236

SURGICAL SKILL

tween the fifth and sixth ribs ; not in a linedirectly below the nipple, but about an inchbackwards. The arrow had broken off aboutthree inches- from the point *, under the thirdrow of barbs, and from the rise and fall of thethorax in the act of respiration the whole piecewas perfectly concealed from any externalview: the barbs and the point were of the samepiece with the rest of the head of the arrow.

A countryman of the wounded man wishedto perform the operation, but the patient de-sired that a friend of his, a native ofVavaoo,should manage it: this proved that he placedat least equal confidence in his skill as in thatof his countryman ; indeed he had seen himperform the operation several times before, atthe Fiji islands.

The patient was now lying on his back, buta little inclined to his left side ; and this wasconsidered a favourable posture for the opera-tion. It was a fine clear day, and the weatherwarm: had it been rainy or cloudy, or had thepatient felt himself cold, fires would have beenlighted in the house, and a burning torch heldto his side, to relax the integuments, and to

* They are made thin under each barb, on purpose thatthey may break. The barbs of this arrow were about aquarter of an inch transverse diameter, and the stem of thearrow under each row of barbs about the eighth of an inch.