CHAP. 2. (1.)—PLANTS USED BY NATIONS FOR THE ADORNMENT OF THE PERSON.
I remark, in the first place, that there are some foreign nations which, in obedience to long-established usage, employ
certain plants for the embellishment of the person. That,
among some barbarous peoples, the females[1] stain the face by
means of various plants, there can be little doubt, and among
the Daci and the Sarmatæ we find the men even marking[2] their
bodies. There is a plant in Gaul, similar to the plantago in
appearance, and known there by the name of "glastum:"[3]
with it both matrons and girls[4] among the people of Britain
are in tile habit of staining the body all over, when taking
part in the performance of certain sacred rites; rivalling
hereby tile swarthy hue of the Æthiopianls, they go in a state
of nature.
1. Fée remarks, that at the present day, in all savage nations in which
tatooing is practised, the men display more taste and care in the operation
than is shewn by the females. There is little doubt that it is the art of
tatooing the body, or in other words, first puncturing it and then rubbing
in various colours, that is here spoken of by Pliny.
2. "Inscribunt." "Writing upon," or "tatooing," evidently.
3. Our "word," the Isatis tinctoria of Linnæus, which imparts a blue colour. The root of this Celtic wood is probably "glas," "blue," whence
also our word "glass;" and it is not improbable that the name of glass
was given to it from the blue tints which it presented. Julius Cæsar and
Pomponius Mela translate this word "glastum," by the Latin "vitrum"
"glass."
4. "Conjuges nurusque." Cæsar says that all the people in Britain were
in the habit of staining the body with woad, to add to the horror of their
appearance in battle. Pomponius Mela expresses himself as uncertain for
what purpose it was done, whether it was to add to their beauty, or for
some other reasons to him unknown.