s whole body with
a tooth of the animal called the "acouti"; and then, in order to heal
the gashes thus made, he rubbed into them an infusion of pimento, which
occasioned an agonizing pain to the poor patient; but it was
indispensable that he should endure the whole, adds our author, without
the least contortion of countenance or any other evidence of suffering.

Wherever, indeed, the spirit of war has entered largely into the
institutions of a people, as it has almost always done among savage and
imperfectly civilized nations, we find traces of similar observances.
Something of the same object which has just been attributed to the
tattooing of the New Zealanders, and the more complicated ceremonies of
initiation practised among the American Indians, may be recognised even
in certain of the rites of European chivalry, whether we take them as
described in the learned volumes of Du Cange, or in the more amusing
recitals of Cervantes.

The New Zealanders, like many other savages, are also in the habit of
anointing themselves with a mixture of grease and red ochre. This sort
of rouge is very much used by the women, and "being generally," says
Cook, "fresh and wet upon their cheeks and foreheads, was easily
transferred to the noses of those who thought fit to salute them; and
that they were not wholly averse to such familiarity, the noses of
several of our men strongly testified." "The faces of the men," he adds,
"were not so generally painted; yet we saw one, whose whole body, and
even his garments, were rubbed over with dry ochre, of which he kept a
piece constantly in his hand, and was every minute renewing the
decoration in one part or another, where he supposed it was become
deficient."

It has been conjectured that this painting of the body, among its other
uses, might also be intended, in some cases, as a protection against the
weather, or, in other words, to serve the same purpose as clothing. Even
where there is no plastering, the tattooing may be found to indurate the
skin, and to render it less sensible to cold. This notion, perhaps,
derives some confirmation from the appearance which these marks often
assume.

Cook describes some of the New Zealanders, whom he saw on his first
visit to the country, as having their thighs stained entirely black,
with the exception of a few narrow lines, "so that at first sight," says
he, "they appeared to wear striped breeches."

The Baron de Humboldt, too, informs us that t