Daily Honolulu press. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1886, 1885-11-23

The Journal Gss De6afs publishes
letter from its Constantinople CORE
spondent giving very vivid descrip-
ton of the "Miskin Hane," or Leper's
Hospital, at Scutari He says:
"There are now few of these estab-
lishments left, and it is not too much
to say that in the one which / have
just visited human misery seems to
have attained Its highest pitch. | saw
numbers OF human beings, sightless,
their faces distorted out of all shape,
their hands and toes having dropped
off, their voice gone, breathing with
desperate effort, their skin peeling off
off and black as that of a mummy,
insensible to pain when pricked in
certain parts Of the body. Their feet
and flanks are covered with horrible
sores through which what is left 10
them of life ebbs away. Their attitude
is one of profound apathy and exhaus-
ton, and could net help being re
minded of the saying of the leper OF
Aosta,- Endless seem the nights when
the mind is dwelling upon desperate
present and hopeless future
"And vet amid all these horrible
scenes there live married couples and
children, the latter of whom free from
disease as yet, play about like other
children, regardless OF the spectacle
which they have before them. One OF
these wretched men, not more than
thirty, but among the most afflicted,
has very pretty wife, and child who
is fresh and rosy like ayoung Cupid.
A young fellow of twenty-five, but who
is so cadaverous that he might be one
hundred, mere walking corpse, has a
wife fifteen years older than himself,
and herself ravaged by the same dis
ease. This woman was married before,
but her first husband put her away
->i.s.. t,> .Nss.ssS syr>r.o~,s OF lsp-osy.
He married again and had child,
which at his death he conided to the
care of his first vile, who reared it.
This child grew up, and has himself
since married and had children, all OF
them living together in this hospital.
alt is said that the disease is not
contagious, as the governor who has
been there forty years, has wife and
six children who enjoy the best OF
health. The brother of one of the
lepers, who is soldier in neighbor-
ing barrack, comes to see him when
ever he can get leave, and he has not
caught the disease, while DIR. Zambaco
comes twice week and handles the
lepers with perfect impunity. DIR.
Zambaco, who is one of the leading
Greek physician of Constsntinople, is OF
the eopinionihat it is not a, all lcontagious,
and that, though occasionally inherited,
it is more often acquired, the main
cause being privation and want.
Among the lepers at the Miskin Hans
is one who owes his malady to having
been struck by lightning, while a
second became leper after sudden
fright But in the East the conviction
that leprosy is contagious still has very
firm root, and for this reason at Mecca,
while the lepers are given food and
clothing, they never receive any
money. the belief being that il would
spread the disease when put into circu
lauon again. SO, at Scutari, the lepers
are literary inclosed within a living
tomb, as the Miskin Hane is the center
of the vast cemetery in which SO many
millions of dead have been inferred
since Constantinople was first built,
and is surrounded by the splendid
cypress trees, the dark green OF which
contrasts so we'll with the blue outline
OF the Sea Of Marmora and the shores
of Asia Minor in the distance. The
hospital itself is quadrilateral about
one hundred and twenty fee, long,
with only one story To the right ol
the entrance is small mosque, in
which the lepers recite their five
prayers day, this being their only
destraction. In the center is the court.
yard upon which open twenty rooms,
and it is IN these that twenty-seven
sufferers drag on miserable existence,
Their rooms are lighted with small
window, with wooden bars, while in
the way OF furniture there is nothing
but mattress thrown upon the ground
and few common utensils More
abject misery it is impossible to con,
ceive, and it is made all the more
poignant by the presence in the court
yard OF tomb erected to a leper who
was said to be saint This tomb Is
covered with knots OF ribbon, placed
there by persons who have come to be
cured OF some disease. Behind another
la,ticeasA the courtyard is a small
.aing stone, and the local tradition
is that any person who has the oour
age to join hands with female lepel
and set the grinding-sto in motion
without looking at the water as it run.
of Will have his wish granted, alway:
provided that he has FIRST deposited .
lcoin on the stone.