Tattooed lady from Papua new Guinea, 1920.

A Melanesian woman receiving a tattoo, 1940.

Engraving of a tattooed Fijian couple, 1887.

The image below depicts a high chief of Rennell Island in the Solomon Islands, Melanesia. The Rennell Islands are inhabited by a tattooed people speaking a Polynesian dialect. Some anthropologists have suggested that this indicates that tattooing was prevalent among the Polynesian voyagers some of whom married and settled in the Rennell Islands during their voyages to Polynesia.

A tattooed Rennell Island chief.

A high chief of Rennell Island ready to receive guests.

Note the tattoos on the upper arms.