1 68 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS CH. vn 



complaint was colic, which did not appear to me to be at all 

 violent. I asked her what medicine she took, she told me 

 none, and that she depended entirely upon the priest, who 

 had been trying to free her from her distemper by his 

 prayers and ceremonies, which, she said, he would repeat till 

 she was well, showing me at the same time branches of 

 the Thespesia populnea, which he had left with her. After 

 this I left her, and whether through the priest's ceremonies 

 or her own constitution, she came down to our tents com- 

 pletely recovered in three days' time. 



I never happened to be present when the priests per- 

 formed their ceremonies for the cure x)f sick people ; but 

 one of our gentlemen who was informed me that they con- 

 sisted of nothing but the repetition of certain fixed sentences, 

 during which time the priest plaited leaves of the cocoanut 

 tree into different figures, neatly enough ; some of which he 

 fastened to the fingers and toes of the sick man, who was at 

 the time uncovered, out of respect to the prayers. The 

 whole ceremony almost exactly resembled their method 

 of praying at the marais, which I shall by and by describe. 

 They appear, however, to have some knowledge of medicine, 

 besides these operations of priestcraft. That they have 

 skilful surgeons among them we easily gathered from the 

 dreadful scars of wounds which we frequently saw cured, 

 some of which were far greater than any I have seen any- 

 where else ; and these were made by stones which these 

 people throw with slings with great dexterity and force. 

 One man I particularly recollect whose face was almost 

 entirely destroyed ; yet this dreadful wound had healed 

 cleanly without any ulcer remaining. Tupia, who has had 

 several wounds, had one made by a spear headed with the 

 bone of a sting-ray's tail which had pierced right through 

 his body, entering at his back and coming out just under 

 his breast ; yet this has been so well cured that the remain- 

 ing scar is as smooth and as small as any I have seen from 

 the cures by our best European surgeons. 



Vulnerary herbs they have many, nor do they seem at 

 all nice in the choice of them. They have plenty of such 



