Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 7, 1896.djvu/35

Rh and a continuous Talanoa (narrative) be constructed out of what they had imparted to me in fragmentary form. It is only by patient and guarded chatting that facts of this kind can be extracted from them, and afterwards verified; and the process is a distressingly slow one.

In reply to questions raised during the discussion on the foregoing paper, said that he knew of no instance of stones being regarded in Fiji as a means of healing. Therapeutic powers were hereditary; the secret of particular medicines was handed down from father to son or mother to daughter, but the cures were effected by simples and tabus, that is, by more or less natural agencies. As a result, the sick ran a worse chance of recovery than if supernatural aid had been invoked; for native doctor after doctor was called in, and the unhappy patient was dosed out of existence or starved to death by being forbidden the most nourishing food available.

Of this paper he could say that it was written by the highest authority on leprosy in the Pacific. During a long residence among the natives Dr. Corney had not only exceptional opportunities for collecting information, owing to his official position and his personal qualities and knowlegeknowledge [sic] of the native language and customs, but he had brought to bear upon the work a patient and methodical industry that is very rarely found among European residents in the tropics. He noticed that Dr. Corney said nothing about the prevalence of leprosy in Fiji. As a matter of fact, nearly one per cent. of the native population were lepers, but this did not affect the intercourse of the Europeans with them. Until the cases became very pronounced, lepers were not segregated, but were left in the village with their relations. As a rule they tried to conceal their condition as long as possible.

He wished to say a word about native tradition, which Dr. Corney had treated, no doubt justly, with some contempt as a source of historical information. After some years' investi-