232

SURGICAL SKILL

knowledge of some medicines, but whether fromoriginal discoveries of their own, or from theinformation of Europeans, Mr. Mariner couldnot obtain any information from those nativeswho wei’e with him at Vavaoo. One of theseSandwich islanders (a petty chief) professedsome knowledge of the healing art, and it sohappened that Mr. Mariner was once the sub-ject of his skill. Feeling himself much indis-posed by a disordered state of the stomach andbowels, attended with head-ache and drowsi-ness, this Sandwich islander proposed to givehim some internal remedies, whilst a native ofTonga , on the other hand, very much wantedhim to lose some blood (by scarification withshells on the arms, legs, &c.) The remediesproposed by the former were an emetic and acathartic : the cathartic consisted chiefly of thesweet potatoe grated, and the juice of the sugar-cane ; to this, however, was added the juice ofsome other vegetable substance, with whichMr. Mariner was not acquainted. The emeticconsisted of two infusions, one of certainleaves, and the other of a particular root, bothunknown to him : the Sandwich islander in-formed him that the root was necessary tocounteract the effect of the leaves, which wasvery powerful, and might, in a large dose, andwithout such addition, kill him. Upon this