The process of tattooing was known as ta tatau. Ta is the verb, and tatau the effect of the process. Tattoo has probably been taken from tatau, and should not be transposed back as tatu. In Maori the process is ta moko, where the verb is the same, but the noun is totally different.

Implements. The tattooing implement was made from the bone of a bird, and in later years the bone of a cat. The bone was scraped down thin, angiangi, and worked into serrations or teeth. The bone part was tied on at right angles to a wooden handle of teka, hau, or any appropriate wood. This instrument was simply called ivi, bone. A short piece of wood as thick as the little finger was used to tap the bone implement. It was called rakau papa or rakau patupatu.

Pigment. The pigment was procured by burning the kernels of the candle-nut under an inverted bowl or ipu of cocoanut shell. The soot was collected and mixed with water. The pigment took its name from the soot, and was called ngarahu.

Swab, horoi toto. A piece of bark cloth, pahoa, was wrapped round the fourth and fifth fingers of the left hand and used to swab up any blood from the operation. This gave the name of horoitoto, horoi to wipe away, and toto blood.

Procedure. The bone points were dipped in the pigment, applied to the skin, and tapped with the rakau papa. It was stated that no incantations were used, as was done in New Zealand. The expert tattooer or tahunga was feasted after the operation was over and paid with presents of food. It was said that anyone could become tattooed, his sub-tribe helping by contributing to the feast. On asking about anyone too poor to provide a feast, the answer was, "There was no man who did not have relatives."

Designs. It was held that tattooing designs, or rather motives, were derived from carving on wood, pana. From page 364tattooing, they were afterwards copied on floor mats. Lieut.-Colonel Gudgeon⁴ states it was held that each canoe that arrived from Hawaiki was carved on the bow with a more or less distinct pattern, and that the carving was adopted by those who came in the canoe as the ta tatau which should for all time distinguish them from other tribes. It seems reasonable that tattooing should be a later development than carving. The more developed tools and the preparation of pigment would indicate that. It is also natural to suppose that the motives carved on wood should suggest similar motives on flesh. Wood must have been the practicing medium. Different motives must have come in at various periods and become the fashion at that particular time, just as occurs in modern times. Thus it seems much more likely that the various canoes brought in different fashions, due to a period, and not motives that were adopted as a tribal heraldic device. The tattoo motives given to the author by Kake Maunga in 1906⁵ are here repeated, and those given by Lieut.-Colonel Gudgeon are compared with them.