The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1881-03-05
QUARANTINE HOSPITAL ON THE
REEF,


By permission Of the President of the Board of
Health our Senior paid a visit to the smallpox
hospital and quarantine on the reef yesterday in
company with Mr.. Dayton, the Deputy Marshal.
The approach to the hospital is one of its worst
features. The road leads for about half a mile
over a rough coral reef surface, and as the tide
serves across a shallow sheet of water, which for
some time past has been swept with penetrating
blasts Of wind. The Deputy Marshal had care
fully provided an overcoat, and told his compan-
ion it would be prudent to do the same, as the
afternoon winds sweeping over the broad sheet of
tide water were unusually severe and promotive
of ill health. They first visited the convalescent
ward, which is the main old building, erected by
TOrbert. This ward is in charge of Miss Crown
inberg, a bright intelligent young lady
who evidently carries out an excellent system
OF cleanliness and order in her department.
This is indeed the house of hope and happy
release whose inmates, some sixteen in number,
are about to return in restored health to their
friends in the city and elsewhere. Miss. C..
stays only in the conYalescent ward. They then
visited the sick wards which are separate cottages,
numbered from No. l to No. 9. There were
some sad cases to be seen here, with black and
swollen faces, and some that appealed most
painfully to our feelings. Poor Kaiwi, a we'll
known policeman. was there waiting on his little
boy, a child of about five years of age, whose
little face YVES black, swollen and unrecognizable,
and he was gasping for breath. The broken
hearted father, with quivering lips and in tones of
despair begged the Deputy to allow his wife to
come aud see the last of her boy and as this
permission would add to the burthens of the
establishment, and probably another victim to the
epidemic, the worthy Deputy has to steel his
heart against such appeals. In No.
6 the agonising wall OF death greeted
the ears of the visitors. As they
entered, they saw outside on the Verandah, a
mattrass and Il clean coverlet, and what was
evidently a patient taking repose outside but
an assistant turning down the coverlet revealed
the disfgured face of a woman who was taking
her everlasting rest. And inside the house
another patient had just died, and it was the
wall for this last one that greeted the ears of the
visitors. But in other cottages it was pleasant
to meet those who had tided over the dangerous
crisis, and though disfgured, and hardly recog-
nizable, yet were in a cheerful and hopeful frame
of mind. On enquiriug about their state, they
promptly responded, that they were doing well.
and obtained all they required. Among these
was Nahuina, the well-knOwn policeman, who
though covered with scabs is convalescent.
Mr.. Moran, the trusty man in charge led the way
to a visit to Mr.. Herring, the tailor, and Mr..
Gibbs, from the telephone office both are GONZALES
cent, and evidently getting along very well.
And no doubt the hospital will prove a sanitary
asylum and curative establishment for many
III OuII IL . a .tlcG ACllCoI " WIZ Il W
no home, nor means for proper care elsewhere.
The buildings are all clean and kept in good order,
nothing observable to offend anysense of propriety,
but the sleeping Accommodations are bupf against
49, wall Z" mats ana mattresses on the
Ioor. The foreigners can have a cot but it is
aid the native prefers the floor he also likes to
axe n cold plunge bath, or dash a bucket OF cold
water over himself when sick of the smallpox but
t is to be expected that a paternal medical care
will have him conform to the order of living and
egimen considered best for him. Many Of the
eople there who had been sick and were now con-
alescent, and known as kokuas. or helpers, COM
famed that the medical attention was scant and
and inspired no hope or confidence,
mong so many invalids. As they said 8 if we
We, we live, ii we die, we die-there is no help !
r or consider with u.s. There are l20 patients in !
he wards and these receive a short medical visit, |
r general inspection from one physician each :
ay. In respect to lodging, food and general at J
to physical wants, this Quarantine Hos :
ital is tolerably good, far better than many a =
est house or ~lazaretto of Europe, yet there is t
for much Improvement. To have S
iry cots instead of side wall hunks, like a ships i
,recastle, and above all to have more medical 1
and nursing care. Some patients Y
ave done well no doubt by going to the pest $
ouse on the reef; some that left a rude i'll pro- v
home; but it must be borne in mind that out i
227 smallpox patients 81 have already L
led and many more of the number are now Il
A visit was paid to the burying a
round where about so little mounds are grouped a
At this point on the reef, there is about =
and a half feet ofsand. At that depth the =
bed, and the tide flow is reached. The collins Y
re placed in the water, with perforations in their .
ottoms so that the acids and animalcular life \
the brackish flow soon consume the decompo-
ng remains of the infected corpses, and some pits
had been reopened disclosed that every
of human remains had disappeared.
ner many kind attentions, AID soiicitous
-sok- on fIa porf IF Mr. naufon onA Ar
.oran, to give information, our Senior made his
ay cityward having to provide a screen t
the piercing blast, that during the late
ours of the afternoon howled across the tide c
alter intervening between the hospital and the :
ainland. On the way he passed the hospital 7
nbulance or pest cart and the undertaken with L
70 cofins on board, and he felt a deep commits v
for feverish victims of the epidemic who C
ust be conveyed over this ria dolorOsa in such F
inclement time. c.
In connection with the visit to the smallpox I
,spital wards on the reef, our Editor also visited I
e quarantine corral for the Chinese emigrants A
n Septimd. 1t is a high enclosure of battens c
,out 800 feet square, and within this enclo- a
re are two rough batten and board sheds, $50 :.
ct long, by about 20 feet wide, for the lodging p"
ID accommodation of 720 people, 80 of whom are u
omen. This is a curiosity of humanity to see b
is pack of human being in such a space. They a
dge in open Slated hunks one above the other, VI
ID resemble the condition of a large freight of 6
eep, packed in pens, one above the other. And "
their condition is far superior to what it was a
board the Septimaa. and they appear a very c
and healthy crowd OF Cinnamon, and evil n
,ntly enjoying themselves; although such a o.
.ck of human beings in such close quarters must -
time become a disease breeder for others, if not -"
r themselves. Capt. Wood is in charge, and II
identity maintains admirable discipline in this a
Irious corral of men. c.
H.
To the Editor Of the p. c.. advertiser. y