The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-08-20
A SAD PICTURE.
The Saad,cich Island Lepers and Their



Home.
The horrible disease OF leprosy is ex
tending its ravages in spite OF ever.
care of prevention. TIE island o
Molokai is set apart as a quarantine
where the lepers are isolated as fast a
they are discovered, and the living, foe
of disease thus segregated. The native.
seem perfectly reckless about the rlsf
of contagion, and the gregarious in
stinct is so strong that they will smoke
the pipes, wear the clothes, and sleeI
on the mats of lepers Indeed, they
conceal the victims of the disease as
long as possible, and the government
officials have great difficulty in ferret
| inc out the infected persons.
Let us take a rapid glance at the
leper settlement of Molokai, which is
| alike hospital and a charnel-house
for there is no cure for the awful 9sti-
lence. It is the duty of the island, on
the certificate of o doctor that man is
leper, to commit him to death in life
at Molokai. Here he slowly rots away
in terrible exile, for there is no re.
lease for him except the merciful hand
of death. The agonized parting and
the woe of the friends as they cling to
the bloated limbs and kiss the glisten-
ing, swollen faces of those who are
exIled from them forever, are said to
be something almost heartrending.
There are no individual distinctions
among the sufferers. Queen Emma's
cousin, man of wealth, aud Mr.. Rags
dale, the most influential and eloquent
lawyer among the half.whites, share the
same doom as stricken Cinnamon and
laborers from the plantations. The
necessity is terrible, but no less a
necessity and, in the case of Mr.. Rags
dale, who gave himself mp voluntarily,
the case was aggravated by the fact that
he is a man of great accomplishments
and almost unbounded control over
his countrym en-, one who, had it not
been for his fearful disease, would
have risen to very prominent position
in state affairs.
Molokai, the island of exile, is land
of precipices, with walls of rock rising
two thousand feet above the sea in ex-
treme grandeur and picturesqueness,
but slashed, as in Hawaii, by gulches
opening from natural lawns down to
the sea. The road from the sea landing
is a zigzag bride track, which winds
GNGI bllO 1dSO Va PlCS1biNN3 ShAAOA bAlAS
abode of death is in all respects worthy
of the grim functions to which it is de-
voted. Three miles inland from the
port is the leper village, the home of
hideoEs suffering, where science Is una
BILE to grapple with despair where the
only business of the community is to
perish where there are husbandless
wives, wifeless husbands, children with
out parents, and parents without chill
dren, condemned to watch the loath
some steps by which each of their
doomed fellows glide down to death.
Most of the victims live in brown
hu's, but the more wealthy ones have
white cottages, where every comfort is
provided for them. The hospitals, twelve
in number, are rOOmy aud well ar
ranged, built on an any height. In the
center of the hospital square are the
dispensary and office buildings, where
the statistics of the settlement are kept,
and the leper governor holds his leper
court for all the officials, even to the
doctor and the chaplain, are the vic
tins of the disease. The rations of food
are ample, and the contributions of the
benevolent suffice to provide little lux
uries and extras, such as tobacco, pipes,
knives, toys, books, pictures, and work
ing implements and materials for
amusement; for the lepers become pau
perized when they are sent into exile,
and no longer have any claim on their
property.
The sensibilities of the visitor are
shocked when he sees the throngs of
active looking exiles, who shrink away
from the profered hand, as if abascd at
the thought of what they are. But what
shall be said of the awful spectacles in
the hospitals, wherein everything is
pervaded with the sickening odor of the
grave; where all around, crouched on
their mats and shivering with despair,
are seen the yet breathing corpses Of
the poor wrerches who leer for mo-
ment out of their ghoul like eyes, and
then shrink into themselves again, car
features of life, masses of rotting flesh
with but little semblance Of humanity !
the mystery of death which
hangs over the valley of Molokia dis
closes some of the more woeful features
of the curse, it is pleasant to know that
the poor outcasts are as kindly cared |
for as the resources of the government |
will permit The most strenuous efforts |
are being made to stamp out the disease
and provide for the comfort of those
who are isolated.