; but although
the fire had been extinguished, the house was still filled with smoke,
the door being shut, and there being neither chimney nor window to let
it out.

"In the morning, when we arose, the chief gave us back our knives and
tobacco-boxes, which they had taken from us while in the canoe, on our
first being made prisoners; and we then breakfasted on some potatoes and
cockles, which had been cooked while we were at the sea-coast, and
brought thence in baskets.

"Aimy's wife and two daughters now arrived, which occasioned another
grand crying ceremony; and when it was over, the three ladies came to
look at me and my companions. In a short time, they had taken a fancy to
some small gilt buttons which I had on my waist-coat; and Aimy making a
sign for me to cut them off, I immediately did so, and presented them
for their acceptance. They received them very gladly, and, shaking hands
with me, exclaimed, 'The white man is very good.'

"The whole of the natives having then seated themselves on the ground in
a ring, we were brought into the middle and, being stripped of our
clothes, and laid on our backs, we were each of us held down by five or
six men, while two others commenced the operation of tattooing us.

"Having taken a piece of charcoal, and rubbed it upon a stone with a
little water until they had produced a thickish liquid, they then dipped
into it an instrument made of bone, having a sharp edge like a chisel,
and shaped in the fashion of a garden-hoe, and immediately applied it to
the skin, striking it twice or thrice with a small piece of wood. This
made it cut into the flesh as a knife would have done, and caused a
great deal of blood to flow, which they kept wiping off with the side of
the hand, in order to see if the impression was sufficiently clear. When
it was not, they applied the bone a second time to the same place. They
employed, however, various instruments in the course of the operation;
one which they sometimes used being made of a shark's tooth, and another
having teeth like a saw. They had them also of different sizes, to suit
the different parts of the work.

"While I was undergoing this operation, although the pain was most
acute, I never either moved or uttered a sound; but my comrades moaned
dreadfully. Although the operators were very quick and dexterous, I was
four hours under their hands; and during the operation Aimy's eldest
daughter several times wiped the blood from my face w