other flattened like an oar-blade. Hanging obliquely from his
girdle by a loop of sinnate was a richly decorated pipe; the
slender reed forming its stem was coloured with a red pigment,
and round it, as well as the idol-bowl, fluttered little
streamers of the thinnest tappa.

But that which was most remarkable in the appearance of this
splendid islander was the elaborate tattooing displayed on every
noble limb. All imaginable lines and curves and figures were
delineated over his whole body, and in their grotesque variety
and infinite profusion I could only compare them to the crowded
groupings of quaint patterns we sometimes see in costly pieces of
lacework. The most simple and remarkable of all these ornaments
was that which decorated the countenance of the chief. Two broad
stripes of tattooing, diverging from the centre of his shaven
crown, obliquely crossed both eyes--staining the lids--to a
little below each ear, where they united with another stripe
which swept in a straight line along the lips and formed the base
of the triangle. The warrior, from the excellence of his
physical proportions, might certainly have been regarded as one
of Nature's noblemen, and the lines drawn upon his face may
possibly have denoted his exalted rank.

This warlike personage, upon entering the house, seated himself
at some distance from the spot where Toby and myself reposed,
while the rest of the savages looked alternately from us to him,
as if in expectation of something they were disappointed in not
perceiving. Regarding the chief attentively, I thought his
lineaments appeared familiar to me. As soon as his full face was
turned upon me, and I again beheld its extraordinary