Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-04-26
A LEPER ISLAND OF THE SEA.
Facts Not Hitherto Published About the
Afflicted of MoIokai

"Such an astonishingly inaccurate impression
has been spread abroad regarding the con-
dition Of the lepers on the island of Molokai,"
said gentleman yesterday who has spent
fourteen years of official life in the Hawaiian
group to STAR reporter, 'that il is high time
popular misinformation concerning them was
corrected. The civilized world at large seems
to entertain notion that this afflicted colony,
lodged upon bleak and solitary rock in the
midst of the South Sea, is stretching out its
hands with a despairing appeal to the charity
Of other lands for help in its lonely and
uncared-for misery. Within the last few
months advertisement has been made all over
two continents of the intention of an English
nun called Sister Rose-Gertrude to 60 out and
devote her life to these hapless outcasts of the
far Pacific. She did go, but is employed at the
receiving station for lepers on Hawaii She
has not been sent to Molokai. and in all prob
ability will never go there, simply for the
reason that there is no necessity whatever for
her doing SO, inasmuch as there are already at
the leper settlement six sisters Of the Order of
ST. Francis, from Syracuse. NY, who have
been taking care of the people for half dozen
years past.
LIFE OF The AFFLICTED.
SLOW do the lepers live?"
"They dwell in one of the most beautiful and
fertile valleys of the world, where the entire
year is one perpetual summer, the temperature
varying not perceptiblv from one season to an
other. Their village is of pretty houses built
expressly for them by the government and the
meanest pauper leper is provided there with a
comfortable home. good food. medicines, med
ical attendance and all necessaries. Resident
in the colony are special physician a men,
Der of the Hawaiian board of health and a
superintendent to see that the settlement is as
well taken care of as any hospital. Few of the
lepers are without relatives and friends outside.
who send them whatever they like best. and
vessels are constantly making trips to
Molokai with whole cargoes of all sorts of deli
cacies and Injuries The village of the stricken
is on the shore OF the sea, encircled at the back
by cliff 5000 feet In height and so PERCEPTIONS
as to be only passable in one narrow gorge,
which is always guarded by soldiers. Save for
the mortal illness of the inhabitants one might
almost compare the place to tho happy valley
Of Rasselas, out of which there was no escape,
save by one hidden path reserved for Inlac to
discover. The lepers cannot get away from Mo-
lokai, the sea hemming them in on one side and
the mountain on the other. OF liberty they are
deprived, but you can perceive that their con-
dition is very much otherwise than has been
represented, in so far as the material comforts
of life are concerned. The civilized world at
large need not be concerned in their behalf;
they have all the care that is necessary or
useful"
do the lepers suffer pain very greatly2"
Hardly at all. At the beginning of their
disease they have severe aches in their arms
and legs, similar to rheumatic pains, but these
disappear after awhile, and from that point on
until death they suffer not at all. In many
cases this physical insensIbility is
THE FIRST SYMPTOM OF THE COMPLAINT
that shows itself. One instance remember of
a Honolulu boy who discovered one day, to h is
surprise, that he could approach his wrist 30
close to the fame of a candle that his flesh was
scorched, and yet without feeling the heat
particle. Curious to know the reason he kept on
with the experiment until a frightful burn had
been made, and yet there was no sensation. His
mother took him to a doctor, who at once per-
celved that leprosy was indicated, and the boy
was soon after sent to Molokai, where he now
Is. The sickness exhibits itself first ordinarily
in a swelling of the face, the lines of which be-
come drawn and hard; the expression becomes
fixed and the eyes watery. the eyelashes and eye
brows dropping outSwellings appear on various
parts OF the body, turning into sores;it is death
10y inches, in fact, but painless to the last.
Seven years is the average time from the first
appearance of the disease to the burial of the
patient; there is no such thing cure. This
is tubercular leprosy and not to he confounded
with the leprosy of the Scriptures"
ORIGIN OF THE DISEASE.
GLOW did it originate On the islands?''
'.As to that there is much dispute. The ma
tives say that it was imported with the Chinese.
but it seems quite certain that before the
coolies were brought to the Hawaiian group
for laborers in 1851 leprosy had been known
there for some time as the chiefs disease be-
cause many of the great men were afflicted
with it. Good authorities are of the opinion
that it was actually introduced by Capt. Cooks
crew, when that distinguished explorer visited
the island in 1898. The primitive conditions
under which the natives lived were sin
gularly favorable to the propagation of
disease. Living and sleeping together
in one room for family, eating their food
with their fingers out of common dishes and
passing around the same pipe from hand to
hand, contagion had the best possible chance to
operate. In 1893 Capt Cook found 200. 900
people on the islands: when the missionaries
went there in 1920 there were 10000 Now
there are only $4,000 natives left including
half-castes. The balance of the 900 popula-
ton is composed of Chinese, Japanese, Portu-
guese, Americans and Europeans. No white
man need be afraid to go to the Hawaiian
Islands on account of the leprosy; there have
not been as many as dozen white lepers there
in the history of the country, and. with one
dubious exception, they all lived with native