The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1867-02-02
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Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY. February >
Horse Beans and I-cDcrS.


The editor Of the Government Ga-ale. in his
laudabIe search after knowledge. has made a most
wonderful discovery Co hin>elf.) having found
out what 4. horse beans are. He says. with a
Haire,G that Is amusing
HpEsE BE,Ns-Wr have had an opportunity 10
eat Of these beans. which d j. ~Jid Tie poor lepers
ON Molokai are driven TO. by reason Of their poor
food. These beans grow wild on the lands about
that village. We found them "a palaiaule article.
aud moreover have had them on our table before.
as they are quite often displayed in oUr market for
sale. A. this species of wild bean Is well dis,rib-
uted over Mexico and south America. and con
~tantly used in those countries Tor food. We are in
cliued to think that horse beans are = pretty fair
diet.
This may all sound very well for an editor in
the enjoyment Of robust health, who carries about
in solid weight ten stone or more. In his search
after novelties he alighted on q dish of .. horse
beans and enjoyed the treat perhaps he would
thrive on them. He might 10 SO on wild roots or
insipid nuts. With invalids and lepers, the case
Is altogether different. These creatures, enfeebled
and emaciated with a loathsome disease, require
the most nourishing food and sustenance, instead
of being driven away TO a barren section, to exc
out a scanty fare on raw and wild beans. Per-
haps the editor tried some of the " tarred beef
to which they have been served, and perhaps he
found this a palatable and delicious treat.
The question pertaining to these unfortunate
lepers is not whether the wild beans which they
have been compelled to gather and eat, are palata-
bic and iIe-sustaining-fo everybody knew what
they were before the editor displayed his ignorance
to the public-but it is a more serious question,
whether Il civilized Government shall treat its
unfortunates as do Moguls and barbarians, cor
raj them mp, as it were, and then deprive them
of the requisite sustenaEce, and the medical treat
ment necessary for recovery to health.
This attempt of the Gazette editor to palliate
the neglect of Government officials, by landing n
dish of " horse BEANS and TO ridicule the idea
that these wild esculents, eaten raw. as they gen.
orally are. by the haif-starved lepers, are not just
the light food for such creatures, is on n par with
the shameful treatment they have received. He
who attempts to shield Il misdeed, is participant
in the wrong. Where the editor received his
mess of . : horse beams he does not state but
we have simply to say that, if they came from
the market men in Honolulu, cultivated beans
are n different article altogether from Wild beans.
But wherever obtained. every one must know that
such "A dish, well cooked and seasoned by expert
hands, is not what the Molokai lepers have been
CDlnIFllcl 10 cdL. II THESE Deans were brought
hither by the Minister of the Interior, on his re-
cent trip to Molokai, and given to the Govern
ment editor with the object of lessening the odium
which must attach to some one in charge of
these lepers, and for the purpose of ridiculing the
statements which have been made, it must meet
with the contempt it merits.
If there has been neglect in the care of these
lepers, don't try to excuse or lessen the guilt of
those who deserve censure; much less attempt to
ridicule the facts. The Minister of the Interior
has been to the spot, has witnessed their misery
and heard their cries. Let him now come for
ward, state the facts, correct the abuses, and col
lect these doomed and dying wretches into some
asylum where they themselves may enjoy at least
the hope of recovery, aided with the best medical
skill in the power of Government to furnish. lie
knows as well as any man, that the recovery of
any patients depends, more than half, on their own
hopes and their own efforts rob them of such
hopes, and they may as well be numbered among
the dead.
This is too serious Il subject to be treated with
ridicule, which is the only effect that the article
in the Gazette can have, and public opinion will
frown on anything of tine kind.