New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-10-24

are sold for cost and expenses Inc PooPio
good deal of money from their relatives ~ no"o.
which they spend in this store Inc "o'orninouS
also supplies all the lcpers win ciotnihs i%o !"
also office and the little schooner when car
ried me back to Honolulu. bore over Nv loIIois 'no
weekly mail from the leper settlement
For tho had cases there is hospital an extensive
Of buildings where 100 patients lay when visit
od ~ These. being helpless attended by otherlep
90 I'D receive extra rations of tea sugar, bread rce
ond otber food. Almost every one strong enough to
do bas a horse: for tho Hawaiian cannot well 1--we
v,,,bout horses Some of the people live on the
sbore and make salt, which you SEQ stored up IN
,andanus bags under the shelter OF lava bubbles.
When was there q number were engaged IN Dig
ringa ditch in which to lay an iron pipe, intended
TO convey fresh water TO the denser part of tho set
Element.
Snch is the life settlement on Molokai precipi-
tous cliff at its back 2,0OO feet high; the ocean,
looking here bluer and lovelier than ever saw u
look before on three sides of it the trade wind
blowing across the lava-oOvered plain eternal sun
shine: mild air horses and the weekly excite
ment of the arrival of the schooner from Honoiulu
with letters. There is sufficient enjoyment Tor
those who can and like TO wOrE-and the Hawaiian
il not an idle creature and altogether II Is very
coptented and happy community. The Islander has
long. and the people here seemed to mo to have
made themselves quietly at homo. saw very few
sad faces, and there were mirtb, and laughter and
ready service. aud pleasant looks all around u.s. as
| we rode or walked over the settlements
! And now. YOU will ask, what does lepor look
lkei Well in the first place he is not the eper OF
fbe Scriptures nor is the disease at all like that
| which is said to occur in China. Indeed tho poor
Chinese have been most uDjustly accused of bring
ing this disease to the islands. With the first ship
load of Chinese brought to these islands came TWO
| lepers white as snow" having, that Is to saw
disease very different from that which now is called
| leprosy here. They were not allowed TO land, but
were sent back in the ship which brought them out
| The Hawaiian leprosy, the other hand has been
known here for quarter of a century, and men died
of it before the first Chinese were brought mther
| The name Mai-Pakeh was given 1t by an accident;
a foreigner saying to native that he had uisease
such as they had in China. There are but six
| Chinese in the MolOkai leper settlement ana thefe
! are three white men there
The leprosy of the islands is disease of the blood
| and not a skin disease. 1t can be caught only, am
assured by contact of an abTaded surface with the
matter of the eprous sOre and doubtless the habit
of the people of many smoking the same pipe has
done much TO disseminate it, Its first notlccaDie
signs are q slight pufinoss under the eyes, anu
swelling of the lobes of the ears. To the praciiced
ewes of Dr. Trousseau these signs were apparent
where could not perceive them until he lad has
finger OH them. Next follow symptoms which vary
Greatly in different individuals; but marked
sign is the Tetraction of the fingers so that
the hand comes to resemble BIRDS claw.
In some cases the face swells in ridges,
leaving deep burrows between; and these
ridoos arc shiny and without feeling 80 that
. r,,,f,, totl
persou. The features are thus horribly deformed in
| some cases | saw two or throe young boys of IL
who looked like old men of co. In some older men
and women. the face was at first sight revolving and
baboon-bke; say at first sight, for second look
the mild sad owe redeemed the distorted features it
was "a though the man were looking out of horr-
HE mask. At later stage of the disease these
rupous swellings break open into fostering sores
the nose and even the eyes are boted ont, and the
body becomes putrid
In other cases the extremites are most severely
attacked The fingers after being drawn in like
claws begin to tester. They do not seem to drop Oft
but rather to be absorbed the nails following the
sturnps down; and actually finger nails on "A
hand that had no fingers The nails were on the
knuckles; the fingers had all rOtted away The
same process of decay on with the toes in some
cases the whole foot had dropped away; and in
MANY the hands and feet were healed over the
fingers and toes having dropped off But the healing
of the sore is but temporary, the disease
presently breaks out again. Emaciation does not
seem to follow. l very few wasted forms.
and those only in the hospitals, and among the
worst cases. There appears to be an astonishing
tenacity of life, and was told they mostly choke
TO DEATH or fall into fever caused by swallowing
the poison of their sores when these attack the nose
| ord throat Thoaa diseased give ont soon a very
| sickening odor, and L was much Obliged to O
| thoughtful man in the settlement, who commanded
the lepers who had gathered together to hear an
address from the Doctor TO form to leeward Of us.
| I expected to be sickened by the hospitals; but
these are so we'll kept, and easily ventilated
| by the help of the constantly blowing trade wind
| that the odOr was scarcely perceptible in them.
! You will perhaps ask how is the disease con-
tracted. doubt if any one yet knows definitely
| not from all heard. judge that there must be
some degree Of predispOsition toward disease in the
person to be contaminated. l believe l have DR..
Trousseau's leave to say, that the contact of a
wounded or abraded surface with the matter of a
lepTOus sore will convey the disease; this is of
course innOculatOn and he seemed to think other
method of contamination probable. l was careful
! to provide myself with q pair of gloves when /
visited the settlement, to protect my hands in
should be invited TO shake hands; but noticed
that the doctor fearessy shook hands with some of
the worst cases, even where the fingers were sup
puratng and wrapped in rags There are several
women on the islands, confirmed lepers whose
husbands are at home and sound; one, notably,
where the husband is a white man. On the other
hand woman was pointed out to me- who had
three husbands each Of whom in a short time after
marrying her became a leper. There are children,
lepers whose parents not lepers and there are
narenta lepers. whose children arc at home and