What is Medicine?

Once the missionaries arrive, minor injuries and illness that once meant death for the Sawi can be healed. The missionaries, though not medical personnel by training, become doctors for the villages, treating spear wounds and malaria among other things. When one injury proves too severe, they notify a passing missionary plane, which transports the man to a better-equipped village, where he makes a full recovery. Richardson overhears two men discussing how to injure one another so they can travel to the far away place, as well.