The following is a brief excerpt from Tattoo History: A Source Book, by Stephen G. Gilbert now available in print.

Tattoo History Source Book: Samoa

The Samoan Islands were first seen by Europeans in 1722 when three Dutch ships commanded by Jacob Roggewein visited the eastern island known as Manua. A member of Roggewein's expedition described the natives in these words:

"They are friendly in their speech and courteous in their behavior, with no apparent trace of wildness or savagery. They do not paint themselves, as do the natives of some other islands, but on the lower part of the body they wear artfully woven silk tights or knee breeches. They are altogether the most charming and polite natives we have seen in all of the South Seas."

The Dutch ships lay at anchor off the islands for several days, but members of the crew did not venture ashore and apparently did not even get close enough to the natives to realize that they were not wearing silk breeches, but tattooing on their legs.

The second European expedition which visited Samoa was led by the French navigator Louis Antoine de Bouganville, who stopped briefly in 1768. Like Roggewein, he was careful not to get too close to the natives. He admired the skill with which the Samoans navigated their canoes but reported that they were ill-mannered compared to the Tahitians, and thought it curious "that their thighs to below the knees were painted a deep blue."

The first Europeans who set foot on Samoan soil were members of the 1787 French expedition commanded by Jan Francoise de la Perouse. La Perouse got a closer look at the natives and reported that "the men have their thighs painted or tattooed in such a way that one would think them clothed, although they are almost naked."

After an initially friendly exchange of trading goods and food, the French caught a Samoan whom they suspected of theft and hoisted him to the top of a mast by his thumbs. This provoked a skirmish in which twelve French sailors and several Samoans were killed. La Perouse later wrote: "I willingly abandoned to others the task of writing the uninteresting history of these barbarous people; a stay of twenty-four hours and the relation of our misfortunes has sufficed to show their atrocious manners."