tattooing-needle

Updated: July 11, 2025

The operation is done bit by bit, some one part being treated every few days. The colour used is the rosin of a nut-tree precipitated on a cool stone and mixed with the juice of a plant; the pattern is drawn on the skin with a stick, and then traced with the tattooing-needle. This consists of three orange thorns, tied at right angles to a stick.

Felix Speiser - Two Years with the Natives in the Western Pacific