The wound was washed with the juice of a young green coconut, sutured with a fine coconut fibre using the sharpened wing bone of a flying fox and then dressed with a "tagete" leaf over which was laid the outer layer of a banana flower. The whole was then sealed from the air with a mixture of pepper, lime and young betel nut chewed together. Mrs. Parkinson said she knew a man who had lived for thirty years after this operation, but she thought this was exceptional.