Skin Deep
Tahiti Revisited. By William Hodges, 1776.
Capt James Cook first visited Tahiti in 1769 to observe the Transit of Venus, the apparent passage of the planet Venus across the Sun. He visited the island again in 1773, 1774 and 1779. His crew admired the Tahitians' arts and customs. They were fascinated by the Tahitian custom of 'puncturing' and 'staining' the body. The Tahitian word for this practice — tatau — entered the English language as 'tattow' or 'tattoo'. The crew saw tattooing as an exotic form of decoration but did not understand the vital role that it played in Tahitian society. The most important function of Tahitian tattooing was to protect the wearer and other members of society from the dangers of the 'spirit world', or po. Tattoos 'sealed' each person's tapu (or 'sacredness') within his own body. This prevented spiritual harm to himself or others