The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-05-15
TIE LEPERS AT KALAWOA.
TERRIBLE WORK OF LEPRosY IN
THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.
Three Thousand Lcpers I'm n Popu-
IatiOn of Forty ThOusaud-IsO-
1ating the Diseased Persons.

uuI W mOTe particularly ueSCrlDe Jue
state of the disease in the Sandwich
Islands, where a residence of six years
among the people certainly gives me
some cquaintanceship with leprosy as it
there exists. These beautiful islands,
lying warm and fertile in the very lap of
the Pacific, were once peopled by race
of men strong and supple, bright of eye
and clean of limb, but leprosy has
fastened its fangs upon them, and is
rapidly and certainly eating out the very
heart of the nation. The ravages it has
made are terrible, and, though of com.
paratively modern growth, it has al
ready poisoned the life. blood of the race.
There are probably to-day nearly three
thousand lepers in the Sandwich islands
among a total native population of less
than forty thousand. About half of
these are gathered at Kalawoa, the leper
settlement on the island of Mol.
okai, where they are supported by
the government. They are well fed
and housed, have physician in frequent
attendance, and so far as their strength
permits cultivate little patches of land.
They are kindly cared for, and their
living death is made as comfortable and
happy as lies in the power of a generous
government. The origin of lcprosy in
the islands is not well known, but its
name, mai pake (the Chinese disease),
shows whence it is supposed to have
come. 1t is generally accepted fact
throughout the islands that the disease
was first introduced into the country by
the Chinese. STILL at the present time
there are but few victims of leprosy
among the Chinese. The whites are
also but rarely attacked by the malady..
When 1 visited the leper settlement l
found but two white men, while the ma
tives numbered considerably over a
thousand. 1 spent three days in the
leper settlement, and witnessed some
thrilling spectacles. The features of
the victims were so thickened and dis
torted that they must have passed all
recognition even by their nearest friends.
Some had their fingers and toes, and
even their hands and feet rotted off.
One poor woman had lost both arms and
legs, and lay on the ground a helpless
head and trunk. In some the lobes of
the car were so enlarged that they hung
upon the shoulders. l saw ears ten and
twelve inches in length, and thickened
in proportion. The vocal chords become
so degenerated that the voice Stimulates
the whine of dog; fostering sores
are upon the face and body,
while the thickening of the
skin gives all sorts of queer an
horrible distortions to the countenance.
Fortunately the wretched creatures suf-
fer but little pain. The appetite con-
tinues while the parts affected are be-
numbed. Some of them, however, com.
plain grievously of a sensation as if
thousands of ants were crawling over
the body. This feeling is really more
uncomfortable than pain, and many of the
poor fellows told me that for nights and
days they had walked their rooms sleep
less and in agony, vainly striving to
overcome this terrible itching, till their
bodies and limbs were raw and bleeding
in the frantic efforts to quiet their suf-
ferings. A local numbness is generally
the first symptom. For example, for.
eign resident, to all appearances well,
found one evening in taking hot lamp
chimney, that he did not feel the heat in
his fingers. This was his first intima-
ton that he was the victim of leprosy.
A gentleman who was born in the
islands, of foreign parcntage, found, some
eight years ago, that patch on his right
thigh was insensible to touch. He
could pinch it or run pin into the part
without sensation His physician
thought it local paralysis. After a
few months the flesh and skin covering
the arch above the eyes became thick
ened, beneath the eyes the cheeks took
on red and shiny appearance, and the
lobes of the ears began to thicken,
the joints of the fingers and
toes to stiifen- Consultations
with various physicians in Honolulu were
of no avail and he was finally obliged to
leave the islands to avoid being sent to
the lcper settlements. AS soon as per-
son is suspected of having the eprosy he
is sent by the government physician of
his district to the receiving hospital in
Honolulu, where he is again examined
and his case pronounced upon. He gen
orally remains here some time under treat
ment, and when it is found that he is
without doubt a leper, he is sent to the
settlement, which he can never again
leave. Treatment is of but little avail,
and no authentic cure of this terrible
malady has ever been reported.
hope never again to witness so sor-
rowful a scene as the departure of the
government vessel from Honolulu with
load of lepers for the settlement. The
loathsome horror of the sight beggers
description. Fifty or sixty human
beings, of all ages and conditions, and
in every stage of rottenness, crowded to-
gether, on board one small schooner
And then their frantic grief as they bid
farewell to home and loved ones-hus-
bands and wives separated sisters taken
from brothers, children torn from the
loving arms of mothers-and to know
that they are never to meet again. For
once a leper always leper, and they go
to Molokai with the certain knowledge
that they can never return; and, though
perhaps they may live for years, they can
never again look upon the old familiar
home or mingle in loving companionship
with the friends whose presence has be-
come so dear to them.
The utter apathy of the natives in re-
gard to leprosy is one of the most diff
cult things for the officers and medical
men of the country to contend against.
The natives do not believe the disease