334 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
to be far behind the Society Islanders. Their opera¬ 
tions were usually performed with no small degree of 
roughness and insensibility; and from what I have 
seen, I am strongly inclined to think that the sense the 
natives have of pain is less than ours, or their powers 
of endurance greater. In setting a broken leg or an 
arm, they were frequently successful. Not so, how¬ 
ever, when they attempted, as was sometimes the case, 
more difficult operations. They relate, that, when some 
of their warriors have had the bones of their head 
fractured by a blow or a stone in battle, they have 
removed the pieces of bone, fitted in a piece of cocoa- 
nut shell, covered the skin over, and that the patient 
has recovered; but although they say there are persons 
living on whom it has been performed, I never saw one, 
and can hardly credit their having recovered, though I 
believe they performed the operation. 
The chiefs, and many of the natives, who are accus¬ 
tomed to associate with foreigners, have entirely dis¬ 
carded the native doctors ; and in times of sickness 
apply to the physician connected with the American 
mission, to the surgeon on shore, or one belonging to 
any ship in harbour, and shew a decided preference to 
foreign medicine. The great body of the people, how¬ 
ever, are generally averse to our remedies, and prefer 
the attendance of the native doctors. The employment 
is somewhat profitable, and the fee, which is either a 
piece of cloth, a mat, a pig, or dog, &c. is usually paid 
before the kahuna undertakes the case. 
In conversation on this subject with the governor at 
Kairua, I once asked him what first induced them to 
employ herbs, &c. for the cure of diseases. He said 
that, many generations back, a man called Koreamoku 
