Our song rises to the gods
And fervour descends to the artist
Beat the drums
Praise the tattooist
The black gannet
Its wings spread out
Flies towards us
Its blackness flows
Into the artist’s lines
Draw good lines Tattooist

Around 1850, almost all the men on the Carolines were tattooed from the neck to the upper thigh with symmetrical geometric designs. The first small tattoos were applied to boys of ten. Full-body tattooing was only performed on adults, avoiding the distortion in the designs that could result from growth. The movement of people and goods between the islands increased with the arrival of the Europeans and the differences between the various tattoo styles and other traditions declined. Men would ‘island-hop’ with their canoes, bartering goods and acquiring the traditional tattoos of other islands, activities that increased after Cook’s arrival. Westerners also influenced the Caroline tattoo style.