. The tragedy of the seas; or, Sorrow on the ocean, lake, and river, from shipwreck, plague, fire and famine . here give a brief account of it. We were, in the first place, securely bound down to theground, and there held fast by our tormentors. They thenproceeded to draw, with a sharp stick, the figures designedto be imprinted on the skin. This done, the skin was thicklypunctured with a little instrument made of sharpened fish 144 THE WRECK OF THE SHIP MENTOR. bones, and somewhat resembling a carpenters adz, in min-iature, but having teeth, instead of a smooth, sharp instrument was
. The tragedy of the seas; or, Sorrow on the ocean, lake, and river, from shipwreck, plague, fire and famine . here give a brief account of it. We were, in the first place, securely bound down to theground, and there held fast by our tormentors. They thenproceeded to draw, with a sharp stick, the figures designedto be imprinted on the skin. This done, the skin was thicklypunctured with a little instrument made of sharpened fish 144 THE WRECK OF THE SHIP MENTOR. bones, and somewhat resembling a carpenters adz, in min-iature, but having teeth, instead of a smooth, sharp instrument was held within an inch or two of the flesh,and struck into it rapidly with a piece of wood, applied toit in such a manner as to cause it to rebound at every this way our breasts and arms were prepared ; and subse-quently the ink, which was made of a vegetable, found onthe island, and called by them the c savvan^ was applied-The operation caused such an inflammation of our bodies,that only a portion could be done at one time ; and as soonas the inflammation abated, another portion was done, as fast. Mr. Holden undergoing the Process of Tattooing. as we could bear it, till our bodies were covered. It waseffectually done; for to this day the figures remain as dis-tinct as they were when first imprinted, and the marks willbe carried by us to the grave. They were exceedinglyanxious to perform the operation upon our faces; but thiswe would not submit to, telling them that sooner than haveit done we would die in resisting them. Among themselves,the oldest people had the greatest quantity of tattooing, andthe younger class less. Besides the operation of tattooing, they compelled us topluck the hair from different parts of the body, and to pluck SENT ADRIFT IN A CANOE. 145 our beards about every ten days, which was extremely pain-ful ; and at every successive operation the beard grew outharder and stifTer. u About a year after we first arrived at the island, WilliamSedon became s
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, booksubjectshipwrecks, bookyea, tattoo, tattooing
