consisted of two infusions, one of certain leaves, and the other of a particular root, both unknown to him: the Sandwich islander informed him that the root was necessary to counteract the effect of the leaves, which was very powerful, and might, in a large dose, and without such addition, kill him. Upon this discouraging information, the native of Tonga, with his scarifying shells, redoubled his persuasions, ridiculed the remedies of the other, and, on understanding what effect they would have, laughed most heartily at the idea of curing a sick man by means which would make a healthy man sick. The remedies of the surgeon, however, were not more agreeable than those of the physician, and the patient was at a loss to know to whose care he should entrust his health; when the latter signified his intention of taking some of his own physic, which was the best proof he could possibly give of his confidence in it: two equal doses were accordingly prepared; the patient took one, and the doctor the other. The cathartic was first given, and the emetic about an hour afterwards the latter operated in about another hour, and the former, in conjunction with it, in about two hours and a half. They both evinced abundant evidence of their re

spective properties, and the following morning Mr. Mariner found himself perfectly well: which happy result the man who wanted to bleed him could by no means attribute to the remedies he had taken! The Sandwich islander, notwithstanding he was much laughed at, particularly about his cathartics, obtained at length a considerable share of credit for his skill. Finow took his remedies twice with very good effect, which encouraged some others to try; but as these circumstances took place only a short time before Mr. Mariner left, and consequently only a few trials had been made, we ought not to speak of them as constituting the medical knowledge of the Tonga people; but as this Sandwich island chief was a man of considerable judgment, and, as Mr. Mariner has every reason to think, a good observer, we indulge the hope that no ill success, at an early period, has destroyed confidence in the adoption of two such useful remedies.

The ceremonies of invocation in behalf of sick people have already been described in the account of the sickness of the late king's daughter: the sacrifices adopted on similar occasions are tootooni'ma and nawgia; cutting off fingers and strangling children: these also have both

been described; the latter is only done for very great chiefs. We shall now proceed to speak of their operative surgery, and constitutional diseases, as far as Mr. Mariner's observation can lead him to speak with accuracy.

No native of Tonga undertakes to practise surgery, unless he has been at the Fiji islands, where constant wars afford great opportunities of becoming skilful; and no native of Tonga would employ a surgeon who had not been thus schooled: nor would any one, as Mr. Mariner believes, undertake an important surgical operation, unless he feels himself confident in what he is about to perform; and it must be said of them, that they are not rash in their opinions. When a surgeon performs an operation, he never fails to obtain a present from the patient or his friends.

The three most important operations are cawso, or paracentesis thoracis; tocolosi, or an operation for the cure of tetanus, which consists in making a seton in the urethra; and boca, or castration.

Cawso is an operation which is performed to allow of the escape of extravasated blood, which has lodged in the cavity of the thorax, in consequence of wounds, or for the extraction of a broken arrow. There are no other

instances where they think of performing it. The instruments they use are a piece of bamboo and a splinter of shell; sometimes a probe made of the stem of the cocoa-nut leaf. Mr. Mariner has seen a number of persons on whom the operation had been performed, and who were in perfect health; and two instances of the fact itself he was an eyewitness to. The one we are about to describe was performed upon a Fiji islander, who had received a barbed arrow in the right side, between the fifth and sixth ribs; not in a line directly below the nipple, but about an inch backwards. The arrow had broken off about three inches from the point*, under the third row of barbs, and from the rise and fall of the thorax in the act of respiration: the whole piece was perfectly concealed from any external view: the barbs and the point were of the same piece with the arrow.

A countryman of the wounded man wished to perform the operation, but the patient desired that a friend of his, a native of Vavaoo, should manage it: this proved that he placed at least equal confidence in his skill as in that

They are made thin under each barb, on purpose that they may break. The barbs of this arrow were about a quarter of an inch transverse diameter, and the stem of the arrow under each row of barbs about the eighth of an inch.

of his countryman; for he had seen him per, form the operation several times before, at the Fiji islands.

The patient was now lying on his back, but a little inclined to his left side; and this was considered a favourable posture for the operation. It was a fine clear day, and the weather warm had it been rainy or cloudy, or had the patient felt himself cold, tires would have been lighted in the house, and a burning torch held to his side, to relax the integuments, and to render by such means the wound more fayourable. The wound had been received the day before; and on pressing the finger upon its orifice the broken end of the arrow could not now be felt, except by the pain which such pressure gave the patient. In the first place, the operator marked with a piece of charcoal the situation and length of the intended incision, which was about two inches; the small wound made by the arrow being in the centre of it. The integuments were now drawn upwards, so that the black line lay upon and parallel with the superior rib; an assistant pressing his hand above, and another below the situation of the intended incision, with a view to keep the integuments firm and steady. The operator having now chosen a fit piece of bam