The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-07-29
The Leprosy.
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Publishers and PrOpTietOrS

Speak the truth, and shame the devil, is one
of those good old maxims that has come down to
us from the past, and smacks of the times when
n spirit OF blunt honestly was prevalent, and
that wretched word, "expediency," had not so
insidiously crept into favor as now. We of
these islands have been for some years on ex-
hibition before the world as the prize children of
the century, wonderful specimens of human pro-
gress from barbarism and paganism upwards,
and so we have always been in the habit of put
ting our best side forward to observers. We
have 50 often of late been put on our good be-
havior in this respect. that we have gradually
come from a desire to the practice Of actually
ignoring the truth to ourselves. We have been
putting on a handsome exterior 50 long that we
have almost lost sight of that which We don't
like to see-our real internal condition. Of
course a visitor from abroad does not meet with
facilities in this kind of investigation, for to
afford such ourselves would be too deeply wound
ing to our self-love. And if any of our own
people should undertake to lift the white robe of
Sunday clothes in which we have arrayed our
selves, and show a glimpse of the foulness with
in, he is straightway looked upon as a croaker,
an alarmist, or even hated as a traitor.
A few good men-Christian men-have mildly
questioned the . policy" of this journal in
keeping before its readers so persistently the SUBJ
ject of LeprOsy in these islands. The awkward
expose, it is thought, will injure us abroad, and
we are recommended to the mastery in
activity" conduct of the Government news
paper, which scarcely ever refers to the dismal
topic. But we confess to too strong a sense of
our duty as public journalists to conceal the
truth or to fail in giving an alarm when danger
threatens the public veal. Thus we have inva-
riably, whenever the occasion arose, laid before
our readers all the particulars that could be
obtained in regard to the progress of the terrible
malady that prevails to such an alarming extent
among the natives, and have urged the most
prompt and vigorous measures to protect and
preserve the remnant of the Hawaiian race from
the ravages of this scourge. And we have the
satisfaction of knowing that our efforts and our
appeals on this behalf are fully appreciated by
many, true friends of humanity and the Ha-
waiian people, who look closely and think deeply
on this subject; and further, that the public
generally are awaking to a sense of the magni-
tude of the danger and to the folly of shutting
our eyes to its existence or Of folding our hands
in apathy.
FROM all parts of the islands come painful
accounts, corrobOrating our previous statements
of the prevalence and progress of the disease.
From Kauai, a writer, who is fully alive to the
pressing importance of the subject, sends us the
following stirring appeal;
Auwe! Ka lake eI!
Mr.. EDITOR My blood runs cold,-my heart
seems u solid lump of ice in my breast, when /
reflect On the inevitable fate OF this Hawaiian
nation. if more energetic measures are not soon
taken to stamp out that most loathesome,
most terrible of diseases,
THE LEPRosY.
1t is with horrid rapidity insinuating its venom
into the blood of the whole people from Hawaii
to Niihau.
l zee in my minds eye
AN APPALLING SPECTRE.
Every nerve in my body tingles and thrills as I
gaze upon the CHASTITY object. Trembling and
faint and sick, L turn away almost ready to
despair. A being bearing still a semblance to
human form, but with a face bloated and putrid,
and wearing a diabolical. grin. Eyes bloodshot
and swollen, apparently starting from their
sockets, they are no longe: human, no longer
earthly, but their aspect is hellish, their leer
Satanic. See the fend-like limbs, emaciated and
rotting joint by joint. In the rigid taIons which
take the place Of hands, is borne an inverted
torch from which constantly falls clouds of lurid
pestilential smoke, covering the land with gloom
as with a mantle.
SUCH IS THE GENIUS OF LEPRosY,
As, in IL crouching attitude, he passes swiftly
but silently through mid-air, like an avenpinS
Nemesis, visiting without fear or partiality the
palace of the chief, and the howell of the beggar.
lie applies the poisonous fumes Of his torch alike |
to the nOstril Of the innocent child and of the
aged man. With relentless malice he causeth
the virtuous as well as the depraved to breathe
the potion of death.
Well may the preachers in the churches ex.
claim, " Verify we are smitten of God and
afflicted" From the crown of our head 10 the
sole of our feet there is no soundness in us"
The outlook Is IN very truth terribly appalling.
FOUR HUNDRED LEPERs
In the settlement on Molokai and probably az
many more in the incipient stages of the disease,
still at large scattered over the group. You are
right when you say that the disease is spreading
with the rapidity of an epidemic. More decisive
measures must be speedily taken to stay the
plague, or in a few short years Molokai will have
become the ~lazaretto for all that remains of the
Hawaiian race.
Who knows at how early a stage the disease
commences to be contagious? No one. And
yet there are on this island of Kauai cases of
undoubted leprosy Of years standing, where no
restriction whatever is used, but the patients
come and go, buy and sell, in perfect freedom.
1t IS a hard thing to separate friends, to expa-
triate a man who is guilty of no crime, but in a
case of this kind prompt and energetic measures
are the only salvation of the nation. The NOR
tifying leg must be instantly amputated if you
would save the body. Mercy to the few is
damnation to the many.
L would suggest that the Minister of the Inte-
rior set apart on each OF the islands, one or more
secluded localities for
PROBATIONARY HOSPITALS,
And as soon as there appears upon any person
the first sion inf lpnrOsv 80 h.. L.
retire TO the seclusion of the hospital grounds.
Have these places guarded day and night, and let
all intercourse between the patients and the out
side world be absolutely taboo. AS soon as the
leprosy is Enthusiastically developed in any patient,
let him be transported to Molokai if any prove
to be free from the disease they can of course be
KAUAI.
July 22d. 1871,
The public at large has been, we are per-
shaded nrder n GOOD deal of Observation-Disclosures "a