408 PICTURE-WRITING OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 
Theophilus, he ordered to be imprinted on their foreheads eleven iambic 
verses; Philip of Macedon, from whom a soldier tad solicited the 
possession of a man saved by him from shipwreck, ordered that on 
his forehead should be drawn signs indicative of his base greed; Cali- 
gula, without any object, commanded the tattooing of the Roman 
nobles. 
In the period of the decline of Rome, tattooing was extensively prac- 
ticed. Regulative laws prescribed the adopted symbols which were a 
proof of enlistment in the ranks and on which the military oath was 
taken. The purpose of this ordinance, which continued in force for a 
long time, was similar to that which authorized the marking of the 
slaves, since, the spirit of the people having become degenerated, the 
army was composed of mercenaries who, if they should run away, must 
be recognized, pursued, and captured. Until recently the practice, 
Fie. 532.—A ustralian grave and earved trees. 
though more as a mark of manhood, was followed by the soldiers of 
the Piedmontese army. 
Blisée Reclus (a) says: 
Tattooing was in Polynesia widespread, and so highly developed that the artistic 
designs covering the body served also to clothe it. In certain islands the operation 
lasted so long that it had to be begun before the children were six years old, and 
the pattern was largely left to the skill and cunning of the professional tattooers. 
Still traditional motives recurred in the ornamental devices of the several tribes, 
who could usually be recognized by their special tracings, curved or parallel lines, 
diamond forms and the like. The artists were grouped in schools like the old masters * 
in Europe, and they worked not by incision as in most Melanesian islands, but by 
punctures with a small comb-like instrument slightly tapped with a mallet. The 
pigment used in the painful and even dangerous operation was usually the fine char- 
coal yielded by the nut of Aleurites triloba, an oleaginous plant used for illumina- 
ting purposes throughout eastern Polynesia. 
