■ijz A VOYAGE TO 



»777- piizc, " Yes, the mother that bore me." They have one 

 expremon, that correfponds exactly with the phrafeology of 

 the fcriptures, where we read of the " yearning of the 

 bowels." They ufc it on all occafions, when the paffions 

 give them imeafmefs ; as they conftantly refer pain from 

 grief, anxious defire, and other affections, to the bowels, as 

 its feat ; where they likewife fuppofc all operations of the 

 mind are performed. Their language admits of that in- 

 verted arrangement of words, which fo much dillinguidics 

 the Latin and Greek from moft of our modern European 

 tongues, whofe impcrfeiflions require a more orderly con- 

 ftruc^ion, to prevent ambiguities. It is fo copious, that 

 for the bread-fruit alone, in its different Hates, they have 

 above twenty names ; as many for the tnro root ; and about 

 ten for the cocoa-nut. Add to this, tliat, bcfidcs the common 

 dialect:, they often expoflulate, in a kind of flanza or reci- 

 tative, which is anfwered in the fame manner. 



Their arts are few and funple ; yet, if we may credit 

 them, they perform cures in furgery, which our extcnfivc 

 knowledge in that branch has not, as yet, enabled us to imi- 

 tate. In fimple fractures, they bind them up with fplints ; but 

 if part of the fubfiance of the bone be lofl, they infcrt a piece 

 of wood, between the fradtured ends, made hollow like 

 the deficient part. In five or fix days, the rnpaoo, or furgcon, 

 infpedts the wound, and finds the wood partly covered with 

 the growing flelh. In as many more days, it is geneially 

 entirely covered ; after which, when the patient has ac- 

 quired fome llrength, he bathes in the water, and recovers. 

 We know that wounds will heal over leaden bullets ; and 

 fometimcs, though rarely, over other extraneous bodies. 

 But what makes me entertain fome doubt of the triuh of fo 

 extraordinary fkill, as in the above inllancc is, that in 



01 her 



