edge of the
art, and wasted no time in sparring, but hit straight out at each other's
heads, and their blows were delivered with great force. Frequently one
of the combatants was knocked down with a single blow; and one gigantic
fellow hit his adversary so severely that he drove the skin entirely off
his forehead. This feat was hailed with immense applause by the
spectators.

During these exhibitions, which were very painful to me, though I confess
I could not refrain from beholding them, I was struck with the beauty of
many of the figures and designs that were tattooed on the persons of the
chiefs and principal men. One figure, that seemed to me very elegant,
was that of a palm-tree tattooed on the back of a man's leg, the roots
rising, as it were, from under his heel, the stem ascending the tendon of
the ankle, and the graceful head branching out upon the calf. I
afterwards learned that this process of tattooing is very painful, and
takes long to do, commencing at the age of ten, and being continued at
intervals up to the age of thirty. It is done by means of an instrument
made of bone, with a number of sharp teeth with which the skin is
punctured. Into these punctures a preparation made from the kernel of
the candle-nut, mixed with cocoa-nut oil, is rubbed, and the mark thus
made is indelible. The operation is performed by a class of men whose
profession it is, and they tattoo as much at a time, as the person on
whom they are operating can bear; which is not much, the pain and
inflammation caused by tattooing being very great, sometimes causing
death. Some of the chiefs were tattooed with an ornamental stripe down
the legs, which gave them the appearance of being clad in tights. Others
had marks round the ankles and insteps, which looked like tight-fitting
and elegant boots. Their faces were also tattooed, and their breasts
were very profusely marked with every imaginable species of
device,--muskets, dogs, birds, pigs, clubs, and canoes, intermingled with
lozenges, squares, circles, and other arbitrary figures.

The women were not tattooed so much as the men, having only a few marks
on their feet and arms. But I must say, however objectionable this
strange practice may be, it nevertheless had this good effect, that it
took away very much from their appearance of nakedness.

Next day, while we were returning from the woods to our schooner, we
observed Romata rushing about in the neighbourhood of his house