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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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be strangled . " What is the use , " said he , " of destroying a young and beautiful woman ? Who is there dare say that the gods are merciless or cruel ? " Tootoomrna , or cutting off a portion of the little finger as a sacrifice to the gods for the recovery of a sick relation , is still in vogue , and there is scarcely a person iu the Tonga islands who lias uot lost a considerable portion of one or both little
fingers . " It does not appear , " says Captain Dillon , * ' that tbe operation is painful , " and Mr . Mariner has witnessed more than once little children quarrelling for the honour of having it done . Chacun d son gr 4 9 but the honour one would think might be more than the pleasure , and their method of amputation does not appear to be superior to ours . " The
finger is laid flat upon a block of wood , a knife , axe , or sharp stone , is placed with the edge upon the line of proposed separation , and a powerful blow being given with a mallet or large stone , the operation is finished . " Nobody presumes to set up as a surgeon who has
not studied at the Fejee islands , where they have great practise in consequence of their perpetual feuds ; many patients however , prefer operating upon themselves , and our author was witness to some singular surgery of this kind ; see also an account of a man who was said
to have cutoff his own leg . ( Vol . II . p . 75 . ) We shall conclude our extracts with the extraction of a tooth on board the Research , not far from Mambo . " Yesterday evening my attention was attracted by an old man who had two most singular teeth in his lower jaw . I at first concluded that the supposed
teeth were pieces of bone introduced into his lower jaw , in shape and size like the teeth of a full-grown ox . This morning my surprise was iucreased by observing several men in the canoes alongside with teeth much larger than those 1 saw yesterday in the chief ' s lower jaw . I prevailed on two of them to come
on board , one of whom I requested to sell me what had excited my wouder , which , however , I found firmly fixed iu his jaws , and not an artificial ornament as I had supposed it . Anxious to possess this dental curiosity , I offered a joiner ' s plane-iron for it , and * then an adze ; but neither was considered an
equivalent . Resolved to secure it if possible , I exhibited a large axe , on seeing which , one of these gentry , who had a . most enormous tooth in the front of his lower jaw , commenced drugging it out ,
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but experienced great difficulty in the attempt ; I therefore got the surgeon ' s tooth-drawing instrument with a view of assisting him , which not being sufficiently large , I had recourse to the carpenter ' s pincers . With this the doctor got hold of the tooth as if in play , and
by a sudden jirk , twisted it out of his jaw . He bled freely , demanded the axe , which having secured , he jumped about with delight at the advantage he had gained by the exchange . " " On examining the tooth I soon discovered the cause of its uunatural size ; for having
cut through the outward shell with ease , I found a perfect tooth imbedded with innumerable coats of cement formed by the lime and betel nut juice that had been for years iucrustrng itself around till it gradually accumulated to its present enormous size . "
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Critical Notices . —Miscelianeons . ] 91
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Art . VIII , — Records of Captain Clappertoris last Expedition to Africa . By Richard Lander . There is much good feeling , and a little bad taste in this book . It leaves us no manner of doubt of the truth of the story—of the author ' s attachment to his
master , or the gratitude with which it was returned ; but it is not told as such things should be , with simplicity and absence of self—there is a little too much of the pius JEneas about it , and every now and then a cruel attempt to be fine
The fate of the expedition , as may be seen from the title-page , was sufficientl y disastrous . Friend after friend drops off , and the survivors had scarcely strength to bury the dead ; three fell in four days , and our author was at the same time so
ill that his life was despaired of . Any opposition from the natives would have been fatal at this crisis , but instead of being molested , the invalids were treated with uniform kindness . "We received , " says Mr . Lander , " as much civility from the natives of Jannah as our countrymen
would have bestowed upon us in our native land . At Soccasoo it was a prevailing opinion that the white men were come as * messengers of peace , * and they were not only honourably treated , but requested to bring about a reconciliation between the Sultan and his rebellious
subjects . At Katunga * the white men * were visited daily by the king , who loaded them with presents , and endeavoured by every means in his power to amuse them and persuade them to prolong their stay . Amongst other allurements held out by
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), March 2, 1830, page 191, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2582/page/47/
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