XII 



DECORATIVE ART 



253 



the head is attached a lump of resin in which are embedded 

 three or four short steel needles, their points alone project- 

 ing from the resinous mass (Fig. 68). The striker is merely 

 a short iron rod, half of which is covered with a string 

 lashing. The pigment is a mixture of soot, water, and 

 sugar-cane juice, and it is kept in a double shallow cup 

 of wood, uit ulang\ it is supposed that the best soot is 

 obtained from the bottom of a metal cooking-pot, but that 

 derived from burning resin or dammar is also used. The 

 tatu designs are carved in high relief on blocks of wood, 

 kelinge^ (Fig- 62), which are smeared with the ink and then 

 pressed on the part to be tatued, leaving an impression of 

 the designs. As will be seen later, the designs 

 tatued on women are in longitudinal rows or 



1^3- 



transverse bands, and the divisions between the 

 rows or bands are marked by one or more zigzag 

 lines termed ikor. 



The subject who is to be tatued lies on the 

 floor, the artist and an assistant squatting on 

 either side of her ; the artist first dips a piece of 

 fibre from the sugar-palm {Arenga sacchariferd) 

 into the pigment and, pressing this on to the 

 limb to be tatued, plots out the arrangement of 

 the rows or bands of the design ; along these 

 straight lines the artist tatus the ikor^ then 

 taking a tatu block carved with the required 

 design, she smears it with pigment and presses 

 it on to the limb between two lines. The 

 tatuer or her assistant stretches with her feet 

 the skin of the part to be tatued, and, dipping y\g. 68. 

 a pricker into the pigment, taps its handle with 

 the striker, driving the needle points into the skin at 

 each tap. The operation is painful, and the subject 

 can rarely restrain her cries of anguish ; but the artist is 

 quite unmoved by such demonstrations of woe, and proceeds 

 methodically with her task. As no antiseptic precautions 

 are taken, a newly tatued part often ulcerates, much to the 

 detriment of the tatu ; but taking all things into considera- 

 tion, it is wonderful how seldom one meets with a tatu 

 pattern spoilt by scar tissues. 



It is against custom to draw the blood of a friend {pesu 

 daha), and therefore, when first blood is drawn in tatuing, it 

 is customary to give a small present to the artist. The 



^ The Sea Dayak word telingai or kelingai has the same meaning. 



