OF THE TONGA PEOPLE. 253

amputating a portion of the praeputium, ac-cording to the Jewish rite.

The operation of the ta tattow, or punctur-ing the skin, and marking it with certain con-figurations, though it is not properly surgical,yet we mention it here, as it is very apt to pro-duce enlargements of the inguinal and axillaryglands. The instrument used for the purposeof this operation somewhat resembles a smalltooth comb : they have several kinds, of differ-ent degrees of breadth, from six up to fifty orsixty teeth: they are made of the bone of thewing of the wild duck. Being dipped in amixture of soot and water, the outline of thetattow is first marked off before the operatorbegins to puncture, which he afterwards doesby striking in the points of the instrument witha small stick cut out of a green branch, of thecocoa-nut tree: when the skin begins to bleed,which it quickly does, the operator occasionallywashes off the blood with cold water, and re-peatedly goes over the same places: as this isa very painful process, but a small portion of itis done at once, giving the patient (who mayjustly be so called) intervals of three or fourdays rest, so that it is frequently two monthsbefore it is completely finished. The partstattowed are from within two inches of theknees up to about three inches above the um-bilicus : there are certain patterns or forms of