02 MOURNING. [PART i. 



much used, and with admirable effect. The natives 

 are better surgeons than physicians ; lirnbs shattered 

 by a ball, or otherwise broken, I have seen carefully 

 set, laid upon pillows, kept clean, and the pressure 

 of clothes and the contact of the air kept off by a 

 wicker-work contrivance. Abscesses are opened 

 with a knife or a shell ; indurated lymphatic glands 

 on the neck are fearlessly cut out with a razor or 

 a common knife. Their practice of cutting up and 

 devouring their enemies has made them pretty well 

 acquainted with the general structure of the body : 

 they also know very well how to detail the symp- 

 toms of a disease, although they are unacquainted 

 with the internal functions of the human body. 



When death occurs, general lamentations take 

 place amongst the nearest relations (e tang'i), who 

 make deep incisions in their own bodies with broken 

 pieces of shells. The mourners either stand in an 

 upright posture, throwing their arms backwards, 

 and keeping them in a trembling motion ; or they 

 squat down, enveloping their heads in the mats. 

 These violent expressions of affection, the streaming 

 tears, and this unbounded show of grief at the 

 decease of the renowned warrior, or of a friend or 

 relation, have something poetical and striking in 

 their primitive simplicity. The old bedaub them- 

 selves with red pigment, and cover their heads with 

 wreaths of green leaves. The house in which the 

 death took place becomes "tapu" until the period 

 of the cleaning and ultimate burial of the bones, 



