The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-04-29
THEY sIN7 TO cURE.
An Ancient Superstition Still Re-
spected by Native Hawaii Doctors.
From the Sd. Louis GIobe. Demo.rat.


Since the question of anneXinC Hawaii
has become a live one much inquiry has
been made as to the habits and beliefs of
the natives and particularly as to the
| stage of civilization at which they have
arrived In Honolulu the people are very
far removed from the condition of ignor-
ance which prevails generally in the
| islands of the Pacific; but the majority
of the Hawaiians are much less civilized
and are, indeed, several generations be-
hind the times. They know very little
| of medicine and still less of surgery, aud
| their physicians, medicine men or '6a-
/ hunas," are dependent almost entirely on
/ luck and good constitutions for what few
| cures they succeed in effecting DR. H.
/ Stedman, an Australian physician, who
| was in St. Louis last week on his way to
| Chicago, tells some very amusing stories
of his Intercourse with his brother ply
/ Sicians during a stage of several weeks in
and near Honolulu.
The native doctor" he said, in answer
| to a question, lis an unconscious fraud
that is to say, he believes thoroughly in
his ability, although he hasn't got any at
all. He is very much like the Indian
medicine man generally written about,
and relies rather upon his incantations
| than his medical chest. His only good
point is tho mildness of the drugs he en-
ploys, and the worst of his many bad
points is the almost brutal severity of
what may be termed his external treat
ment. He has some idea of massage but
uses his fists for the purpose, and the
average white man or woman would in
| tinitely prefer death to the beating he
would insist on administering in order to
eXpel the evil spirit which was circum-
venting his treatment.
THE first Consultat ion at which |
CHANGED to be present was when man
suffering from the effects of a fall pre-
sented himself for treatment. The dag
nosis of any clinic would have been that
that patient had broken his left wrist
that the bones had never been set, and
that the most aggravated case of inflam-
nation had set in in consequence of the
continual rough treatment the fractured
limb had received. The kahuna looked
very grave and proceeded to sing some
unearthly chant and to dance wildly
around the sufferer. Finally he scattered
some herbs over the injured member and
told the man to call the next day. Iasked
the gentleman who was with me why the
sufferer did not go to the white DOCTOR
and by paying a small fee get the bones
set and have the inflammation relieved
before amputation became unavOida BILE
Hetold me the fear of the kahuna s curses
kept native sufferers from white doctors
in the country had any proper medical ad-
vice at all.
A PRIMITIVE AMPUTATIoN.
II was curious to know what would be
the outcame of the treatment, or rather
absence of treatment, and when l heard
few days later, that the man was very
i'll | went to see him. His arm was swol-
len right up to the shoulder, aud there
was symptoms of blood poisoning
Through my friend volunteered my serv-
ices but was told that the doctor would
be there in few minutes and would re
lieve him. The kahuna arrived, and, to
my horror, | learned that he proposed to
cut the arm off then and there. And he
did it, too, all protests to the contrary
Notwithstanding He tied cord four or
five time around the arm above the ell
bow and hacked off the flesh and bone be-
low it in the most brutal manner, chant |
ing and praying the while. He had some |
herbal prepare tion which acted like |
caustic and stopped the bleeding by burn |
ing up the flesh into charred mass, after |
which he departed. Strange to say the |
man got well very soon, and the fame of |
the butcher doctor grew in consequence |
IN another case a woman had broken |
her collar bone, again by fall. 1t was a |
simple case, and as she had the constitu-
tion of an amazon no dificulty whatever
unfortunate woman received was simply |
ridiculous. A foul smelling salve made |
from some native herbs was rubbed freely |
on to the shoulder and neck in spite of the |
patients groans, and then she was made |
to lie still while a whole rigmarole of |
praying and shouting was gone through |
believe in the value of prayer as much |
as any man, but this was case in which |
grain of common sense surgical knowI- |
edge would have been worth bushel of |
prayer. Unfortunately, however, for the
cause of truth, these people are as hard |
as flints, and every time one of them re-
covers in spite of the mistreatment, the
cure is attributed exclusively to the
praying.
NEW WAY TO TREAT FEVER
"The treatment of infectious diseases is
heartless, but not so devoid of sense as
the attempts at surgery. The islanders
are naturally healthy, and, although some
of them seem TO seek out diseases. they
are not often seriously ill, and epidemics
do not appear to be common. A bow of z
or had an aggravated attack of scarlet
fever while | was there. Half a dozen
kahunas met and quarreled over him, each
one trying to Outpray the other five If
the effectual fervent prayer of righteous
man availeth much. and if all those six
were righteous, the boy ought to have re-
CON6G6u DeIOTe ll6 u6NOIlOnS were over.
But he was sick, and the terrible noise
seemed to be driving him into delirium.
The doctors could not be held responsible
for this, of course so they went on chant
ing until each one was of the opinion he
had beaten all the others.
The treatment commenced with a
strong dose of crude castor oil Tasteless
castor oil has not found its way to Hawaii
yet, and the article retailed by the Ameri-
can druggist and so despised by the rising
here, is straight nectar com
pared with the nauseous compound which
is forced down the Threats of suffering
This little fellow was too
weak to say anything, and he swallowed
the five or six ounces administered with
three or four convulsive gasps. Another
kind of ointment or salve was produced
and applied. l could not ascertain what
1t was composed Of though | was curious
enough to inquire, only to be told that it
was secret preparation blessed with
absolute power to nip in the bud any I'm
ruly indications on the part of the skin.
They got through with the boy at last,
and then the kahunas drove every one out
Of the hut, fastened up every door and
and promised eternal destruc-
ton to any one who went in. The boy
died the same night, but, in justice to the
alleged physicians, l doubt if any one