The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1884-02-07
The Honolulu Lepers.

| the city and on the bank of the beauti-
full bay. Then they are examined by
the doctor who decides whether it is
case Of leprosy or not. Once declared
leper the person is civilly dead, and
is incapable of suing in the courts or
being sued. At the hospital there are
accommodations for about 120. 1t is
filled every two months. The establish
ment consists of plot Of ground, say
five acres, around which is a very high
picket fence, with deep ditch outside
of it. Within are cottages or wards.
There is little shade, except that made
! by the houses, no sward nor running
water. The construction of the houses
is primitive, their furnishing plain to
the verge of discomfort, but they are
clean. To the north rises the grotesque
form of the Punch Bowl, the crater of
an extinct volcano, and beneath it are
the green slopes and lower lands of the
beautiful city. Sweeping around to the
east is Weldki, with its graceful forests
of cocoa palms, and in front the green
sea splashes and roars over the coral
reefs that form the harbor bar, In this
place the leper must give up all hope.
Before his admission here he had at
least the expectation of dying among
friends friends so loyal that they hide
their afflicted relatives in the mount5
aims, and bring them poi and water in
calabashes. But now comes the harsh
discipline of a government institution.
No wandering in the cool Algeroba for
est, or bathing in the loved surf, but
simply a period of suffering and waiting
for death by mercenary, if cruel law,
and from whose horrible provisions
there is no escape.
The hospital full, a steamer comes to
take to the Island of Molokai those
whose condition is most advanced,
there to remain until death. It was
with such party that / travelled finally
to Molokai, his excellency having at
last exhausted his reasons for my not
going. 1t was not my lot to witness
many sad scenes, but none of them ap-
preached in any way those which at
tended the separation of families as
these handful of lepers sailed away to
their exile. Daughters reached out
their arms to mothers whom they
might not embrace; wives held up
their mouths for kisses which their hus-
bands could not give; babes, held in the
arms of strangers, laughed and cooed
to their mothers, to whose breaking
hearts they might not be held in one last,
loving clasp. And sobs-such sobs,
"alas! that come from the depths of
hearts wrung with the misery of q hope
less condition. Presently thea lines
were cast of, the little steamer turned
her head away and steamed slowly to-
ward the bar. / went into the little
cabin set apart for the captain and
closed the door, determined to hear no
more and see no more of such grief.
The little port was open, when sudden
ly it was darkened, and, looking up, /
saw the dark but beautiful face of a
woman whose young husband was on
his way to Molokai. She had swan
out to intercept the steamer, and being
as indeed are all her race-as much
at home in water as on land, she had
no difficulty in accomplishing her pur
pose. ''Ah," she said, ''you are not
doctor nor constable. Tell my hus-
band to look over the side to me, and
God will bless you.''
went on deck. We were steaming
slowly, waiting for the Government in
spector to complete his task before
taking his own boat for the shore. The
lepers had become quiet, or compare
lively so, except for pain. A few
women were rocking on their launches
and moaning, a young half-white girl
had flung herself on the deck in wild
abandonment of grief, and behind the
smoke-stack | found the husband kneel-
ing in prayer His face, serrated by
the leprous sores, was held toward the
sun, the tears were streaming down his
disease-cut features, softening them by
their agony of supplication.
William" l said, ''your wife is
alongside. Go quietly to the place I
shall point out to you and you will see
her"
The man sprang up, and for mo-
ment was perfectly beautiful, such a
Joy as came in his face Then he turned
and ran to the place / indicated. Half
an hour afterward I saw him alone
We were then under o full head of
steam, passing Diamond Head.
'Where is she?'' / asked. He pointed
astern, and there, not an eighth of a
mile away, we saw her, swimming to-
ward some fishing boats, her soft black
hair floating out behind her and her
arm every now and again waving to us
good-by.
The leper settlement is generally
called Molokai, but that, in fact, is the
name of the island upon which it is
placed. Kalawai is the official name OF
the town or village. It is situated at
the foot of great ravine, through
which at some time a stream of lava
has poured. On either side are great
precipices reaching far into the sea.
At their bases the surf beats high,
sometimes breaking as high up their
brown, hard fronts as. seventy feet.
Here the northeast trades roll up the
seas they gather in a passage of two
thousand miles over an unobstructed
ocean. But the rocks stop them. and
sullenly they fall back again with a
heavy monotone. The two cliffs run
backward in sharp ascents till they
meet over the narrow pass through
which admission to the leper settlement
by land is alone possible. 1t is as il
nature had made prison. One man
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