly scars are cut in the skin, sometimes in concentric circles ; rows of wart-like spots are burned along the arms and backs of the women, which they and their admirers call ornamental. Genuine tattooing is only found on the women ; but not much of it is seen, as it is covered by the liku. Young women have barbed lines on their hands and fingers ; and the middle-aged, patches of blue at the corners of the mouth. The custom of tattooing is said to be in conformity with the appointment of Ndengei, and its neglect punished after death. The native name is qia, and, as it is confined to women, so the operators are always of the same sex. An instrument called a " tooth," consisting of four or five fine bone teeth fixed to a light handle six inches long, is dipped in a pigment made of charcoal and candle-nut oil ; the pattern having been previously marked on the body, the lines are rendered permanent by the blackened comb, which is driven through the skin in the same mamier as a fleam, though with less violence. Months are often occupied in the process, which is painful, and only submitted to from motives of pride and fear. Feasts are held also in connexion with this. The command of the god afiects but one part of the body, and the fingers are only marked to ex- cite the admiration of the Chief, who sees them in the act of presenting his food. The spots at the corners of the mouth notify, on some islands, that the woman has borne children, but oftener are for the concealment of the wrinkles of age. Fijians account humorously for the Tongan practice of tattooing being confined to the men instead of the women. They say that the Tongan who first reported the custom to his countrymen, being anxious to state it correctly, repeated, in a sing-song tone, as he went along, " Tattoo the women, but not the men ; tattoo the women, but not the men." By ill luck, he struck his foot violently against a stump in the path. and. in the confusion which followed, reversed the order of his