Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1876-02-11

lEkkl1OK {, FIX
A Terrible Island.
- There are sOme queer places in
w"tl'i. and ree,en: correspondent, of I
San Francisco Chronicle d. scrioes one
Ia. the queercst Of them. lie writes fro
q Honolulu. and he tells of the most Ind
. nus place il the world in som. respect
II the fairest in thers. Whit liz writes
Z, is tn. island Of n lokai, and picking .,
NJ from bis long letter the real gist, II IS eat
J. to see that MOlOkai is worth descriptio,
- Moloka is the place sccursed of all Il
|e earth. for upon the island is no man {
" woman who IS not leper. Leprosy ~
# pears to be gaining upon the indolel
d and listl+ss Hawiians, and as often as
hI'eper is discovered be is captured an
: placed upon 6 boat, Which. when . carg
is thus accumulated, sails to Molpkai, an
j, discharges its living burden upon the isl
y and. Naturally, Punishment to tn
! dreadful island is dreaded. and even thos
afflicted with leprosy seek to avoid tn
5 fate of living with their kind. The on
: whom the disease has attacked conceal
he fact rs long A. possible, lies hidden
I and when at last the truth of his condi
ton is known. seeks 10 evade those wllt
/. |execuie the law. lie hides in Caves. II
= the forests. and in the fields. and some
. times has 10 be hunted down like a wild
J beast before he is captured. Once lepcl
on horseback put the officers of Honolulu
: At defiance, finally escaping from them
altogether. The disease soon tells upon
the strongest, though, and few ultimately
avoid transportation to the island of exile
where there are now nearly thousand OF
the unfor unate ones together.
The isls. d takes its name from It's preci
pices, aud between these precipices lie
beautiful and fruitful valleys and eulch
es. so that The lepers have pleasant posses.
siohs, 50 far - the face of nature goes
the island has government, too, sys.
rematically organized, and all the officials
are lepers. The governor is . lepcr, the
subordinates are lepess, and the subj. cts
are lepers. Some Of the people, too. are
olks of rank. The governor was once
famous lawyer In H,lo; p. Y. Kaeo,
Queen Emma's cousin, il one of ,,.-,
residep,s noxn IN Hono,uiuan society.
There is cosy little village on the isla"a,
a nd the village contains people IN al
sta ..es of the disease, but everything il
sail to be neat and clean. They have
their entertainments, social and other wise,
Ltse unfortunate people, and try 10 e. joy
with how much success God
knows. Some of them are terrible spec.
tacl. s-gl.zeG eyes, distorted features am
limbs falling away by deg'tes-a"d u
strange scene must he afford ! when
they gather for u good time. Tbs l. "a
still cliug to the ways Of more fortunate
world aud seek to Crafty the arm:ess
love Of display which is an heritage fro"
Eve. They decorate their heads and
necks with flowers. aud try to appear
cheerful and happy in the midst OF their
~ ful desolnti.'n. This one little touch
of nature is the saddest. from its p,tiable
grol squcness, j" al the picture. Child
rem are born to them there. and prattl,
and play. ss clildre" will: but VII die
young. Another 2l,as,ly feature.
There is romano. too, in MOloksi. and
Iepers love ana are beloytd. Perhaps
The craving for sympathy draws such sut-
.erers closer together than the rest of hu
manity are drawn. for tn re have bern
several very interesting cases ii pas.iOn
of the purest kind among them. One It,
tie story. indeed. is worth giving In det:ii
in II. words of the correspond. mt. I ht
romance began in Honolulu. aud Is -
follows:
Zone b.autiful wah,ne. with long.
WY, raven ringlcts. flowing richly and
prof usely sdown l"r delicate shoulders
was 'engagrl' 70 kane Of no mean pre-
purses ing appearance. The Two were
|deyo,rdly attached to each other. nut nj
length It was di>covere that he was q
|leper. He Was seized by the officers an"
hustled down to the wharf. aud embarke
for Mo,ok.i. HIS wahine followed him
Ito tho waters edge. and would have
plunged in af er him; bat on reflection
she thonght better of It, Her face was
|ba,hed In foods Of tears she wss bowed
down like bullrush at the thought Of
her irreparaole loss; she pi"ed for her dc
parted AdOnis; and would not be COM
forted, till she maize up her mind to fol.
low HIM 10 his place of exile. And. ior-
saking Ill the friends and sports OF her
youth. size became martyr TO the ut OF
the man she loved, and now ministers to
him such sweet consolation 10 only .
true. hearted woman can give to mas IN
distress and solitude.
And 20 they live in MOlokai, IN island
1.-The world knows very little about. hut
which should bc famous enough II must
be . terrible place. even from tho slight
glimpse obtained here and there in that
far western correspondence long letter
from Honolulu. . place where hope 70
dead and life is something hurtfal to con.
template.
Tho Rev. Ira Auneer b~cn preach
ling 10 Brooklyn the near approach of the
final condagrs.ion. Last Sunday light
| he said 10 his haarerw WE1N people tell