On the island Palau in the Carolines, the craft of tattooing, melgoth, was the exclusive domain of women. Their tools were made from a bone of a flying fox carved to produce three to seven sharp points; a hole was drilled at one end for a wooden handle. Tattooing declined during Japanese occupation (1914–45). Until then, everybody was tattooed, and the craft had evolved over previous centuries. It was only in the nineteenth century that the men began tattooing their shoulders and back with long, broad, curving lines similar to those on Yap. The major difference was that apart from geometric shapes, the inhabitants of Palau also used stylised motifs inspired by their environment. These included suns, bird’s talons, bats, flies, starfish and sea urchins. As elsewhere in Micronesia, the women were only tattooed on their arms, hands and lower body, but the style was unique. Only the thumb, middle and index fingers were tattooed, never the other two fingers, and there were rows of crosses, stars and zigzagging lines on the arms and the outer leg.