POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
275 
death was also attributed to the same* cause—and an 
attack so terminating, was called rima atua: hand of' 
god” Those who died suddenly were also said to be 
haruhta e te atuay or uumehia e te atua: seized by the 
god, or strangled by the god.’" Indeed, the gods were 
supposed to send all the diseases with which they were 
afflicted. 
Whatever mystery they might attach to the prepara^ 
tion and use of medicine, their practice of surgery, and 
application of external remedies, were more simple and 
straightforward. They did not apply friction in the 
same manner as the Sandwich Islanders sometimes do, 
viz. by placing the patient flat on the ground, and rolling 
a twelve or fourteen pound shot backwards and forwards 
along the back; but in a far more gentle manner, by rub¬ 
bing with the hands the muscles of the limbs, and press¬ 
ing them in the same way as the Indians practise sham¬ 
pooing. 
The natives had no method of using the warm-bath, 
but often seated their patients on a pile of heated stones 
strewed over with green herbs or leaves, and kept them 
covered with a thick cloth till the most profuse perspira^ 
tion was induced. In this state, to our great astonish^ 
ment, at the most critical seasons of illness, the patient 
would leave the heap of stones, and plunge into the sea, 
near which the oven was generally heated. Though the 
shock must have been very great, they appeared to sus¬ 
tain no injury from this transition. 
There were persons among them celebrated as ocu^- 
lists, but their skill principally consisted in removing 
foreign substances from the eye; and when applied to 
for this purpose, Jhey, as well as others, received the pay» 
ment or fee before they commenced their operations; 
