TATTOOING
A desire to add to Nature’s scanty endowments of beauty, seems to
be one of our earliest endeavours, after we have shed our fur and
abandoned the arboreal abodes of our four-handed and conservative
brothers. Whether, or not, we have in every instance, succeeded in
improving on Nature’s unadorned charms must remain pretty much a matter
of taste.
The fashion of elaborate tattooing, which seems to have been prevalent
among the men of the past generation in Uap, is at present decidedly on
the wane. There are still some few middle-aged men who proudly display
a complete suit of tattooing, but I am afraid that they are looked upon
by the dandies of the day somewhat in the same light as the wearer of a
frilled shirt-front and lace cuffs would be regarded by the exquisites
of our own day,--just a tinge of respect for old age but a devout
thankfulness that such fashions are not the demand of this enlightened
and superior era.
Fifteen or twenty years ago the tattooing on the men of Uap covered the
greater part of their bodies from the nape of the neck to the calves
of the legs. To be beautiful and in fashion one had indeed to suffer,
especially as no such delicate instruments as steel needles could be
employed to convey the pigment beneath the skin; the bone of a sea fowl
or of a fish is to the present day the only material that may be used
to puncture the skin, and it takes a quite vigourous blow to drive
these dull points through a skin that has been hardened and thickened
by constant exposure to sun and to salt water.
[Illustration: THE TATTOOING OF THE MEN OF FASHION. THIS IS NOT
UNIVERSAL AMONG THE MEN OF THE PRESENT DAY.]
[Illustration: TATTOOING]
I was unable to find any evidence that this elaborate tattooing was a
badge of superiority, or that it was done for any other object than
adornment; the only distinction that it seemed to confer was that
it proved that the person thus ornamented was a free man; the slave
class or Pimlingai are strictly prohibited from tattooing their bodies
and, as I have mentioned before, from wearing combs in the knot of
hair worn on the top of the head. The custom of tattooing was never
prevalent among the women, except those who had been captured from
other communities to be companions for the men in the Failu or Pabai;
they were tattooed on the backs of their hands and on their legs as a
lasting reminder, when they had married respectably and had lost their
youthful charm in bringing up a family, that once they had been like
the lilies of the field and a thing of beauty, but, sadly indeed, not a
joy forever.
The middle-aged men who now show the elaborate and extensive tattooing,
say that the fashion was introduced from the island Mukamuk, lying
about seventy miles to the northward of Uap. Men from this island
once long ago drifted down to Uap and taught both the men and women
how to tattoo. In those early days only the warriors were allowed to
ornament their legs with the pattern known as “_Thilibetrak_,” but
since serious battles have ceased between the people of neighbouring
districts, the restriction has been ignored and now if these
patterns adorn the legs it is only to be ultra fashionable and to
prove more charming in the eyes of the fair sex. The “_Ngol_”
or representations of sharks, some say, are to protect the wearers
from attacks from these fish while swimming in the lagoon, but others
maintain that these patterns are chosen solely because the shark is
the king of fish, and fish are such important items of the food supply
of the island. _Götau_ is the native name for the art, and women
are usually the artists during long nights and lazy days in the Pabai
or the Failu. Colouring material is obtained from a mixture of the
soot from burning coconut oil and the milk of the coconut and a little
water. This somewhat sticky mixture is dabbed on the skin, using a
pointed stick as a pencil or brush to mark the outline of the pattern
and the colouring matter is then driven under the skin by means of
a needle or graver shaped like a rake,--that is with the teeth at a
right angle to the handle,--the blade being made of a segment about an
inch long from the wing bone of the frigate bird (in default of that
the wing bone of an ordinary fowl) at one end of which six sharp
little teeth have been cut and pointed by means of a leaf of bamboo
grass which, owing to the amount of silicon therein contained, makes
an excellent whetting material. This blade is bound at right angles to
a wooden handle about five inches long. In making the punctures in the
skin this handle is struck with a wooden beater and the sharp teeth
carry the ink through the outer layers of epidermis. From a very slight
acquaintance with the operation I can nevertheless say truthfully
that it is quite painful, and almost every puncture of the needle is
followed by an oozing of blood.
[Illustration: USUAL TATTOO MARKS OF A MISPIL]
I tried in vain to get photographs of the well-tattooed men and women,
but with any but orthochromatic plates no trace of the patterns appears
on the negative; I made careful sketches, however, both of the old
fashioned tattooing of the men and the designs to be found on the
Mispils of the present day, as examples of Uap art, since this is
almost the only form of decorative delineation practiced by them.