Goldie. — Maori Medical Lore. 113 



him, ' What do you cry for ? ' The husband said, ' I am crying 

 on your account, because of your child.' It was the custom 

 of that island to cut open the belly and then take the child out, 

 but the mother died."* 



Thus it is clear, from Maori legend, that the New-Zealanders 

 had at least a theoretical knowledge of Cesarean section. We 

 have no proof that they ever practised it on the living female, 

 and, knowing their great aversion to surgical procedures of all 

 kinds, we think they probably never did. It is, however, ex- 

 tremely likely that the operation was sometimes performed on 

 the bodies of victims in the wholesale slaughters which occasion- 

 ally took place in their old-time tribal battles. In the subse- 

 quent cannibal orgie, if a woman in an advanced stage of preg- 

 nancy was consigned to the ovens her child would, we presume, 

 be removed by such a procedure. 



There is no recorded case of Csesarean section amongst the 

 Polynesians or Melanesians, although the latter also have legends 

 attributing the operation to mythical personages. 



Pharmacy : Medicinal Plants. 



Panunculacece . 



Ranunculus rivularis. (WaoriJci.) 



The expressed juice, which has blistering properties, is used 

 for rheumatic and other painful joint-diseases. 



Clematis, sp. (Pikiarero, Puawananga, &c.) 



The leaves used to produce blisters (counter-irritation). 



Cruciferce. 



Brassica oleracece. (Wild-cabbage.) 



A hot decoction was used internally in cases of colic. 



Magnoliacece. 

 Drimys axillaris, Forst. (Horopito ; Pepper-tree.) 



The sap is used for the cure of skin-diseases and gonorrhoea- 

 A decoction of the leaves (Maori painkiller) is often used by bush- 

 men to allay abdominal pain. 



Pittosporeo3. 



Pittosporum obcordatum, Raoul. (Kohukohu.) 



Used for itch, eczema of the scalp, and other cutaneous 

 diseases. (See ante, " Skin-diseases.") 



* Journ. Pol. Soc, vol. xii., p. 102. 

 8— Trans. 



