The Polynesians have carried this dermal art to an extent which
is unequaled by any other people, and it is universally practiced
among them. Quoted by Burke, Sullivan states that the custom of
tattooing continued in England and Ireland down to the seventh
century. This was the tattooing with the woad. Fletcher remarks
that at one time, about the famous shrine of Our Lady of Loretto,
were seen professional tattooers, who for a small sum of money
would produce a design commemorative of the pilgrim's visit to
the shrine. A like profitable industry is pursued in Jerusalem.
Universal tattooing in some of the Eastern countries is used as a
means of criminal punishment, the survival of the persecuted
individual being immaterial to the torturers, as he would be
branded for life and ostracized if he recovered. Illustrative of
this O'Connell tells of a case in Hebra's clinic. The patient, a
man five feet nine inches in height, was completely tattooed from
head to foot with all sorts of devices, such as elephants, birds,
lions, etc., and across his forehead, dragons. Not a square of
even a quarter inch had been exempt from the process. According
to his tale this man had been a leader of a band of Greek
robbers, organized to invade Chinese Tartary, and, together with
an American and a Spaniard, was ordered by the ruler of the
invaded province to be branded in this manner as a criminal.
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