{"id":"01KG8AM7A3RPNNGF0AXMJN7V9R","cid":"bafkreib2lkxllx56hlv3vnsb7kaejgwcu722rfnvfswc6objurbcnoovqy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9377,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":9324,"text":"CHAPTER THIRTY\r\n\r\nA PROFESSOR OF THE FINE ARTS--HIS PERSECUTIONS--SOMETHING ABOUT\r\nTATTOOING AND TABOOING--TWO ANECDOTES IN ILLUSTRATION OF THE LATTER--A\r\nFEW THOUGHTS ON THE TYPEE DIALECT\r\n\r\nIn one of my strolls with Kory-Kory, in passing along the border of a\r\nthick growth of bushes, my attention was arrested by a singular noise.\r\nOn entering the thicket I witnessed for the first time the operation of\r\ntattooing as performed by these islanders.\r\n\r\nI beheld a man extended flat upon his back on the ground, and, despite\r\nthe forced composure of his countenance, it was evident that he was\r\nsuffering agony. His tormentor bent over him, working away for all the\r\nworld like a stone-cutter with mallet and chisel. In one hand he held a\r\nshort slender stick, pointed with a shark’s tooth, on the upright end of\r\nwhich he tapped with a small hammer-like piece of wood, thus puncturing\r\nthe skin, and charging it with the colouring matter in which the\r\ninstrument was dipped. A cocoanut shell containing this fluid was placed\r\nupon the ground. It is prepared by mixing with a vegetable juice the\r\nashes of the ‘armor’, or candle-nut, always preserved for the purpose.\r\nBeside the savage, and spread out upon a piece of soiled tappa, were\r\na great number of curious black-looking little implements of bone and\r\nwood, used in the various divisions of his art. A few terminated in a\r\nsingle fine point, and, like very delicate pencils, were employed in\r\ngiving the finishing touches, or in operating upon the more sensitive\r\nportions of the body, as was the case in the present instance. Others\r\npresented several points distributed in a line, somewhat resembling the\r\nteeth of a saw. These were employed in the coarser parts of the work,\r\nand particularly in pricking in straight marks. Some presented their\r\npoints disposed in small figures, and being placed upon the body,\r\nwere, by a single blow of the hammer, made to leave their indelible\r\nimpression. I observed a few the handles of which were mysteriously\r\ncurved, as if intended to be introduced into the orifice of the ear,\r\nwith a view perhaps of beating the tattoo upon the tympanum. Altogether\r\nthe sight of these strange instruments recalled to mind that display\r\nof cruel-looking mother-of-pearl-handled things which one sees in their\r\nvelvet-lined cases at the elbow of a dentist.\r\n\r\nThe artist was not at this time engaged on an original sketch, his\r\nsubject being a venerable savage, whose tattooing had become somewhat\r\nfaded with age and needed a few repairs, and accordingly he was merely\r\nemployed in touching up the works of some of the old masters of the\r\nTypee school, as delineated upon the human canvas before him. The parts\r\noperated upon were the eyelids, where a longitudinal streak, like the\r\none which adorned Kory-Kory, crossed the countenance of the victim.\r\n\r\nIn spite of all the efforts of the poor old man, sundry twitchings and\r\nscrewings of the muscles of the face denoted the exquisite sensibility\r\nof these shutters to the windows of his soul, which he was now having\r\nrepainted. But the artist, with a heart as callous as that of an army\r\nsurgeon, continued his performance, enlivening his labours with a wild\r\nchant, tapping away the while as merrily as a woodpecker.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRVDMZY05FRQ5JENW1SE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7A3WJK91BR3DFPGSBVP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.019Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.681Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}