"Both in the boats and on the land we had a good opportunity to study the natives, who are said to be the finest type of Polynesians. They belong to the Malay race, and are distinguished for their graceful and symmetrical figures; the men are tall and well proportioned, with skins of a dark copper color, while the women are considerably lighter in complexion, partly in consequence of their being less exposed to the sun, and partly because of certain pigments which they apply to their faces and arms.
"Tattooing is in fashion here; it prevails among both sexes, though more among the men than the women. It takes a long time to perform it thoroughly. A resident Frenchman with whom we talked on the subject said that the operation began at the age of nineteen or twenty, and was rarely finished until the subject was approaching his fortieth year. It is performed with an instrument shaped like a comb, or rather like a small chisel with its end fashioned into teeth. The figure is drawn upon the skin, and then the artist dips the comb into an ink made of burnt cocoanut-shell and water, until the blunt ends of the teeth have taken up some of the coloring matter. Then the comb is placed on the proper spot, and with a mallet is driven through the skin, eliciting a howl from the subject, unless he is of stoical mood.
"Only a few square inches can be operated on at a time. The flesh swells and becomes very sore, and the performance cannot be repeated until the swelling subsides and the patient has gathered strength and recovered from the fever into which he is generally thrown. We are told that the custom is far less prevalent than when the islands were first discovered, and it will probably die out in another generation or two.
"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.