A Tattoo Odyssey

The journey gave me no real clue of the pristine beauty I was about to encounter in this remote spot. For three days I traveled with Islanders of the remote atoll of Ontong Java in the northern Solomon Islands. They told me of their islands and how the fish were abundant and the waters clear and deep. We were on a freight ship designed to carry supplies to the outer islands and return with copra, the sole cash crop produced in many of the outer Solomons.

People from Ndai Island, a brief stop on the way to Ontong Java, also told me of its beauty. But I found Ndai to be a rocky outcrop with little in the way of beaches or relief. At Ndai boys with colored hair greeted us in canoes that they pulled alongside the ship. There were natural redheads and blonds, and boys with green and purple hair they had dyed themselves.

Such self-expression is understandable in a place where a lot of clothing is unusual. They sold lobsters and crabs and offered bargains on bananas and taro. Many people stocked up as this would be the last fresh food stop for about a day-and-a- half.

The guidebook said our ultimate destination, Ontong Java, was about 50 miles long and 15 miles wide, shaped like a boot and comprised 122 separate islands. It sounded vast. Here was a total of seven square miles of land encircling about 870 square miles of lagoon. The people are of Polynesian ancestry, unlike much of the Solomon population, which is Melanesian.

The main focus of the trip was to talk to those who still practiced traditional tattooing. I was helping some people who were conducting a "tattoo odyssey" of sorts. Their hope was to compile a history of traditional tattooing in Micronesia and through studying the patterns all over Oceania and Asia, place it in today's societies, and predict its future. Ontong Java was known as one place that still carried on the tradition of body marking.

Women get tattooed when they are teenagers. The design covers their thighs and continues past their waist to about the rib cage, front and back, similar to Samoan men's tattoos. Ontong Javanese men have less pronounced tattoos that depict aspects of their homes and lives. For example, turtle designs incorporated into the tattoo would indicate the man or his father was a good turtle catcher. Men might also bear a unique forehead pattern and perhaps a fish hook design that extends over the shoulder.

The instruments used in tattooing here include a bird bone honed to razor sharpness and carved to have tiny, pointed teeth. The bone is then attached to a piece of wood or coral. A mallet is also fashioned from natural materials. The weathered nut of a shoreline shrub is gathered from the beaches. At a certain age, these nuts, when heated, produce black oil that is used as dye for the tattoos. A traditionally female community tattooist performs the ceremony on the women, which can last days. The end product lasts a lifetime.

Occasionally smaller tattoos are added. These days, a form of tattoo graffiti is also found with popular icons roughly etched on the bodies of younger folks. Most people from Ontong Java have a small dot between the eyebrows, so a person from this area can be readily identified on the streets of Honiara.

As we drew close to Ontong Java, it was a sunny mid-morning. We slowed and entered Ka Avaiko passage. Looking into the clear water, I could see immense table corals below and clouds of baitfish and reef tropicals in the shallows near the channel drop-off. In the lagoon, deep aquas and emeralds blended with the tans of the sandy shores. Outrigger canoes and small powerboats were being launched along the beaches. In increasing numbers, islanders in brightly colored lava-lavas made their way past coconut palm huts to the beach. The people were all on one large island I was told was Luaniua (pronounced loo-ah, nee-oo-ah).

The ship's arrival caused quite a frenzy. People scrambled to unload supplies. I got the feeling the supply ship had not come in quite some time. They also jockeyed to get copra aboard. As the sole moneymaker, along with some shark fin and sea cucumber sales, getting the copra to market determined whether the next few months would be lived in comfort or subsistence.

Tattoos are commonplace on Ontong Java. The ocean has abundant sealife, including the nautilus.

We met Paul Aui, the man we were to stay with. He explained that he lived far up the island chain and loaded us into an 18-foot fiberglass hull powered by a 25 horsepower engine. After a number of stops we arrived at his home set on a beach surrounded by coconut palms and protected by a small, natural sea wall.

You guessed it, for the next 10 (not two as planned, the ship didn't come back as scheduled) weeks we were the guests of this patient and generous man. Not only did he provide us a place to stay, he fed us daily, included us in all family functions, entertained us and made us feel his island, Sopalapala, was also our island.

Houses are built flush to the ground with a network of poles forming the frame with the roof thatched with pandanus leaves. We stayed in one that was formerly the beche-de-mer drying hut.

Aui told us village life on Luaniua was too hectic for him. Not only was it too crowded; traditional religion was being replaced by Christianity. He said there were local priests. The village had seen how missionaries had disrupted people's lives while fighting for converts in other parts of the Solomons. In Ontong Java they didn't want that to happen. So they voted to let only the Anglican religion come in. When it did, it started to change traditional spirit worship and other beliefs. Aui said the people who live on the outer islands, like him, still believe in the traditions.

One way this manifested itself was in the tattooing. He still wished for his youngest daughter to receive the traditional markings. Many teenagers in the village had foregone the practice in recent years. But if Aui could come up with various items, including about US$400 worth of calico for the tattooist, then his daughter could be given this traditional passage into womanhood that was fast disappearing in the islands.

The people of Ontong Java are of Polynesian ancestry.

Life on a foreign atoll was not idyllic at all times. There were constant worries about health and nutrition. We all lost a lot of weight. Food fantasies were commonplace, as boiled fish became a staple. There was no furniture. I got to kind of enjoy sleeping on a cool palm mat, but constantly sitting on the ground never did grow on me. I must have looked pretty silly when I first sat in a chair after eight weeks and a huge grin came upon my face.

During our final days there, the freight ship was rumored to come and we packed what little we had, made arrangements to get to Luaniua and waited for word. Neighbors would come and ask our host, Paul Aui, to attend functions down the beach or across the lagoon. We would encourage him to not worry about us but he would decline his neighbor's requests.

"We want to spend the last of our time with you," he would explain.

"We may never see you again."

That may prove to be true. But his gracious demeanor will remain a pleasant memory for the rest of our lives as we occasionally remember the days of isolation we spent on Ontong Java.

Author's Note:

Since my journey in the early '90s, things have changed a little for visitors. While I am sure this is better for the islanders, especially those who take sick or are injured, I am sure this has affected some of the customs and originality of the islanders. An airstrip has recently been developed on Henuakai island, one of the atoll's outer islands. This is quite close to Sopalapala where I stayed and the land was owned by my host's son-in-law.

Both Luaniua and Pelau Islands, the main population centers at opposite ends of the lagoon, have medical clinics. Guest accommodation has only recently been built at Luaniua, but if one wishes to visit Pelau or any of the other islands, the village chief must first be contacted for permission. If agreed, accommodation will be arranged in the village. Fish, shellfish, lobsters and other staples are plentiful but sufficient quantities of other diet requirements should be taken from Honiara. It is common courtesy to ask someone to show you around and will ensure acceptance of one's presence.