Lasat Mata

Lasat Mata is a gift presented to a tattooist in Borneo as good luck.

It is considered bad luck to draw the blood of a friend, and therefore, when first blood is drawn in tattooing, it is customary to give a small present to the artist; the present takes the form of four antique beads or some object worth about a dollar and is termed lasat mata, for it is supposed that if it were omitted the artist would go blind and some misfortune would happen to the parents and relations of the girl undergoing the operation of tattooing.