{"id":"01KG8AKSKQ97T65351D48H780Y","cid":"bafkreifftr55myhptkmm2kusfrbarcwiinocwoi7v57asbv4co6baxigf4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1070,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.149Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":1009,"text":"CHAPTER VIII.\r\nTHE TATTOOERS OF LA DOMINICA\r\n\r\n\r\nFor a while leaving Little Jule to sail away by herself, I will here\r\nput down some curious information obtained from Hardy.\r\n\r\nThe renegado had lived so long on the island that its customs were\r\nquite familiar; and I much lamented that, from the shortness of our\r\nstay, he could not tell us more than he did.\r\n\r\nFrom the little intelligence gathered, however, I learned to my\r\nsurprise that, in some things, the people of Hivarhoo, though of the\r\nsame group of islands, differed considerably from my tropical friends\r\nin the valley of Typee.\r\n\r\nAs his tattooing attracted so much remark, Hardy had a good deal to say\r\nconcerning the manner in which that art was practised upon the island.\r\n\r\nThroughout the entire cluster the tattooers of Hivarhoo enjoyed no\r\nsmall reputation. They had carried their art to the highest perfection,\r\nand the profession was esteemed most honourable. No wonder, then, that\r\nlike genteel tailors, they rated their services very high; so much so\r\nthat none but those belonging to the higher classes could afford to\r\nemploy them. So true was this, that the elegance of one’s tattooing was\r\nin most cases a sure indication of birth and riches.\r\n\r\nProfessors in large practice lived in spacious houses, divided by\r\nscreens of tappa into numerous little apartments, where subjects were\r\nwaited upon in private. The arrangement chiefly grew out of a singular\r\nordinance of the Taboo, which enjoined the strictest privacy upon all\r\nmen, high and low, while under the hands of a tattooer. For the time,\r\nthe slightest intercourse with others is prohibited, and the small\r\nportion of food allowed is pushed under the curtain by an unseen hand.\r\nThe restriction with regard to food, is intended to reduce the blood,\r\nso as to diminish the inflammation consequent upon puncturing the skin.\r\nAs it is, this comes on very soon, and takes some time to heal; so that\r\nthe period of seclusion generally embraces many days, sometimes several\r\nweeks.\r\n\r\nAll traces of soreness vanished, the subject goes abroad; but only\r\nagain to return; for, on account of the pain, only a small surface can\r\nbe operated upon at once; and as the whole body is to be more or less\r\nembellished by a process so slow, the studios alluded to are constantly\r\nfilled. Indeed, with a vanity elsewhere unheard of, many spend no small\r\nportion of their days thus sitting to an artist.\r\n\r\nTo begin the work, the period of adolescence is esteemed the most\r\nsuitable. After casting about for some eminent tattooer, the friends of\r\nthe youth take him to his house to have the outlines of the general\r\nplan laid out. It behoves the professor to have a nice eye, for a suit\r\nto be worn for life should be well cut.\r\n\r\nSome tattooers, yearning after perfection, employ, at large wages, one\r\nor two men of the commonest order—vile fellows, utterly regardless of\r\nappearances, upon whom they first try their patterns and practise\r\ngenerally. Their backs remorselessly scrawled over, and no more canvas\r\nremaining, they are dismissed and ever after go about, the scorn of\r\ntheir countrymen.\r\n\r\nHapless wights! thus martyred in the cause of the Fine Arts.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJG7BF5TQY7F5YHS0Y1DK","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKSKQJNK37RVC78ATCV72","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.991Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:23.749Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}