OP THE TONGA PEOPLE.

251

make incisions nearly in the course of themuscles, or, at least, parallel with the limb.

The amputation of a limb is an operationvery seldom performed ; nevertheless it hasbeen done in at least twelve individuals. Mr.Mariner seeing one day a man without an arm,curiosity led him to enquire how it happened,and found that he had been one of the twelveprincipal cooks of Toogoo Ahoo, the tyrant ofTonga , and had submitted to the amputationof his left arm, under the circumstances relatedVol. I. p. 70. The mode in which this opera-tion was performed was similar to that of too -ioonima, described Vol. II. p. 210, only that alarge heavy axe was used for the purpose. Thebleeding was not so profuse as might be ima-gined, owing, no doubt, to the bluntness of theinstrument and violence of the blow. Thisstump appeared to Mr. Mariner to be a verygood one; the arm was taken off about twoinches above the elbow. Ten were stated tohave done very well; of the remaining two, onedied of excessive haemorrhage, and the other ofmortification. There was also a man living atthe island of Vavaoo who had lost a leg in con-sequence of the bite of a shark, which is not avery uncommon accident; but there was some-thing unusual in this man’s particular case : hisleg was not bitten off, but the flesh was almost