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SURGICAL SKILL

completely torn away from about five inchesbelow the knee down to the foot, leaving thetibia and fibula greatly exposed, and the footmuch mangled: he was one of those who choseto perform his own operations; with persever-ing industry, therefore, he sawed nearly throughthe two bones with a shell, renewing his te-dious and painful task every day till he hadnearly accomplished it, and then completed theseparation by a sudden blow with a stone!The stump never healed. Mr. Mariner hadthis account from the man himself and manyothers.

Tefe , or the operation of circumcision, isthus performed: a narrow slip of wood, of aconvenient size, being wrapped round withgnatoo, is introduced under the praeputium,along the back of which a longitudinal incisionis then made to the extent of about half aninch, either with bamboo or shell (the latter ispreferred) $ this incision is carried through theouter fold, and the beginning of the inner fold,the remainder of the latter being afterwardstorn open with the fingers: the end of thepenis is then wrapped up in the leaf of a treecalled gnatai , and is secured with a bandage:the boy is not allowed to bathe for three days:the leaf is renewed once or twice a day. Atthe Fiji islands this operation is performed by