: The man's general health was not bad; and he could even walk by the help of a stick, without having any sling or support for his burthen it was specifically lighter than fresh water, and considerably lighter than salt water, so as to produce much inconvenience to him when he bathed. He died at the island of Foa, about two or three months before Mr. Mariner left Vavaoo. As to fractures, and dislocations of the extremities, it may be said that there is scarcely any native but what understands how to manage at least those that are most likely to happen; for they are very well acquainted with the general forms of the bones, and articulations of the extremities. They use splints made of a certain part of the cocoa-nut tree for broken arms they use slings of gnatoo. In fractures of the cranium they allow nature to take her course without interfering, and it is truly astonishing what injuries of this kind they will bear without fatal consequences: there was one man whose skull had been so beaten in, in two or three places, by the blows of a club, that his head had an odd misshapen appearance, and yet this man had very good health, except when he happened to take cava, which produced a temporary insanity.Fractures of the clavicle and ribs Mr. Mariner never saw there. The most common surgical operation among them is what they call tafa, which is topical blood-letting, and is performed by making, with a shell, incisions in the skin to the extent of about half an inch in various parts of the body, particularly in the lumbar region and extremities, for the relief of pains, lassitude, &c.; also for inflamed tumours they never fail to promote a flow of blood from the part; by the same means they open abscesses, and press out the purulent matter: in cases of hard indolent tumours, they either apply ignited tapa, or hot bread-fruit repeatedly, so as to blister the part, and ultimately to produce a purulent surface. Ill-conditioned ulcers, particularly in those persons whose constitutions incline to such things, are scarified by shells; those that seem disposed to heal are allowed to take their course without any application. In cases of sprains, the affected part is rubbed with a mixture of oil and water, the friction being always continued in one direction, that is to say, from the smaller towards the larger branches of the vessels. Friction, with the dry hand, is also often used in similar and other cases, for the purpose of relieving pain. In respect to inflammations of the eyes, which sometimes rise to a very great height, attended frequently with a considerable purulent discharge; they frequently have recourse to scarification by the application of a particular kind of grass, the minute spicula with which it is replete dividing the inflamed vessels; as it is moved upon the tunica adnata. To assist in reducing ophthalmic inflammations, they also drop into the eye an acid vegetable juice, and sometimes another of a bitter quality; the first is called vi, the latter balo. The species of ophthalmia to which they are subject, though sometimes lingering, is stated scarcely ever to have produced serious consequences, and is not considered contagious. Mr. Mariner neither saw nor heard of but one man who had lost his sight by disease. In cases of gunshot wounds, their main object is to lay the wound open, if it can be done with safety in respect of the larger bloodvessels and tendons, not only for the extraction of the ball, if it should still remain, but for the purpose of converting a fistulous into an open wound, that it may thereby heal sooner and better: if they have to cut down near larger vessels, they use bamboo in preference to the shell; the same near tendons, that there may be less chance of injuring them. They always make incisions nearly in the course of the muscles, or, at least, parallel with the limb. The amputation of a limb is an operation very seldom performed; nevertheless it has been done in at least twelve individuals, Mr. Mariner seeing one day a man without an arm, curiosity led him to inquire how it happened, and found that he had been one of the twelve principal cooks of Toogoo Ahoo, the tyrant of Tonga, and had submitted to the amputation of his left arm, under the circumstances related p. 71. The mode in which this operation was performed was similar to that of tootoonima,* only that a large heavy axe was used for the purpose. The bleeding was not so profuse as might be imagined, owing, no doubt, to the bluntness of the instrument and violence of the blow. This stump appeared to Mr. Mariner to be a very good one; the arm was taken off about two inches above the elbow. Ten were stated to have done very well; of the remaining two, one died of excessive hæmorrhage, and the other of mortification." There was also a man living at the island of Vavaoo who had lost a leg in consequence of * See page 388. the bite of a shark, which is not a very uncommon accident; but there, was something unusual in this man's particular case: his leg was not bitten off, but the flesh was almost completely torn away from about five inches below the knee down to the foot, leaving the tibia and fibula greatly exposed, and the foot much mangled: he was one of those who chose to perform his own operations; with persevering industry, therefore, he sawed nearly through the two bones with a shell, renewing his tedious and painful task every day till he had nearly accomplished it, and then completed the separation by a sudden blow with a stone! The stump never healed. Mr. Mariner had this account from the man himself and many others. Téfe, or the operation of circumcision, is thus performed: a narrow slip of wood, of a convenient size, being wrapped round with gnatoo, is introduced under the præputium, along the back of which a longitudinal incision is then made to the extent of about half an inch, either with bamboo or shell (the latter is preferred;) this incision is carried through the outer fold, and the beginning of the inner fold, the remainder of the latter being afterwards torn open with the fingers: the end of the penis is then wrapped up in the leaf of a tree called gnatái, and is secured with a bandage: the boy is not allowed to bathe for three days: the leaf is renewed once or twice a day. At the Fiji islands this operation is performed by amputating a portion of the præputium, according to the Jewish rite. The operation of the ta tattow, or puncturing the skin, and marking it with certain configurations, though it is not properly surgical, yet we mention it here, as it is very apt to produce enlargements of the inguinal and axillary glands. The instrument used for the purpose of this operation somewhat resembles a small tooth comb they have several kinds, of different degrees of breadth, from six up to fifty or sixty teeth: they are made of the bone of the wing of the wild duck. Being dipped in a mixture of soot and water, the outline of the tattów is first marked off before the operator begins to puncture, which he afterwards does by striking in the points of the instrument with a small stick cut out of a green branch of the cocoa-nut tree when the skin begins to bleed, which it quickly does, the operator occasionally washes off the blood with cold water, and repeatedly goes over the same places as this is a very painful process, but a small portion of it is done at once, giving the patient (who may justly be so called) in. tervals of three or four days rest, so that it is frequently two months before it is completely finished. The parts tattowed are from within two inches of the knees up to about three inches above the umbilicus: there are certain patterns or forms of the tattów, known by distinct names, and the individual may choose which he likes. On their brown skins the tattow has a black appearance, on the skin of an European a fine blue appearance. This operation causes that portion of the skin on which it is performed to remain permanently thicker. During the time that it is performed, but sometimes not for two or three months afterwards, swellings of the inguinal glands take place, and which almost always suppurate : sometimes they are opened with a shell before they point, which is considered the best treatment; at other times they are allowed to take their course. We need not wonder at the absorbents becoming so much affected when we consider the extent of surface which is subjected to this painful operation; even the glans penis and the verge of the anus do not escape. It is considered very unmanly not to be tattowed, so that there is nobody but what submits to it as soon as he is grown up. The women are not subjected to it, though a few of them choose to have some marks on the inside of their fingers. The men would think it very indecent not to be tattowed, because though in battle they wear nothing but the mahi, they appear by this means to be dressed, without having the incumbrance of clothing.* It is a curious circumstance, that at the Fiji islands, the men, on the contrary, are not tattowed, but the women are. The operation is managed by their own sex, though by no means to that extent to which it is performed on the Tonga men, contenting themselves chiefly with having it done on the nates in form of a large circular patch, though sometimes in that of a crescent; and most of them have it also done on the labia pudendi, consisting of one line of dots on each side, just within the verge of the external labia. We cannot with certainty say that the glandular ulcerations above alluded to are always produced by the tattów, though in all likelihood, when it has recently been performed, it is the exciting * I have seen two instances of the Tonga tattów, in Jeremiah Higgins, and in Thomas Dawson, both of the Port au Prince. of the execution far exceeded my expectations. The beauty and neatness to a pair of blue satin small-clothes very tastefully configured. cause; but the people are very subject to scrofulous indurations, glandular enlargements, and ulcers: they call the disease cahi; the parts affected are the groins, axillæ, and neck; though many other parts of the body are also liable to ulcers, which they call palla. These diseases sometimes run on to such an extent, and assume such appearances, that we believe some travellers have mistaken them for lues venerea. It is certain that some individuals affected with pa'lla have been obliged to submit to the loss of a nose, the cartilaginous and softer parts of that organ becoming completely destroyed: it must be also mentioned at the same time, that the natives are subject to gonorrheal discharges, attended with ardor urinæ. All these circumstances appear very equivocal: but Mr. Mariner has every reason to believe that the vene. real disease did not exist under any form, either at the Hapai islands or Vavaoo, during the time that he was there; although, to his certain knowledge, three of the survivors of the Port au Prince's crew had gonorrhoeas at the time the ship was taken, one of whom had brought it from England, and the other two had contracted it at the Sandwich islands. Several others of the ship's company had also venereal affections: but they fell in the general massacre on board. In the first place we must observe, in respect to those labouring under the diseases called cahi and palla, that the complaints are either not venereal, or that the venereal disease subsides in them, and the constitution cures itself spontaneously. 2dly, That the organs of generation are never affected previously to the more general disease coming on. 3dly, That these diseases are not known to be, or believed to be contracted by sexual intercourse. 4thly, That though these diseases in some constitu, tions produce fatal consequences, yet very frequently the appetite and strength, and fulness of flesh, remain much the same as if no disease existed, though this happens in palla more than in cahi. In respect of the gonorrhoeas to which they are subject, they are for the most part very mild in their symptoms, and get well in a few days; besides which, they are not capable of being communicated between the sexes, or at least this is not known or believed to be the case. With regard to the three men of the Port au Prince's crew, they got well without exactly knowing when or how: for the consternation occasioned by the capture of the ship and the destruction of their countrymen, and the alarm and state of anxiety in which they were for at least two or three days, bad produced |