794 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



demnation, Ne sous une niauvaise etoile (Born under an evil 

 star). 



Malassen, a ferocious assassin, who became in New Caledonia 

 an executioner of convicts (Meyer, Souvenirs d'un Deporte), was 

 covered from his feet to his head with grotesque and frightful 

 tattoo marks. On his breast he had drawn a red and black guil- 

 lotine, with the words in red letters: J'ai mat commence, je finirai 

 mat. C'est la fin qui m' attend (I have begun evil, I shall end evil. 

 That is the end that awaits me). His right arm, which had in- 

 flicted death upon so many human beings, bore the terrible de- 

 vice, very appropriate to his hand, Mort a la chiourme (Death to 

 the convict). 



The famous Neapolitan camorrist Salsano had himself repre- 

 sented in an attitude of bravado. He held a stick in his hand, 

 and was defying a police guard. Under the figure was his sobri- 

 quet, Eventre tout le monde (disembowel everybody) ; then came 

 two hearts and keys connected with chains, in allusion to the 

 secrecy of the camorrists. 



We see, then, by these few examples, that there is a kind of 

 hieroglyphic writing among criminals, that is not regulated or 

 fixed, but is determined from daily events, and from argot, very 

 much as would take place among primitive men. "Very often, in 

 fact, the key in the designs signifies the silence of secrecy, and the 

 death's head vengeance. Sometimes the figures are replaced by 

 points, as when a judicial arrest is marked on the arm with sev- 

 enteen points, which means, according to the criminal, that he 

 intends to Strike his enemy that number of times when he falls 

 into his hands. 



Another characteristic of criminals, which is also common 

 to them with sailors and savages, is to trace the designs not only 

 on the arms and the breast (the most frequent usage), but on 

 nearly all the parts of the body. I have remarked one hundred 

 tatooed on the arms, breast, and abdomen, five on the hands, three 

 on the fingers, and three on the thigh. 



A certain T , thirty-four years of age, who had passed many 



years in prison, had not, except on his cheeks and loins, a surface 

 the size of a crown that was not tattooed. On his forehead could 

 be read Martyr de la Liherte (Martyr of Liberty) ; the words being 

 surmounted by a snake eleven centimetres long. On his nose he 

 had a cross, which he had tried to efface with acetic acid. 



A Venetian thief, who had served in the Austrian army, had 

 on his right arm a double-headed eagle, and near it the names 

 of his mother and his mistress Louise, with the strange epigraph 

 for a thief : Louise, chere amante, mon unique consolation (Louise, 

 dear loved one, my only consolation). Another thief wore on his 

 right arm a bird holding a heart, stars, and an anchor. On the 



