seem to have of prefixing the sound "a" to many of their words,
"Amoco."[U]

The description which Rutherford gives of the process agrees entirely
with what has been stated by other observers; although it certainly has
been generally understood that, in no case, was the whole operation
undergone at once, as it would, however, appear to have been in his.
Both Cruise and Marsden expressly state, that, according to their
information, it always required several months, and sometimes several
years, to tattoo a chief perfectly; owing to the necessity for one part
of the face or body being allowed to heal before commencing the
decoration of another. Perhaps, however, this prolongation of the
process may only be necessary when the moko is of a more intricate
pattern, or extends over a larger portion of the person, than that which
Rutherford received; or, in his peculiar circumstances, it may have been
determined that he should have his powers of endurance put to still
harder proof than a native would have been required to submit to in
undergoing the same ceremony.

The portrait of Rutherford accurately represents the tattooing on his
body. Cruise asserts that the tattooing in New Zealand is renewed
occasionally, as the lines become fainter by time, to the latest period
of life; and that one of the chiefs who returned home in the "Dromedary"
was re-tattooed soon after his arrival.

From Rutherford's account, and he is corroborated as to that point by
the other authorities, it will be perceived that the operation of
tattooing is one of a still more severe and sanguinary description in
New Zealand than it would seem to be in any of the other islands of the
South Sea; for it is performed here, not merely by means of a sort of