THE ORIGIN OF TATTOOING.
AMONGST the papers sent to the Society by Mr. G. H. Davies is the following brief account of the origin of tattooing written, apparently, by an East Coast Maori. There is, perhaps, nothing very new in the note, nor does it explain why tattooing was introduced originally. It is worthy of note, however, that originally the women's tattooing was he mea haehae, which means, probably, that such tattooing was originally done by scratching the flesh (as with a shell or flint), and then the colouring matter rubbed in, not cut in with the uhi, or tattooing-tool, as at present.
Mr. Best supplies the following note: “Mataora 1 (who was the first man of the Maoris to be tattooed) married Niwareka, a daughter of Ue-tonga, who himself was a tattooer. She was of the Turehu race, who ate raw food. She was beaten by her husband and fled to her home, where she was followed by her husband, who there saw the real tattooing for the first time. This event appears to have taken place near Rarohenga (a name for Hades, situated in the ancient Fatherland, Hawaiki-nui), at a spot named Taranaki. Mataora came from runga (either the skies or the south) to Taranaki, where he was tattooed. Before his time the tattooing of the ‘upper world’ was mere painting, termed kowaiwai or hopara-makaurangi.’
Now, according to an East Coast genealogical table, Ue-tonga (the tattooer above and his daughter Niwareka) flourished seven generations before the great Māui, and the latter thirty-four generations before Porou-rangi, eponymous ancestor of Ngati-Porou, who flourished about the year 1350 (see Journal Polynesian Society, Vol. XV., p. 93), that is, Ue-tonga flourished sixty-three generations ago, or about the commencement of the fourth century; in other words, at the period that the Polynesians were still in Indonosia, if not in the Fatherland. Of course it is unsafe to take a single genealogical line like this to fix a date so far back, and other lines would probably differ widely from this. There is, however, something to be said in its favour, for we must clearly trace the contact with the Turehu or fair people at least as far back as when the Polynesians were in Indonesia, or even living in the ancient Fatherland.
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The names of the various patterns on the moko, or face tattooing, may be traced on the illustration of a Maori head, given at p. 109, Vol. XIII., of this Journal.
With reference to the word tattoo; this is Sir Joseph Banks' and Captain Cook's rendering of the Tahitian word tatau: “to mark the skin,” “to tattoo.” And therefore some European ethnologists are quite wrong in attempting to convert tattoo into tatu, for there is no such word in Polynesian with that meaning.
Here follows the Maori note:—
TE TIMATANGA MAI O TE TA-MOKO.
He korero tenei mo te tangata nana i timata te ta-moko: Tona ingoa ko Mataora; nana tenei moko e mau nei i o matou kanohi noi, i nga ngutu, i te rae, i nga paparinga, i nga papa. Ko tona ingoa o tera i nga papa he “Rape na Mataora.” Ko te ingoa o te moko ko te “Titi, Tiwhana, Paepae, Korowaha, Pihere, Kauwae, Hupe, Poniania, Ngu.” Ko te Titi kei waenganui o te rae. Ko nga Tiwhana i runga ake o nga tukemata, ko te Paepae kei te A kei raro iho i nga kanohi. Ko nga Korowaha i nga paparinga, ko te Putaka i te putake o nga taringa, ko te Pihere i te taha o nga pi o nga ngutu. Ko te Kauwae he kauwae ano, ko nga Ngutu, he ngutu ano (e rua nga ingoa o te moko i nga ngutu, he ngutu-purua tetahi; he ngutu-poroporotetahi. Ko te Hupe i raro iho i te poro o te ihu. Ko nga Poniania i te poro o te ihu. Ko nga Ngu kei te tinana o te ihu. Na Mataora tenei mahi, te ta moko; ko tana mea hei ta he iwi Toroa; ko tona ingoa o taua mea ta he “uhi a Mataora.”
Ko te moko o te wahine o taua wa he mea haehae, e hara i te mea ta. No te taenga mai ki tenei motu katahi ka taia; no konei tenei moko te “Pu-kauwae.” Ko te ahua o te moko o te wahine o taua wa o mua he penei x x ki te rae ki nga paparinga anake.
TRANSLATION.
“This has reference to the man who originated the ta-moko (or tattoo). His name was Mataora; his was the moko (face-tattoo) which is found on our faces, lips, foreheads, cheeks, and buttocks—that on the latter is called the ‘rape of Mataora’ (i.e., the great spirals on the buttocks). The names of the moko are:—
- Titi, in the centre of the forehead.
- Tiwhana, above the eyebrows.
- Paepae, on the A 2 below the eyes.
- Korowaha, on the cheeks.
- Te Hupe, below the end of the nose.
- Ngu, on the body of the nose.
- Putaka, at the root of the ear.
- Pihere, at the corner of the lips
- Kauwae, on the chin.
- Ngutu, on the lips.
- Poniania, on the end of the nose.
There are two names for the tattooing on the lips: Ngutu-purua and Ngutu-poroporo. Mataora was the originator of the ta-moko (or tattooing), and the implement he used was an Albatross bone (the chisel is) named ‘Uhi-a-Mataora.’ 3
“The tattooing of the women of that date was haehae, scratched; it was not ta (or done with the tattooing chisel). It was on our arrival at this island that the ta was used; and hence is the pu-kauwae (on the women's chins). The moko of the women at that ancient period was like this: x x x on the forehead and the cheeks.”
There would seem to be an opening here for someone to study the tattoos of the Indonesians and ascertain which among the various ethnie elements of that great archipelago at any time used painting instead of the moko, or face tattooing. It should be noticed in this connection that a system of face tattooing not unlike the spirals of the Maori is still in use amongst the Angami tribes of the Naga hills, east of Assam, India, and which people may possibly be the descendants of the Polynesians left in India when the great migration from the Fatherland took place.
1 We propose, later on, to give the full story of Mataora, which is very interesting from many points of view, but too long to insert here.—Editor.
2 The meaning of A here is not known to translator.
3 Uhi is the name of the tattooing chisel—see an illustration at p. 166, Vol. XIII., of this Journal.
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