considerable number that have been collected by Lafitau,[T] although
even his enumeration might be easily extended. Herodotus mentions it as
prevailing among the Thracians, certain of whom, he says, exhibit such
marks on their faces as an indication of their nobility. Other authors
speak of it as a practice of the Scythians, the Agathyrses, and the
Assyrians. Cæsar remarks it as prevailing among the Britons; and there
can be no doubt that the term _Picti_ was merely a name given to those
more northerly tribes of our countrymen who retained this custom after
it had fallen into decay among their southern brethren, who were in
reality of the same race with themselves, under the ascendancy of the
arts and manners of their Roman conquerors.

The Britons, according to Cæsar, painted their skins to make themselves
objects of greater terror to their enemies; but it is not unlikely that
the real object of these decorations was with them, as it appears to
have been among the other barbarous nations of antiquity, to denote
certain ranks of nobility or chieftainship; and thus to serve, in fact,
nearly the same purpose with our modern coats of arms.

Pliny states that the dye with which the Britons stained themselves was
that of a herb called _glastum_, which is understood to be the same with
plantain. They introduced the juice of this herb into punctures
previously made in the skin, so as to form permanent delineations of
various animals, and other objects, on different parts of the body. The
operation, which seems to have been performed by regular artists, is
said to have been commonly undergone in boyhood; and a stoical endurance
of the pain which it inflicted was considered one of the best proofs the
sufferer could give of his resolution and manliness.

Among the Indians of America, some races are much more tattooed than