g with a vegetable juice the
ashes of the 'armor', or candle-nut, always preserved for the purpose.
Beside the savage, and spread out upon a piece of soiled tappa, were
a great number of curious black-looking little implements of bone and
wood, used in the various divisions of his art. A few terminated in a
single fine point, and, like very delicate pencils, were employed in
giving the finishing touches, or in operating upon the more sensitive
portions of the body, as was the case in the present instance. Others
presented several points distributed in a line, somewhat resembling the
teeth of a saw. These were employed in the coarser parts of the work,
and particularly in pricking in straight marks. Some presented their
points disposed in small figures, and being placed upon the body,
were, by a single blow of the hammer, made to leave their indelible
impression. I observed a few the handles of which were mysteriously
curved, as if intended to be introduced into the orifice of the ear,
with a view perhaps of beating the tattoo upon the tympanum. Altogether
the sight of these strange instruments recalled to mind that display
of cruel-looking mother-of-pearl-handled things which one sees in their
velvet-lined cases at the elbow of a dentist.

The artist was not at this time engaged on an original sketch, his
subject being a venerable savage, whose tattooing had become somewhat
faded with age and needed a few repairs, and accordingly he was merely
employed in touching up the works of some of the old masters of the
Typee school, as delineated upon the human canvas before him. The parts
operated upon were the eyelids, where a longitudinal streak, like the
one which adorned Kory-Kory, crossed the countenance of the victim.

In spite of all the efforts of the poor old man, sundry twitchings and
screwings of the muscles of the face denoted the exquisite sensibility
of these shutters to the windows of his soul, which he was now having
repainted. But the artist, with a heart as callous as that of an army
surgeon, continued his performance, enlivening his labours with a wild
chant, tapping away the while as merrily as a woodpecker.

So deeply engaged was he in his work, that he had not observed our
approach, until, after having, enjoyed an unmolested view of the
operation, I chose to attract his attention. As soon as he perceived me,
supposing that I sought him in his professional capacity, he seized hold
of me in a paroxysm of d