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[Page 396]

Manners & Customs of the S. Sea Islands

or Tattow as it is calld in their language. This they do by inlaying the colour of Black under their skins in such a manner as to be indelible every one is markd thus in different parts of his body according may be to his humour or different circumstances of his life Some have ill designd figures of men birds or dogs but they more generaly have this figure Z eitheir simply as the women are generaly marked with it on every Joint of their fingers & toes & often round the outside of their feet or in different figures of it as square circles crescents &c. which both sexes have on their arms & leggs in short they have an infinite diversity of figures in which they place this mark & some of which them we were told had significations but this we never learnt to our satisfaction Their faces are in general left without any marks I did not see more than one instance to the contrary Some few old men had the greatest part of their bodies coverd 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 there from a low Island called Noouoora.

Tho they are so various in the application of the figures I have mentiond that both the
 

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