He then placed his arm upon one of the windlass bitts (a short upright timber, breast-high), and seizing the blunt cook's ax would have struck the blow; but for some reason distrusting the precision of his aim, Annatoo was assigned to the task.

Three strokes, and the limb, from just above the elbow, was no longer Samoa's; and he saw his own bones; which many a centenarian can not say.

The very clumsiness of the operation was safety to the subject.

The weight and bluntness of the instrument both deadened the pain and lessened the hemorrhage.

The wound was then scorched, and held over the smoke of the fire, till all signs of blood vanished.