gery, but that in spite of this I was sure that if something
were not done immediately the woman would have little time to live.

I asked if there was not a doctor that could be reached within a few
days' journey. We discussed sending the woman to Remate de Males by
canoe, but this idea was abandoned, for the journey even undertaken by
the most skilful paddlers could not be made in less than eighteen days,
and by that time the gangrene would surely have killed the patient.

Coronel da Silva was called in. He said that the woman was the wife
of the chief of the _caucheros_ and that her life must be saved if
possible. I explained my own incapacity in this field once more, but
insisted that we would be justified in undertaking an amputation as
the only chance of preventing her death.

I now found myself in a terrible position. The operation is a very
difficult one even in the hands of a skilful surgeon, and here I was
called to perform it with hardly an elementary knowledge of the science
and not even adequate instruments. At the same time, it seemed moral
cowardice to avoid it, since evidently I was the one best qualified,
and the woman would die in agony if not soon relieved. I trembled all
over when I concluded that there was no escape. We went to the room
and got the bistoury and the forceps given me by a medical friend
before I left home. Besides these, I took some corrosive sublimate,
intended for the preparation of animal skins, and some photographic
clips. The secretary, after a search produced an old and rusty hacksaw
as the only instrument the estate could furnish. This we cleaned as
carefully as possible with cloths and then immersed it in a solution
of sublimate. Before going to the patient's hut I asked the owner and
the woman's husband if they were reconciled to my attempt and would
not hold me responsible in case of her death. They answered that,
as the woman was otherwise going to die, we were entirely right
in doing whatever we could. I found the patient placidly smoking
a pipe, her injured arm over the edge of the hammock. By this time
she understood that she was to have her arm amputated by a surgical
novice. She seemed not to be greatly concerned over the matter, and
went on smoking her pipe while we made the arrangements. We placed her
on the floor and told her to lie still. We adjusted some rubber cloth
under the dead arm. Her husband and three children stood watching with
expressionless faces. Two