The Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen wrote that a number of inhabitants of Samoa were dressed in tight silk hose. In reality, these were exceptionally detailed tattoos. For centuries, the application of the trouser tattoo was a rite of passage for young men approaching adulthood. The inhabitants called this tattoo pe’a, their word for a flying fox with a wingspan exceeding two metres. The symbolism of the flying fox originates in Samoan mythology where it serves as a guardian.

The tattooist (tufuga), often a chief himself and highly respected in the community, was well paid for his services, usually with finely woven mats. As with the Maori facial tattoo, the trouser tattoo comprised various elements, each with its own name and applied in a specific sequence. The largest areas of the pe’a were almost-horizontal broad bands pitched higher on the back of the body than on the front. There were also long rows of zigzagging stripes slanting from the pubic area around the legs, which were probably stylised representations of the millipede, leatualoa. A long shaft with hooks, representing a fishing spear, bordered the upper abdomen. An elongated triangle was placed just above the pubic area. The last part of the tattoo was the navel design. This was the only asymmetrical element and symbolised a boy’s ‘re-birth’ as an adult, much as cutting the umbilical cord completes the process of birth.