Green’s Dictionary of Slang

vermilion n.

blood.

1862		Golden Age (Queanbeyan, NSW) 4 Sept. 3/2: Tom’s fistic slang is like so much Hebrew to us, we being in a most pastoral state of ignorance as to the meanings of [...] ‘drawing the vermillion,’ ‘tapping the claret,’ ‘flinging up the sponge,’ and the various other terms with which he garnishes his narrative.
1903		(ref. to 1810s–50s) Bulletin (Sydney) 23 July 21/4: Those writers seemed to fight very shy of the word ‘blood’; instead, they referred to it as ‘ruby,’ ‘carmine,’ ‘claret,’ [...] ‘cochineal,’ ‘juice,’ ‘crimson,’ ‘vermilion,’ ‘Burgundy,’ and so on.